Panasonic DMP-BD50K 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player

• Blu-ray Player
• BD Live/ 7.1 Audio codac
• SD Card slot
• HDMI 1080P 1.3b upconvert for all DVD's
• Slim Height/ Half mirror

OK so I am one of the many who were waiting for this player for one big reason. I have expensive audio components and didn't want to replace them just to get HDMI input for True HD and DTS Master Audio. Now that I own it I can positively confirm that this player decodes both of the Hi-Def audio formats internally and sends them to the analog outputs... and OH MY what a huge difference over AC-3 or DTS!! The most noticeable thing is the ambient sound that is lost in compression. Watched 5th Element last night and the beginning of the movie starts with this echoing reverberation during the credits. In AC3 it sounds like an echo, but in TrueHD it's all filled in with a very deep sound field and detailed ambient sound. The overall impression is sound that is much fuller and balanced. It also has a nice feature called Dialog Enhancer which bumps the volume of dialog in soundtracks so you can hear the dialog when listning at low volume levels (so your spouse can sleep...feelin' me?). In 2 words Worth it!

Next the features and a bonus for older Mitsu owners. I have a Mitsubishi WD-62628 1080P DLP TV. This unit was one of the first 1080P TV's made. They did not have the video processing capability at the time to take a 1080P input. So it's max input on the main HDMI connector or component video is 1080i and the TV upconverts to 1080P. This has left owners of this family of TV's with a quandary in that they want to see movies from their Blu-Ray player in 1080P not 1080i. There have been rumors that you can use the HDMI-2 input for native 1080P input if you tell the TV that a computer is connected. Well I can confirm that this actually works just fine !! You set the Net Command to enable HDMI-2 and that a PC is what is on that input. Disable the audio part (if you are going to use the analog outputs from the Panny like me) and then tell the blu-ray player to output at 1080P (rather than auto-detect). The TV will momentarily display a message that the video signal is non-standard, but will then display it anyway. So I get HD audio and 1080P video with my older TV and non-HDMI audio processor!! Bonus #2 is that this Panny player also has picture controls for brightness, contrast, gamma, color, and black level so you can tweak the picture if necessary. It also has canned settings (normal, cinema and 2 others). I find that movies look best in Cinema. It deepens the color and seems to provide better color spectrum.

I hope this answers the questions for a bunch of you that are still sitting on the wall. This one finally does it all, A/V wise. I have not hooked it up to the LAN yet for BD-Live functions. That was not a big part of my plan for this but will happen shortly.

Happy viewing!

Post Review Note: One thing I have discovered is that the picture controls on the BD50 don't offer as much adjustment as the controls on a TV. The straight 1080P input is a little on the bright side. I found that the BD50 will not enable 1080i component video and HDMI at the same time, it's one or the other. Once you turn on HDMI, it drops the component video to standard def no matter what you set it on. This means I can't look at upconverted 1080i (via component video) with full picture controls vs 1080p on HDMI-2 with the minimal controls offered by the BD50 without stopping the movie and re-starting it... Jury is still out on this one.

Buy Panasonic DMP-BD50K 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player Now

This is the FIRST Blu-ray Disc player to offer BUILT-IN decoders for "DTSHD Master Audio". This allows you to listen to the highest quality audio available on Blu-ray WITHOUT purchasing a new Home Theater receiver. Currently all Blu-ray Disc players are capable of decoding "Uncompressed PCM" and about half can also decode "DolbyTrueHD" (which sounds better than the "PCM"), but only the "Panasonic DMP-BD50" can decode "DTSHD Master Audio" (which sounds better than the "Dolby") in addition to the other two uncompressed HD audio formats.

The other UNIQUE feature is the "Profile 2.0" compliance. This is the FINAL standard for the Blu-ray Disc format and the "DMP-BBD50" is the second Blu-ray Disc player (the first being the PS3) to include it in its design specs. This allows the player to connect to the internet and access bonus content, play games and interact with other Blu-ray Disc players which are viewing the same disc. Very cool, indeed.

But honestly, if you've already purchased a new receiver with "DolbyTrueHD" and "DTSHS Master Audio" decoding and you don't care about "Profile 2.0" support, you can save $200 and just get the "Panasonic DMP-BD30". It lacks the BUILT-IN decoders for the 3 uncompressed HD audio formats but can transmit them over an HDMI cable to your capable receiver for decoding and playback (the "DMP-BD50" can do this as well).

[the only DRAWBACK is that the ANALOG output ONLY supports 5.1 (5 speakers) and NOT 7.1 (seven speakers) the "Sony BSP-S550" due out this Fall ($500) will do EVERYTHING the "DMP-BD50" does, plus 7.1 analog output AND for $200 less patience is a virtue]

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic DMP-BD50K 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player Here

Needed a Bluray player that would process all the new audio formats internally and send them via HDMI and this Panny is doing everything beautifully. No complaints, had it now for about a month and everything is working great, no hdmi handshake issues, outstanding picture, great sound. Its fairly fast loading up and the standard definition dvds don't look bad either. This is a keeper!! Its connected to a Rotel RSP-1069 via hdmi and to a Mitsubishi 73833 TV

Want Panasonic DMP-BD50K 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player Discount?

This is my first Blu-ray player and I must say I'm glad I waited for the BD-50. Finally a complete Blu-ray player (profile 2.0). The picture quality seems to be on par with my HD-DVD Toshiba XA2. According to Home Theater Magazine this player comes very close to having the same quality picture as a well known $2000 Blu-ray player. The HDMI input is a little on the bright side, but I adjusted the contrast on my XBR4 a few notches down and it made it just right. I tried many of the known difficult to play discs, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars, Ratatouille and all played flawlessly. Having analog output jacks for 5.1 surround was what sealed the deal for me. I have an older receiver so this was a necessity to be able to listen to the lossless audio tracks. Feeling the top of the player indicates that it runs cool. All in all I couldn't be happier. I guess the only thing I don't like is the display window on the front of the player only shows time and not chapter. But that is a very minor annoyance.

Since one of the reviewers had a bad experience with this player's quality, I was hesitant to purchase one... even though it was at the top of my list in every other way.

I decided to take a chance and I'm glad that I did. So far it works flawlessly. It has all the features I'm looking for at a price point worth the player. Easy to use and well designed unit and remote. It also has the support of the high reputation of it's sister player the BD30 among professional reviewers. I have to think the one reviewer with problems was a fluke considering this player's predecessor and it's reputation for quality. Fear not.