Panasonic DMP-BD50

The basics

Panasonic DMP-BD50 is one of Panasonic's standalone Blu-ray players. The player looks a bit identical to DMP-BD30K and is compliant with Profile 2.0. It comes in black, and weighs around 3.3 kilograms. It features excellent soundtrack support and has an SDHC card slot that can play high-definition AVCHD video.

The good

We've seen more Blu-ray players than we can count on fingers, toes and heads of the annual convention of the children of married first cousins. That's why when we get excited about one you know it's good. Panasonic's latest has BD Profile 2.0 compatibility. What that means is it can hook up to the web to download BD-Live bonus content, and perform picture-in-picture playback. Blu-ray picture quality is stunning - noise is non-existent, while the vast colour range means dark-to-light transitions maintain a smooth, steady gradient. More so when played at cinema-esque 24fps. There's even a bonus SDHC card slot hidden under the front panel for supported stills and AVCHD Hi-Def videos. Nice!

The bad

OK, we're struggling for bad things to say about this, but here goes... it only does a reasonable of upscaling standard DVDs. Oh and it’s pricey. Told you we were struggling.

The bottom line

It may be expensive, but the DMP-BD50 keeps your Hi-Def needs better fed than a foie gras goose! The best Blu-ray player yet.