The Panasonic Blu-Ray BD55 Rocks Thanks for "Selling" Me On Blu-Ray

[EdwardGein]

Though I only managed to see 1 complete Blu-Ray Movie today, Batman The Dark Knight, the Panasonic BD55 Rocks and thanks to all you people who "sold" me on Blu-Ray Here. Even though I was happy with my Harmon Kardon 31 DVD player, the difference with the Panasonic BD55 is startling, to me a night and day difference, The picture somehow seems more alive and vibrant with "juice" if that makes any sense and the HD True Audio Sound is awesome and this was the first time I really felt like I was experiencing Home Theater as its suppose to be experienced. I wish digital TV/HDTV could sound like this but it doesn't.

As my Denon 3801 Receiver doesn't have an HDMI connection, I connected by analog cables and as I said the sound was fantastic. I did have to call Panasonic up to get some settings and some advice & I'll have that up on my blog tomorrow or Friday as a Quick Step by Step Guide on How to Hook Up and Set Up an Analog Connection to this Model as the Instruction Manual could have been clearer and easier. I'll provide a link on a separate thread if anyone wants to use it if they get this model or try same priciples on another model. I spent 3 Hours not getting all the sound on my Denon because I didn't realize I had to push the External Button In. On the Denon because it is an Analog Connection there will be no Dolby Digital/DTS light showing. My HDTV is a 1080i 34" Panasonic. I'll probably b y another BD55 for my 48" HDTV in my living room,

I paid a discount of $359 for the player, about $36 for 3 pairs of Acoustic Research 1001 Analog Interconnects and $39 instead of $59 for a highly rated Nexxtech 6' HDMI Cable (N6HDMI). I definitely recommend this player to anyone but if your receiver has HDMI, you can get Panasonic's BD35 which I think is identical except for not having analog ouitputs for $289.

Oh, I liked the Dark Knight and it was much better than I was expecting but it was about 45 minutes too long. PS I also had to set my Center Speaker to +5 DBS so the dialog was clear (evreything else was set at 0).

[N. Abstentia]

Glad you're enjoying your setup Ed, and I'm actually impressed that you didn't go out and spend $300 on analog interconnects.

But for your future HDMI cable needs, bookmark www.monoprice.com where you can get HDMI cables for less than $10.

[f0rge]

i bought my dad the BD35 for xmas and while the picture and sound are great i'm amazed at how slow it is.

my PS3 blows it out of the water for menu speeds.

it's a shame too, i was thinking of moving to a standalone bluray and leave the PS3 for games...but not yet anyway...

[EdwardGein]

Somehow my earlier reply disappeared. Yeah, it takes a while on my BD 55 from the time load a disc to the time the movie is actually ready to play & when I spoke to Panasonic's customer service on a different matter, I asked about this & they said, that's the same with any Blu-Ray player. I don't know enough about Blu-Ray to say if she knew what she was talking about. The thing is, the picture and sound are incredible and that's all that is important to me.

[f0rge]

believe it or not, it was even slower on the 1st gen players, some had a 2 minute "startup" before you even got to any picture/menu/anything

[N. Abstentia]

Wow, I thought these new Panasonics were supposed to be the fastest BluRay players on the market?

[s dog]

Wow, I thought these new Panasonics were supposed to be the fastest BluRay players on the market?

I thought the same thing, darn it.

[N. Abstentia]

Well I'm very happy with the speed of my Sony BD-SP550. Compared to the S300 it replaced, I'd say it's 2-3 minutes faster when loading a disc. I figured those Panny players were faster, but I guess not.

[EdwardGein]

Why do they take so long?

[N. Abstentia]

I don't know for sure, but I'd say it's the increased amount of data that BluRay has to offer, coupled with the fact that the discs hold 10 times as much as a single layer DVD so it takes a while to find what it needs. But my old Sony player took a long time just to power on and eject a disc. Now with the S550 that's pretty instant, and it takes very little to load the movie.

[bobsticks]

Why do they take so long?

N. Absentia is right on target. The same reason you see a new and improved picture full of "the juice" is the same reason for increased loading times: Much, much more data.

[f0rge]

dont get me wrong, the start-up is probably under a minute, but overall the menu navigation and other things are very sluggish

[pixelthis]

dont get me wrong, the start-up is probably under a minute, but overall the menu navigation and other things are very sluggish

Probably speed up a bit if you lay offa the Leblats.
Like everything else it all boils down to marketing.
Blu players are computers, basically, complete with operating systems, etc.
And they could load LOTS faster, but that would require faster CPU'S and other chips,
and that would require more CASH.
In other words they make something as crappy as they can get away with in order to
maximize profits.
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

[f0rge]

Probably speed up a bit if you lay offa the Leblats.
Like everything else it all boils down to marketing.
Blu players are computers, basically, complete with operating systems, etc.
And they could load LOTS faster, but that would require faster CPU'S and other chips,
and that would require more CASH.
In other words they make something as crappy as they can get away with in order to
maximize profits.
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

my playstation loads pretty damn fast, then again it IS a computer, so i guess you're right. based on my impressions from using this player and all the additional media streaming and playback capabilities the PS3 offers (not to mention games) i think it's a steal for $399, only $100 more than i paid for my dad's BD-35.