Panasonic DMP-BD65P-K

Panasonic DMP-BD65P-K

The Panasonic DMP-BD65P's $150 price (as of 12/6/10) makes it downright tempting, especially for a Blu-ray player that also streams video via the Internet. But a clumsy remote control and poorly designed on-screen menus make it difficult to use. And the images that the player sends to your HDTV, while usually good and occasionally very good, can't match what we've seen from the best players. Our image quality judges, for the most part, often found the DMP-BD65P to be slightly better than our reference player, the Sony PlayStation 3. The colors in the animated Cars (chapter 1) were slightly better. Judging from the black and white Good Night and Good Luck (also chapter 1), the white balance was an improvement--by just a bit. There was more contrast and detail in chapter 3 of the Phantom of the Opera Blu-ray (2004 version). One judge thought the DVD version of the same scene was slightly superior to the PS3, but I thought it was slightly worse. In Mission: Impossible III's chapter 7, I simply couldn't see a difference. The sole exception: It clearly surpassed the PS3 in chapters 4 and 20 of The Searchers, earning its only Superior scores.