Panasonic BD65 or older BD80?

[GlynH]

A couple of days ago on a whim I purchased a Panasonic BD45 player to feed my Panasonic plasma TV.

Great little machine at a great price...but...I really want ethernet connectivity.

I have spoken to my supplier who will be kind enough to take it back for a refund as he doesn't stock anything else that I may be interested in.

I had almost decided to go with the BD65 as the BD85 is still very expensive on this side of the pond and I don't need the wi-fi preferring to hardwire using Cat5 and the DLNA seems a little limiting in its currrent implementation.

Then at another local dealer I find the BD80 at a great price as it is last years model.

I realise it is of a higher spec than the BD65 but it appears to be slower but what I wanted to know is would you guys go with the newer but lower specced BD65 or the older but higher specced BD80?

Any opinions/advice would be gratefully received!

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[MrBoylan]

A couple of days ago on a whim I purchased a Panasonic BD45 player to feed my Panasonic plasma TV.

Great little machine at a great price...but...I really want ethernet connectivity.

I have spoken to my supplier who will be kind enough to take it back for a refund as he doesn't stock anything else that I may be interested in.

I had almost decided to go with the BD65 as the BD85 is still very expensive on this side of the pond and I don't need the wi-fi preferring to hardwire using Cat5 and the DLNA seems a little limiting in its currrent implementation.

Then at another local dealer I find the BD80 at a great price as it is last years model.

I realise it is of a higher spec than the BD65 but it appears to be slower but what I wanted to know is would you guys go with the newer but lower specced BD65 or the older but higher specced BD80?

Any opinions/advice would be gratefully received!

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

Tough call. The BD80 and BD65 have identical video processors and many similar features. But the BD80 does have better audio processing, including multi-channel analog outputs. The only real "feature" that the BD80 has that the BD65 does not have is the Playback Information Window. This allows you to see exactly which codecs are in use, including bitrates and chroma output. This is not available on the BD65. The BD65 is a little faster to load, and a lot faster to boot than the BD80 so if that's important to you, then get the BD65.

The BD85 is superior to all of them though, with an enhanced video processor for better chroma processing on DVD and Blu-ray, all the audio enhancements in the BD80 (and more) and better DVD upconversion.

I don't know what the VIERA Cast features are on your "side of the pond" but in the US, the only way you can get Netflix streaming is in the 2010 players (BD65 and BD85). I think Netflix is only available in the US and Canada right now, so that may not be a factor. I think the BD85 has DLNA (in Europe/Australia), but not in the US. The BD80 and BD65 do not have DLNA. Also, DLNA functionality in the Panasonic players seems pretty limited.

Overall, my recommendation for highest performance on video and audio, and best ergonomics (faster loading, etc.) is the BD85, but whether it's worth the extra money to you is your call. Choosing between the BD65 and BD80, if Netflix is not a factor and you don't care about slightly longer load times, I'd give the edge to the BD80, but either one is a solid choice.

-CB