A look at Panasonic 2013 DLNA player

next010

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Most reviews dont go into great details about the media players on TV's but I just got my hands on a Panasonic 42" ST60 series TV which has their newest generation DLNA media player for 2013 so I got to see how it holds up.

Picture quality;
Excellent even with stock settings like cinema. Plus the TV allows full control over the DLNA media player display settings like any regular input.

User interface;
If you've seen any Panny TV over the past few years not much has changed, still the same old looking grey UI with dashes of blue, though they have made it a little prettier.

One thing going for the look is that the DLNA player is legible and clear on screen, plus Panasonic use text lists not the awkward thumbnail/tile UI that LG and Samsung so love to inflict on users which makes no sense for DLNA. It may not be as pretty but usability is better compared to other TV's.

There is also an automatic preview in a small top left hand corner which actually works well & it can be turned off.

What is annoying is that after watching a video it automatically starts playback of next video whether you like it or not.

No watched flag either to mark items as played, lastly the DLNA media player is called "media server" in the apps menu, rather a poor choice of title.

Media Support;
* Overall for common stuff like H.264/mp4/mkv/flv and XviD/AVI etc it's pretty good.
* DVD's run through MakeMKV play fine.
* Blu-ray's run through MakeMKV are fine as long as the audio track is Dolby 5.1, if the track is Blu-ray DTS it causes glitches in playback, interestingly this does not apply to other videos with DTS tracks so it's something specific to BD DTS.
* Soft subtitles work and also embedded in mkv with multiple tracks.
* Passes Dolby and DTS 5.1 audio over optical to amp.
* Supports Apple style media well like h.264/m4v with Dolby 5.1 audio and h.264/mov with pcm audio tracks.
* Plays some 60fps digital camera video.

The uncommon media types
* No Flac or ALAC audio support.
* Does not handle interlaced video well, problems playing.
* Trouble with 50fps digital camera videos.
* No support for rare formats like wtv, webm etc.
* No support for old formats like wmv8, ogg, real.

In summary with the folder I have filled with odd stuff it played about half, dedicated players play about two thirds usually and something like XBMC on a PC plays all of it.

DLNA Control;
Works well enough, used Skifta on iOS and it was able to play any supported video with no apparent problems, though I did run into issues with pictures, switching to another DLNA controller media link player resolved all of this.

MLP is Japanese developed so might be they have done more testing with Panasonic DLNA.

Another strange thing is that a DLNA server running on the TV appeared on other devices but they could not connect to it, there is a DLNA server setting burried deep in network settings of the TV that enables it but the server appears anyway even if set to off.

Physical Remote;
The remote is nice and chunky with comfortable buttons, one unusual thing is the d-pad doesn't skip video left or right by a few seconds, instead if fast forward or rewinds the video. There are buttons for that already on the remote.

Youtube;
The user interface to Youtube was not particularly speedy (but video playback was great & in HD), I was quite surprised by this as it's using the Youtube leanback version of the site optimized for TV's but compared to say PS3 it's just not as speedy.

Luckily you can pair the TV with the Android/iOS Youtube app to beam/push videos to the TV, the only niggle is that the Youtube app must be running for this to work, you cant just turn on the TV and instantly have Youtube playback.

Summary;
It's not quite up to the standards of something like a WDTV Live but it's getting close and if your okay with basic playback for your media it would do the job fine.
 
Many thanks for such an informative summary of the Media Player - totally useful and often overlooked in reviews. Interesting regarding its handling of Blu-ray DTS audio - do you think it could be down to the on board processor? When I eventually bite the bullet I may opt for the GT60 which has the Hexa processor and wonder if that may have some bearing? Also, although you say 5.1 is passed through via the optical link, does it also support Audio Return Channel via the already connected HDMI as this could open the possibility of passing HD audio from files back to an AV Amp (although I'm unsure wether audio return channel actually support passing through these advanced codecs)?
 
Unfortunately I dont have a HDMI ARC capable amp only an older model so optical is all I could test with.

DTS was strange, it may be a combination of high bitrates and DTS audio in play, I just tried Dredd which I'd compressed but kept DTS core track in place from the Blu-ray and it appears to play fine.

Not sure if higher ends sets make a difference, all video decoding would be done through hardware decoders which shouldn't impact the CPU, my gut feeling is just some sort of bug rather than hardware issue.

Also gave 3D a try, doesn't seem to auto detect SBS 3D video, despite having SBS in the file name & the 3D auto detect feature enabled, but manually setting it works fine. Oddly enough the 3D detection when nuts thinking some old 2D videos where 3D.
 
There is also an automatic preview in a small top left hand corner which actually works well & it can be turned off.

how do i turn that preview off? i have been searching but can;t figure out.
 
how do i turn that preview off? i have been searching but can;t figure out.

Go to media server app so it shows DLNA server and press option button on the remote, then go to video setup and you will see video preview, set that to off and it will kill the preview.
 
Go to media server app so it shows DLNA server and press option button on the remote, then go to video setup and you will see video preview, set that to off and it will kill the preview.

My 2012 tv only has playback option :(
 
My 2012 tv only has playback option :(

Bummer they might have added the option to the 2013 series after people complained. Such changes are rarely ever ported back to older models.

That pretty much sums up smart tv development in a nutshell.
 
I've got a 50" GT60 and I'm having problems playing .mkv files over Windows Media server. I am new to all this DLNA server business and so far it is driving me crazy! I've managed to get the basic 'connections' set up - nice and easy - just allow the devices in Windows Media Player. My problem is that I am trying to play .mkv files with DTS audio codec. Initially WMP wouldn't even play the files but I've downloaded the relevant .mkv and DTS audio codecs and it now plays them (VLC media player plays them perfectly, first time, of course - so no problem with the files I'm trying to play). The files show up on my GT60's media server but it says the file type is not supported!? Any ideas would be much appreciated.
 
WMP does not support mkv (even if you hack it), use Serviio (free) TVMobili (free with bandwith cap, pay to remove) or Mezzmo (commercial) as your DLNA server instead and that will make them play.

I used TVMobili running on my NAS with the GT60.
 
WMP does not support mkv (even if you hack it), use Serviio (free) TVMobili (free with bandwith cap, pay to remove) or Mezzmo (commercial) as your DLNA server instead and that will make them play.

I used TVMobili running on my NAS with the GT60.
Thanks for the advice mate! I've downloaded the free Serviio and it seems to work - sort of! Not 100% but some files seem perfect and on some the video is jumping and skipping constantly. At least it's a step in the right direction! :)
 
Might be if your on a wireless link, you can always try the demo versions of Mezzmo/TVMobili and see if they fair any better if they do they might be worth a buy.
 
Might be if your on a wireless link, you can always try the demo versions of Mezzmo/TVMobili and see if they fair any better if they do they might be worth a buy.
Yeah I think the jumping/skipping was due to me downloading on PC whilst streaming to the TV. All the .mkv files play perfectly now through Serviio :thumbsup:

I've just got a NAS bay and 2 x 3TB HDD's (in RAID 1 configuration) so my tech savvy friend is coming round to help me set that all up later on. He's saying the best solution is to link up my laptop to TV via HDMI and play files using XBMC on laptop as it will play basically ANYTHING no problem and once you get it set up, it has a very nice user interface and media library.
 
Yeah I think the jumping/skipping was due to me downloading on PC whilst streaming to the TV. All the .mkv files play perfectly now through Serviio :thumbsup:

I've just got a NAS bay and 2 x 3TB HDD's (in RAID 1 configuration) so my tech savvy friend is coming round to help me set that all up later on. He's saying the best solution is to link up my laptop to TV via HDMI and play files using XBMC on laptop as it will play basically ANYTHING no problem and once you get it set up, it has a very nice user interface and media library.

The NAS assuming it has a DLNA server should be okay with the built in media player on the TV, the 2013 Panny player can handle most common types it's only the more unusual stuff it cant play which is where XBMC would excel.

Of course if you want a more advanced UI then XBMC is the way to go too, you don't necessarily need a PC either there are XBMC set top boxes like the TLBB and XIOS which run XBMC.
 
The NAS assuming it has a DLNA server should be okay with the built in media player on the TV, the 2013 Panny player can handle most common types it's only the more unusual stuff it cant play which is where XBMC would excel.

Of course if you want a more advanced UI then XBMC is the way to go too, you don't necessarily need a PC either there are XBMC set top boxes like the TLBB and XIOS which run XBMC.

I'm looking at possibly getting a small media player like you mentioned or building an ITX based mini PC to use as a media centre. The laptop is doing the job for now but ideally I want a permanent, compact solution. Not going to rush into buying something until I'm sure it's going to satisfy my requirements. This is all so new to me!
 

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