Great 4K upscaling tops off this top-drawer HD box of
tricks
Preparing you for the Ultra High Definition dawn, this forward-thinking
player can upscale Blu-ray movies four-fold to 4K resolution. Not got a 4K TV
yet? It’s okay, Panasonic has more tech treats hidden behind that mirrored
fascia. Blu-ray playback is as good as you’ll get on a mid-range machine like
this, with 3D content faring especially well. The lavish extended Blu-ray release
of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey unfurls before you with remarkable depth and
detail. This deck achieves a particularly vibrant and realistic colour palette,
too, whether with 3D films or the adrenalinerush of, er, Rush on boring old 2D
Blu-ray. DVDs are also upscaled very smoothly to give a less smudgy appearance
on your HD telly.
The
controls and disc tray are behind the panel
After apps? From the crisp home page, you’ll find a whole
host of pre-loaded ones: the usual BBC iPlayer, Netflix et al, with the latter
having a dedicated button on the remote, for some corporate synergy reason or
other. Samsung and Sony offer even better connected extras, but this is very
solid.
There are some slightly luxe touches as well. With two HDMI
ports you’re free to send a 3D picture direct to your TV, while a decoded 7.1
DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack feeds your AV receiver. This is good news for
anyone with an older amp whose HDMI ports cannot handle both data streams at
the same time.
Seen from the back
There’s wireless DLNA compliance, twin USB ports to cram in
yet more media, and a zippy interface that lets you access all your files fairly
quickly, albeit with a fair few button presses. It’s also the only device on
test with an SD port, warming the cockles of digital camera enthusiasts
everywhere.
This
polished plastic box is the king of minimalism
In short, this Blu-ray player is an all-rounder that sets a
formidable benchmark for others to follow – and it’s future-proofed to boot. If
only the user interface were a little friendlier, it’d be pretty much perfect.
Love: Vibrant colours and striking detail. Snappy app
access. Handy SD card slot. Luxe extras
Hate: Convoluted interface
T3 says: A future-proof Blu-ray player with cracking picture
quality, 4K upscaling and all the trimmings. It’s a steal
Specifications ·
Smart TV Viera Connect ·
Video Up to 4K 2D, 1080p 3D ·
Connectivity Wi-Fi, Ethernet, optical digital, 2x HDMI, SD
Card, 2x USB ·
Audio decoding Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA ·
Media streaming ·
Height 41mm ·
Width 430mm ·
Depth 181mm ·
Weight 1.6kg
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