CUSTOM INSTALLATION HOW-TO

Panasonic DMP-BD35

Panasonic's 2008 Editors' Choice Award-winning DMP-BD55 Blu-ray player deeply impressed me when I tested it for our November 2008 issue. Aside from overall excellent audio and video performance with both Blu-ray and DVD, the main reason I liked it was that it delivered all of the key Blu-ray features, including Profile 2.0 compatibility for BD-Live and built-in Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding. Also, the player's smooth, speedy, and glitch-free operation was a big departure from other standalone Blu-ray models I'd tested up to that point.

As good as the DMP-BD55 is, one thing about its younger sibling, the DMP-BD35, makes it an even more intriguing option: it costs $100 less. The other main difference between the two is that the BD35 lacks the BD55's 7.1-channel analog output for connection to legacy A/V receivers and audio processors. (The BD55 can also play discs encoded with DivX files, but that's hardly a deal-breaker.) Otherwise, the two players are basically the same.

There's nothing overly special about the BD35's looks other than its super-slim form factor: at just under 2 inches, it makes other players look bulky in comparison. A flip-up door on the front conceals a basic set of control buttons along with an SD memory card slot. You'll need to plug in your own 1-GB SD card to enable BD-Live functions on discs, and you can also insert cards containing digital still pics as well as AVCHD video shot with high-def camcorders. Around back, alongside its HDMI, component-, and composite-video outputs, you'll find stereo analog and optical digital audio jacks and a LAN port.

The BD35's remote control is somewhat bulky and densely packed with buttons, but the buttons are clearly labeled and big, which makes it easier to locate a particular one in a dark room. There are dedicated buttons to switch between disc and SD card playback, as well as main and secondary video and audio tracks on titles with Bonus View PIP commentaries. Hitting the Display button gives you a detailed readout of A/V information for a given disc, including video encoding (MPEG-4 AVC with variable bit-rate readout, for example) and soundtrack format.

Setup & Performance

Like the LG BD300, the Panasonic provided speedy, responsive operation. It took 20 seconds from hitting the Power button for the player to be ready to load discs, and regular Blu-rays (those free of complex Java apps) started playing an average of 10 seconds after being dropped in the disc tray. Loading up Disney's BD-Live-enhanced Wall•E, meanwhile, took only 45 seconds. Of the player's five disc search modes, just the slowest scanning speed delivered relatively smooth motion.

Turning to the test discs, the Panasonic pretty much sailed through all of the key challenges posed by the Silicon Optix HQV DVD and Blu-ray. This basically guarantees that you won't ever see anything untoward when viewing any type of disc on the BD35. Blu-ray Discs of Wall•E, Sleeping Beauty, and Wanted (Timur Bekmambetov, that last film's Russian director, has a gift for over-the-top visuals), showed consistently detailed 1080p pictures and rich, inviting color. Any DVDs that I watched also looked clean and relatively crisp, thanks to the player's top-notch 1080p scaling.

There's not much to say about the Panasonic's audio performance, other than that both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks sounded full, powerful, and immersive with the player performing decoding and passing on the multichannel PCM signals to my preamp/processor via HDMI. The absence of a 7.1-channel analog output on this player actually prevents setup from being confusing -- an issue I had with its BD55 big brother when I tested that unit.

Bottom Line

At only $250, Panasonic's BD35 player is a steal. Its video performance with both Blu-ray Discs and DVDs is beyond reproach, while its ability to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks out of the box gives it a strong foot up on the competition. When you also take into consideration the player's speedy, reliable operation and its front-panel slot for playing high-def AVCHD movies on SD memory cards, the BD35 becomes an irresistible Blu-ray option. Did I mention that it costs $250?