Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray player reviewed

The Panasonic DMP-BD10 is the second standalone Blu-ray player to become available, not quite making its expected September launch but sneaking onto store shelves near you this month. Was it worth the wait and/or the $1,300 price tag? Compared to the Samsung BD-P1000 player, reviewers note a slightly better picture quality and load times, plus excellent audio output. It doesn't support next-gen lossless audio codecs like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD out of the box but, those are promised for a future firmware update. Negatives include a clunky remote and lack of BD-Live connectivity that will be present in the PlayStation 3. This player appears to do the same 1080p to 1080i to 1080p conversion present in the Samsung, so if 1080p/24 output is a must, it's a pass. Still, with EZ-SYNC HDMI control to matching SA-XR700 receiver and flat panel HDTV, if you must have the best Blu-ray hardware available -- at least until Sony and Pioneer's offerings hit the street -- the DMP-BD10 is ready to give it to you.

Read - Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray Disc Player - Canada Hifi
Read - Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-Ray Player - Home Theater Forum

[Deluxe @ Oct 14th 2006 10:17PM]

Sheesh $1,300? PS3, please.

[NBC @ Oct 14th 2006 10:19PM]

looks like a 3do :)

[Rafael @ Oct 14th 2006 10:23PM]

I got this Blue-ray player into the store yesterday and i have to say that i love the look and i really like the fact that it doesnt take 20min to boot up like the samsung plus it comes with a free movie in the box (Eight Below). The remote i have to warn you, is the ugliest thing i have seen in a long time. As for the picture quality i really dont know what to make of these blue-ray movies (CLICK) which is a sony movie and should look great looked really grainy, everyone in the store kept saying how bad it looked. Eight Below looked a little better.
Everyone did like the overall look of the player.
Very nice!

[Dave @ Oct 15th 2006 3:02AM]

"The Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray player delivered phenomenal picture and sound quality, there is no question about it. This player undeniably proved to me the potential of the Blu-ray format."

I beleve this more than you! (first "Read" link)

[Great Commander @ Oct 14th 2006 10:25PM]

History is repeating itself.

One of the reasons PS@ had such great sales in Japan when it was first released was because the cheapest DVD players at that time were upwards of $1000. This caused PS2 to be chosen as an all around device (DVD player + game console) rather than purchasing the expensive DVD player.

PS3 is EASILY going to be the best selling Blu Ray device once it is released.

My only thought is however that BLURAY hasn't yet really penetrated the market. Sure some players are being sold and some disks are available but most people are still too used to just regular DVD's to go out and spend $30 on a Blu Ray disk which is certainly going to drop in price in a year or two (just like the DVD did).

[Will @ Oct 15th 2006 1:07AM]

Rafael, I highly doubt you have one. It's called Blu-Ray not Blue-Ray.
I've had the Samsung one and it does not take 20 minutes to boot, a couple of minutes yes, but no where near 20.

Great Commander, I actually wouldn't really worry about the $30 per movie, some DVD movies released at that time was around $20-30 with was a lot compare to VHS, but look at it now people still buy them even at $15 a movie. If my memory serves me correctly VHS was around $10 at that time, right?

In continuation to Rafael's comment, I highly doubt that it'll be grainy, either the TV is garbage or its the disc's problem.

[JeffNlA @ Oct 15th 2006 2:18AM]

I agree "Rafael" is a clown who does not own one. I don't either - and for $1300 they can keep it. One of the great things about electronics is they get better and cheaper over time.

I hope the $1000+ player is not a trend here - although they won't sell well at those prices.

[Dave @ Oct 15th 2006 2:51AM]

So its over with the "better looking" hd dvd.
The "barely noticable more sharpness" is now gone!
Blu-Ray won :)

[Xinyu @ Oct 15th 2006 1:20PM]

Blu-ray has no chance of winning when it's $1300, and the first-generation HD-DVD player is under $400. Use your brain and think.

[tekdroid @ Oct 15th 2006 6:45AM]

I'll wait for both Digital Rights Restricted systems to fail (just like they deserve to, and will).

[Magallanes @ Oct 15th 2006 8:07AM]

I bet that ps3 will have a cheap 1080p feature, some sort of "near to be a 1080p but really a 1080i), also xbox.

[Rafael @ Oct 15th 2006 9:41AM]

Blu-ray or Blue-ray. Whatever! The fact is that the movie looked like ASS!!! The menus looked great.
And it was playing on a $7,000 pioneer elite 1080p.
If you read my last post again you will notice that i never faulted the player for the way the movie looks and when compared to a DVD player all HD-players take a long time to load. Oh and WILL read my post again i said "I got this Blue-ray player into the store yesterday" I would never pay $1300 for a Blu-ray player i'll just wait for the PS3 on nov 17th. I got my reserve.

[Rafael @ Oct 15th 2006 9:55AM]

JeffNia ur broke ass probably still owns a CRT. If i wanted a Blu-ray player i could get one. Pioneer and Sony are still waiting to bring out their Blu-ray players and i dont see any of those being cheaper than $1000.

[Bueller @ Oct 15th 2006 10:29AM]

THIS IS NOT A COMPUTER, why the furk then is their going to be a software upgrade??? We need to tell companies to stop being lazy, and either ship the product ALREADY WITH THE D*MNED FEATURES it touts or leave them out all together.

[Kris @ Oct 15th 2006 11:10AM]

This looks like a really nice player, it's really small from the looks of it and slimline

[Vanillacide @ Oct 15th 2006 11:31AM]

'Click' is the first dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray movie and quelle suprise it doesn't look that good, probably better than most of the other Blu-ray releases though, the worst of which ('The Fifth Element') looks worse than DVD version.

Yeah Blu-ray will be in PS3, but HD DVD players are around today -- cost half the price of Blu-ray players and every disc looks fantastic and they support audio formats like TrueHD.

http://www.thedvdwars.net shows that HD DVD is way ahead on sales, as well as picture and audio quality.

Why spend TWICE the money for inferior video and audio?

[Talkstr8t @ Oct 16th 2006 6:24PM]

Vanillacide, the only reason HD-DVD is half the price (today) is because it's the only way Toshiba would still be in the game with their one-company format. The PS3 will be $499 and a more useful device than an entry-level HD-DVD device, and other Blu-ray players will come down in price as well. Meanwhile Blu-ray has virtually all of the CE, PC, and studio vendors supporting it. HD-DVD will die, it's just a question of how long Toshiba and MS will keep throwing money down the toilet before it does.

[Vanillacide @ Oct 15th 2006 11:33AM]

Ooops, http://www.thedvdwars.com

[Andrew @ Oct 15th 2006 12:41PM]

Of course, the penetration rate of HD DVD and Blu Ray is so minimal that even though the HD DVD may be ahead in sales, it really doesn't mean much for now since the sales numbers are insignificant compared with DVD.

[andy @ Oct 15th 2006 2:15PM]

Most people are not gamers. These players are too expensive and HDDVD is not. People in general can afford one and not the other. PS3 is going to catch bluray up to HDDVD, but the war is far from over, especially if ms integrates HDDVD into the 360 which I suspect they will sometime soon.

I think the cost is killer. Especially when we're talking about dvd players that deliver the information on the disk in its native format to a display. Quality can't vary that much when all it is doing is repeating data. The real "quality" issues will be in converting film to the HD format. Which means quality is in the hands of the studios now.

[JeffNlA @ Oct 15th 2006 2:17PM]

So Rafael you said "If i wanted a Blu-ray player i could get one." That means you DON'T have one and lied in your previous post. Also, you have the grammer of a 13 year old. Please don't clog this good site with trash posts.

[JeffNlA @ Oct 15th 2006 2:23PM]

So Rafael you said "If i wanted a Blu-ray player i could get one."
That means you DON'T have one and lied in your previous post. Also, you have the grammer of a 13 year old. Please don't clog this good site with trash posts.

The player is NOT availble yet - ba haa haa.

Also .. here is my rig LOSER
http://www.shagnow.com/pics/photos/x360/Cabinet.jpg

[Rafael @ Oct 15th 2006 4:34PM]

MR JeffNIA.
Let me explain it to you as if you were a 13 year old.
(1) I never said i had one. Please read the original post.
(2) The player IS available and if you want i can sell you one. Its $1299.99 plus tax.
(3) If you want i can also sell you an updated samsung, the one that you are trying to impress me with just doesnt cut it.
(4)My grammer may not be perfect but at least i can read.
Ill be posting some links of the pics later, just to shut you up and all the haters that think they know it all.

[Bjcoolguy @ Oct 15th 2006 6:47PM]

Yo people here are such haters. Blue-Ray Blu-Ray HDDVD Hd dvd. Get over it. As for sales. I really think we wont get a good idea of where the market is going until early next year. Once the ps3 and xbox 360 add on are in the market. These two products will drive sales more than anything else in the past.

[format guy @ Oct 16th 2006 3:27AM]

Ed: "Panasonic already is doing a $600 HD DVD player."

Eh, no. they aren't. They are exclusive Blu-ray supporters. Samsung is playing both sides now (with a HD-DVD laptop) but Panasonic isn't.

[Ed @ Oct 16th 2006 9:31PM]

HD DVD cost $400 or even $199 (xbox hd dvd) and you'll get better quality picture and sound than ANY blu ray player. Plus, Panasonic already is doing a $600 HD DVD player. Use your heads people!!! HD DVD already won this "format war".

[tekdroid @ Oct 17th 2006 2:19AM]

Bueller @ Oct 15th 2006 10:28AM
THIS IS NOT A COMPUTER, why the furk then is their going to be a software upgrade???
---------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Protecting_Digital_Content
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AACS

In short, a vote for either of these formats is a vote for Hollywood to control what, when and how you watch - and a way of putting true independents (with the plummeting cost of digital) out of their market.

Of course both will fail miserably - compared to compromised DVD.

The upgrade feature is there for control over compromised systems, to cut a long story short. And for the big few movie companies to have the final say over how you can use their content. Rights and privileges can be revoked anytime they feel like it. The AACS agreement every HD-DVD and Blu-Ray manufacturer has agreed to talks about the end of analogue outputs over the next few years...can you guess why? Yes.

To sum up:
Joe User is getting what he deserves by supporting the industry.

[Ted @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:45PM]

PS3 will be a crap Blu Ray player just like PS2 is a crap DVD player, learn from the past, or repeat. Buy a good stand alone.