About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

The DMP-BD60 is a reasonably priced Blu-ray Disc player that has a wealth of features, combined with good performance. Blu-ray discs are played at 1080p via HDMI output. This player is compatible with standard DVDs, most recordable DVD formats, CDs. Standard DVDs are upscaled up to 1080p via the HDMI output. Onboard decoding or undecoded bitstream output of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD is provided via HDMI.

The DMP-BD60 aheres to Blu-ray Profile 2.0 specifications, and as an added bonus, the Viera Cast feature allows direct access to online content from YouTube, Bloomberg Television, and Picassa.

Manufacturer's Site

Pros

• Extremely compact physical design.
• Very good Blu-ray Disc performance, Good DVD upscaling performance.
• Provides onboard decoding and Bistream output options for all Dolby and DTS audio formats.
• Easy-to-use onscreen interface.
• Viera Cast and SD Card slot nice bonus features.

Cons

• No 5.1 or 7.1 channel analog audio outputs.
• No SACD or DVD-Audio capability.
• No provisions for wireless network connectivity.
• Remote control not backlit
• External memory (via SD Card) required for BD-Live feature access.

Description

• Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) functionality with 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 Resolution output capability via HDMI 1.3a audio/video output.
• Playback Compatibility: BD-Video, DVD, AVCHD, Divx, CD, Kodak Picture CD, CD-R/RW, DVD±R/RW, DVD±R DL, BD-R/RE
• 720p, 1080i, 1080p output via HDMI connection (adaptable to DVI- HDCP).
  

• DVD 480i to 480p deinterlacing and upscaling to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p via HDMI output.
• Additional video outputs: Component video (up to 1080i for Blu-ray, 480p for DVD) and Composite (up to 480i only).
  
• Onboard Decoding and Bitstream output of all surround sound formats, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
• On-board adjustments for Sharpness/Contrast/Brightness/Saturation as well as video processing and scaling settings.
• Front mounted USB 2.0 and SD Card ports for digital photo, video, and music content access via flash drives.
• Viera Cast provides direct access to online content from You Tube, Picassa, and Bloomberg.
• Wireless remote control and easy-to-use onscreen menu interface provided.

Guide Review - Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player - Short Review

The DMP-BD60 provides very good detail, color, contrast, and black levels with Blu-ray Disc playback. This was confirmed on several Blu-ray Disc examples. On example of good detail reproduction is the Blu-ray Disc of Transporter 3 with the close-ups of Jason Statham and the heavily freckled face of his co-star Natalya Rudakova. I haved used this disc in several Blu-ray Disc tests and the DMP-BD60 did well on this one.

With regards to more technical testing, the BDP-83 met almost all the tests on the Silicon Optix HQV Benchmark DVD, which measures DVD video performance with regards to video processing and upscaling.

The test results revealed that the DMP-BD60 does good to very good with progressive scan (3:2 pulldown), jaggie elimination, noise reduction, detail, motion adaptive processing, and moire pattern detection and elimination.

On the audio side, the DMP-BD60 offers complete onboard audio decoding, but also provides undecoded bitstream output for compatible home theater receivers.

In terms of audio performance, The DMP-BD60 delivered excellent audio performance on both Blu-ray and DVD soundtracks, and also from audio-only CDs. I noticed no audio artifacts that could be attributed to the DMP-BD60.

On the other hand, the lack of 5.1 or 7.1 channel analog audio outputs does limit access to high resolution audio with older, non-HDMI equipped home theater receivers.

Another feature of note is the incorporation of Viera Cast, which provides direct access to select internet content from YouTube, Bloomberg Television, and Picassa. However, as of this time Netflix and other video streaming services are not included. This type of feature is definitely becoming a trend in Blu-ray Disc players.

For a closer look at the features and performance Panasonic DMP-BD60, also check out my Photo Gallery and Video Performance Tests.

Manufacturer's Site

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.