Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blu-Ray Player - First Impression

Today I got a super-slim Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blu-Ray disk player. When attached via HDMI to a Panasonic 42 inch Viera plasma TV the results are awesome.

I wanted a device that would allow me to watch on the big telly movies from an AVCHD camcorder that were edited in Vegas and burned to either normal or DL DVD or Blu-Ray disks with an LG GGW-H20L writer. Panasonic’s DMP-BD35 has satisfied my requirements perfectly. The movies play great from disk and also from the SDHC card slot. In this regard DMP-BD35 seems well able to handle those tricky home-made projects that some players often reject.

DMP-BD35 has an Ethernet port that permits automatic firmware updates and downloadable content for certain BD movie titles. If DHCP is enabled on your router configuring the Internet connection is easy. Otherwise all relevant info has to be entered manually. Clear instructions are provided

Home cinema enthusiasts with fancy gear will find the back panel of DMP-BD35 sparse. Besides an HDMI and Ethernet port there are only: component video out, analogue video out, analogue sound out and optical digital audio out. For more sockets you’ll need DMP-BD55, which costs roughly a hundred quid extra. However, if like me, you’re not into extreme home cinema DMP-BD35’s rear end is quite acceptable.

Panasonic only supplies a cheap three-phono-type cable for analogue video (the famous yellow plug) and analogue stereo sound. For HDMI you’ll need to buy a good cable; or do like I did and persuade the retailer to ‘throw one in’.

DMP-BD35 ships with a Disney Blu-Ray film called ‘National Treasure 2 Book of Secrets’ starring Nicholas Cage, which I only watched part of and didn’t like – though the technical quality is stupendous. For a limited period you can claim another free movie by completing an online form and sending it off to Panasonic along with your purchase receipt. But as this is a ‘while stocks last’ offer, I’m not getting excited.

Price wise DMP-BD35 seems to vary between £259.99 online (including delivery) to £299.99 full retail at your local shop (if you can find a local shop that has one). I took the latter route since lately I’ve been cheesed off at courier companies calling while I’m out.

And that’s really all there is to say. Because this is my first Blu-Ray player I’ve nothing else to compare it with. But so far DMP-BD35 has matched my expectations, let alone the many favourable reviews. If your requirements are like mine, I can strongly commend it.

For me the clincher was that SDHC card slot for playing camcorder AVCHD files.

Whereas, if you don’t need this feature, look also at another well-reviewed model, Sony’s BDP-S550, which sells for around the same price.