Panasonic DMP-BD85 Blu-ray Player

Panasonics latest 2010/11 range of Blu-ray players ends with the top of the range DMP-BD85 – a fully featured player that ticks pretty much every box.

Now Blu-ray is firmly established in the market place, manufacturers have started to widen their ranges somewhat, and this is especially true with Panasonic where they have added a new budget model in the DMP-BD45, and given their top player an even higher spec. The Panasonic DMP-BD85 is a direct replacement for the fantastic BD80, but has many more features, of which the main one is it’s built in wireless networking capabilities. The players most obvious competitor, the Sony BDP-S760, has been showing off its wireless abilities for a while now but whilst the big S was quicker to add this feature, the longer wait for Panasonics alternative has perhaps been more worthwhile with a slightly more accomplished set up. The DMP-BD85 is DNLA compliant so it should be very straightforward to start viewing AVCHD, WMV, and JPEG content off your compliant PC or DIGA. It also means that the Viera Cast (that is also present on the non built in wireless DMP-BD65) becomes a whole lot more usable.

Apart from the networking capabilities of the DMP-BD85, Panasonic have also made sure that their new players continue to explore the possibilities of Blu-ray technology with the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus and Adaptive High Precision 4:4:4 engine to ensure that high quality HD is delivered every time.

Being the top of the range model in the Panasonic Blu-ray Player range, they have also made sure the DMP-BD85 delivers in the audio department too, with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio available as decoded signal and as a bitstream output. There is also the built in High Clarity Sound and Digital Tube Sound processing to help improve things, and the HDMI Jitter Purifier to keep the audio exactly in sync with the screen. As well as HDMI, there are also a digital optical and digital coaxial outputs, and 7.1 speaker terminals and USB socket on the rear. The front of the player has an additional USB socket and an SD Card slot neatly concealed.

Styling wise, there is very little to tell the DMP-BD85 apart from the rest of the range, with the 6mm and 42mm depth difference being the only indicators. With the additional electronics inside it is also heavier, and not surprisingly consumes more power when in full flow, but is standby mode it only consumes a lowly 0.2W.