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.
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.