Product Description

Panasonic, Blu-ray Player,7.1 Audio out,1080P HDMI output

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #995 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Black
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: DMP-BD80
• Released on: 2009-03-31
• Dimensions: 2.20" h x 17.00" w x 9.80" l, 5.70 pounds

Features

• Amazon Movie download, Also Viera Cast connecting you with YouTube, Picasa
• High Clarity Audio with 7.1 analog output, Pure Audio Components, Special low resonating feet
• SD Card Slot and USB slot
• Film makers version with PHL Chip for accurate color

From the Manufacturer
From the Manufacturer Manufacturer's Description (March 19, 2009)
The Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray Disc Player combines high quality images with enhanced networking functions. In continuing its commitment to producing products that stress ease of use, Panasonic has equipped the 2009 line of Blu-ray Disc players with VIERA Link, allowing the consumer to operate the audio/video components via HDMI with one remote. And in keeping with Panasonic's pledge to reduce the planet's carbon footprint, the new Blu-ray players have been designed to reduce power consumption.

BD Live and BonusView so you can connect directly to the Internet to access bonus features, games and movie studio extras.

SD memory card and USB slot so you can enjoy precious memories in HD Click to enlarge.

Experience Movies Like Never Before
The DMP-BD80 employs the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus. Developed in collaboration with Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory, this high image processing technology reproduces clear, vivid colors that are faithful to the original film. Panasonic recognizes that audio is important to the overall entertainment experience, so this Blu-ray Disc player features a high definition audio decoder (Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential) to take advantage of the exceptionally high quality 7.1 channel surround sound now integrated in Blu-ray Discs.

In order to produce the ultimate picture quality, Panasonic’s DMP-BD80 Blu-ray players employs high precision 4:4:4 signal technology, which working in tandem with PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus processes each pixel of the Blu-ray Disc video signal in the horizontal direction, to compliment vertical direction processing. P4HD (Pixel Precision Progressive Processing for HD) is another technology that contributes to the superior picture quality of the Blu-ray players. P4HD processes more than 15 billion pixels per second and applies the optimal processing to every pixel.

Panasonic’s Blu-ray players further utilize 16-level motion detection to categorize the image motion of each pixel into one of 16 levels; diagonal processing to detect diagonals and correct the pixels accordingly; 1080p up-conversion to up-convert content recorded in the 480i/p or 720p format to 1080p. The Blu-ray players also provide 1080/24p output, thereby reproducing cinema images from a Blu-ray Disc and DVD in their original 24p form with no need for conversion. This allows the user to enjoy cinema images in the same format used in cinema with a 1080/24p compatible TV.

Complementing the HD audio codecs this Blu-ray player features 96kHz surround re-master, a function that enhances the sound quality of CDs and other sources, and even improves the quality of the multi-channel audio data on Blu-ray Discs and DVDs. The DMP-BD80 further enhances the audio experience with 7.1 channel analog out to produce true 7.1 surround sound, thereby affording the consumer a home theater environment that rivals the movie theater. The BD80 also includes a playback information window that can be used to display detailed image information while a movie is playing.

ENERGY STAR Rated
In order to obtain a reduction in power consumption the Panasonic DMP-BD80 uses Auto Power Stand-By, a function that automatically turns off the player when you return to TV operation using the VIERA Link menu. In addition, the Stand-by Power Save automatically turns off the player’s Quick Start function. When VIERA is turned on, Quick Start also turns on. In addition, the development of the UniPhier single chip LSI makes it possible to pack an entire video signal processing circuit onto a single chip. This helps lower power consumption, reduces the number of parts needed and allows for a more compact design.

Key Features Include

PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus for faithful and sharp color reproduction

7.1 Channel Analog Audio Output and Enhanced Internal Audio components maximize the audio performance of Blu-ray Disc movies

Digital Audio Output (1 Optical, 1 Coaxial)

BD Live and BonusView so you can connect directly to the Internet to access bonus features, games and movie studio extras

SD memory card and USB slot so you can enjoy precious memories in HD

High precision 4:4:4

24p cinema mode

7.1ch lossless audio decode and bit-stream output

VIERA Link

ENERGY STAR rated

Intelligent auto standby for more efficient power usage

What's in the box
Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray Disc Player, remote control, instruction manual

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Rent or Buy more than 40,000 Titles from Amazon Video On Demand

With Amazon Video On Demand (available only in the U.S.) , Panasonic customers can now instantly watch more than 40,000 commercial-free movies and television shows, including hit new releases and the latest episodes available in HD.

	Using an intuitive interface, order movies right from their couch and enjoy instant playback without waiting for lengthy downloads or annoying commercials. Prices start as low as $.99 and no subscription fee is required
	Find Choose from thousands of movies and TV shows by browsing the Amazon Video On Demand store (U.S. only) on your Panasonic Blu-ray Disc player or TV. Access and add to your virtual collection of purchases via Amazon Video On Demand’s Your Video Library and re-watch anytime on your Panasonic Blu-ray Disc player, TV, your PC or Mac and other compatible devices.
	Rent or Buy Renting and purchasing titles is a snap with the power of Amazon’s 1-click purchasing. Order new release movies and the latest TV shows right from your couch and you’re watching within seconds. Prices start as low as $.99.
	Watch Enjoy Amazon Video On Demand’s high quality video right from your Panasonic Blu-ray Disc player or TV. Videos playback instantly, without waiting for a download. Purchases and rentals are added to Your Video Library and stored online by Amazon so you can conveniently watch them again on your Panasonic Blu-ray Disc player, TV, PC or Mac, and other compatible devices.

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Customer Reviews

Nothing But Blu Skies
With the BD80, Panasonic has taken its popular BD55, with its excellent picture and sound quality, and added the ability to access online content via the new VIERA Cast feature. Currently VIERA Cast is limited to YouTube, Picasa online photo sharing, stocks and weather via "widgets" but Amazon's on-demand movie service will be available on the BD80 in May. Other internet-based content can be added by Panasonic over time, based on user demand (without the need for a hardware upgrade).

Overall, the BD80 works well as a multi-media player - they added a USB jack on the front for viewing photos, Divx and Xvid videos and listening to MP3 files. This is in addition to the SD card slot (and BTW, an SD card is still required for BD-Live). It would have been nice if the player supported MKV videos, WMV, WMA and M4P files, but I guess we can't have everything. Viewing YouTube is pretty straightforward - you can even log in to view your favorites - and it's nice to be able to do that without a PC connected to your TV.

For Blu-ray and DVD playback, the unit performs extremely well. It isn't the absolute best upconverting DVD player available, but it does a good job wringing detail out of standard def content. And it really shines as a Blu-ray Disc player with top-notch video and audio performance. The player decodes all of the latest surround sound codecs (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, etc.) to multi-channel PCM and to multi-channel analog outputs (5.1 or 7.1-channel) for compatibility with older receivers and surround processors that lack the latest HDMI audio support. If you do have a newer receiver with HDMI audio support, then you can set the player to bitstream these soundtracks to your receiver for decoding. The player also offers standard coax and fiber optic digital outputs though these do not support the new codecs.

In addition to VIERA Cast and the USB port, Panasonic adds a new "High Clarity Audio" feature which allows you to turn off analog video processing if you're using HDMI for your video output (improving sound quality) as well as a new "3D NR" noise reduction feature for cleaning up noisy Blu-ray and DVD transfers.

It's too bad Panasonic could not improve the load times for Blu-ray and DVDs. As it is, they're pretty much identical to the BD35 and BD55. But at least they did provide a "Quick Start" mode which allows the player to power on/boot up quicker than its predecessors. Even still, the player is a bit slower to load discs than the latest offerings from LG and Samsung.

For those who don't need the multi-channel analog outputs or Divx support, the less expensive DMP-BD60 may be a better choice as it offers the same audio and video processing as well as the same VIERA Cast feature.

Overall, the BD80 is a solid performer. I would have liked Panasonic to include an SD card in the box for BD-Live access (as well as an HDMI cable, instead of those silly composite video/analog audio cables), and it would have been nice to have a Wi-Fi option, instead of requiring a hard-wired Ethernet cable for internet access, but Panasonic is not the only vendor who omits these things. While the online content offerings are currently a bit light and the operational speeds are only average, the excellent audio and video performance and flexible media playback options make this a strong contender in the 2009 Blu-ray model line up.

You can view our more detailed review on Big Picture Big Sound (dot com).

Solid Panasonic Performance!
Updated 11/29/09
Many of these Panasonic players including mine suffer from random freezes that last between 5-6 seconds and then resume during blu-ray movie playback.
So far Pansonic has NOT be able to come up with a fix for this.
If you don't mind this possible problem the rest of my review still stands.
Unfortunately for me I found this random freezing to be annoying and unacceptable.

Panasonic has once again come up with a solid performance player!

I choose the Panasonic 80 after a very through and grueling side by side comparison with it's main competitor, the Sony S-550.

The Sony and Panasonic player's PQ where both overall very good on blu-ray playback.
The Panasonic had a very slight edge over the Sony, in producing a more COLORFUL picture with more 3-D POP EFFECT.

Sound quality reproduction between the two players using the 7.1 analog connections was much more dramatic.

Both Panasonic and Sony player's produced an excellent 7.1 sound field, but the Sony suffered from a lower LFE output than the Panasonic, both at the same settings and volume.
The Sony 550 required a +15 SW increase from my receiver, and still did NOT sound as POWERFUL and DYNAMIC as the Panasonic 80 at +10.

All players suffer from LFE drop using analog connections, but the Panasonic clearly had the edge in the sound department using the analog connections.

BOTTOM LINE: If you are looking for a high performance affordable blu-ray player, and have an older non HDMI AV receiver, this is the player to get.
You can also take advantage of the High clarity output on the Panny 80 if you have a newer HDMI receiver, or opt for the cheaper Panny 60 player.

Either way you won't be disappointed by Solid Panasonic Performance.

Simply Amazing Picture and Sound
All I have to say is that on the surface, Blu Ray picture and sound is definitely all it's cracked up to be and then some. I still have my first generation Sony XBR 1080i I bought in 2006 with 2 HDMI outputs and I must say with this player via HDMI (Monster Ultra High Speed 1000)I can really really tell the difference. I used used the same Monster cable and hooked it up to my DirecTV box, and I must admit as a skeptic of HDMI fraud, it definitely gave me a slightly clearer picture than the hdmi cable they provided me when I got the new HD Box a couple of months ago. I have only tested a few regular standard DVD's on it (The Dark Knight, Constantine, Underworld 2 and Day After Tomorrow) and the picture and sound seemed more enhanced and clearer than on my old regular DVD player. However, Constatine in some scenes seemed a bit grainy and overenhance a bit but still enjoyed it better than on my original dvd player. The frozen scenes on the Day After Tomorrow were spectacular.

I've only had this model since April 2 so I haven't even begun getting into the BD-Live and hooking it up to the internet as of yet. However, I specifically bought Quantum of Solace, Bolt, Wall-E, Night at Museuem and Kingdom of Heaven and I must say the picture is breathtaking. The sound is so clear and crisp I had to turn down the normal volume I usually have my 5.1 surround sound receiver at down several several notches. I don't have a fancy receiver with hdmi ouput, just used a digital coaxial cable and connected to the back of the bluray player along with hdmi for the stunning picture. I can only imagine what it would look like on a newer 1080p t.v. if there is really that much of a difference than the quality I see now. However, i noticed something about the audio connections or maybe I have it wrong. For some reason it seemed like the sound from the player was slightly louder and when I had audio cables as compared to the digital coaxial cable i'm currently using which seems to be much clearer but compressed. Maybe it's me I don't know i'm still new at this blu ray thing.

Cons

The load up times is really really slow. Though this model has a feature for quickload which is actually slightly faster but be prepared to wait a while. It's a bluray disc with way more content stored so what are you gonna do. By now you'd think they'd work this kink out of Blu Ray after 3 years.

Of course you can't stop and pick up where you left off. Why, Why has this not been fixed yet. You'll just have to remember where you left at by hitting the status button to show you the chapter it's currently at or I think there is a bookmark feature but it hasn't worked for me as of yet.

The remote looks sort of cheesy and I wish it could have been a universal style remote to allow you work more than one different brand of component (I'll just buy a Logitech Universal to cure this problem).

If you accidently choose 1080p as your source for your television and you only have a 1080i (which i found out the hard way as the idiot from Tweeter conned me into thinking my televsion would be able to deliver 1080p via some de-interlacing of some sort and suprise, it doesn't) you will not only lose your picture and won't get a signal but only audio, in order for me to get the signal back I had to disconnect the hdmi plug from both the t.v. and bluray unit and reconnect them and restart the machine all over again. Of course the instruction booklet didn't tell you this in the troubleshooting section.

Other than that, I'm really quite happy with the player. Looking forward to getting the "The Day The Earth Stood Still". I know it was a crappy movie but the special effects was awesome and i can only imagine how good it would look on my big screen. It think the Blu Ray is going for 16.99 on Amazon at last check and you even get the orignal version of the movie included. Can't beat that no matter how bad the movie is. Can't wait for Underworld 3 in Blu Ray.