To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more

Panasonic DMP-BDT320 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £230
inc VAT

A fantastic new design, an odd remote control but superb image quality

We’ve seen plenty of Panasonic products that are easy to use and have fantastic image quality, but they aren’t always particularly attractive. If the company’s 2012 Blu-ray player line-up is any indication, that’s about to change.

The DMP-BDT320 has the same textured finish as last year’s players, but the fascia has been completely revamped with a slot-loading optical drive, touch-sensitive buttons and a single-line LCD display with a mirror finish. It’s not even the top model in the range, but we think it looks gorgeous. An SD card reader and single USB port are hidden beneath a fold-out flap, which let you connect a USB flash drive or the memory card from a camera to play your photos, music and video files. File format support was excellent – all our test files played flawlessly, including the DivX and MKV videos.

Panasonic DMP-BWT320 front
The DMP-BWT320 is really stylish, with a slot-loading optical drive and a flap that hides the USB port and SD card reader.

Around the back, there’s a single HDMI output, analogue composite outputs and a digital optical audio output, as well as a USB communication port for the optional Skype camera (TY-CC10W, £120 from www.sonicdirect.co.uk). There’s also an Ethernet port if you prefer to use a cable rather than the player’s built-in Wi-Fi. The DMP-BDT320 fully supports DLNA, so you’ll be able to stream content from a PC or NAS straight away, or simply get online to access internet content.

Panasonic DMP-BWT320 rear
There are all the outputs you’d expect to see, plus a secondary USB port designed to be used with the optional Skype camera.

Panasonic’s internet portal system has finally been upgraded to the same VIERA CONNECT interface seen on last year’s TVs, rather than the older VIERA CAST system. There’s now heaps more content than before, including a marketplace for downloading new apps as they become available. It’s beginning to look rather dated when compared to the smart TV systems we’ve seen from other manufacturers – Samsung’s SmartHub is a better-looking system, as is Sony’s SEN interface.

READ NEXT: Best 4k Blu-ray players

There’s plenty of variety, though, including video streaming apps from Netflix and catch-up TV from BBC iPlayer, as well as YouTube, Facebook, Picasa and Twitter integration. Panasonic is so confident its customers will be using Netflix that it has dedicated one of the remote control buttons to loading up the service.

Pages: 1 2

Details

Price £230
Rating ****

Buying Information

Price £230
Warranty one-year RTB
Supplier http://www.directtvs.co.uk
Details www.panasonic.co.uk

Features and Connections

Blu-ray profile 5.0
HDMI outputs 1
HDMI Version 1.4
Component outputs 1
S-video output 0
Composite outputs 0
Stereo phono outputs 1
Coaxial S/PDIF outputs 0
Optical S/PDIF outputs 1
Wired network ports 1x 10/100
Wireless standard 802.11g
USB ports 2
Mass storage support yes
Supported memory cards SDHC, Memory Stick Pro Duo
Other connections Ethernet
BD Live storage Via SD Card

Video, Audio and Photo

Video playback formats AVCHD, DivX HD, MKV, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, MOV, XVID
Image viewing formats JPEG
Audio playback formats MP3
YouTube streaming yes

Audio

Dynamic Range Control yes
Dolby TrueHD support yes
DTS-HD MA support yes

Physical

Power consumption standby 0W
Power consumption on 7W
Extras remote control
Size 429x178x26mmmm

Read more

Reviews