Panasonic DMP-BD85K review: Panasonic DMP-BD85K

Panasonic made the first standalone Blu-ray player good enough for us to recommend; however, since then the company's Blu-ray line has lagged behind that of other manufacturers. None of Panasonic's 2009 Blu-ray players support Netflix video streaming or include Wi-Fi, two features that now seem must-have as media streaming becomes a big reason why people upgrade to Blu-ray.

The DMP-BD85K is the midrange player in Panasonic's 2010 Blu-ray line, and it corrects many of errors the company made with last year's model by including a USB Wi-Fi adapter and adding Netflix--as well as Pandora in the future--to its VieraCast streaming content portal. On the other hand, Panasonic still seems to be a step behind the competition, as built-in Wi-Fi is now the norm. Also, Samsung and LG offer more streaming services, and the DMP-BD85K feels sluggish compared with other 2010 Blu-ray players. If you need 7.1 analog audio outputs, the DMP-BD85K is one of the few affordable players still offering it. Otherwise, we couldn't find much to recommend it over competitors such as the LG BD570 or the Sony BDP-S570.

Design
Though most manufacturers update their designs every year to look sleeker and glossier, Panasonic's Blu-ray players tend to look the same every year. The DMP-BD85K looks a lot like last year's DMP-BD80K, with its boxy edges and relatively muted aesthetics. It has an easy-to-read LCD screen on the left and a disc tray under an automatic flip-down panel in the center. Under the flip-down panel on the far right are some bare-bones playback controls (only stop and play), an SD card slot, and a USB port. Aesthetics are always subjective, but we prefer the look of the more modern Sony BDP-S570 and LG BD570.

The remote control included with the package is largely unchanged from last year, although we were happy to see Panasonic took our advice and brought back the eject button. A number pad dominates the top of the remote, with large blue playback control buttons underneath. The stop button is somewhat oddly set off on its own, but once we learned the new position, we actually liked the button layout. On the other hand, some of Panasonic's button labels, like "Direct Navigator" and "Submenu," feel archaic and jargon-like; we think it's time for an update.

User interface
If, like us, you think the Blu-ray player's exterior looks a little old, then you'll think Panasonic's user interface feels even older. Nearly every other manufacturer has redesigned its menus with spiffy high-definition graphics, but Panasonic's menus look nearly identical to those it includes with its DVD players. We also couldn't understand the naming behind some of the menu options. Selecting "network" brings you to VieraCast, which is Panasonic's online content portal. Why not name that VieraCast, especially since Panasonic labeled the button on the remote as "VieraCast?" None of the menu labels are too difficult to figure out, especially for tech-savvy users, but you get the impression that not a lot of effort has been put into the user experience.

Luckily, the VieraCast interface looks more modern than the main menus, with high-definition graphics and large boxes for the available services. Panasonic still hasn't released the firmware update enabling the most recent, multipage VieraCast interface we've seen at product demos, so we'll wait to comment on it until we've had more hands-on time. We have a few nitpicks with the current VieraCast interface. Navigating between services can feel slow. Its Netflix interface is also a generation old, so you can't browse additional categories like "Movies You'll Love" and "New Arrivals" like you can on players from LG, Sony, and Samsung.

Features

Panasonic has been slow to add Wi-Fi to its Blu-ray players, so we were happy to see the company include a Wi-Fi dongle with the DMP-BD85K. Yes, we'd probably prefer built-in Wi-Fi for sleekness' sake, but nobody will ever see the USB Wi-Fi adapter on the back of the player.

We found setting up the wireless connection to be needlessly difficult. After selecting our wireless router, the DMP-BD85K quizzed us on some of the more difficult aspects of our router, like our authentication type (WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, Shared KEY, or Open system) and encryption type (TKIP or AES). We've never had to enter that information on other Blu-ray players, which seemingly are able to detect the settings. Even Panasonic's onscreen keyboard had an unusual matrix design that was more difficult to use.

The DMP-BD85K lacks 3D Blu-ray support--you'll have to step-up to the DMP-BDT350 for that--and it's worth pointing out that the similarly priced Sony BDP-S570 is upgradeable for 3D support. The lack of onboard memory is annoying, but it's hard to get too upset given the paucity of exciting BD-Live content. We were more frustrated that the front-panel USB port couldn't be used as BD-Live storage; you have to buy an SD card if you want to use BD-Live.

Panasonic was also slow to get onboard with streaming media features, but this year its players offer a larger selection of services. With Netflix and Amazon VOD, Panasonic covers subscription and pay-per-view streaming movie services and adds extras like YouTube, Picasa, and weather, which we appreciate. Pandora support is coming later, although other players already support it.

On the other hand, the lack of DLNA support is disappointing for those who want to stream music, videos, or photos from a connected PC. The LG BD570 and Samsung BD-C6500 are DLNA-compliant out-of-the-box and the Sony BDP-S570 is getting a firmware update for DLNA in the summer. Yes, the DMP-BD85K can read digital media files off an SD card or USB memory drive, but network streaming is a nice convenience.

Like nearly every Blu-ray player available now, the DMP-BD85K offers onboard decoding for both high-resolution Dolby and DTS formats. If you're looking to play back SACDs and DVD-Audios, you'll need to look to Oppo's competing players; Sony's competing BDP-S570 also offers SACD playback.

The DMP-BD85K's AV outputs are standard, with the exception of the 7.1 analog outputs. The 7.1 analog outs are a nice step-up for anyone who has an older HDMI-less receiver, as they allow you to take advantage of the full resolution of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks without buying a new receiver.

The rest of the DMP-BD85K's connectivity is a slight upgrade over its competitors, although it can be a little misleading. It includes an SD card slot, which is nice, but as we mentioned before, it's the only way to activate BD-Live storage. Similarly, we like that there are two USB inputs, but it's really more like one since the back panel USB port will most likely be occupied by the USB Wi-Fi dongle.

Blu-ray image quality
Overall, we were impressed with the DMP-BD85K's Blu-ray image quality, as it passed all of the most important test patterns and program material tests. As usual, the most dedicated videophiles will still prefer the very slightly better-performing Oppo BDP-83, but the vast majority of high-definition movie fans will be perfectly satisfied with the DMP-BD85K's Blu-ray image quality. We'd also give the DMP-BD85K a slight nod over the Sony BDP-S570, which has some minor issues with less-common, video-based Blu-ray movies.

All our testing was conducted via HDMI at 1080p/60, with the Samsung PN58B650 display and the Oppo BDP-83 and the LG BD570 for comparison. If your display supports and correctly handles 24-frames-per-second output (also known as 1080p/24), you can largely ignore these tests, as we find all players to have virtually identical 1080p/24 performance. For more information on our testing procedure, consult our full guide to how we test Blu-ray players. Home theater enthusiasts can also see detailed testing results in our 2010 Blu-ray player comparison chart.

The Panasonic DMP-BD85K's performance on test patterns was impressive, passing all of the most important. It even did a little bit better than the LG BD570 on some of the text overlay test patterns, where the BD570 showed some "shredding" in the background. No, it didn't perform as well as our reference Oppo BDP-83 on some of the cadence tests, but we rarely see that difference show up in actual program material.

The DMP-BD85K also performed well with real program material, passing all of our tests. That gives it a slight advantage over the competing Sony BDP-S570, although you'll notice the difference only on video-based Blu-ray-formatted titles. We'd still give the overall nod to the Oppo BDP-83, because of how well it handles all types of synthetic test patterns, but on nearly every Blu-ray movie, you're going to get identical performance from the DMP-BD85K, the LG BD570, and the Oppo BDP-83.

All throughout our testing, the DMP-BD85K seemed sluggish, so it wasn't a surprise when we ran our speed tests and it ended up behind most competing players. It particularly struggled with discs with more complex menus, such as "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Mission: Impossible III." There was one exception: the DMP-BD85K's quick start mode was by far the fastest we've tested, beating the next best Sony BDP-S570 by a factor of two.

Outside of our formal tests, we noticed the DMP-BD85K was particularly sluggish with the menus on "Walk Hard," which seemed to be moving in slow motion. Operational speed was noticeably faster on the BD570 and the Oppo BDP-83 with the same movie. Even the Vizio VBR200W felt snappier navigating movies, despite its lower overall speed score. It's not surprising, considering how much slower the DMP-BD85K performs on our chapter skip test compared with any other player. The DMP-BD85K's CNET speed rating is helped a lot by its exceptionally fast quick start mode, but once it's up and running it feels even slower than its 76 rating suggests.

DVD performance

The DMP-BD85K's DVD performance was very good, passing all of our program material tests and the important 2:3 pull-down test patterns. It did fail the majority of the cadence tests and one of the video resolution tests, but those issues should show up only on relatively uncommon program material. We did notice some slight jaggies on "Seabiscuit," but they were relatively minor. Overall, we felt it was one of the better Blu-ray players at DVD upconversion that we've tested. As always, the Oppo BDP-83 looked significantly better at upscaling DVDs, but for most people the DMP-BD85K does a great job with standard-def discs.

We saw no major issues with Netflix streaming on the DMP-BD85K. That's one advantage it has over the Sony BDP-S570, which suffers from some streaming image quality issues.

Like nearly all Blu-ray players, the DMP-BD85K doesn't use much power in standby when its quick start mode is disabled. However, with quick start on, the DMP-BD85K's standby power consumption shoots up to 8.10 watts--which doesn't sound like a lot until you consider that standby consumption occurs at all times when the player is turned "off." Overall, enabling quick start will cost you a little more than $7 a year, which is enough to consider just waiting a few extra seconds for the player to boot up without quick start.