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Customer Reviews for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
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Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Model: DMP-BD30K
SKU: 8532974
UPC: 037988255894
Take full advantage of the high-definition revolution with this Blu-ray Disc player. It supports both single- and dual-layer BD-R and BD-RE discs, as well as BD-ROM discs, and provides decoders for Dolby Digital and DTS formats.
Average Customer Rating:
4.6
out of 5
(97 Reviews) 97
Rating Snapshot 97 reviews
5 stars
73
4 stars
18
3 stars
2
2 stars
3
1 star
1
96% of customers would recommend this product to a friend
(
93 out of
97)
Customer Reviews for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Review 1 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Posted by: Movienutforever
from Charleston, SC
on 06/28/2008
What's great about it: Excellent picture/sound, fast load times, plays everything
What's not so great: Need a receiver that can decode new sound formats
I purchased this player from Best Buy in the second week of May. I had done a great deal of research, and found that this player was the best rated on many sites. I also looked into what players were due out on the market and what their features were. I was not overly interested in BD Live, as it is hard enough to find the time to view the features that come on the disc without having more features downloaded from the internet. What I was interested in was built-in next generation sound decoding, and debated whether it was worth waiting for newer players with built-in decoding or buy the Panasonic. Because many of the newer players wouldn't be out for some time, and some of them were anticipated to be quite expensive, even compared to the Panasonic, I decided to buy the Panasonic. I have not been disappointed. This player will play any BD or DVD I put in it, even DVDs I've rented from Blockbuster Online. The picture is great, even on my Samsung 42" DLP TV, which has a maximum resolution of 720p/1080i. I had been concerned that the picture would not look as good at resolutions less than 1080p, but that has not been an issue. Upconversion of standard DVDs is excellent. I've tried some picture-in-picture features as well as the pop-up menu option for changing settings or skipping to a particular scene while the movie is playing, and it all worked perfectly. Sound has not been an issue, though not having heard Dobly DigitalPlus, TrueHD, DTS HD or DTS HD Master in comparison to standard Dolby Digital and DTS, I can't say if there is a noticeable difference in a 5.1 setup. My next purchase will be a receiver that can decode the new sound formats. All in all, the Panasonic blu-ray player is a solid choice if you don't want to wait for newer players with built-in decoding.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+4points
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Review 2 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Excellent Blue-ray Player
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: BaldGuy
from Idaho
on 10/21/2008
Value for Price
4.0
Picture Quality
4.0
Ease of Use
4.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0
What's great about it: Great picture and sound quality, ease of setup and no-HDMI problems
What's not so great: Remote control not back-lit, struggles with some CD-R/RW discs; needs latest firmware to get around a DTS audio problem
Great little machine for the money (though the new generation 35 will be better, of course). Easily set up and excellent picture and audio quality. Load times are consistent with other BR machines (except the PS3), which is fairly slow compared to legacy DVDs. Does what you need very well...
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 3 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
as good as a sony blu-ray player!
Customer Rating
5.0
Value for Price
5.0
Picture Quality
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0
What's great about it: excellent Blu-Ray
What's not so great: none
Panasonic has always been a top-notch brand, and this blu-ray disc player definitely shows that. The blu-ray discs look better than extrordinary and are extremely stunning!!!! It literally takes about just 3-4 minutes to set up, and you can start to watch the best-looking movies on the planet!
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 4 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Overall - its pretty cool, but for $400.....
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: BuckRusty
from Cincinnati
on 09/18/2008
Value for Price
3.0
Picture Quality
4.0
Ease of Use
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0
What's great about it: Setup took 5 seconds; full screen viewing; great picture/ sound quality
What's not so great: Not sure if ANY Blu Ray player is worth the cost right now
First off, you will read many reviews here where people complain about the "long" load time. I'm here to tell you that these discs load up in a matter of seconds, people. By the time you pop the disc in, grab a drink from the fridge, and sit down on the couch, the disc menu is up, and you're ready to go. It's impossible that anyone is in that big of a hurry to watch a movie. The disc load time is fast enough. Please pay no mind to that complaint in other reviews - its really not an issue.
I have this paired with a new 52" Samsung LCD. My previous setup had a simple Philips DVD player that I think I paid $69 for about 4 years ago hooked up via a composite cable. The picture looked just fine. However, me being a human being, I wanted more......
So I did some reasearch and settled on this Panasonic Blu Ray player. This is a very nice unit - a moderately trained monkey could hook this thing up in a matter of seconds. Plug one end of the HDMI cable into the Blu Ray player, the other end of the HDMI cable into the TV, and that's it.
So now that I had my Blu Ray player, I needed some Blu Ray discs. This is where my initial disappointment began. Not only do they not have the types of movies available on Blu Ray that they should have (meaning movies where stuff is blowing up all over the place, movies with robots, movies w/ tons of funky CGI, etc), they really don't have that many movies period. So I just got some of my all time favs - Reservoir Dogs, Full Metal Jacket, Unforgiven, and Goodfellas.
Keep in mind that none of these movies were made after 1992. Not exactly "hi-tech" types of films.
I popped in Reservoir Dogs first. I was extremely happy to not see the big black bars on the top and bottom of the picture anymore - I paid $3K for the TV, and didn't part with that kind of cash to see black bars.
Was the picture clearer? Yes. Was the sound better? Yes. Were both of those improvements big enough to warrant me spending $400 for the system and $25 to $35 per movie? That I can't say for sure. Maybe I'll be singing a different tune when I see movies like Lord of the Rings and The Matrix or that Planet Earth series on this thing.
I also heard/ read that standard DVDs look sooooo much better when played on a Blu Ray player. I saw no discernable difference. They looked the same to me.
In short - I'm glad I bought it, its nice, but its not as nice as I thought it would be.
Hope that helps.
I have this paired with a new 52" Samsung LCD. My previous setup had a simple Philips DVD player that I think I paid $69 for about 4 years ago hooked up via a composite cable. The picture looked just fine. However, me being a human being, I wanted more......
So I did some reasearch and settled on this Panasonic Blu Ray player. This is a very nice unit - a moderately trained monkey could hook this thing up in a matter of seconds. Plug one end of the HDMI cable into the Blu Ray player, the other end of the HDMI cable into the TV, and that's it.
So now that I had my Blu Ray player, I needed some Blu Ray discs. This is where my initial disappointment began. Not only do they not have the types of movies available on Blu Ray that they should have (meaning movies where stuff is blowing up all over the place, movies with robots, movies w/ tons of funky CGI, etc), they really don't have that many movies period. So I just got some of my all time favs - Reservoir Dogs, Full Metal Jacket, Unforgiven, and Goodfellas.
Keep in mind that none of these movies were made after 1992. Not exactly "hi-tech" types of films.
I popped in Reservoir Dogs first. I was extremely happy to not see the big black bars on the top and bottom of the picture anymore - I paid $3K for the TV, and didn't part with that kind of cash to see black bars.
Was the picture clearer? Yes. Was the sound better? Yes. Were both of those improvements big enough to warrant me spending $400 for the system and $25 to $35 per movie? That I can't say for sure. Maybe I'll be singing a different tune when I see movies like Lord of the Rings and The Matrix or that Planet Earth series on this thing.
I also heard/ read that standard DVDs look sooooo much better when played on a Blu Ray player. I saw no discernable difference. They looked the same to me.
In short - I'm glad I bought it, its nice, but its not as nice as I thought it would be.
Hope that helps.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
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Review 5 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Super picture..easy setup
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Vidkin
from Snellville Ga.
on 09/16/2008
Value for Price
5.0
Picture Quality
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0
What's great about it: Crystal Clear 1080p output and it upverts
What's not so great: None yet
Over Labor Day weekend I visited Best Buy looking for a way to make my existing DVDs look better in my home theater. After looking at price vs options I settled on this model. It was easy to set up (only minutes) and the result was amazing. My normal DVDs were converted to 1080i resolution and this was worth the price alone. The Blu ray is great but the discs are a little pricey at the moment..I bought a couple and the are amazing.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 6 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Good value, great quality
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: SoJo
on 09/15/2008
Value for Price
5.0
Picture Quality
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0
What's great about it: Quick load times, easy to use
This blu-ray is the quickest I have come by. Most blu-ray disc players (coughSONYcough) take several seconds to load. This Panasonic blu-ray is very quick. The unit looks very nice and is a good value.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 7 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
love it
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: wsptpr
from Wisconsin
on 09/15/2008
Value for Price
4.0
Picture Quality
5.0
Ease of Use
4.0
Ease of Set Up
4.0
What's great about it: great picture, looks good, overall a great product so far.
What's not so great: seemed a little pricey, but I guess they all are.
Happy with it so far. Took me a while to get all the on screen settings the way I wanted them.
A lot of great features I didn't have with my old DVD player.
Great picture quality with regular DVDs as well.
A lot of great features I didn't have with my old DVD player.
Great picture quality with regular DVDs as well.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 8 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Best Purchase
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: SHAQUIL
from CHANDLER AZ
on 09/15/2008
Value for Price
3.0
Picture Quality
4.0
Ease of Use
4.0
Ease of Set Up
4.0
What's great about it: WORKS WELL AND GOOD QULITY PICTURE
What's not so great: PROCESS LITTLE SLOW
Overall this product is good and run all the DVD's. It has connections to all other equipments.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 9 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Worth it
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Mikeytron
on 09/11/2008
Value for Price
4.0
Picture Quality
5.0
Ease of Use
4.0
Ease of Set Up
4.0
What's great about it: Quality and price
What's not so great: None
This unit replaced a very reliable Panasonic Progressive Scan DVD player. Looks good, loads quickly. Software version 2.4 is on the Panasonic site. Follow the yellow slip in your box. The regular Panasonic site only has ver. 2.3. Mine came with ver. 2.0 and worked good. Very satified.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 10 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Awsome
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Lineman42
from Colorado
on 08/16/2008
What's great about it: Price and easy of hook up
What's not so great: none
Ive read most reviews on here before buying this player. I read alot of complaining about read times. I have to say 7 seconds to start a movie is not very long. If you can't spare 7 seconds before a movie, you're too busy.
It plays regular dvds with and excellent picture, blu ray dvds are awsome. If you are like me and are on the edge of deciding on a blu-ray player, I suggest you jump in and buy this player. Its a great deal.
It plays regular dvds with and excellent picture, blu ray dvds are awsome. If you are like me and are on the edge of deciding on a blu-ray player, I suggest you jump in and buy this player. Its a great deal.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 11 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Great product!
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: harryw
from Birmingham, AL
on 08/11/2008
What's great about it: Easy to set up, easy to add firmware updates, very short load in time
What's not so great: None
We had the blu-ray working within minutes of taking it out of the box. The instructions on upgrading the firmware were clear enough for us to figure out on our own, and the process did not take long at all. After reading reviews about blu-ray players taking a while to load in a DVD, we were pleasantly surprised to see the movies we loaded in pop up on our TV screen within seconds. The upgrade of non-blu ray discs is outstanding - our Sweeney Todd DVD looked as good on our TV as it did in the theatre. We are very pleased with this player!!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 12 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Best DVD player EVER!!
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Jessieann
on 08/05/2008
What's great about it: Plays both Blu-ray and regular DVD's.
After buying this DVD player, I have been able to enjoy my movies more. It shows a much better picture, and I love that it will play both Blu-Ray, and regular DVD's. I would recommend this DVD player to everyone!! It has been the best one I've had!
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 13 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Great value for the $$
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: jocko27
from Hauppauge, NY
on 08/04/2008
What's great about it: Good features, reviews...
What's not so great: LED Display
I started with a Samsung 1400 and after reading the reviews on it on CNET, decided to return it for this Panasonic. So far I love this thing. I have it hooked up through a Pioneer Elite receiver and a 50" Samsung plasma. I can't peel myself off my couch.
Compared to some other players, this one loads relatively quickly unless you're going to get into the $1,000+ range. PlayStation 3 is supposed ot load more quickly, but I wasn't into using a gaming system for my blu-rays, that and you can't use a universal IR remote with P3. In any case, anyone that can't wait 30-60 seconds for a disk to load really has to work on their time management.
This is a definite must have for anyone on a budget looking to maximize their home theater experience. Or you can wait a year until they're half the price which we all know will happen :(
The one con is I wish they put a chapter count on the front display in addition to the elapsed time. Not a big deal, but would have been slightly more convenience when trying to find a certain scene.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 14 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Incredible Picture
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: lisak421
from Almont MI
on 07/27/2008
What's great about it: Everything
What's not so great: none
I also have read many reviews and this Panasonic was rated the best. It has a lot of different features, but I mostly just want to watch DVD's without having to change a bunch of settings.
It loads very fast and can say it works very well, I am very pleased with it.
I had to purchase a fiber optic cable to hook up my Panasonic 5.1 home theater system to it in order to get the true dolby sound which was very easy to hook up.
I am very happy with the player. I think this is a quality machine and is a good buy compared to some of the other brands.
It loads very fast and can say it works very well, I am very pleased with it.
I had to purchase a fiber optic cable to hook up my Panasonic 5.1 home theater system to it in order to get the true dolby sound which was very easy to hook up.
I am very happy with the player. I think this is a quality machine and is a good buy compared to some of the other brands.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 15 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Excellent Blu-Ray Player
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: smartbuyer88
from New Jersey
on 07/24/2008
What's great about it: Faster load time vs. Sony
What's not so great: none
Fast Load time. Great picture and sound quality! Very good upconversion of DVDs to 1080p. Remote and menu system easy to learn.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 16 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Great dvd player
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Newfie
from Houston, TX
on 07/23/2008
What's great about it: Easy to use. Fast loading time
What's not so great: non
The look of this blu-ray player is really nice and clean. It's really easy to set-up and use. It also has good range of options to choose from when setting up picture and sound. Highly Recommend.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 17 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
The top of the line
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: joylit
from Northridge, CA
on 07/20/2008
What's great about it: All the features you may expect from a blu-ray player, even Hdmi 1.3b and uncompressed TruHD sound
What's not so great: Still a bit expensive
I came a long way until I came across this baby. I used the XBox 360 briefly, which run incredibly hot; then the Playstation 3, not bad... and the Sony BD-300 which was lacking uncompressed TruHD sound, even though at that time only the newest receivers had that capacity. Then I made the bad movement of switching to the Samsung combo blu-ray/HD-Dvd player, just before the hd-Dvd debacle, and that was the worse of the HD-players I ever own, with lots of technical issues. Now that I've been using the Panasonic for about 3 months, I can say it is the best of the group by far, with a really smooth operation, fast loading time and all the advanced features the others were missing, most notoriously Hdmi 1.3b connectivity and TruHD sound.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 18 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Best Blu-Ray Player
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Coastied11sr49
from San Fernando Valley, CA
on 07/20/2008
What's great about it: Loads quick
What's not so great: None
This is a much better Blu-ray player than the Sony I originally bought. It loads much faster than the Sony.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Review 19 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Look no further..
Customer Rating
5.0
We've looked at a lot of players ... Sony S300, Samsung 1200 & 1400, and the Previous generation Panasonic. This is the one to get.
Fastest load times, and simply an awesome picture. Was comparing THE FIFTH ELEMENT between the Samsung BD-1400 & this player, and the video is much cleaner & sharper with the Panasonic.
Not so crazy about the remote. No backlight, and somewhat strange layout.
But the GOOD NEWS is, if you have an older Universal/Learning Remote, Panasonic DID NOT change their code, like ALL the other players I tried. So you can enter the Panasonic DVD code, and then customize the couple extra keys you need.
But the GOOD NEWS is, if you have an older Universal/Learning Remote, Panasonic DID NOT change their code, like ALL the other players I tried. So you can enter the Panasonic DVD code, and then customize the couple extra keys you need.
Also the Blue Light is rather bright, but it can be turned off in the menu, or set to only come on when you insert an SD card.
Overall, a fantastic machine that will not disappoint. If your on the fence about which Blu-Ray player to get, look no further.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 20 for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with Standard DVD Upconversion
Excellent player
Customer Rating
5.0
I had a Sony BDP-S1 which was generally reliable but will not pass TrueHD or DTS-MA which is a must if you want the full effect of having HD. The BD30 has excellent picture quality for blu-ray and almost as good up converting of SD DVD as my Toshiba HD-XA2. There are numerous picture controls for adjusting to your particular taste. No issues playing any discs as has been a problem with people who own Samsung players. If you have a new receiver with HDMI 1.3 and DTS, TrueHD capability, this player will bitstream all the audio codecs (the player does not decode them internally). After listening to discs with DTS-MA I don't know if Dolby 5.1 will cut it for me anymore. The sound difference is amazing. A must have unit. Although it doesn't have ethernet capabilities it can still be updated by computer download and writing to cd. It is a simple procedure (there have already been 2 firmware updates, the latest today). People with Mac computers can do the same.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
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