Panasonic DMP-BD80

Trouble with the deck if turn on before the Projector. Must start projector first to get it to recognize a 720 source.

I agree with most of the reviews, with the exception of ease of setup. I mean I've been either a constant follower of, or working in the audio / video business since '79, and I realize that in technology based products that the features change exponentionally, but the manufacturers have little to no consideration for the end user anymore. I must have tried 3 or 4 times until I got everything just right in the 50 page manual ( yeah, and all relevant stuff in English - not a 4 language manual ).. If you buy this player ( and I DO recommend it ), and you ARE going to use the analog cables for HI-Def audio - but use HDMI direct to your TV, when you're setting up th "AUDIO" menu, the DTS and Dolby have to be switched ( use the remote ) from " bitstream " to " PCM ", THEN drop to the bottom and select the " secondary audio out " to " OFF ", or all you will hear are the surround channels. When you want to play regular DVD's - or listen through headphones, the settings have to be reversed. It only takes a couple, five seconds to do it - once you understand that you need to, and maybe you care " why ". Panasonic dropped the ball with this, and I was ready to send it back until I finally understood. I researched players in it's price range for almost two months, and everywhere I looked ( on line, you can't learn much at Big Box stores or grocery stores that dabble in electronics ), either this, or the BD60 are " best choice " for under $500. And as the one reviewer said, if your A/V receiver doesn't have HDMI switching, you NEED the BD80 to benefit from the new sound decoding formats ( and 4 pair of decent analog cables ). I AM very impressed that Panasonic didn't cut corners, and used gold plated jacks for 7.1 audio, digital ( coax ) audio, and even less relevant ones. It makes a lot more sense to upgrade to gold plated cables ( and believe me, take the cash you saved and buy some - when you're plugging them into gold ( part of the advantage is gold " corrodes " much more slowly than most other metals - you don't need to clean them as often, and movies or concerts WILL look and sound better ). Like other owners, I haven't found a use for " U-Tube " or " Picassso ", and haven't popped in a memory card yet, either ( I'm still reading the Owner's Manual on our new digital camera! ). However, ther's some internal programming called " firmware " which can be checked for updates manually, or the "Auto " setting ( I don't understand how a brand new model, out for less than 6 months has to " update it's firmware " twice in as many days - maybe it's to let you know how " on top of things " they are at Panasonic ? What I DO know now, is that my home theater now sounds better than any of the local cinemas, and the picture's not bad either! Buy it, ( and you might want to print this to make setting it up a bit easier ( there, I broke my arm patting myself on the back! ). And for the record, ALL Blu-ray players LOAD SLOWLY compared to a DVD or CD player. I don't know if some of the reviewers sat with a stop watch, or what. I know we live in the age of instant gratification and all, but what's a minute or two out of my day? It gives me time to get a beverage, some candy, turn down the lights, and put up my feet. May God bless you day! ( I have to go finish reading the camera's manual, then load the software into our computer . . . )

Pro's - Great Value, a quiet transport, 7.1 analog hookup for DTS-HD and amp; Dolby Digital HD! A mandatory feature if your receiver doesn't have HDMI switching. I took a [$]beating to ugrade my receiver when the industry switched from s-video to component video in and amp; out, and 3 years later they come out with HDMI! The analog out's prevents from that being an immediate issue ( you don't have to upgrade (?) again. Also, all female RCA's on back are gold plated. What good are high end cables if they dont connect gold on gold? You will still need a digital audio cable, co-ax or fiber optic ( odds are you already have one ) if you listen through headphones. Removable power cord if you want to upgrade your AC cable.I know some folks think they're a "snake oil " item, but if you get one w/ a molded in magnet, it filters out a lot of digital noise ( primarily out ), 'cause your system's only as good as it's weakest link. ( If you're a skeptic, wait a year and then swap it. If you don't notice a difference, most reputable dealers offer some kind of exchange/refund policy.Cons - few - picture isn't THAT much better than my H/K DVD-48 ( upconverts, but not Blu Ray. Perhaps my monitor needs a calibration! ) Also, I have a large collection of SACD's and amp; DVD-Audio discs, so I have to flip flop the same cables that I mentioned above - no big deal IF your not 52 yrs. old and amp; had a dozen back surgerys over last 15 years. Not the unit's fault, and without HDMI switching, I don't know if I coulld get even half what I paid for my receiver this time!Summary - it's attractive, not too big - not too small, NOT TOO LIGHT, so there's some suff inside. Ethernet access, I don't know how extensive it is ( like being able to download Netflix ), I will find out. Not a deal breaker, though. I shopped 2 months before I bought, and amp; I'm pleased so far.

I've done a lot of research on this unit and my entire home theater system. I've got a Yamaha surround, B and amp;W 5.1 speaker set-up and amp; Pioneer Elite 50" plasma. I debated getting the PS3 for the "two-for-one" (gaming and amp; Blu-ray player)aspect. My recommendation is to truely determine whether you are/would seriously be a "gamer" who'd use that feaure of the PS3. Otherwise you're spending more than necessary, getting a lesser quality blu-ray player and amp; passing up on all the newest sound codec's. I chose this unit based upon it's performance/recommendations from users and amp; "professionals" who review these types of products. If you've got a surround sound receiver with HDMI 1.3 spec, you don't need this unit. Panasonic offers the DMP60 for [$] less and will do the same job. My surround receiver doesn't have HDMI input and I needed this unit for it's analog output to hear the latest sound codec's. The only downside I've experienced so far with the blu-ray decoding the sound versus my receiver is that the low end/sub output on concerts (not movies)is very low and requires you to adjust the level up quite a bit to get the full output. I made all the available adjustments on the player but can't get the frequency cross over I desire. I haven't needed to do this with any movies yet. The sound from the newest codecs is a marked improvement. I wouldn't recommend replacing your surround receiver if it doesn't have HDMI inputs or the ability to decode these sound formats. The quality increase does not offset the expense. Everyone seems to comment on the disc load times and how long they take compared to regular DVD's. I don't find the time an issue at all. I haven't tried out the "BD-Live" feature yet as I haven't picked up an SD card. Personally, I classify this type of feature as a "whistle and amp; bell". The Viera is also pretty limited in offerings - how many people want to know how their stocks/the market is doing with the "bloomberg" channel. Remember, it's a TV and you can switch back to the set and find all the channels with info right at your finger tips.Best features I found were video and amp; audio performance, 24 FPS output, ease of use and compatability to interface USB/SD cards for things like a digital still or movie camera.Would have appreciated it if Panasonic had provided some kind of backlite keys on the remote - pretty hard to use in a dark room. Also wanted the player to have internal memory (minimum 1 GB) for the BD-live features instead of having to go out and buy one. Would have made it easier to try out. As a stand alone player, I'd recommend this unit to anyone. I didn't give it 5 stars as I feel that there are still some things that can be improved as mentioned above.

yeah, yeah, really high quality picture, etc. but blu-ray is still not ready for prime time IMO. slow load times, and horribly long delays for basic functions on certain bd titles (e.g. pressing stop on "hunt for red october" takes 10 seconds to actually stop the film playing). forget that, i'm just gonna' build a htpc instead.