The Panasonic DMP-BD55 is a Blu-ray, DVD, and CD player, available since autumn 2008 and currently selling for around 350 GBP.

• Crisp HD movie picture, with 24p support and a variety of video controls.
• SD-card reader for photos and HD video.
• Decoder for analog and digital, 7.1-channel, HD audio.
• Support for BD-Live.

• DVD de-interlacing not quite perfect.

Never before has a Blu-ray player offered so much for so little money. Alongside the top-class picture and sound quality, the DMP-BD55 also delivers excellent playback of photos and HD video files, as well as support for BD-Live. In addition, its versatility with HD audio formats will serve older receivers well. On the other hand, if you don't need this flexibility, you can also opt for the BD35, which sells for half the price.

Connections:

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Introduction

Only shortly after the DMP-BD50 hit the market, Panasonic is already presenting another new Blu-ray player: the BD55. The BD55 sells for just about 350 GBP and carries the tried-and-tested stock of sophisticated video and audio processing, as well as multimedia and BD-Live functionality. Like its pricier older brother, the BD55 also provides an SD-card reader and analog 7.1-channel sound.

Features and Operation

The DMP-BD55 really stands out from the crowd with 24p support, an SD-card reader, and BD-Live, as well as unique audio capabilities.

In terms of both technology and operation, there is little change here from the BD50. The accurate HDTV playback in 1080p format remains, as does the support for 24p movie content. There are still seven different image controls and a front-mounted SD-card reader, allowing playback of high-definition JPEG photos and HD video files. BD-Live also uses the SD-card reader to store content such as trailers, since the Panasonic dedicates no internal memory to this purpose.

Audio Capabilities:
The Panasonic's audio capabilities are one of a kind: At the time of testing - autumn 2008 - no other player offers a complete set of decoders for all HD audio formats, in addition to an analog 7.1-channel audio output. This means the BD55 can decode all high-bitrate formats internally, from Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD, right through to DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio. It can then output these as 7.1-channel PCM audio via the HDMI interface.

Good news for owners of older AV receivers: The BD55 outputs excellent, 7.1-channel, analog audio via cinch.

This is good news if you have an older AV receiver that lacks support for bitstream HD audio: With the BD55, you will still be able to enjoy the full quality of the high-definition sound formats. If your receiver does not have an HDMI input, you can play back 7.1-channel audio via the analog cinch connection.

One small shortcoming: The level controls in the loudspeaker setup only work for Dolby Digital or DTS audio, and not for the HD audio formats, so you may run into problems with balancing the different speaker levels.

If you press the "Display" button, the BD55 presents information on the audio and video codecs currently in use. This button allows you to activate the three "re-master" functions for audio CDs, as well as the "User" picture mode, with seven adjustable image parameters. It is also possible to display photos and HD videos from an SD card, or to play back MP3 music files from recordable CDs.

Helpful: Direct access buttons make it easy to reach various important settings.

Picture Quality

Blu-ray:

Excellent: We use this scene from Chapter 2 of "Antarctica Dreaming" to see how Blu-ray players handle complicated camera pans. The Panasonic looks a touch sharper than similarly-priced competitors, but edge-fringing was slightly more visible.

Just like its predecessors (the BD30 and BD50), the BD55 delivered perfect results in the laboratory, apart from some tiny digital color-level deviations. For example, in Chapter 4 of the Bond movie "Casino Royale", the decorative stripes on the sea plane display without edge-flicker, as does the slanted roof of the Land Rover.

The movie's intro runs smoothly in 24p playback, with no judder on the roulette wheel, so long as the connected display signals its support for 24p correctly and switches its display mode accordingly. The player also converts Blu-ray HDTV concert recordings and documentaries sharply and with no flicker from 1080/60i into progressive, 1080/60p-format images. Edge-fringing and other artifacts on fast-moving patterns occur only very rarely.

Excellent: The BD55 displays high-frequency picture information with almost no dampening. We detected only slight deviations in Blu-ray color decoding.

DVD:

Satisfactory: We use this scene from Chapter 12 of the movie "Gladiator" to test DVD de-interlacing. The roof tiles are a fairly common pitfall, but the Panasonic displayed the scene largely correctly, although it did sometimes flick to the wrong movie mode and back again, disturbing the cinematic effect.

With DVD movies, the well-known weaknesses of Panasonic players remain: If the disc does not have a "progressive flag", de-interlaced imagery occasionally exhibits flickering edges. With the flag present, however, there are no problems whatsoever, and you get the full benefit of the multiple image controllers, allowing, for example, finely tuned sharpness-enhancement.

Sound Quality

Perfect: This is a graph of the player's audio frequency response, which shows almost no dampening of high-frequency information. The signal-to-noise ratio was also excellent, at 103.5 dB.

For both DTS-HD High Resolution (in "The Fox and The Child") and DTS-HD Master Audio (in "Jumper"), the bitstream output of HD sound is beyond reproach. This is no real surprise and is the case with most modern Blu-ray players. What makes the BD55 stand out, however, is that its HD audio sounds almost just as good when converted into PCM, regardless of whether it's 5.1 or 7.1 channels.

This makes the Panasonic the ideal playmate for receivers that cannot decode HD audio. Audible reductions in quality occur only if you have to resort to the coaxial or optical digital connections, as these will only output the DTS core or a normal Dolby track.

With DTS-ES soundtracks, the Panasonic outputs 5.1-, 6.1-, or 7.1-channel audio, depending on the flag present on the disc. CD playback sounds good through all of the BD55's interfaces, although the re-master function sounds a little bland.