Panasonic DMP-BD55 VS. Sony S550

[Theo Cupier]

Originally Posted by LittleBear

It looks like I will go with the Panasonic BD55K. It's $20 more than the Sony but it looks it does have a slight advantage over the Sony.

That's the problem, over here in UK land the price difference is around £100 ($150) at the moment, which does make it more of a serious decision. The Panny has to do quite a bit more to justify that sort of price jump.

I found ejk01's list of pros & cons useful, but for me, personally in my setup, none of the specific merits of the Panny are compelling to me for $150.

[Aerodude73]

I just "Added" this to my cart, after reading all the Pros vs Cons with this player vice the Sony S550 -- which I was all set to buy once the price got near $300 or so. Looks like it does the same Audio wise anyway as the Sony, and has a few more Advantages (upconversion, load times, slow-mo feature) as well.

* (Little Bear - what deal were you referring to where you got the player and 4 dvd's for a little over $300? -- Thx.)

[commish]

Originally Posted by LittleBear

Well, I went with the Panasonic DMP-BD55K

Plus I got the $100 off and 4 Blu-Ray DVD's (Blood Diamond, GoodFellas, The Perfect Storm, Batman Begins) with the deal.

All the above plus delivery for $304.00!

Can you share a link to this deal?

[Aerodude73]

Originally Posted by commish

Can you share a link to this deal?

YEA - WHAT HE SAID !

[chrisrushing]

Originally Posted by LittleBear

Well, I went with the Panasonic DMP-BD55K

Plus I got the $100 off and 4 Blu-Ray DVD's (Blood Diamond, GoodFellas, The Perfect Storm, Batman Begins) with the deal.

All the above plus delivery for $304.00!

Where did you get that deal???

[callas01]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_82928131_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000312251&p f_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=special-offers-2&pf_rd_r=12B0Z1721YRGQNX2Y3XX&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p =465196631&pf_rd_i=B001GAOYCI

Or just go to the DMP-55K and scroll down the page and you will see the special offers and click the shop now link.

[chrisrushing]

I have 2 questions...

What is the comparison of the blu-ray picture on these two models?

What is the comparison of the dvd upscaling on these two models?

Side note: I know the Samsung BD-P2500 has the HQV chip for upscaling... isn't that a better image than these 2 models as far as upscaling?

I'm a newb with the bluray stuff so forgive me.

[Aerodude73]

Movies I will order: FULL METAL JACKET, SUPERMAN RETURNS, 10,000 B.C., & GOODFELLAS - (they don't have the Greatest selection for this promotion, but only 10,000 B.C. is the only real lame one here that I could see).

Panasonic DMP-BD55K 1080p Blu-Ray Player
USE CODE: BLUWA100 at Checkout & Save $100 !!
(was $311.99 TOTAL on 12/03/08)

[ejk01]

Hey thanks for info on Amazon deal! Got mine just now for $309...so that guarantees that the price will go down soon...LOL.

<<What is the comparison of the blu-ray picture on these two models?>>

From above responses-

I just purchased the panny 55k and I currently own the Sony 500 and decided against the BDP 550 due to all the confusion about the DTHD-MA. I do think the panny has better picture quality than the 500 and 550.

<<What is the comparison of the dvd upscaling on these two models?>>

From above responses-

Also the Panasonic has better DVD upconversion. The Sony will upconvert 480I DVD's to 1080P/60 where the Panasonic has a option to do a reverse 3:2 pulldown for 480I DVD's and upconvert to 1080P/24.

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by ejk01

Hey thanks for info on Amazon deal! Got mine just now for $309...so that guarantees that the price will go down soon...LOL.

<<What is the comparison of the blu-ray picture on these two models?>>

From above responses-

I just purchased the panny 55k and I currently own the Sony 500 and decided against the BDP 550 due to all the confusion about the DTHD-MA. I do think the panny has better picture quality than the 500 and 550.

<<What is the comparison of the dvd upscaling on these two models?>>

From above responses-

Also the Panasonic has better DVD upconversion. The Sony will upconvert 480I DVD's to 1080P/60 where the Panasonic has a option to do a reverse 3:2 pulldown for 480I DVD's and upconvert to 1080P/24.

I have the chance to test all of the above players at one point, and I can say that the PQ is pretty even between all of them. People all have different displays and different calibration settings. So the PQ on these players can vary depending on those factors. I had the Panny BD35 and the Sony S350 at the same time, and personally I think the PQ on Blu-Rays are even to my eyes, but I liked the upconversion better on the Sony. I know a lot of people on this forum are saying the Panny has better upconversion but I will have to disagree with that. To me the Sony just shows better details on SD DVD. Maybe the Panny has more vibrant colors on SD DVD's but to me what makes a good PQ is detail and natural color accurancy and the Sony looks great on both.

On the operational side, both of these players are dead even. Load speed, boot time etc.... The Sony looks nicer though......

[Sonny]

I have both & I'd have to pick the Panny if I could only take ONE!!!

[lpfan71]

The only thing I don't like about that Amazon deal is that the blu ray movies are older versions that don't have HD audio. And the only reason I'm buying a blu ray player is for HD audio.

[LittleBear]

Originally Posted by aerodude73

* (Little Bear - what deal were you referring to where you got the player and 4 dvd's for a little over $300? -- Thx.)

It was from Amazon.com

You get the Panasonic 55K Blu-Ray player along with 4 DVD's for around $304.00 delivered.

[LittleBear]

Originally Posted by lpfan71

The only thing I don't like about that Amazon deal is that the blu ray movies are older versions that don't have HD audio. And the only reason I'm buying a blu ray player is for HD audio.

So the Blu-Ray DVD's don't have HD audio? How could they be advertised as Blu-Ray DVD's?

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by LittleBear

So the Blu-Ray DVD's don't have HD audio? How could they be advertised as Blu-Ray DVD's?

Those specific Blu-ray "Disc's" were not released from Warner with Lossless Audio. There still Blu-rays. EDIT: I really wish GoodFellas came lossless audio...

[LittleBear]

Originally Posted by Sonny

Those specific Blu-ray "Disc's" were not released from Warner with Lossless Audio. There still Blu-rays. EDIT: I really wish GoodFellas came lossless audio...

I see. But they will still be in 5.1 surround when played on my new Panasonic 55?

Do you prefer the Panasonic 55 over the Sony 550?

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by LittleBear

I see. But they will still be in 5.1 surround when played on my new Panasonic 55?

If they have surround tracks, they'll be in surround coming out of the BD55. If you are using an optical or coax connection and the only surround track is LPCM 5.1, then you'd be out of luck. But, you'll be good for 5.1 from just about any disc, although it may not be high quality.

[Sunnyboy]

Dear BD lovers, I own 5 BD players now: Sony BDP-S1, Sony BDP-S300, Sony BDP-S350, Sony BDP-S550 and Panasonic DMP-BD55K, and my TV is Sony 32" KDL-32XBR6 1080p.

If you asked me which BD players to pick among Sony BDP-550 and Panasonic BD55K, I will definitely tell you: Panny 55K! Even though lots of people think they like to have BRAVIA link feature to control all Sony products through HDMI, but Panasonic 55K has VeraLink which is "compatible" with Sony's BRAVIA link! Trust me, you can use Panny 55K remote to control Sony BRAVIA amps and TVs, and vice versa!

Comparing Sony BD-S550 and Panasonic DMP-BD55K for BD lovers is like audiophiles comparing tube amps vs transistor amps! Sony BD-S550 will catch your eyes by showing you "colorful" (but kind of artificial) pictures; however, Panasonic 55K's PQ is very neutral with lots of details that Sony 550 cannot reproduce (under the same TV settings, and this is just my personal opinion).

Inside these two players, definitely Panny 55K: 55K uses lots of top of the line passive components: ELNA, Rubycon, United-Chemicon capacitors and other goodies, but Sony BDP-S550 uses only regular quality passive components (that means, I have to change almost all capacitors and increase the capacitance by myself). The only thing that I do not like about Panny 55K is: 55K mounts all LSI chips at the back (bottom side) of the main PCB, and this MAY create some heat build-up problem around the hard working video and audio processing chips. I am still investigating this issue, maybe Panny's tech support can answer this question better.

My 2 cents, hope this will help.

[leoniki]

chose Panasonic for the following reasons:
- in terms of video performance I prefer the Panasonic brand
- to match my Panasonic projector (I like its picture a lot!)
- can easily use the (superior) universal remote of the projector
- liked the amazon deal better at the time:
Panasonic $350 + price of 4 Warner blu-rays - $100 discount
Sony $350 + price of 1 Sony blu-ray + 1 free Sony blu-ray

[Aerodude73]

Originally Posted by Sunnyboy

Dear BD lovers, I own 5 BD players now: Sony BDP-S1, Sony BDP-S300, Sony BDP-S350, Sony BDP-S550 and Panasonic DMP-BD55K, and my TV is Sony 32" KDL-32XBR6 1080p.

If you asked me which BD players to pick among Sony BDP-550 and Panasonic BD55K, I will definitely tell you: Panny 55K! Even though lots of people think they like to have BRAVIA link feature to control all Sony products through HDMI, but Panasonic 55K has VeraLink which is "compatible" with Sony's BRAVIA link! Trust me, you can use Panny 55K remote to control Sony BRAVIA amps and TVs, and vice versa!

Comparing Sony BD-S550 and Panasonic DMP-BD55K for BD lovers is like audiophiles comparing tube amps vs transistor amps! Sony BD-S550 will catch your eyes by showing you "colorful" (but kind of artificial) pictures; however, Panasonic 55K's PQ is very neutral with lots of details that Sony 550 cannot reproduce (under the same TV settings, and this is just my personal opinion).

Inside these two players, definitely Panny 55K: 55K uses lots of top of the line passive components: ELNA, Rubycon, United-Chemicon capacitors and other goodies, but Sony BDP-S550 uses only regular quality passive components (that means, I have to change almost all capacitors and increase the capacitance by myself). The only thing that I do not like about Panny 55K is: 55K mounts all LSI chips at the back (bottom side) of the main PCB, and this MAY create some heat build-up problem around the hard working video and audio processing chips. I am still investigating this issue, maybe Panny's tech support can answer this question better.

My 2 cents, hope this will help.

Well, between Your info above (5 Bluray players??!! ), and others in this thread, it looks like i've def. changed my mind from the Sony S550 to this Panny player. It does the same and maybe a bit more Audio wise, and seems to have some more options as well as a couple things the Sony does not do or have.

I LOVE THIS SITE!! Now, if it just goes Down a bit in price... THEN I can pull the trigger !!