Panasonic DMP-BDT500

gadgtfreek

SatelliteGuys Master
Original poster
May 29, 2006
22,105
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Lower Alabama
Got the new toy in today. First impression is it's much nicer looking than the ol' reliable BDT210 and the S790. The S790 is a nice looking unit, but up close it still has a cheaper feel to it and the lit up buttons are not very attractive. BDT500 has a little more heft to it, but nothing near an Oppo 93 of course, regardless it does feel more solid than the more "plastic" players of the last few years.

Bottom feet have much larger rubber pads than you see on cheaper players
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210 vs 500 back
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Top shot for size, and remotes
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Front shot
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The top "buttons" are not really buttons. They are inset like buttons but are really just sensors, and nothing is lit up but the time counter when watching a movie, I like this. Remote is a bit long for my taste, but after a few minutes I got pretty good with the touchpad and dont have an issue with it.

I ran the "main" HDMI to my GT30 and the "sub" to the Marantz, but was having a problem not getting lossless audio. I missed a setting in setup to turn the sub HDMI out to Video Off, once I did that it was fine. A playback info windows shows HDMI Main sending 1080p/24 4:4:4 and the HDMI Sub sending out only audio in the form of TrueHD. There is also the ability to have a small orange badge light up on the front when you have video turned off on the second output, I guess so you can know for a fact without looking at the menus that you have video going out of HDMI 1 and audio going out of HDMI 2. It's OK, but a tad bright and does not dim with the timer.

I really like the menu structure, compared to the 2011's. It reminds me a lot of the Oppo 93 in the way you can scroll over the main menu selections, and to the right it shows the settings in that sub menu without having to click on say audio, and then go to a new screen to see the settings. Makes a quick check of your settings much easier. They still have stupid things like you having to turn High Clarity Sound on in both the settings menu and the options menu when a disc is playing. Why they do this I have no idea.

I set the player up with the standard stuff:

Pic Mode Normal
Chroma Process Off
ycbcr 4:4:4
Deep color Auto
1080p/24 output
Bitstream for audio
High Clarity Sound On
All other Audio and Video stuff like DRC and Detail Enhancer Off

Here is some past speed data, and then the new models:

Speed report:

BD35--BD85--BDT110--BDP93--S790--BDT500 (in seconds)

Time to get to where you can select PLAY in final menu, starting with tray open:

Transformers 82--75--64--64--63--66

Iron Man 101--87--67--53--56--55


790 vs 500 on Star Trek which has some trailer skipping

83--81

790 vs 500, power button press to time menu is on screen

2.9--about 1 sec

So the 790 and 500 are snappy like last years models, no huge advances, but overall in my tests the 500 was a hair faster. Everything seemed to go well also after the FW upgrade, the 790 however has issues at times when you turn it off, it just blinks and Ive had to pull the power cord twice before trying to turn it off. Happened a 3rd time today in my testing so Sony has some kinks to work on. I think the current 500 bug is a Netflix IW audio sync if you have a disc in the player as well as quick start on.

Image quality looked phenomenal on Bayformers and Iron Man, I hope to test the streaming services tomorrow because this is where the 790 did a bang up job. If everything works well on the streaming front, this will be my main room player for this year. The 790 is nice, but you cant beat the overall look of the 500 and the Sony menu's suck to be frank. As stated, they also need to work on the blinking hangup because the power cord is not detachable and its hard as hell for me to get to where the cord is plugged into the back of my APC unit. I also like how the 500 is much more dim than the Sony when playing a movie back.
 
Interested in hearing more comparisons between this and the Sony. I've decided to pass on the 500. Not sure you're really gaining anything running audio and video that way.

S~
 
Nice review - Mine is on order and should arrive at my local Best Buy soon. Looking forward to read any future findings and/or impressions that you've got on the new player.
 
Interested in hearing more comparisons between this and the Sony. I've decided to pass on the 500. Not sure you're really gaining anything running audio and video that way.

S~
Im not sure that am I am either, even though the manufacturers make some claims. The main reason I went to sound only for the Marantz is:

1) The HR34 has a terrible problem handshaking with it
2) Ive seen where a lot of these AVR's are clipping part of the chroma resolution, and I personally just prefer to have less items in the video chain

In other words, its just really personal preference.

I got to use the streaming last night, wife went to bed early and I stayed up with a beer. Netflix setup was quick and easy, watched Assassination Games and Born to Race, two I had just watched on the 790 recently and knew had excellent streaming PQ. 5.1 DD+ went off without an issue, and even though the 500 does not give you a popup to tell you quality, I could tell it was top tier.

Amazon was a different story, and what ive been battling since I moved into this house in Jan 2010. Not one of my Panny players has been able to give me HD over Amazon, sometimes not even being able to connect to Amazon, with my current wireless setup. This includes BD85, BDT110 and BDT210, while the 790 and Roku do it fine. Ive done some reading, and I think this POS 2wire modem I have with ATT is the issue. I finally upgraded to a pretty new model, a Pace wireless N, and hope to try it out on Tues. I'll report back if that was the issue.
 
I haven't seen any problem with clipping on the Marantz. Routers do seem to be a problem. I haven't had any issues with Amazon using a linksys wireless, linksys powerline adapter, or my frontier modems. Still considering the 790. Might pick one up tomorrow.

S~
 
I noticed Panasonic recommends Wireless N, and mine is G, but the wireless router I have does not have good reviews. That being said, it works fine with everything but Panasonic (I can even get my GT30 to connect over wifi at ALL), so Panny and my router just dont play nicely. Im hoping the new Pace model will fix this.

The 790 is real nice as far as streaming goes for sure, and the video looked nice. My only complaints were the menu system, and some of the looks. One thing I dont agree with is the whole push to say the 790 is better than the Panny's or Oppo. Sure, you can throw in the features like "deep black" and other crap, but many of us turn that off. I do somewhat agree with some of the comments on AVS that the Sony's may be a tad softer than the Panny's, but I can justify that. Just what my eyes tell me. regardless, the 790 is a nice player.
 
Just out of curiosity, what exactly is the SD card memory used for? I dont use BD Live, do some titles still use that space for things? Do any of the streaming services use it for a buffer?
 
I just lost a little respect for smackrabbits opinion at AVS

There are two ways to look at that:

- Oppo pushes out lots of updates, so they must have more issues
- Oppo pushes out updates whenever a problem disc comes out. Panasonic waits until there are a lot of discs with issues to do an update, since doing an update for one isn't worth their time.

I have no idea which is correct, but assuming that having a lot of updates means that one has more or less issues isn't the way to look at it. Most people will never run into issues with their player and we don't know which is correct.

Official 2012 Sony BDP-S790 Thread - Page 29 - AVS Forum

Umm, I guess he has no idea PHL actually works with studios which is why Panasonics generally never have playback issues. You want a recent biggie for Oppo, Hugo...

AFAIK, Oppo has been more problematic over time with discs than Panny, but maybe Im wrong.
 
I think folks spend a lot of time trying to justify why one should buy an Oppo. We both know, as owners, using it strictly for a video transport and bitstreaming HDMI audio, buy something cheaper unless you just want to say you have an Oppo.

I just dont get it, but if you look at the 2012 player threads, it's a "vs" thread. Tiring.

In the past year, having had an Oppo, LG, Samsung, Panny and Sony, for BR playback they all did a good job. My main preference in panasonic is I know they do work hard for accurate PQ, give you great menu choices, and they are reliable. Cant be said for other brands.
 
Im seeing a bug on the 500. I know with quick start on and a disc in, folks have issues with Netflix streaming, but Im seeing something different with powering on and off. Im not sure whats causing it, and I have viera link turned off, but depending how I power things off, the 500 will turn itself on. Basically, unless I cut the GT30 off first, and let the 500 sit for a bit, then cut it off, it will just power back up after about 10 seconds. Very odd, but all this nonsense stopped as soon as quick start was cut off. Will leave it off for now, not really a big deal for me, and now Im green :)
 
I stopped following the two Sony threads after some of those posts between him and others. I have been following the 500 thread, though. Now they're arguing about clipping.

S~
 
Yepp...

If some of these guys really knew what a lot of these products do to the image that you cant control, I think it would be a thermonuclear meltdown. Hell, I watched with Chroma On before I knew what the hell it did, and my eyes are still OK lol.

I went thru an obsessive phase for awhile, especially when I got into calibration. On the back side of that you realize nothing is perfect, just get some good gear and enjoy. Granted, their is gear to avoid, but thats another story.

I also agree with one comment, how do you know the 2012 models fail with Chroma ON, maybe Panny figured it out?
 
Well, The Grey had a lot of grain, but the last part of the movie had some gorgeous day shots, and the PQ from this player is phenomenal. Good job as usual.
 
Just off previous experience of the overall look, and reading the Blu PQ and AQ reviews ahead of time, I felt the 790 did have a little softness to it. Not anything like the PS3 of course, and it looks great, but for some reason the Panasonics to me look razor sharp. I know the displays sometimes have some sort of undefeatable edge enhancement, not sure if Panny uses this on the players, and not sure if super bit mapping has anything to do with it on the Sony look, but I like the 500.

They all vary slightly, Ive never bought that all blu-ray layers will look the same on blu-ray BS, because Ive seen different. It could just be I prefer Panny's "look" more. I wanna watch War Horse on the Panny soon, because I saw some issues in it with the Sony, and want to see if it is the movie, or the player.
 

USTVNOW

Moving up from Harman Kardon AVR 247 to Denon???

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