Other Source Component Reviews

You can access the display menus during playback. These menus offer some video tweaking, including progressive modes and audio/video format indicators. Unlike some Blu-ray players, the Panasonic player does not have a bitrate meter for video or audio, but it does include a status bar, along with indicators for the audio/video codecs. This is also where you’ll find the setting to allow 1080p/24 DVD playback and picture settings to season the image to your tastes. I found that the default values were the best for accuracy.

Video Performance
Panasonic’s UniPhier is a proprietary decoding solution that has onboard video processing for both Blu-ray and DVD. While this player lacks a marquee brand video processor like Faroudja or HQV, Panasonic’s UniPhier is one of the best performers in terms of overall video processing. It offers outstanding color fidelity and resolution.

The DMP-BD60 sailed through our video processing tests. It supports full deinterlacing of high-definition and standard-def DVD playback with great results. This is the same performance that the DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55 offered, and it’s nothing short of spectacular, especially considering the price point.

As you can see from our video processing test chart, there isn’t much that this player doesn’t do right. You’d be pretty hard-pressed to find material of any kind, standard def or high def, that doesn’t look great on this player.

In Use
The big difference in this player versus previous Panasonic models is its inclusion of Internet-based video and picture viewing via Panasonic’s Viera Cast. You can launch this feature from the player’s remote, and it brings up a widget-style desktop that you can customize to your tastes. You can get updates on weather and news, access YouTube’s extensive video library, and share photos on Picasa. My only real complaint with the interface is the rather annoying beep that occurs whenever you move the cursor or select something.

I tried out the YouTube streaming and was pretty impressed overall. Video quality varied considerably, as you’d expect, but the more solidly produced videos held up well on my larger screen. I’m not a big YouTube user, but fans of the service will probably be pleased. [As we were going to press with this review, Panasonic announced it would also be bringing Amazon Video On Demand streaming video to its Viera Cast–enabled BD players this summer. The service lets you stream movies and TV shows, with 500-plus titles available in HD. Look for a follow-up later this year.—Ed.]

DVD playback was solid, and I was impressed by the player’s 1080p/24 playback with DVD sources. Some of my more difficult test discs revealed some slight artifacts during playback, but typical studio discs played fine. It’s nice to see a manufacturer that pays as much attention to SD playback as HD.

With Blu-ray playback, everything was smooth. I had the chance to watch several titles during my time with the DMP-BD60, and its performance was everything I remember from Panasonic’s last crop of players, which is to say excellent. One of my favorite titles for pure video bliss was Disney’s Bolt, which features a very stylized color palette and an incredible amount of detail and dimen- sion. You would never believe that a player at this price point could deliver this level of video prowess. Color resolution was incredible, and the deep, rich blacks really showed off my projector.

However, I did find one little annoyance. During the review, I disabled the player’s BD-Live feature. This speeds up load times with BD-Live-enabled discs. But the DMP-BD60 continually displays a warning message when this feature is disabled. As I was watching the recent release of Disney’s Bedtime Stories, I was annoyed to see the warning continually pop up during the film. Hopefully this is something that a firmware update can resolve.

Wrapping It Up
Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Viera Cast options, there’s no denying that for $300, Panasonic delivers a Blu-ray player that’s hard to beat. The video performance is better than most higher-priced players I’ve tested, and the feature set gives you the most from your Blu-ray and DVD collection.