Panasonic DMP-BD10 Player Commentary

[Chris Beveridge]

Article (http://www.animeonblu-ray.com/blog/?p=162)

[DeadlyMessiah]

Thankfully it is a lot better than the Samsung, but I'll pass. I've got HD-DVD to keep me happy as Sony has destroyed any hopes they had of my supporting BR with their attitude deficiencies.

Thanks for the great review nonetheless.

[Sensuifu]

[ QUOTE ]
Has any hardware manufacturer made a good remote? Every player review I read goes on about how awful they all are. The Toshiba’s is for crap, the Samsung’s is weak and the Panasonic isn’t all that great.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seriously, but Panasonic did have (imo) nice remotes in the earlier days of DVD. I love the joystick control and wished more companies would release remotes with them. Wonder why they decided to remove it.. I also think shuttle/jog dials should still be available on players.

[quenelf]

Yes - my Pioneer stereo system has a nice remote.

On the one hand, that's a much simpler system since it is just a radio/CD player/cassette (yes it's old)... on the other hand, there is no earthly need for 90% of the functions on DVD player remotes.

The player sounds decent - in fact it sounds like the first 'non-broken' player for either disc format, unless I missed one, although it's a little early for that judgement until we know whether it stands up against the more complex BD-J content supposedly to be included on some of Fox's releases. But it's a bit disturbing to see Blu-ray player prices heading from 'extremely high' toward 'stratospheric' rather than in the other direction.

I'd have thought that in the next month or so, players should be coming out at prices more competitive with HD-DVD i.e. $750 retail. Are cheaper players expected soon? Or are there still issues with blue laser supply, even at relatively high price premiums? (If so, how come MS are releasing their HD-DVD drive?)

--quen

[josephowens]

[ QUOTE ]
quen said:
Yes - my Pioneer stereo system has a nice remote.

On the one hand, that's a much simpler system since it is just a radio/CD player/cassette (yes it's old)... on the other hand, there is no earthly need for 90% of the functions on DVD player remotes.

The player sounds decent - in fact it sounds like the first 'non-broken' player for either disc format, unless I missed one, although it's a little early for that judgement until we know whether it stands up against the more complex BD-J content supposedly to be included on some of Fox's releases. But it's a bit disturbing to see Blu-ray player prices heading from 'extremely high' toward 'stratospheric' rather than in the other direction.

I'd have thought that in the next month or so, players should be coming out at prices more competitive with HD-DVD i.e. $750 retail. Are cheaper players expected soon? Or are there still issues with blue laser supply, even at relatively high price premiums? (If so, how come MS are releasing their HD-DVD drive?)

--quen

[/ QUOTE ]

I think they will be under $750 retail with the PS3 coming out in a month at 600 & 500 dollar price points.

[danhawk]

i might get one i f see one but i think i ll wait for a price drop. wht i need is good portable blu-ray player for under 2g's. airport secuirty might look at me funny taking the samsung player with me on a air plane along with my tv

[quenelf]

[ QUOTE ]
The Gundam Owens said:
I think they will be under $750 retail with the PS3 coming out in a month at 600 & 500 dollar price points.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but in all likelihood you won't be able to buy one of those until next year.

--quen

[josephowens]

[ QUOTE ]
quen said:
[ QUOTE ]
The Gundam Owens said:
I think they will be under $750 retail with the PS3 coming out in a month at 600 & 500 dollar price points.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but in all likelihood you won't be able to buy one of those until next year.

--quen

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless you buy one of the Sony laptops that have a blu-ray drive, they should be coming out soon, if not already out.

[Skywise]

Those Sony laptops are even more expensive than the standalone players. They're also not sold in Europe I believe.

[josephowens]

[ QUOTE ]
Skywise said:
Those Sony laptops are even more expensive than the standalone players. They're also not sold in Europe I believe.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't live in Europe, but I'm sure they will make it to Europe in due time. The price, like all new tech will come down soon enough as well.

[Skywise]

[ QUOTE ]
The Gundam Owens said:
[ QUOTE ]
Skywise said:
Those Sony laptops are even more expensive than the standalone players. They're also not sold in Europe I believe.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't live in Europe, but I'm sure they will make it to Europe in due time. The price, like all new tech will come down soon enough as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

No they won't. Sony simply doesn't have all the support and sales infrastructure in place for it. Their Vaio line here consists of only one thing, and that's monitors. Even that's only because they've been selling monitors for a long time to other companies that rebadge them, so they figure they might as well make some profit doing it directly.

[quenelf]

[ QUOTE ]
Skywise said:
No they won't. Sony simply doesn't have all the support and sales infrastructure in place for it. Their Vaio line here consists of only one thing, and that's monitors. Even that's only because they've been selling monitors for a long time to other companies that rebadge them, so they figure they might as well make some profit doing it directly.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can get Vaio laptops here (not the one with a BD drive, as far as I know, but I mean, in general), so maybe just Norway gets left out... in fact I know somebody in Finland who just bought one.

--quen

[josephowens]

[ QUOTE ]
quen said:
[ QUOTE ]
Skywise said:
No they won't. Sony simply doesn't have all the support and sales infrastructure in place for it. Their Vaio line here consists of only one thing, and that's monitors. Even that's only because they've been selling monitors for a long time to other companies that rebadge them, so they figure they might as well make some profit doing it directly.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can get Vaio laptops here (not the one with a BD drive, as far as I know, but I mean, in general), so maybe just Norway gets left out... in fact I know somebody in Finland who just bought one.

--quen

[/ QUOTE ]

They just came out here, so I'm sure they will be out across the pond soon enough, and look they only cost 3000+ dollars each, pocket change, right? /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

[danhawk]

chris is worth uprgading from the samsun or should just wait for the sony or pioneer elite to come out

[Chris Beveridge]

[ QUOTE ]
dark angel of death said:
chris is worth uprgading from the samsun or should just wait for the sony or pioneer elite to come out

[/ QUOTE ]

With the firmware that the Samsung has, it's probably worth waiting unless you're just dying to get your hands on something new. At this point I'd wait until all four models (plus the supposed Philips and LG models) are out and tested. I'm one of those folks who likes to do that testing part and be first hands on so I don't mind when I get hit with something bad every now and then. Most people do mind though.

[Skywise]

Plus there's the link you gave me in irc earlier today:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=739112

From what Stacey says it looks like there's quite some room in the picture quality department for both future firmware, and for the next generation of players to improve on.