Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray Player Review

Since I am firmly committed to the Blu-ray format in my theater, it was only a matter of time before I felt the overwhelming need to add the format to my living room AV system. With more and more TV shows being released on hi-def disc I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy my favorites on DVD when they are available on Blu-ray. To that end, I recently installed Panasonic’s latest entry, the DMP-BD50.

The BD50 is Panasonic’s third generation player and its most feature-laden to date. In addition to all the excellent video playback features carried over from the BD30 it supports full PCM and 5.1 analog decoding of ALL lossless sound formats. This is the main reason I waited for this player rather than buying the less-expensive BD30 for my living room. The BD30 only supports lossless formats as bitstreams. You will need a decoding receiver like the Onkyo SR-805 to fully enjoy the improved sound Blu-ray has to offer. The BD50 works nicely with my Denon 3806 by converting all sound formats to LPCM which the receiver accepts through its HDMI 1.1 inputs.

Aside from the improved sound support, the BD50 appears identical to the BD30. Though I have not compared them side-by-side on the same display, I can see no difference in image quality between the two. I believe both players have the same video sections. Menus and setup are pretty much the same. 24fps and DVD upconversion to 1080p are supported and you can force both resolution and scan rate if your display doesn’t play nice. As I am still using an older 720p Samsung TV, I set the BD50 to 720p and 60hz. Sound setup was a bit different. In the Audio menu, you can specify the type of digital output independently for Dolby and DTS formats. These settings will hold for Blu-ray and DVD playback. This means if you’ve specified PCM for Dolby and DTS formats, your receiver will say “PCM” or “Multi Channel” whether you play a Blu-ray or a standard DVD. For those of you wondering, I can’t hear any difference between audio that’s bitstreamed or decoded to PCM. I certainly CAN hear a difference between compressed (Dolby Digital & DTS) audio and uncompressed audio (Dolby TrueHD & DTS-Master Audio). Detail and clarity are much better and the dynamic range of even an average soundtrack is larger than the best mixes on DVD. I don’t believe you have to have a killer system to enjoy the benefits of lossless sound. My living room is far from ideal and I don’t have expensive gear. I do know that the soundfield is larger, the sense of surround is greater and detail is improved. I know there are other media formats vying for your entertainment dollars but Blu-ray is the only one to offer such a huge improvement in audio quality.

As I stated, there seems to be no difference in image quality between the BD30 and the BD50. DVD upconversion isn’t too bad. It’s not the equal of a high-end processing solution like Anchor Bay or HQV but I think it does a better job than the cheap upconverting players I’ve encountered. It certainly beats the video processing in my Samsung DLP. I noticed a few combing artifacts and occasional jaggies but images were noise-free and color fidelity was excellent. There was no added edge enhancement and dynamic range was superb. Though this player did not ace the HQV test disc, I still would consider it an excellent DVD player. The next step up would be Oppo’s $400 983 or Denon’s $850 2930. The BD50 will play standard audio CDs but not DVD-Audio or SACD. It will play all burned media provided it has been finalized. It also accepts SD memory cards like the BD30 for viewing of photos and home videos.

The BD50 is one of the first Profile 2.0 players on the market. It has the required Ethernet connection on the back panel. It does not however have sufficient internal memory. For this, you must install an SD card. I did not test the BD-Live features of this player but I did install a memory card just in case. They’re so cheap now; you might just have one lying around the house!

Obviously, I am quite happy with this new player. At $599 it’s not cheap but the bleeding edge never is. I wasn’t sure I would be as thrilled with Blu-ray on a 50-inch 720p display as I am in the theater with its 92-inch screen but I am. The image quality is simply wonderful and the audio is equally amazing. There’s just nothing like an artifact-free color-saturated picture. It’s much more difficult to achieve that from Standard DVD. Even an average-quality Blu-ray is superior to the best DVD transfers. I’m all about removing video processing from the signal path whenever possible. Now we have a format that allows this and I think we need to embrace it. Of course there will be something better in the future but when is that not the case? Blu-ray is the best video and audio format going right now and is likely to be for the next few years. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get the most out of your display right now!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the view!

Panasonic DMP-BD30 Blu-ray Player Review

Blu-ray is here! Now that the format war is over, I can confidently commit to an optical disc hi-def format. You can read about my aborted attempt at a dual-format player here. For an MSRP of $499 (I got it for $399 at Amazon), you can enjoy hi-def bliss in your own theater. The BD30 supports 24p video output and bitstreaming of lossless sound formats to a compatible receiver. It will also upconvert standard DVD to 1080p/60 if you wish. This player will play pretty much any shiny disc except SACD and DVD-Audio. AVCHD support for hi-def camcorders is included as well. This format allows HD video to be encoded on a standard DVD or an SD card. For audio output there are 5.1 analog output jacks provided as well as coax and optical digital and of course, HDMI. This player will not decode lossless sound formats internally. It should be considered an audio transport to be used with a receiver or processor capable of decoding Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Fortunately, the Onkyo SR805 in my rack is one such product. I will post a review of that unit shortly.

Ergonomically, the unit is pretty typical of disc players. The front panel has 2 flip-down doors, one hiding controls and the SD slot and one hiding the disc transport. Fortunately, you don’t have to manually open the disc door to insert or eject a disc like you did on the BD10. I’m not sure why Panasonic chose to put the eject button on the opposite side from the disc tray, strange. My only real complaint about this player is the blue light in the top center of the front panel. This little light is about an inch wide and shines an extremely bright blue. Oddly, you can dim the panel display in the setup menu but not this annoying light. I will probably put a piece of black tape or cloth over this as it is within my peripheral vision when I’m watching a movie. (**Update 3-29** To turn off the light, enter the Setup menu, choose "Display" then "SD Card LED Control." Turning this option off turns off the blue light. Thanks to Widescreen Review for this info.) The remote is decent though without a backlight, it’s pretty much useless in a darkened theater. I couldn’t wait to set the player up with my Harmony 890.

Before I dive into the playback results, a word about 24p: once you’ve experienced a movie without judder or cadence-related artifacts, you’ll never want to go back. I highly recommend a display capable of displaying 24p. Note my use of the term “displaying.” Some TVs will accept a 24p signal and display it at 60 or 120 hertz. This completely defeats the purpose of having a 24p capable player. My projector displays 24p signals at 96 hertz. Look for a refresh rate that is a multiple of 24. Pioneer plasmas can refresh at 72 hertz while the latest Panasonic commercial plasmas support a 48 hertz refresh rate. The resulting smooth and artifact free cadence really brings movie watching to whole new level.

Now, on to the playback results. Blu-ray discs, not surprisingly, look stunning on my Panasonic AE2000U projector and Carada 92-inch screen. Detail and color are simply on another level even from hi-def TV. There is simply no comparison of a quality Blu-ray image to cable or satellite HD. Since compression is minimal and bandwidth is plentiful, the image rivals that of a movie theater. In fact it handily surpasses the film quality available in my area of the country (Orange County, New York). DVD upconversion is decent though I much prefer the image from my Denon 2930CI. I’ve added one of these excellent players to my theater to support my standard-def movie collection. I would say though on a 50-inch or smaller display, the DVD playback of the BD30 is above average. I’d say you’d have to go with at least an Oppo 983 with its ABT video processor to surpass the Panasonics DVD image quality. Audio from this player is also superb. Of course, in bitstream mode it’s simply passing the data to the receiver for decoding. The advantages of a direct signal path with only one digital to analog conversion are clear. Sonic detail from movie soundtracks is the best I’ve ever heard. I’m hearing subtle things in familiar titles I’ve not heard before. Blu-ray discs with lossless soundtracks are even more impressive. Once you’ve heard a well-mastered disc in TrueHD or DTS Master Audio, Dolby Digital won’t be quite the same. The speaker system in my theater is the same Axiom M60, VP150, QS8 and EP350 setup that I use in the living room. Between the improvements I’ve made in electronics and room acoustics, I can now say with confidence that I’ve surpassed the sound quality available in all but the best movie theaters. There is no harshness or fatigue. Dialog is clear and tight. There is a huge dynamic range yet I’m never straining to hear detail or reaching for the volume control when the louder dynamics are in play.

I realize that at $499, many still consider Blu-ray to be too expensive. It’s a shame that the industry isn’t willing to get players down to the sub-$200 range at this time. For us early-adopters however, it’s a great time to be a videophile. I only wish there were more Blu-ray titles! They are slowly getting out there. I’ve already purchased a few movies that I previously owned on DVD. To me, it’s well worth it for the improvement in image and sound quality. Before Blu-ray, images and sound this good couldn’t be achieved even on the most expensive equipment available. Now you can have 1080p and lossless sound for only $499! The only caveat with this player is you must pair it with an HDMI 1.3a capable receiver to realize its full audio potential. This isn’t too hard though with the excellent Onkyo SR805 selling for under $1000. With today’s quality hi-def displays available at ever-lowering prices, it’s easy logic to have the best hi-def source available to maximize performance. The Panasonic BD30 advances the art and science of video to a very high level. You won’t be disappointed!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the view!