Panasonic DMP-BDT320 Integrated Wi-Fi 3D Blu-ray DVD Player Reviews
Panasonic DMP-BDT320 Integrated Wi-Fi 3D Blu-ray DVD Player
- Slim Stylish Design
- Smart Eco Sensor
- Slot-in Drive
Panasonic’s 2012 Blu-ray Disc players focus on smart home networking, high-quality picture and sound, ease-of-use, eco-efficiency, and sleek design. The BDT-320 is a Full HD 3D Blu-ray Disc player that features expanded VIERA Connect functionality, FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) compatibility, and superior sound and image quality. The BDT-320 also includes a new touchscreen remote controller and features a Smart Eco sensor to save energy. VIERA Connect P
List Price: $ 199.99
Price: [wpramaprice asin="B00752R5Z4"]
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Excellent disc playback and streaming quality in one unit,
**Upfront advice:
if you’re looking for excellent disc playback and streaming performance, buy this player.
This is my fourth network streaming BD player in the past 15 months, and it’s the only one that seems to do everything right.
**Positives:
Wireless streaming totally works on the BDT320. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon have not given me any problems. No rebuffers, no freezes, no disconnections. This was my single biggest complaint about the other players I tried (two Samsungs and one LG).
The player’s picture quality from discs is excellent, for either Blu Ray or DVD (the DVD picture is surprisingly good, actually).
This thing is fast — faster than the other three players I had. It’s fast to load, and fast to navigate. The menus are clean, polished and responsive. Even the streaming app menu responds quickly, although the Netflix app itself is rather slow.
Build quality is quite good, and the design is very attractive and unique.
**Negatives:
There’s really only one, and it’s minor: the remote uses a touchpad that can be tricky. I applaud the concept, because it’s a great way to control the player without having to look at the remote. And it does work…sort of. It’s just too inconsistent, sometimes missing gestures, and other times responding incorrectly to gestures. Also, some of the player functions are accessible only through the touchpad using onscreen menus. This means that there’s no way to teach these commands to a universal remote, so accessing them will require several button presses instead of one.
All in all, the remote hasn’t been an issue. I use a Harmony One universal remote, and although the code set for the BDT320 isn’t yet in the Harmony online database, by using the code set from last year’s Panasonic BD players I was able to get most of the functionality of the BDT320′s stock remote. As I noted above, some functions are menu driven, so the remote can’t learn them, but on the upside, using last year’s player codes gave me buttons not available on the BDT320 remote such as Eject and discrete On and Off.
**Unknown:
I have not attempted to play burned DVD media, and I don’t do network (DLNA) or hard-drive streaming (such as for DiVX files) so I can’t comment on any of this.
**Bottom line:
For user-friendly, high-quality playback of discs and streamed content, this player is a winner. As an early adopter, I paid $180.00, and I definitely believe I got my money’s worth.
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|Exactly what I was looking for,
I have been looking for something to replace my ps3 for streaming videos/blu-ray playing as well as something that supports Amazon Prime video streaming. This thing fit that niche perfectly for me. Not only can it stream videos but it can do it wireless without the annoying stuttering I used to get with my PS3 when streaming HD files wireless within my home network. The interface for Amazon Prime videos is pretty nice and since it is a blu-ray player I played a few from my collection to test it out and well…. it plays. Very easy to set up and being it is only half the size (depth) of a conventional blu-ray player is a plus.
The only thing I can see that might be a problem though is the remote. It’s not like a regular remote since it has that swipe pad in the center of it. It really limits what you can do since you need to go to different screens within the interface instead of simply clicking a button on the remote. Having to navigate around instead of just having a button to push is going to irritate some people.
UPDATE: Universal remote works fine with this unit, eject works as well so the remote that comes with it gets put in the drawer along with the rest of them.
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|Worth every dollar, and then some!,
I bought this to replace a Samsung which could not access Amazon Prime video, and was prepared to return it based on earlier reviews complaining of the remote. Put another way, I wanted to see if the image quality was good enough to outweigh and quirks in the remote, and I was willing to take this chance. Boy, am I glad I did, and I agree completely with the review which concludes it is a steal, and you MUST learn how to use the remote: if you do, the rewards are amazing. The picture quality is fantastic, the setup is effortless and the unit looks great. Now, I do miss and eject function on the remote, but once you’ve learned the thing, it is as fast, or almost as fast as a push button unit AND YOU CAN USE IT IN A DARK ROOM! My wife insists on no lights while watching tv and the remote pad lets you perform EVERY function without looking down-again, you can perform EVERY function on the remote pad, even while watching Netflix instant or Amazon streaming. So, if you want a real steal, buy this one. Oh, I’m 60 years old and wear bifocals-amazing what you can learn when motivated.
The Iphone app is now available, and it works very well for me!
Addendum: the Iphone app “eject” works!
April 8, 2012 addendum:
Just got the Logitech Harmony 650 universal remote, which works with all my devices perfectly, including this player IF you use the bdt 310 setting. So, for $52, I now use one remote for 5 devices, have the “eject” function, and don’t have to use the touchpad! This is the best of all worlds if you don’t have a universal remote and wish to buy one!
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