Pioneer BDP 320 or Panasonic BD 60 thoughts

[45rpm]

This comparison is faulty.
For the price difference, this is like asking, "What is better, ground beef or prime rib?
If I pay twice as much, I would expect the quality to be twice better.
Is the 320 two times better than the BD60?

[iontyre]

Originally Posted by 45rpm

This comparison is faulty.
For the price difference, this is like asking, "What is better, ground beef or prime rib?
If I pay twice as much, I would expect the quality to be twice better.
Is the 320 two times better than the BD60?

Though heks gushing may have been a bit overboard, my Pioneer 320 is the only player in this price range ($200 - $300) I am comfortable owning. Upscaling IS superb, PQ an AQ tweaks are very nice, player has very few if any disc compatibility problems, build quality is in my estimation the best available at this price, and speed has improved markedly with the latest firmware. I had no problem choosing this one over the panasonics.

I do not believe the Pio is twice as expensive as the Panny 60 either. I got mine for significantly less than $300.

[heks]

Originally Posted by Quadrophonic

You must not be paying any real attention at all. That would be a $150 difference at the cashier between the BD 80 and the 320. I would be shocked when I am expecting $250 and it scanned $400.

Hey Quadrophonic,

Perhaps it wasn't the 80 (though I was pretty sure it was), but the price difference between the two was very small. Actually, I think the price was exactly the same, and it just ended up that the Pioneer was on sale and I got it for about $20 less than I could have gotten the Panasonic. Both were $399 CAD.

HeKS

[heks]

Originally Posted by iontyre

Though heks gushing may have been a bit overboard, my Pioneer 320 is the only player in this price range ($200 - $300) I am comfortable owning. Upscaling IS superb, PQ an AQ tweaks are very nice, player has very few if any disc compatibility problems, build quality is in my estimation the best available at this price, and speed has improved markedly with the latest firmware. I had no problem choosing this one over the panasonics.

I do not believe the Pio is twice as expensive as the Panny 60 either. I got mine for significantly less than $300.

Hey iontyre,

Perhaps the gushing was a BIT overboard, but in comparison to the upconverting on the other DVD and BD players I've owned, it was totally justified. I checked out a few other scenes from RotLA after I posted here and I was just as impressed as I was last night. The resulting quality really is amazing. It's good enough that I'm reconsidering my planned upgrade to blu-ray for several of the films in my DVD library.

I'm gonna run a test using a movie or two that I have on both DVD and Blu-Ray and see the difference. Once I check it out on my projector I'll report back on that too.

Take care,
HeKS

[deleuzean]

I am running the component out from a 320 through a switcher into an Epson G5200WNL HD projector. The output res on the 320 is set to 1080i and the Epson "info" menu tab can be used to confirm the resolution that is being displayed on the screen.

I have tried a number of discs, and it seems that commercial discs consistently refuse to actually upconvert.

They still look fantastic, so I'm not exactly complaining - just trying to understand what is going on. Now, I know that it says in fine print in the manual that "some DVDs will not upconvert", but I didn't expect it to happen with so many discs.

It seems to upconvert just fine with all home burned discs whether they are rips from commercial discs or downloaded AVI files encoded as MPEG files and authored to DVD (using TMPG, mostly).

I'm currently theorizing that the hated "macrovision" copy protection on so many commercial discs somehow defeats the unconversion algorithm, but that is totally just a guess.

Is anyone having a similar experience?

[iontyre]

Originally Posted by deleuzean

I am running the component out from a 320 through a switcher into an Epson G5200WNL HD projector. The output res on the 320 is set to 1080i and the Epson "info" menu tab can be used to confirm the resolution that is being displayed on the screen.

I have tried a number of discs, and it seems that commercial discs consistently refuse to actually upconvert.

They still look fantastic, so I'm not exactly complaining - just trying to understand what is going on. Now, I know that it says in fine print in the manual that "some DVDs will not upconvert", but I didn't expect it to happen with so many discs.

It seems to upconvert just fine with all home burned discs whether they are rips from commercial discs or downloaded AVI files encoded as MPEG files and authored to DVD (using TMPG, mostly).

I'm currently theorizing that the hated "macrovision" copy protection on so many commercial discs somehow defeats the unconversion algorithm, but that is totally just a guess.

Is anyone having a similar experience?

Commercial DVD upconversion will only work via HDMI. This is true of all Blu-ray players I am aware of.

[David Susilo]

Originally Posted by iontyre

Commercial DVD upconversion will only work via HDMI. This is true of all Blu-ray players I am aware of.

that is correct.

[Lordoftherings]

Here's a positive review on the Panasonic DMP-BD60:

@ http://hometheatermag.com/discplayer...lu-ray_player/

* And it was Certified & Recommended by "Sound and Vision Mag",
in the September 2009 issue, on page 49.

** Furthermore, the BD60 could be had for only $130 (street).

~~~ Now, about that?