Customer Ratings & Reviews

well, this player has the best picture quality I have yet to see, and the sound is great. it has many advanced sound options, like analog outputs and dual HDMI outs. The thing I do not like is the remote is touchpad and can be a pain. Also, while the picture quality is great, it can be picky on certain discs and freeze up or stutter even thou the firmware is updated. This is a concern since my 6 year old sony 350 will play these same discs with no problem and there has NEVER BEEN A FIRMWARE update for that player yet! Tells you something about SONY blu-ray players!

The BDT500 has fabulous video and audio. Both the picture and sound are better than other players I've seen with similar features. The upscaling of DVDs is better, there is a little more sharpness with blu-ray discs, and most noticeable is the quality of the sound. I like to watch concert videos, and this player really brings out vibrant sounds for these shows (as well as for movies). Beyond that, it doesn't really have any features that dramatically separate it from the numerous other players available. If you are willing to pay the extra price, you really do get a great experience with the picture and sound it produces.

To be honest, the remote control is so bad, it is hard for me to recommend buying this unit. I bought a new Panasonic TV and wanted a Panasonic Blu Ray 3D player. The quality of playback is excellent. The menus and navigation are beyond bad. If you get for a bargain price, then get this unit. It wouldn't be worth paying full price. You may wonder my 4 star rating. Based on playback quality and interaction with TV, I like it.

It's a pleasure to listen to cd's on this player. I didn't realize there is a difference in DVD players. accessing netflix was easy. got this on clearance for $55.

This is nice blu-ray player with excellent picture quality. New touch pad on remote takes some time to learn.

Plays Blu-Ray and DVDs and Music Video in 1080 p grander. Fast loading and well constructed. Tray is solid as well as the rest of the unit. Has viera connect which automatically found my pansonic tv and connected to it and to internet.--GREAT. No problems with it over the past month.

we use this blue ray player with our outdoor projector and surround sound system. Every thing looks great. Easy to stream Netflix, vudu, and other services. So far looks like the right player for us.

This Blu-ray player has the best picture I have ever seen. The sound is also incredible. I would highly recommend.

Produces a bright, clear picture, offers a multitude of connection options for both audio and video

A great TV. Plasma is the only way to watch sports and movies.

this is my second unit, I now have 2 of these. one in my home theater room, and one for my 2-channel listening system. that says it all, right there.

I'm an avid home theater enthusiast, who has owned many high-end home theater products from all of the major manufacturers. With that said, I can tell you that this player is certainly very good, although it is a bit of a disappointment. Allow me to explain... For the average CE consumer, this player simply won't be worth their money. Most of them are just going to connect the player directly to their television or A/V Receiver, via HDMI, and thus, will not reap the benefits afforded by this player. On the other hand, specific CE consumers, that I would classify as "Budget-minded enthusiasts", will be able to derive rewards from this player, that they will otherwise not be able to get for $290 - $350. If you are such a consumer, this player just might be for you. For those of you that prioritize maximizing video and audio quality from each piece of your equipment, this player will probably make you very happy. I would go so far as to say that you probably won't be able to find a player for the same price, or less than this one, that will deliver the type of audio and video performance that this player does. However, if you are just a consumer that wants to own a very nice blu-ray player, and you won't be connecting it a very nice amp or receiver, via 7.1 channel analog, this is definitely not the player that you want. I would look into Sony's 790 or 590 lineup, or Panasonic's 220 or 320 lineup, if you fall into this category. You simply aren't going to get your money's worth, if you're just buying this player and connecting it to your television or receiver via HDMI. There is one more type of consumer that will greatly benefit from this player. If you own an older A/V Receiver, that is not 3D capable, this player will allow you to connect one HDMI cable directly to your television, and a second HDMI cable to your receiver, thus allowing you to still output lossless audio, whilst viewing full HD 3D. However, there are cheaper players (Sony 790, Panasonic 320) that will allow you to do the same thing. Now that I've discussed which type of consumer will or will not harvest the maximum benefit from this player, let me go over some of its strengths and weaknesses. We will start with audio performance, as that is what this player is primarily intented for. The Burr Brown 5102's are solid. You won't get anything comparable on a unit that is priced the same or less than this. Just keep in mind that you will only reap the benefits of the Burr Browns, if you're connecting via 7.1 channel analog. If you are connecting this way, this player will deliver audio quality that matches players in the $500 - $1,000 range. Although, the new Oppo BDP-103 will give you vastly superior audio quality, and is priced $150 - $200 more than this player. The video performance is everything you could ask for. Anybody who buys this player is not going to have a single complaint about video quality. Here's the caveat: Almost no consumer is going to be able to tell a difference in the video quality of this player, compared to an $85 entry-level blu-ray player. If you need the peace of mind that your player is technically delivering superior video quality than cheaper players, by all means, this one will give that to you. In fact, it delivers video quality that is technically on par with players that are two to three times the cost of it. However, once again, your friends and family members that are oblivious to such things will never know the difference. And they wouldn't if you displayed the image offered by this player, side-by-side with the image delivered by an $85 player, on two identical televisions. Keep that in mind. A few other points of interest: This player doesn't load or navigate very quickly, at all. I would even go so far as to say that most mid-level players will load your blu-rays quicker, and navigate chapters much, much quicker. The front panel/disc tray cover is a joke. For a machine that offers such stellar build quality, and is so solid, overall, there's no excuse for a mirrored piece of plastic being used on the front. The remote control is nice, and has good build quality, but it is actually quite annoying, even after several months of getting used to it. The Wi-Fi streaming is inconsistent, at best, and terrible at worst.

Great Player, the Dual HDMI output (one for my 3D Projector, the other for non-3D Audio Receiver. The 3D picture is great, the Sound is Awesome. Up-Conversion works really well. The touch-pad on the Remote takes a little bit of learning but easy once you get used to it.

I was looking to upgrade my outdated Panasonic BDP-85 which was the non-3D version of this player which only has 96/24 D/A converters. After waiting and looking I found exactly what I was looking for. A machine that plays all digital audio formats through the disc drive as well as SD and USB inputs as well as DVD and Blu Ray. I am using my old Audioquest Diamond X2 interconnects from over 20 years ago with this unit as they were the old pure silver connects at the time. I matched it up with a Marantz 1402 receiver, Energy speakers and Klipsch subwoofer. The first thing I noticed was that the Blu Ray of live concerts sounded like I was there live!!! Like I was hearing the sound of the master recording coming through without any loss in audio quality. There are many units out there that cost over $1,000.00 that do not even come close to the sonic accuracy of this unit. The difference from going from 96/24 or 192/24 to 192/32 is like comparing an LP record to a regular CD. The Burr Brown 5102s do a great job at producing master quality audio, smooth as silk. No digital harshness whatsoever. And, my MP3s sound just as good as regular CDs on this unit, due to the high sampling rate and better quality electronic components. I plan on selling my speakers and receiver and getting the new Bowers and Wilkins Panorama all in one theater sound bar in the future. Best Buy even matched the amazon.com price for me on the player, making it even a better bargain at under $300.00!! And, the remote control is way more simplified and way faster than the older unit I had. It is a Solid State Player, Blu Ray Disc player, and Music Server in one as it can connect to a router so one can access music or videos on the Internet. O

I am owner of the 310 which was the great one at the time but I wanted the new 500. This baby has all the bells and whistles. I needed the dual HDMI because i have an older Denon receiver. The pictures quality is way better then the 310 I had. The 2d to 3d conversion is updated and improved. If you are looking for a top end Blu ray player this is the one.

This thing has amazing picture and sound quality. It's really easy to set up and basically idiot proof (trust me). It almost has too many features, especially if you have a good receiver that also does all the work for you.

Had 2 Blu-ray players before this one., a Sony and a Samsung, both were OK, but very slow to load and use. This Panasonic works great, faster to load and use. The setup was easy, connected to my home wireless in minutes and downloaded the latest update automatically. The picture is great, both with DVDs and Blu-rays. Scenes are crisp and clear. A little pricey at $350 but was able to find it on sale to save some bucks. Would have bought it anyway, all Blu-rays should work this well.

Great picture quality with this DVD player. Very easy to use and set up. Well done

This is Panasonic's best Blu-Rey/3D DVD player and has excellent performance. I'm personally not fond of the touch screen feature of the remote and would prefer the more traditional buttons. Decided to go with the Logitech Harmony 600 remote which has some trouble with the somewhat complex and touch screen based controls. All and all glad we bought it.

This bluray player is for high end receivers and speakers,its work just good denon, marantz and oppo bluray players,the wifi does work which i do not use,the touch tone remote i hate,they should have stuck with the old remotes.