Panasonic DMP-B500 WiFi Enabled 10.1-Inch Screen Portable Blu-ray Disc Player

• 10.1" WSVGA LCD Screen
• VIERA Cast
• Movie "Photo Frame" Function
• SD Image Viewer
• Watch your favorite High-Definition movies virtually anywhere with the DMP-B500 Portable Blu-ray Disc™ Player.

If you are someone who needs a fifty inch screen to watch movies on, this machine is not for you. If you are someone with a Blu-Ray collection who travels and wants a way to watch them on the move, keep going. The DMP-B500 has a 10.1 inch screen that operates on a 1024x600 screen resolution. The DMP-B500 does NOT have a native 1080P screen. It is, however, an excellent screen for it's size. Colors are vivid and accurate, though if you're like me, you will have to turn down the color saturation. The default settings run a hair deeper to the red then they should, but it is easily fixed. There is no ghosting in the screen, nor are there artifacts or dark 'bricking'. While the screen is in operation there is no glare in a dark room, while still being easily visible in sunlight and room light.

The built in speakers won't drown out a room, but are easily heard with surprising depth and quality. You wont' be rewinding constantly to hear what someone said. The DMP-B500 only has one headphone jack, however, so if you have to share it in a car or on a plane you will have to buy a headphone splitter. The DMP-B500 will start a dvd instantly, though most Blu-Ray discs require five to fifteen seconds to go from main menu to movie. Native firmware will run every movie on the market at the moment, however there have been two firmware updates since I purchased my DMP-B500. Avatar and Alice in Wonderland both play flawlessly as does the rest of my collection. Of the fifty odd Blu-Ray I own, none have had any issues being played on the DMP-B500.

On a full battery charge you will get three hours from the DMP-B500, with headphones plugged in and the screen's brightness turned down, you can get four hours.

The DMP-B500 can connect to any HD television with an HDMI cable. While connected to the television, the DMP-B500 transmits at full 1080/24P with excellent video and sound quality.

The DMP-B500 can play Div-x .AVI files. However these files can NOT be placed on an SD card. Div-X files must be burned to disk or played off a standard usb thumb-drive. I have not yet convinced my DMP-B500 to read Div-x files from an external hard drive. The DMP-B500 can play MPeG2 files from the SD card. Fair warning, to activate the DMP-B500's Div-X capabilities you MUST burn the activation file to a cd or dvd. The activation file will not play via usb thumb drive, nor SD card.

.JPG files are supported, though the support if 'iffy'. Pictures taken from your camera in .JPG will show on your DMP-B500, but the machine 'sorts' the photos for you. A pictures of your nieces birthday party will find its way from the rest of the party photos and straight into those of your vacation. As of you, I don't know how the DMP-B500 sorts photos, as they aren't sorted alphabetically by name, nor by capture date.

MP3's play from burned disk, SD card, and USB drive. I have had no problems with any of my MP3's, those purchased from I-tunes and Amazon both worked fine.

Internet video is an interesting feature. You can watch Youtube, Amazon movies on demand, and Netflix via the built in Wifi adapter or the built in ethernet jack. So far all I have tried have played, but Youtube videos are not played in full screen. Instead they get roughly half the screen on the right side of the display. Picasso photo albums, Pandora internet radio, Fox Sports, and a weather network are additional internet features with more being added all the time. Firmware is updated either via cd or the built in ethernet connection. Updating the firmware takes around ten minutes.

The only true negatives about the DMP-B500 I can offer are the design and the price. The screen does not clam-shell, therefore it can't be tossed into a backpack as the screen is ALWAYS exposed. You need a dedicated carrying case to move the DMP-B500 around. Also, you must lift the screen to change discs. Neither are show stoppers, but both are annoyances. There is also the price to consider. The DMP-B500 is not a machine that's worth eight hundred dollars. Watch Amazon's daily price and wait for a good deal. Six hundred dollars for a machine of the DMP-B500's capabilities is a very good price, but not eight hundred.

Pro's: Display, sound, portability, multiple features, battery life, Disc read time.

Con's: SD Card not supporting DivX files, Screen always exposed, price, no included travel charger.

This machine is worth a purchase if you want to watch your Blu-ray's on the move. The DMP-B500 is vastly superior to the US release of the DMP-B100 in every way but price.

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I purchased this player to watch movies when my business sticks me in low budget hotels with subpar cable TV. The player works well. I stream Netflix movies with no problem, even over my WPA2 encrypted wireless network at home. The wireless is though the included USB WLAN card that you must remember to plug in before using the network features.

The display is sharp and bright. You can navigate using the remote control or with the control knob on top of the unit. The remote is simple enough, though I wish it was smaller.

The fact that the screen is always exposed, even when the unit is off and closed does worry me. Especially when TSA demands I pull it out of the case I bought and put it in a bin for the XRay machine. I keep waiting for disaster as it gets bumped around on the conveyor belt. And it's way too expensive and fragile to leave in checked luggage.

The HDMI output is nice if the hotel room has a TV that supports HDMI and the hotel hasn't disabled it to try and force you to pay for their on demand movies.

You can buy cheaper non-BluRay players but this unit makes a nice portable unit and the wireless streaming makes it super, as even crappy hotels have free wireless these days.

But the price and exposed screen make you handle it with a very gentle touch.

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This is my first portable blue ray player and the visual clarity is outstanding. I would definately recommend this product to everyone.

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The B-500 looks like a very nice unit, but unfortunately mine is a lemon. I have returned it to Panasonic for repair once already, received it back and still does not work. After about 15 minutes of use the screen goes all milky white and you have no picture. Still have audio just no picture. Returning it again to Panasonic and they are presumably sending me another B-500 as a replacement. They will not send you a new replacement unit only a refurbished unit. I personally think this a crappy deal and will never buy another Panasonic product. I bought this unit in June, 2010 and think I should receive a new unit as a replacement. It has not worked from day one. When you call in to Panasonics repair center allow yourself at least 30 minutes for the process. You end up being transferred about six times and generally end up having to make the call twice to finally get to the right department. In other words Panasonics customer service center is a really frustrating experience. So good luck if you purchase this model because you've been warned.

May 2011 This is an update on my last review. I received my player back from the Panasonic repair center. It worked perfectly, for a total of about 40 hrs in a six week period. This player has been well cared for never having been used anywhwere but in the home. The only conclusion I can draw from this experience is this particular player (maybe even model) is a piece of crap and I'm out the purchase price. The only positive thing I can say about this particlar unit is it may look nice but looks isn't everything.

I almost bought Panasonic's previous model last year. Glad I didn't. This is just what I was looking for, and after spending a few hours with it, I'm happy to report that it does well what it's supposed to do. I couldn't be happier. I bought my first portable Panasonic DVD player in 1998, the first one on the market. It had a 5" screen, stereo speakers, and there were only 100 or so DVDs available to purchase. It set me back about $1,500 but served me well at home and on the road for many years and now belongs to a friend of mine named Bennie living in the Eastern Cuban town of Velasco. I'm a Mac guy and this is the only way to play my BluRays on the road. Hopefully Apple will see the light and start making BlueRays an option on their computers ... but until then, I'm happy with my new Panasonic DMP-B500. The only change I'd make is to have a dedicated Subtitle button on the remote for easy on and off. Thanks Panasonic. Good night and Godspeed.

Gregg