Panasonic DMP-BDT360

Streaming and DVD Playback Ordinary – Generally I like Panasonic gear. I've had several products over the years and generally had no issues. Until this unit. I bought it to replace an old Panasonic DVD player that I had for years - never missed a beat. Finally started not playing DVDs to the end, cleaned and still no better. For $200, wasn't worth fixing so I upgraded to a Blu-ray… Read more

player. I picked this one over a Samsung because it had SD card support as well as USB and streaming capabilities.

As a Blu-ray player it works great. Some of the setup menu's are a bit hard to follow but you get it setup easily enough with the manual.

As first stated I bought this to kill two birds - stream files and play DVD/Blu-rays. This was a let-down as it does not support a lot of streaming file formats. Secondly it has continually had issues playing back files and stuttering (it doesn't do this on WDTV box with same files). Also, when trying to view files by type (E.g music via Album/Artist/Genre, etc.) the unit will take forever. Seems like it doesn't access the index file created by the NAS. Directly accessing the files is the only way. So streaming is pretty much useless unless you access directly via folder.

Has some net streaming capabilities like ABC Iview and SBS on demand, netflix, etc. (great if you have unlimited download).

DVD playback can be very ordinary at times depending on the DVD. Most DVD's play fine on a DVD player. Play them on this unit and they'll look grainy and poor quality. The tech said this is because of the limitations of the original DVD (this is tech support for our units only play Blu-ray looser - upgrade your collection to Blu-ray). What a crock - if anything the Blu-ray should play these better as it supposingly has 4K up-scaling. If streaming wasn't an issue you could rip the DVD and stream.

Panasonic support is very ordinary. I rang when having issues with the unit stuttering and not listing files. The tech on the phone spoke like I was an [censored word removed] (I've got a diploma for Electrical Engineering). Never had to call before and will probably put me off buying Panasonic again. Their response was pretty much "There's nothing wrong with our product, it's the way you're using it or setup." No, it's just an ordinary designed product. Maybe the newer ones are better, this one was a bit of a flop. Even firmware updates can't help it. I'll keep it till it dies as it plays Blu-ray well and just keep playing DVD's on an older player or stream them on another unit.

Pros: Sleek design, built in wi-fi, LAN, HDMI, optical and component outs, Blu-ray playback good, USB & SD card playback, net streaming capabilities, reliable.

Cons: DVD play back grainy, doesn't stream all files, GUI tiresome to navigate, remotes a bit small and not comfortable to use.

Very impressed so far – needed a new player as my old one less than perfect. The player works pretty well out of the box and as for connecting to my router, it found my connection in seconds and after typing in my code it was up and running. It then did a firmware update and after that I went into the network area and there was a Netfix option. I entered my subscription… Read more

details and I was up and running. I have watched Blu-Ray movies and streamed from Netflix for several hours and I am very happy with the performance. It has both USB and SD card ports but they are unfortunately badly placed in the front behind the fold down plastic flap, so that needs to be open to use these ports. Not as big deal for me but it does seem strange.

I found the user guide a bit unhelpful, but I tend to use it initially just to ensure I have all the bits and to do the to do an initial set up correctly and then only look at it when needed from there, so again, most options were not too hard to find albeit with less than perfect instructions.

I am happy with speed and picture quality too. I read reviews stating the remote was a bit small and it is just that. Again it is not a deal breaker, but it just doesn’t feel right in your hand. I am getting more used to it now but I would have preferred it to be a bit bigger and more comfortable in my hand.

All in all I am very happy with the unit and the minor criticisms I have are more irritations than anything else.

Very good unit – This unit is a breeze to set up. Works perfectly on my samsung tv using the hdmi cable supplied in the box. Unlike all the other panasonic devices i have encountered the remote does not control my tv. Seems like an oversight. I have not tried the 3d as my tv does not support it.