Not bad, not bad

The format war is finally over. Blu-Ray won. Is Blu-Ray better than HD DVD? Each has their own pros and cons but in the end, I don't think it makes much difference to the average user, like me. The important thing is there is only one format.

So, as soon as Toshiba surrendered, I started looking for a Blu-Ray player. This Panasonic was the only one with Blu-ray 1.1 compatibility and it got good reviews so I went for it.

My setup is and HDMI connection to the HDTV only. I don't have any extra audio equipment. I know the unit has its pros and cons audio wise but they don't affect my setup.

Out of the box, mine came with version 1.2 firmware which I immediately upgraded to 1.6. The first Blu-Ray title I tried was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It looks fantastic. It played flawlessly. Next was Blazing Saddles. For an old movie, it looked excellent and again played without a problem. It doesn't have the wow factor but my wife came into the room while it was playing and said "Wow".

Regular DVDs don't fare as well. Although everything has played so far, the upscaling to 1080p produces pictures with extra artifacts that you wouldn't see at a lower resolution. With a high quality DVD, its not that noticeable but lower quality DVDs look bad. Every artifact is magnified. You just can't created a high resolution video from a low resolution source.

You can go through the menus and set the player to display at 720i or 480p. Its a bit cumbersome but it works. A dedicated menu button would have been better.

Maybe eventually a firmware update will fix this units shortcomings and for sure as the blu-ray players become more popular there will be models that outshine this one. Until then, this is one of the best choices out there. Next year this time, I doubt it but for us early adapters, we will get a lot of enjoyment from this.