Panasonic DMP BD65 Blu Ray Player Review

24 Responses to “Panasonic DMP BD65 Blu Ray Player Review”

1. Bruce says:

   May 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm

   Awesome Picture Quality with great internet featuresI concur with the other 5* reviews, this is a great machine with excellent picture quality in upconverting and bluray disc modes. I especially like the additional internet features (Netflix, Amazon On Demand Video, YouTube, weather and stockmarket screens). I was able to very easily set up a wireless connection to the Ethernet port using a ASUS WL-330g Ethernet bridge. This wireless adapter was easy to set up and cost less than half of what the Wireless adapter which Panasonic sells.

   As an unexpected bonus, I discovered that the remote will operate the basic functions of my Sony TV and Pioneer Receiver/Amplifier…….That means I no longer have to sit there with 3 remotes controls when watching a movie.

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2. Anonymous says:

   May 15, 2010 at 11:54 am

   Panasonic DMP-BD65 Review
   Very good Blu-Ray, especially when you factor in the price. I have not hooked up the a CAT cable for the internet connection yet. The video and audio difference with a Blu-Ray is noticeably better.

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3. Anonymous says:

   May 12, 2010 at 6:38 pm

   I had some significant issues with networking
   My first blu-ray player was a Panasonic DMP-BD35, it had great blu-ray image quality and DVD up-scaling was excellent, but it didn’t properly support the new HD audio standards and it had no Netflix streaming support. I bought a Samsung BD-P1590 to replace my old Panasonic to get Netflix streaming and have been generally very happy with it but when watching DVD’s on my Samsung, I felt that the image quality wasn’t up to the level of my old DMP-BD35. When I saw that the new Panasonic players now support Netflix streaming, I bought one to test out.

   I use a Mac Mini in my home entertainment setup, I don’t have a wired network connection nearby, but my Mini has N-wireless built in and I was able to share this wireless connection via the wired LAN port on my Mini to the Samsung wired LAN port, it worked flawlessly! When I tried the same setup with the Panasonic DMP-BD65, the player would not pull an IP address automatically. As I said, the Samsung blu-ray had no problem pulling an IP address automatically, I also tested it with a netbook and another laptop, both got the IP address without a problem. I then manually set the IP address on the DMP-BD65 and I finally got a network connection. I downloaded the firmware update (1.14), installed it, rebooted, thought maybe that would fix the DHCP IP address issue, no luck! With the manually configured IP address, I tested out Netflix streaming, the Panasonic was quicker to determine network speed and to start the stream than my Samsung BD-P1590, but the network connection was often detected as “too slow” or slow enough to severely degrade the Netflix video quality, then other times it would show great network speed, movie would start in HD mode, then a few minutes in a message would pop up telling me my network speed had slowed and the movie would restart in much lower quality. I never had any issues like this with my Samsung, network speed is always detected at highest level and HD available movies always play in HD mode. I know some of you may think that I may have manually set up the network incorrectly, but I have worked in IT support for over 11 years, I understand how to configure network settings. My network connection at home is very good, when using sites like [...] and others, I consistently get over 30mbps download speeds, so it is not a network speed issue.

   Back to the main reason I bought this player, DVD upscaling, when I tested it on the DMP-BD65 it wasn’t any better than my Samsung BD-P1590! Maybe I have become accustomed to watching blu-ray disks and just had fond memories of how DVD’s looked on my old Panasonic player, or maybe the older Panasonic actually did a better job of up-scaling DVD’s? I returned the Panasonic DMP-BD65 and now have a rekindled affection for my Samsung BD-P1590.

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4. Anonymous says:

   May 9, 2010 at 12:40 am

   GREAT
   Great blu ray player , especially the up conversion with regular dvd’s. Very satisfied !

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5. gadgester says:

   May 6, 2010 at 2:31 am

   Excellent Blu-ray player, best buy for the money
   I bought the BD655 version at my local Costco which is basically the same as this BD65 except it comes with an HDMI cable included and is sold only at certain stores and warehouses like Costco and Wal-mart. I already have a PS3 but since I’ve been playing a lot of Blu-ray games I was concerned about my PS3’s Blu-ray lens lifespan so I decided to buy a dedicated Blu-ray player, plus I wanted the Amazon/Netflix streaming video feature (finally!). I did a lot of research and found Panasonic’s Blu-ray players highly rated by Consumer Reports so I went to my local Costco and saw this one and bought it. It has more features, including “true cinema” picture quality, than the Sony player and another brand at Costco yet costs less.

   I have been extremely happy with the player so far. The picture quality, as displayed on my big Sharp LCD TV, is top-notch — I’m pretty positive even better than my PS3’s Blu-ray movie output, which is already among the best to begin with. (In case you’re curious, Consumer Reports’ top-ranked players are from Pioneer, which cost more and are harder to find in retail stores.) Boot-up time is fast and the streaming video feature, called Viera Cast ™, works great, allowing seamless watching of videos from Netflix, Amazon VOD and YouTube, among others. You should know that the BD65/BD655 has built-in support for Ethernet cable; if you want wi-fi, a wi-fi adapter is required. Some other reviews have great recommendations, or you can spend more and get the official Panasonic wi-fi adapter. Audio output is on par with other leading Blu-ray players and is best realized when you have a 7.1 system.

   In short, I find the BD65/BD655 to be an excellent Blu-ray player and probably the best value at this price range. My other Panasonic DVD players have lasted for ages, so I’m confident this will last a long time, too. The Netflix and Amazon streaming feature makes this simply the best Blu-ray player for under $200.

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6. tekbargains says:

   May 5, 2010 at 4:42 pm

   Awesome Picture Quality with great internet features
   I concur with the other 5* reviews, this is a great machine with excellent picture quality in upconverting and bluray disc modes. I especially like the additional internet features (Netflix, Amazon On Demand Video, YouTube, weather and stockmarket screens). I was able to very easily set up a wireless connection to the Ethernet port using a ASUS WL-330g Ethernet bridge. This wireless adapter was easy to set up and cost less than half of what the Wireless adapter which Panasonic sells.

   As an unexpected bonus, I discovered that the remote will operate the basic functions of my Sony TV and Pioneer Receiver/Amplifier…….That means I no longer have to sit there with 3 remotes controls when watching a movie.

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7. jinxak says:

   April 29, 2010 at 8:01 am

   MAJOR false advertising!
   DO NOT BUY THIS JUNK. The boot time advertised on the box of 0.5 seconds? That is fake, it takes close to a minute if you are lucky. This player DOES NOT support BD-LIVE AT ALL. That was the main reason of me buying this. With a solid wired net connection, with a perfectly working SD card, no BD-LIVE features are available ..

   DO NOT BUY!!

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8. Anonymous says:

   April 26, 2010 at 11:41 pm

   Panasonic DMP-BD65 blu-ray player..
   This unit works just fine, as advertised. Except for one thing. The problem I have is their wording in the ad…if they had said “WiFi-ALMOST-ready,” it’d have been more honest, in my humble opinion. As it turns out though, you still need to purchase a *gadget*–that is, a dongle, or a digital antenna, or wifi adapter, or however you want to refer to it–in order to be ABLE to actually stream video such as Netflix wirelessly. The way it comes, “right out of the box?” Nope. Apart from that, it’s fine. You do have to select the “instant-play” feature too, or it doesn’t do that either, in the name of power-saving I suppose. Take my advice: don’t try to find the necessary “dongle” attachment locally, for two reasons. One, it’d “dangle” in an ugly way, out the front of the player where the USB port is located, (behind a door instead of in the back unseen, as the HDMI cable I eventually settled on, both for simplicity and to keep from having to pay up to an extra $100 or more for the dongle), and two..I wasn’t even able to locate the darn thing, after trying several places, and that includes Amazon. Simple fact is, hardly anyone even knew WHAT type or kind would work with this unit. If I had it to do over again, (which unlucky for me I don’t) I’d just cough up the added 80 or 85 bucks and get the DMP-BD85 model, which really IS Wifi-enabled, i.e. it contains the dreaded dingly-dangly thing internally “right out of the box.” I learned a hard lesson on this one folks: there really is a difference between advertisement wording, that is.. ‘ready’ doesn’t mean ‘enabled’ which doesn’t mean ‘capable.’ Three distinctively different terms. Learn them all, or woe is you.

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9. dncobb says:

   April 26, 2010 at 3:26 pm

   Blu-ray
   It wasn’t hard to install I have used it once, because it’s a replacement unite in my RV.
   
   The true test will be this summer.

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10. Anonymous says:

    April 15, 2010 at 1:30 am

    Super Buy for the non-techie
    This is a SUPER buy for the first time blu-ray buyer with wireless streaming. Set up is a snap and navigation thru the menu is EASY. Previous opinions mentioned play back of non blu-ray movies was sub-par, but I found play back quality as good as upstreaming units.
    
    I found the remote also easy to set up to control my receiver (Onkyo TX-SR605) and TV (Vizio SV421XVT).
    
    Network options offer an array of uses to continue my viewing pleasure.
    
    In summing up this unit, “BUY IT”!

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11. thiggy_d says:

    April 10, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    Dissapointed
    I have model BD35 and wanted to upgrade because it can be slow at times with startup and tray open. I read the reviews here regarding this model BD65 and ordered without hesitation. I’m very dissapointed and have opted to return the unit. Compared to model 35, the picture quality of this model is appears animated, over driven, soft — yes, I’ve been through all adjustments, yet the picture looks artificial. This unit is very noisy when a disc in the tray is being accessed/read. The network connection to Netflix is inconsistent. Perhaps this is a problem with specific movies at Netflix. For some specific movie titles, the unit detected slow network connection — not all — and downgraded the video quality to adjust for the throughput; poor video quality. A internet speed test returned 21.16 Mb/s down and 3.82 Mb/s up — hardly a connection issue. After stopping the streaming network movie and starting again from the beginning, the connection quality was re-established to HD quality, then downgraded again. I feel this is a Netflix issue and until they get it worked out, I’ll stay with model 35, order discs via mail and enjoy BD quality video resolution. Bottom line… the picture quality on this model appears animated, soft, over driven. The unit is noisy when a disc in the tray is being read. The wired network connection throughput from Netflix is inconsistent.

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12. Anonymous says:

    April 9, 2010 at 3:18 am

    Great Blu Ray Player
    I have had the Panasonic DMP-BD65 for about a month and everything works great. Set up is a breeze (less than 10 minutes to set up both amazon and netflix accounts). Blu ray quality is outstanding. DVD upconversion is very good. If you want the best, buy an oppo if you got the money. The neflix streaming is why i got this player and it didnt disappoint. Interface is very intuitive (cant search titles, but can play the ones in your neflix bin) with DVD like picture quality.

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13. max1066 says:

    April 6, 2010 at 2:13 pm

    Panasonic Blue-Ray DMP-BD65
    Pros: Player is very easy to setup and provides an excellent picture on my Panasonic 720p flatscreen HDTV.

    Con: The player is WIFI, but they fail to mention the fact that it requires a special adaptor made only by Panasonic a retail price of $99.00. This means that the player to use WiFi the total cost exceeds the model DMP-BD85 which has the built in WiFi recever

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14. thecardinal_usa says:

    April 5, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    Panasonic + Netflix = 100% superb
    This unit has exceeded all expectations. I bought this unit to view content from Netflix. The BluRay, DVD, Cd player aspect was the secondary purpose. Thus, my review is weighted 65% to Netflix performance and 35% the other features.

    [Netflix] Only one word covers this: superb! Continuous HD quality. Resolution, colors, textures, movement, audio, etc… all are 100% superb and perfect. The controls are extremely responsive, which is a real treat after dealing with cable on demand the past few years. During playback, pause and play are instantaneous; like lightening.

    [Streaming FF and Reverse] Time lapse is displayed in minutes, which is refreshing. After FF/Rev, you may have to pause for 2 seconds for content delivery to continue. So, if you hunt and peck for a spot more than 3 times, that will be frustrating. But, it is very responsive overall with very cool display features while you are using the FF and Reverse.

    The onscreen Netflix Queue ops were also superb. You will still need your computer to manage your Queue but with this player you can rate, delete, and view your INSTANT entries. You also get a graphic of the dvd cover and a summary of the movie while you are scrolling through your queue. One feature I really liked is how TV series are handled; ei: one queue entry represents and gives drill down into say all 14 episodes of a TV series: very efficient and smart.

    [Remote Control] It seems allot of thought went into the remote control. It will take a few times of use to become accustomed to it as some buttons stand out more than others. It is small, well balanced, and no thrills but effective. Also, while using Netflix, become accustomed to using the back or return button. Upon initially going to Netflix, there is a pause for the queue to load into memory. I have over 450 movies in my instant queue and the queue load time is about 5 seconds. So, if you go too far, you wait 5 seconds, then another 5 seconds, etc… I learned to use the back button after a few 5 second pauses Also, a nice feature, when you press stop and then resume a film later, playback resumes where you left off. This works even after shutting the unit off.

    [BluRay/DVD/Cd] DVD/BluRay performance was excellent and boot up time was the fastest I’ve ever seen. The colors are rich as you would expect from a well built player. The 5.1 etc audio is identical to every other DVD player I’ve ever owned. One note, you cannot play a data/non video DVDs containing VOB, Avi, Divx, etc… type files. I was disappointed in this aspect but it wasn’t a deal breaker for me.

    [Network] Network setup was a breeze. I have a complex firewall finally tuned for high security. I was expecting a real wrestling match here. But, this device auto configured in no time. From the time I plugged it in to the time I was watching Netflix was literally under 5 minutes without reading the manual. I use a DHCP server on the firewall which made the auto configuration a breeze. My Network is setup to perfection. I use Fast Ethernet (10/100) devices with cat 6 wiring. To date, Netflix streams 100% HD!!!!!

    Side note: this will not work out of the box as a wifi device. But, this is the main reason I choose this unit: I do not use nor do I want wifi in my house. If you want wifi, there is a separate accessory you have to buy. Also, there is a higher end model with wifi built in.

    [Other features] Make sure to set your city as your default for the weather channel. I didn’t think I would use the weather, but it is very useful. To me, youtube and Picasso almost put me to sleep. The additional features (usb/sd) were tested and work as expected. Also, the stock market screen is pretty cool too.

    [Other Streaming: Amazon] I love Amazon. However, at $2.99 to watch 1 episode of a tv show, I will not be giving them much business… They have a great selection though, and the service works great through this unit.

    [Other Streaming: network] This is a sore point for me: you cannot stream dvd content from a usb drive nor a network server… Research reveals these features are available in non US markets on this identical unit.

    [Bottom line] I would highly recommend this unit if you desire Netflix streaming with a superb BluRay/DVD player attached.

    GD Star Rating
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15. Anonymous says:

    April 4, 2010 at 7:26 am

    Netflix Streaming
    My sole purpose for investigating Blu-Ray devices was to determine of they were better than the single function Roku media player for accessing Netflix streaming video content. I started fooling around with Netflix streaming video on my PC over a fairly fast DSL connection several months ago. Over that period the quality of the Netflix streaming product has improved considerably. It reached the point where I was watching enough content on my PC that I felt justified in moving it to my entertainment center.

    I first checked out the various Roku products and decided that their top of the line HD player was what I wanted (the price differential between their top and bottom models was only $50). I then took a look at the other devices that supported streaming content to TV on the Netflix site. Since I was not interested in gaming systems the Blu-Ray players seemed like a reasonable alternative because the newest models were only a few dollars more than the Roku player I was considering. I’ve have had several good experiences with Panasonic electronics, so I took a look at their Blu-Ray product line. The DMP-BD65 was one of several new Blu-Ray products they have introduced. I wanted to have the option of hard wire or wireless connectivity, but also keep the price close to what the Roku player.

    Based upon several of the earlier reviews at Amazon and other reviews on the web, I decided that the DMP-BD65 met all my requirements. I purchased the product for about $30 more than the Roku player.

    Since receiving the DMP-BD65 I have been very satisfied with my choice of product. I ended up running Cat 5 cable from my wireless router to the Blu-Ray player. The quality of Netflix streaming video varies to some degree depending on internet traffic conditions, but it is usually extremely good. I was surprised to find that it far surpassed the quality I got on my PC. It has enhanced significantly the utility of the streaming content included in my Netflix membership.

    In addition to the access to streaming video, I have found that the Up-conversion feature improves the quality of my DVD images. Based upon an earlier comment to the contrary in an Amazon review of this product, your experience will probably depend on the quality of your DVD player.

    In addition to supporting Netflix, the DMP-BD65 also provides access to Amazon Streaming rentals, YouTube content, weather information, and Picasa web photo albums. I plan to begin creating albums on Picasa in order to take advantage of that feature. The net based content menu also contains a prominent reference to future content, unfortunately nothing specific is listed at this time. While I hope that Panasonic offers more web resources in the future, anything beyond Netflix content is icing on the cake for me.

    I would strongly recommend the DMP-BD65 to anyone who wants to get more out of their Netflix Unlimited rental plan.
    

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16. Anonymous says:

    April 3, 2010 at 8:06 pm

    Nice unit but beware of default settings for component video output
    Yes, I know this is a high definition Blue Ray player ideally meant to be used with HDMI connections. However, I just have to add a note for those who may still want or need to use the component video out connections as opposed to HDMI, perhaps for watching standard DVD’s on older plasma TVs. (I actually prefer the look of the analog connections on my older 480p plasma). When I first hooked up the BD-65 I was quite disappointed with the look of standard DVDs compared to those on my older DVD player. I also thought this might be some problem with poor “upconversion” or something but then realized on close inspection of the settings menu that the component video out was locked in a 480i mode (i.e., 480 interlaced, the old TV standard for years) as the default setting. In addition, I could not initially see a way to change that, until I turned the HDMI output “off”, at which point the video settings submenu allowed changing the component video out to 480p, 720p and so on. I am wondering whether this initial default setting problem may be responsible for perhaps some of the complaints about watching standard DVDs on this unit?

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17. Anonymous says:

    March 31, 2010 at 11:25 pm

    Solid performance at a reasonable price
    This is a good piece of gear, all in all, and i have very few complaints about it.

    All current blu-ray players have about the same picture quality when playing blu-ray content. The quality of a blu-ray player thus comes down to how well it plays DVDs, how easy it is to actually own and use, and how well the other features built into the player actually work.

    I used to have a blu-ray player that was designed to win design awards and to replace a home theater PC. That much more expensive device failed on both points, and wasn’t very good at playing DVD content.

    The DVD playback on the DMP-BD65 is among the best I’ve seen.

    Aside from that, it’s a simple no-nonsense device. It’s small and light with a power button on one end and an eject button on the other, and a little door opens to reveal a USB port and SD card slot.

    The remote control is above average. The buttons that are used the most are the largest, which is to say that the navigation cluster is easy to use. It can also control power and volume for both a TV and a home theater receiver.

    The netflix client is almost as good as you’d find on the Roku N1000. The picture quality for netflix streams is very good, and that application as a whole seems stable and reliable – and unfortunately not all blu-ray players with netflix streaming clients can make that claim.

    There are just a few quibbles.

    1: If you need it to connect to a wireless network, at this time it appears (and panasonic is claiming) that you can only use Panasonic’s usb wireless adapter – which doesn’t come with it, and may be hard to find. This is better than nothing, but if you need wifi, plan for this and include it in your cost considerations – it may turn out that you’d be better off buying the DMP-BD85 if you need wifi connectivity. This didn’t bother me – I have ethernet wired to the AV rack.

    2: It is very easy to accidentally exit the top level menu. When you’ve done this, you end up looking at a pretty blue logo screen until you find the right button on the remote to return to the top level menu, getting scolded every time you guess wrong. This serves no purpose and i view it as a stupid programming oversight. It simply shouldn’t be possible to go from the main menu to a screen that does nothing.

    3: It turns out that the same button used to free you from the logo screen can be substituted for the ’stop’ button while playing blu-ray content – and it’s right next to the navigation cluster on the remote. Since most blu-ray titles these days are BD-J and thus can’t be resumed unless you have used the pop-up menu to set a bookmark, it can’t resume playback at the point where you left. Pressing the ’stop’ button does the same thing, but that’s what ’stop’ is supposed to do.

    And for that matter, pressing ’stop’ while watching BD-J titles should probably pause the video and display a dialog asking the user to confirm that they want to stop, and probably mention that they should use the pop-up menu to set a bookmark if they will want to resume. This is a complaint i have about BD-J in general, not any particular device.

    All in all, I think Panasonic set acheivable goals for this player, and succeeded in delivering on them.

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18. arantmattern says:

    March 30, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    “Wireless Enabled” is a bit deceptive
    I bought this unit to replace a failing DVD player and was particularly interested in the internet options (Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand).
    
    While the box and the specs say that this player is “WiFi-Enabled” and that it has a USB port for this purpose, it is only noted in the manual (after you unpack it) that you can ONLY use Panasonic’s wireless USB adapter ($99) with this device!
    
    Fortunately, I had a Netgear XE102 ethernet extender on hand to avert full-scale mutiny at our house.

    Besides that, I’m very happy with the picture quality of both DVD and Netflix upscaling.

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19. Anonymous says:

    March 28, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    Best Bang For The Buck
    Netflix HD, Amazon Video On Demand in HD. This is the first player I’ve seen that has BOTH of these great services! The bluray performance is top notch and FAST! I put Gladiator in and it looked just as good if not better than my old dvd player did, the dvd upconversion worked excellent! The 24p mode works great as there was no artifacts or interlaced frames sneaking their way on screen. My one complaint is Panasonic only included a set of composite cables (red, white, yellow), for a bluray player meant to view high definition why couldn’t they include a HDMI cable? This player is worth five stars….but the packaging from Electronics Expo deserves 1 star. All they did was slap a ups label on the box from panasonic. Which when delivered the box had dents surrounding it and a hole in the box, almost like the ups guys took turns kicking it! Luckily the player was undamaged. Electronics Expo should package their products before they ship with either styrofoam or air cushion inserts.

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20. Anonymous says:

    March 20, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    BLUE RAY, But Not Much Else
    BlueRay seems pretty decent…Played the first BlueRay Disc I tried (TOTAL RECALL). It was very easy to setup and loads discs much faster than my Toshiba BlueRay.
    
    Haven’t tried any of the features such as wireless, SD Card Access or USB.

    DVD UPConversion should truly described as DOWNCONVERSION instead because it makes the DVD movies look worse than my DVD Player. Lots of artifacts and such.

    Things this can Play:BD-Video, BD-RE, BD-R, DVD-Video, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD-RW (+R/+RW/+R DL, ), MUSIC CD (CD-R, CD-RW), SD MEMORY CARD (8MB-2GB), SDHC MEMORY CARD (4GB-32GB),
    
    SDXC MEMORY CARD (48GB-64GB), USB DEVICES (up to 128GB). It is not warranted that all USB devices will work with this unit. Also DVD R/RW & CD R/RW must be finalized to work on this player.

    Things this CAN’T PLAY:2.6GB & 5.2 GB DVD-RAM, DVD-RAM that cannot be removed from cartridge, Super Audio CD, Photo CD, DVD-Audio, Video CD & Super Video CD, WMA Discs, DivX Discs, PAL Discs,
    
    HD DVD, BD-Video Discs recorded at a rate of 50 fields/sec.

    May be better players out there but I’m not willing to keep buying and testing so I’m sort of satisfied(kinda like being hungry & sort of satisfying that hunger with a loaf of bread).

    Happy playing

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21. Anonymous says:

    March 19, 2010 at 4:23 am

    OK with blu ray; Not happy with regular DVD upconversion
    While I am pleased with the BR playback, a lot is left to be desired in terms of PQ with the regular DVD upconversion. My old Toshiba HD-DVD A3 player blows this away in terms of regular DVD upconversion. That’s why I am giving this player only 3 stars. Not all BR owners will have an exclusive BR collection so I wish Panasonic worked hard to make sure this unit will still give very satisfactory upconversion like their older DVD players. Everything else came as advertised including the fast boot up time. Keep in mind though that this unit will use more power while on standby mode if you have the quick boot feature turned on. I am seriously considering returning this unit and will look for a better budget BR player with very good upconversion capability. I think Panasonic missed the bar on this one.

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22. freedman@earthlink.net says:

    March 13, 2010 at 9:00 pm

    Outstanding Player in all Respects
    I purchased this player primarily to have access to Netflix streaming video. The Netflix playback quality is outstanding, surpassing that of standard DVD. I must note, however, that I have a 12000 baud Internet connection from AT&T U-Verse. Lesser connection speeds will naturally mean a lesser quality picture.
    
    Setup was very easy and the remote is simple to navigate.
    
    Contrary to another reviewer who gave the unit only one star because of an alleged failure to remember playback position when the STOP button is depressed, pressing the stop button does memorize the stopped position allowing resumption of playback at the point where the disc was stopped (see user manual page 16), except for BD-J discs. The reviewer may have pressed the STOP button more than once which clears the memory.
    
    With the addition of Netflix streaming, Panasonic is the clear leader in Blu-ray players, dollar for dollar.

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23. bigpuffer says:

    March 13, 2010 at 11:06 am

    Blu Ray garbarge
    It’s total garbage that if you hit “stop” or one of several of the 4 menu buttons on the remote, or if the machine shuts off, the player will restart at the beginning, losing track of your position and blessing you with the commercials and other nonsense that you can’t skip through at the front of the disk.

    I will be returning this device.

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24. andyboff says:

    March 5, 2010 at 8:40 pm

    Great Bang for your buck
    5 Stars sounds really generous, but for the money this is a GREAT Network ready BDP.
    
    This is the third network BDP I have set up and used, I recently reviewed the Samsung BD-P1590 – Blu-Ray disc player – upscaling – Netflix, Pandora against which (for similar money) this is a far superior machine. I also think the picture quality and upscaling for SD DVD’s in much better than the similar priced LG BD 370 Network Blu-ray Disc Player

    Running several Blu-Ray movies for testing, including BD live enabled content, boot times were very fast. The quick set up guide asks you about this and explains that it uses more power in standby mode, but it’s worth it for very quick loading.
    
    Blu Ray looks SUPERB – Panasonic web site says (PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus is a high quality image-processing technology developed to precisely process each pixel of the Blu-ray Disc video signal in the vertical direction) Sounds geeky, but the picture is great at both 1080i and 1080p. By default the 24fps is set to off, but if you have a home set up that supports it, it’s easy to switch back.
    
    SD Card slot, and USB interface great for home pictures, movies and photo’s, very easy to use. Nicely tucked away under a discreet panel in the front so no fiddling among the back wires.

    Out of the box set up for networking took me about 15 minutes.
    
    Very easy on screen instruction, easy to use remote, and set up can be either set to easy mode, or you can revisit the main menu at any time for finer adjustments on audio, video output, resolution and aspect ratio etc.
    
    The more involved set up options are however a little limited if you are used to close to pro tweaking on high end visual and audio equipment. But then again, this is an entry level kind of priced machine.

    What do you get for network? The VIERA system is a breeze, nice graphics, menu screen and options.
    
    I hard wired mine to the back Ethernet port with a Cat6 cable – Cat5 works without a problem, but for streaming (especially HD content) the Cat6 made the Netflix signal bar light up to HD most of the time.
    
    It is wireless ready. You can use a USB dongle (takes some tweaking) or better still a Linksys by Cisco Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming and Video Adapter. What’s nice is that(unlike Samsung) you don’t have to buy a special adapter.
    
    My preference would always be to hard line, but if that’s not an option, and you must have wireless (assuming you have boat loads of bandwidth) you can buy an adapter, or pay $80 more and buy it’s big brother the Panasonic DMP-BD85 WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player (Black)

    Whats on the Network?

    1)Netflix – unlimited free streaming movies (a lot in HD if your connection is good enough) documentaries, and TV shows from their “Watch Instantly” library, if you are a current subscriber of at least their $8.99 plan – free trial available.
    
    2)Amazon on Demand – Bags of movies and content to rent, buy, or even view free webisodes, trailers, documentaries and so on. Not a huge thing for me personally as I like Netflix, but very nice to have. Simply activate online at Amazon and you’re there – very easy on screen user friendly menus.
    
    3)Blomberg – Sort of on screen RSS feed with stocks, bonds and news headlines. Nice to have but not essential.
    
    4) Weather forecast, enter your zip code and set to default, or store multiple sites across the US for up to date weather news and information. Again, not something I need but nice to have.
    
    5)Picasa Web albums – share pictures with friends and family, look at your own, and other albums on your TV. Nice feature.
    
    6)You Tube – browse, or log into your account online
    
    7)Coming Soon?? – Your guess is as good as mine, could be for VUDU or something else, at least they are thinking ahead, and have the settings already started.

    What you don’t get…..

    1)Pandora – a quirky to use online streaming internet radio site that’s free with a lot of music. Doesn’t float my boat either, I don’t like radio sites that choose my music based on a song, or an artist – there are over 30,000 online internet radio stations that are free, Pandora doesn’t let you search any particular station in any part of the World, just their selections on what they think you like.
    
    2) Blockbuster Online – unless you have an account and use the in store returns on DVD and Blu stick with Netflix, their watch instantly movies are free with membership.
    
    3)VUDU – next generation 1080p streaming to rent and buy, this would have been nice to have, but I can live without it for now. Amazon more than makes up for it as far as I’m concerned.
    
    4) Any others I may have forgotten about (I’m sure there are more out there)

    Sum up

    PROS

    Excellent value for money
    
    Looks sleek, discreet and runs quickly AND quietly (unlike some BDP’s)
    
    Very easy to Set Up – VIERA interface for online content is great.
    
    Superior BD playback picture and sound quality – just when you thought it couldn’t get better
    
    Great upscaling, best I’ve seen on a machine of this price or on any machine without a REON chipset.
    
    USB, SD slots on front convenient and discreet
    
    Optional “wireless ready”
    
    Nice Remote

    CONS

    No 3D – even if the content isn’t there yet on BD live, you know it’s coming. Only the Sony BDP-S470 Blu-ray Disc Player in this price range is equipped. This would have been nice
    
    No onboard memory – BD live requires a USB or SD, but that’s the same for most machines
    
    No VUDU on networking – not a deal breaker, but may be for some.

    Bottom line……………..Great machine if you want to get into network and streaming movies. Quality and everything else for the price is unbeatable.

    GD Star Rating
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With the DMP-BD65 from Panasonic, the Full HD video and 7.1-channel studio-quality audio for which Blu-ray Disc is know is only the beginning. Use the ethernet port in conjunction with VIERA Cast and BD-Live and dive into online audio and video: stream Pandora radio or Netflix movies, tweet on Twitter, explore online bonus features or participate in online gaming, and more. On the audio side of things, Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD Master Audio, and advanced Panasonic technologies serve up an extraordinary 7.1-channel surround sound experience. Further, support for formats ranging from AVCHD to MP3 to JPEG allows for optimal versatility.

• Ultra-fast 0.5 second startup
• VieraCast enabled including Amazon Video on Demand and Netflix streaming movies
• Wireless ready
• More compact Design
• More efficient energy consumption

Dimensions

• Height: 1.9''
• Length: 8.15''
• Width: 16.9''
• Weight: 4.2 lbs