After the tests of the two 3D TVS (the Samsung UE46C7700 then the Panasonic Viera TX-P50VT20) here's the first 3D player. The DMP-BDT300 is the 2010 innovation from Panasonic and deserves an in-depth test.
Hardware, design and build
Making its first appearance for Panasonic on the BD65 player, the SD card reader on the front of the DMP-BDT300 includes the SDXC standard. These new memory cards are gradually arriving on the market. Of course, the player is still SD and SDHC compatible. To its right, there's a USB connector to link up a storage device. Unfortunately, it only supports the FAT32 format. This means you're restricted to files under 2 GB.
In any case, even if we leave the lack of NTFS compatibility to one side, the multimedia player is mediocre. The list of formats supported is short: JPEGs (images), MP3s (music) with Tag support and DivX5 and 6 in SD and HD (video). The DivX 6 1080p is very good up to 34Mbps. As of encoding at 38Mbps and upwards, jerkiness is more and more visible. These files come in AVI or DivX containers with various audio tracks and subtitle formats. External SRT and SUB subtitles are also supported but you can't synchronise them when the audio is out of sync.
There's an Ethernet socket for updating the firmware, accessing online content with VieraCast (YouTube and so on), or Blu-ray BD-Live bonuses. Note that it comes with a wireless USB adaptor so you don't need the network cable.
There's no lack of connectivity. It has 2 HDMI 1.4 sockets, one Ethernet, a component and a composite. On the audio side, there's a coaxial out, an optical and an analogue up to 7.1.
In terms of menu graphics, Panasonic has changed very little:
In contrast to the menu, start-up time has improved. 3 seconds to open the platter from full stand-by and 27 seconds for the first image on our test Blu-Ray. The old players took 50 seconds to a minute for the same operation.
3D
Panasonic sent us a 3D TV and demo film with the DMP-BDT300 player so we could test 3D results. They're good. Certain subjects really jump out of the screen and the depth of field is well rendered. For more details on 3D, read the TX-P50VT20 test.
Image quality
Our sensor readings show similar calibration of the video out to that on the PlayStation3:
The DMP-DBT300 renders Blu-Ray films with impressive sharpness. Colours are natural and the different levels of brightness correctly displayed. No parasites. Just like on the BD65, you can personalize the display (brightness, noise reduction, sharpness and so on) to make up for any errors linked to the television or the video projector.
The results with DVDs are also very fine here. Colours are natural. Upscaling from SD to HD is a little too hard for our taste. As you can see in the image below, aliasing is visible unlike on the PS3. It is however among the better players for upscaling:
Audio formats
The DMC-BDT300 decodes all HD audio formats! Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD HR and DTS HD MA are available in bitstream and PCM via the HDMI out. If you don't have an HDMI socket on your amplifier, you can also retrieve these signals from the analogue outs (7.1 compatible).
Energy consumption
You might think that a 3D Blu-Ray player uses more power than a 2D one. But no. At under 0.1W on standby and 19.3W during Blu-ray or DVD playback, the DMP-BDT300 is among the greenest current players.
Hardware, design and buildMaking its first appearance for Panasonic on the BD65 player, the SD card reader on the front of the DMP-BDT300 includes the SDXC standard. These new memory cards are gradually arriving on the market. Of course, the player is still SD and SDHC compatible. To its right, there's a USB connector to link up a storage device. Unfortunately, it only supports the FAT32 format. This means you're restricted to files under 2 GB.
In any case, even if we leave the lack of NTFS compatibility to one side, the multimedia player is mediocre. The list of formats supported is short: JPEGs (images), MP3s (music) with Tag support and DivX5 and 6 in SD and HD (video). The DivX 6 1080p is very good up to 34Mbps. As of encoding at 38Mbps and upwards, jerkiness is more and more visible. These files come in AVI or DivX containers with various audio tracks and subtitle formats. External SRT and SUB subtitles are also supported but you can't synchronise them when the audio is out of sync.
There's an Ethernet socket for updating the firmware, accessing online content with VieraCast (YouTube and so on), or Blu-ray BD-Live bonuses. Note that it comes with a wireless USB adaptor so you don't need the network cable.
There's no lack of connectivity. It has 2 HDMI 1.4 sockets, one Ethernet, a component and a composite. On the audio side, there's a coaxial out, an optical and an analogue up to 7.1.
In terms of menu graphics, Panasonic has changed very little:
In contrast to the menu, start-up time has improved. 3 seconds to open the platter from full stand-by and 27 seconds for the first image on our test Blu-Ray. The old players took 50 seconds to a minute for the same operation.
3D
Panasonic sent us a 3D TV and demo film with the DMP-BDT300 player so we could test 3D results. They're good. Certain subjects really jump out of the screen and the depth of field is well rendered. For more details on 3D, read the TX-P50VT20 test.
Image qualityOur sensor readings show similar calibration of the video out to that on the PlayStation3:
The small imperfections on the curves are beause of the TV and not the players. This is why they're there on all the curves. What's important to note here is that the curves of the two players are similar.
The DMP-DBT300 renders Blu-Ray films with impressive sharpness. Colours are natural and the different levels of brightness correctly displayed. No parasites. Just like on the BD65, you can personalize the display (brightness, noise reduction, sharpness and so on) to make up for any errors linked to the television or the video projector.
The results with DVDs are also very fine here. Colours are natural. Upscaling from SD to HD is a little too hard for our taste. As you can see in the image below, aliasing is visible unlike on the PS3. It is however among the better players for upscaling:
The PS3 gives a smoother more natural image. The BD65 gives a harder image with some aliasing if you look closely.
Audio formatsThe DMC-BDT300 decodes all HD audio formats! Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD HR and DTS HD MA are available in bitstream and PCM via the HDMI out. If you don't have an HDMI socket on your amplifier, you can also retrieve these signals from the analogue outs (7.1 compatible).
Energy consumptionYou might think that a 3D Blu-Ray player uses more power than a 2D one. But no. At under 0.1W on standby and 19.3W during Blu-ray or DVD playback, the DMP-BDT300 is among the greenest current players.
Pros
- 3D Blu-Ray compatible
- Fine image quality
- Good SD upscaling
- Analogue outs up to 7.1
- DivX SD and HD playback
Cons
- Few formats with the multimedia player
- Remote not backlit
- Pricey!
Conclusion
The DMP-BDT300 is a good player but has its limits. Its multimedia player only plays SD and HD DivX (as well as JPEGs and MP3s) and we found the SD upscaling a little hard.
OUR SCORE
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