Photo gallery:
Panasonic DMP-BDT220

If I had to recommend just one Blu-ray player for 2012, it would be Panasonic’s DMP-BDT220 (about $130 street price). It’s in the sweet spot of Panasonic’s Blu-ray lineup, with built-in Wi-Fi and an excellent set of streaming-media services, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, Vudu, MLB.TV, and Pandora. And while competing players from Samsung and Sony offer just as many streaming apps, they’re hamstrung by awkward user interfaces. The DMP-BDT220 also has a few other perks, like 3D compatibility, 2D-to-3D conversion, and Skype, although the front-panel SD card slot is probably the most useful.

Granted, the DMP-BDT220 isn’t that much better than its competitors, but it also doesn’t have any major flaws. (Its inability to play back DivX and Xvid files may be its biggest drawback.) The Panasonic does cost a little more than some decent budget alternatives, like the Samsung BD-E5700, but the difference is only about $15. Altogether, the Panasonic DMP-BDT220 is the best current value, earning CNET’s Editors’ Choice Award for the Blu-ray player category.

Design: Look behind the flip-down panel
The DMP-BDT220 has one of the sleekest looks from the outside, with a long front panel devoid of buttons. That’s because Panasonic uses a flip-down panel to conceal the disc drive, SD card slot, USB port, and Play/Pause buttons. The panel automatically flips up or down when you open or close the disc tray, so it’s not a nuisance in normal use, although if you plug in a USB drive, the panel stays down and the look is unattractive.

The included remote is a good one, with dedicated buttons for Netflix, Viera Connect, and Skype. Playback buttons are well-positioned and the play button has a helpful tactile nub so you can find it by feel. The only problem is the positioning of the home, Internet, and pop-up menu around the directional pad. Those buttons are similar in shape to the directional buttons, so I ended up pressing them accidentally a few times.

User interface: Strange, but it works
Nearly every TV-based interface I’ve used is cursor- and icon-driven. Move the cursor to the icon you want, hit the Enter button, and away you go. Panasonic’s interface breaks that convention by displaying a menu that replicates the remote’s D-pad. There’s no cursor, just press the direction you want and you’ll jump to the next screen.

In theory, this layout should let you make choices even faster than a more conventional design, since it requires fewer button presses to make a selection. That may be true, although it feels slightly less intuitive (at least at first) than the more familiar icon-driven menus.

The Viera Connect interface uses a cursor and icons, and the home screen is wonderfully simple. It’s a basic grid of icons, displaying seven different apps at once. Nothing fancy, but it’s easy to use. Even better, you can customize which apps show up on the home screen.

There are quite a lot of apps supported by Viera Connect, and to access apps not available on your home screen, you’ll need to move to another “layer” of the interface. There are small buttons under the center window for More and Back, which move you to different layers of the interface. The design is a little more complicated than it needs to be, but since most people will generally only need icons on the home screen, it’s not a big problem.

In addition to the preinstalled apps on Viera Connect, there’s also an app store called Market. You can install additional apps here and although the selection isn’t great, there are few apps worth adding. Overall, the Viera Connect experience seems significantly more thought-out and integrated than any of its competitors.

Features: Fully stocked
The Panasonic DMP-BDT220 has all of the major features covered: built-in Wi-Fi, 3D Blu-ray support, and a full suite of streaming-media services.

Article source: http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_DMP_BDT220/4505-9991_7-35120314.html?subj=fdba&part=rss&tag=contentBody.2_Video+Players+and+Recorders

Photo gallery:
LG BP620

Editors’ note: This review also takes into account a new rating category, Value, in which this Blu-ray player receives a 7.

The BP620 is LG’s “flagship” Blu-ray player for 2012, but you couldn’t tell by its $130 street price or ordinary feature set. It includes all the important features that manufacturers are charging for this year, such as 3D compatibility, built-in Wi-Fi, and a suite of streaming-media services. The big catch, especially if you were familiar with LG’s platform last year, is that Amazon Instant will not be included on 2012 players, which could be a deal breaker for cord cutters. However, LG continues to have one of the best-designed streaming-content portals, with a dead-simple user interface.

While the LG BP620 is an all-around solid Blu-ray player, it’s not the best value in LG’s lineup (that would be the BP320), nor is it the best 3D Blu-ray player in this price range (the Panasonic DMP-BDT220.) Still, the BP620′s straightforward user interface makes it a top 3D Blu-ray player pick, especially if you don’t need Amazon Instant streaming.

Design: Boring, but it works well
There’s little variation in the design of Blu-ray players, but the BD620 avoids some of the mistakes other players make. There’s no annoying flip-down front panel running the length of the player (looking at you, Panasonic DMP-BDT220) and the front-panel buttons are physical buttons, rather than the finicky touch-sensitive variety. It’s a basic but well-executed design and my only quibble would be that the silver “Blu-ray 3D” logo looks a little tacky.

The included remote is the same one LG has been using for years and it’s a pretty good clicker. There’s ample separation between the various sections of the remote and the white coloring of the playback buttons (play, stop, and so on) makes them stand out in a dim home theater. The major flaw is the remote is missing a button that lets you jump right to Smart TV (or even better, a Netflix button), which is available on many competitors.

User interface: The apps you want aren’t in LG Apps
The home screen has a simple layout, but it’s more confusing than it needs to be.

That’s because it has a Premium icon, which has the apps you want like Netflix and Pandora, and an LG Apps icon, which has a bunch of apps you don’t care about. That’s the opposite of what you’d expect, and even a seasoned CNET colleague of mine had to ask, “How do I get to Netflix?” when picking up the remote for the first time.

The Premium section is where you’ll find streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Pandora, and they’re laid out in a straightforward grid of icons. The layout is actually the best I’ve seen so far, without any unnecessary layers or screens getting between you and your content. Unfortunately you can’t customize the order that the apps are laid out in, but there aren’t enough apps to make this a problem. For simple navigation, LG’s Smart TV interface is a winner.

The LG Apps section looks fine, but you’ll basically never need to go there. The selection of apps is dismal, ranging from worthless games to classic books displayed on your TV. Given the quality of the apps in the app store, LG should have left if out completely, especially since it’s so confusing next to the Premium section. Note that you can’t add any of the Premium streaming-media services to the customizable “LG apps” bar that runs along the bottom of most screens, which makes it practically useless.

Article source: http://reviews.cnet.com/LG_BP620/4505-9991_7-35118059.html?subj=fdba&part=rss&tag=contentBody.2_Video+Players+and+Recorders