Panasonic DMP-BDT230 Smart Wi-Fi 3D Blu-Ray Player (2013 Model)

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Product Specifications

Fast Booting and Loading
DVD/CD/JPEG playback
Energy Star Qualified

Product Description

Style:Paper Manual

Panasonic DMP-BDT230 Smart Network 3D Blu-ray Player An Unprecedented Viewing Experience Panasonic Full HD 3D Blu-ray disc players offer outstanding Full HD picture quality with cutting-edge image processing technology. These slim and stylish bodies are packed with high performance. Simple yet advanced, these designs are built to match virtually any room interior.

Smart connected Panasonic Blu-ray players also allow you connect to a variety of network-connectable devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, and NAS (network attached storage), and also allow you to access cloud-based services for the enjoyment of various types of content such as movies, video clips, music, and photos.

Watch 2D Images in 3D Watch your prized movies in 3D for even greater viewing enjoyment. 2D-3D conversion enables 2D images on DVDs & Blu-ray discs to be displayed in 3D with natural depth perception.

High-Quality Audio Playback The 2013 players are compatible with a wide variety of formats, which lets them reproduce high-quality sound from audio sources without any degradation in sound quality.

Miracast Capability Miracast function lets you mirror the display of smartphone or tablet content on a TV screen. Easily share content from your personal device with friends and family on the big screen.

Less Power Consumption This product is Energy Star Qualified and has been designed to consume as little power as possible in order to save precious natural resources.

Smart TV Made Easy More fun comes via a cloud service. Smart, connected Panasonic Blu-ray players feature VIERA Connect, a cloud service that provides access to apps for video, music, social networking, games, news, lifestyle, sports, and health/fitness. Popular apps include Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, and huluplus. Panasonic’s VIERA Connect platform makes home entertainment more intuitive, more comfortable, and lots more fun.

Explore Online Entertainment VIERA Connect offers greater home entertainment convenience, and enjoyment. From sports and video on demand, to gaming and communication, now you can enjoy a wide variety of content with family and friends from the comfort of your living room.

View the Internet on the Large Screen This Panasonic Blu-ray player is equipped with an Internet browser. The websites you view on your PC, smartphone, or tablet can now be displayed on a large-screen TV for everyone in the room to share.

Smart Home Networking This product is DLNA-certified and is easy to use with your home network. Share and enjoy digital photos (JPEG), music (MP3, WMA), and videos (AVCHD, WMV) by simply connecting to a network LAN.

Easily enjoy stored content 2013 players are now compatible with NTFS (NT File System) format external hard disk drives, so you can enjoy music, photos, and camcorder video content archived on an external HDD.

dsd Technical Details Key Features: VIERA Connect (requires broadband Internet service), FLAC compatability, Miracast, web browser, DLNA function, Full HD 3D Eco-Friendly Features: Energy Star qualified, low power consumption What’s in the Box: 2013 Blu-ray disc player, user manual, remote 2013 Panasonic VIERA Blu-ray Disc Player Comparison Chart Series
DMP-BBT01 DMP-BDT500 DMP-BDT330 DMP-BDT230 DMP-BD89 DMP-BD79 Full HD Playback
Full HD 3D Full HD 3D Full HD 3D Full HD 3D Full HD Full HD Energy Star Qualified

Wi-Fi Capability
Built-in Wi-Fi Built-in Wi-Fi Built-in Wi-Fi Built-in Wi-Fi Built-in Wi-Fi Wireless LAN Capable* VIERA Connect

Online Movies/IP VOD Online Movies/IP VOD Fast Booting & Loading

Ultra Ultra Multi-User Mode

High Quality Network Audio Playback (MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, WAV) (MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, WAV) (MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, WAV) (MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, WAV) (MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, WAV) Dolby True HD

2D-3D Conversion

DLNA (DMP/DMR) Function

External HDD Playback

Adaptive Chroma Processing

Miracast Function Capability

SD Memory Slot

Compact Main Unit

Prismatic Cut Form Design

Smartphone Remote Control Capability**

Web Browser

Twin HDMI

Analog Audio 7.1 Channel Output

Built-in 4K Upscaling

*Requires optional wireless adapter **Does not include smartphone device

Product Reviews

Stripped and Broken

First, some background. I own two of the previous model, the BDT-220. That model is the most fully featured Blu-ray player I’ve ever come across, with advanced audio and video calibration features typically found in models that cost $200+. For example, there are settings for chroma level, gamma level, a ton of audio remix options, and the biggie – the ability to force 24p for any video source, including the internet sources (Netflix, Hulu+, etc). Anyone with a high-end equipment knows how important 24p is for quality viewing. Which brings me to to this year’s model, the BDT-230.The BDT-230 is stripped of all the advanced A/V settings of its predecessor. The settings for chroma level, gamma level, 3D noise reduction (which is important), super resolution (an independent upscaler only for SD content), detail clarity (a universal scaler), sound effect remasters (there were settings for night surround, among others) and the 24p for network sources have been removed. Also, from a hardware perspective, there are ZERO audio output options other than the single HDMI port. NONE, not even analog audio out (red and white jacks). For that matter, there isn’t even an AV cable included, because there are only 4 ports on the entire unit – HDMI, AC power, Ethernet on the rear, and USB on the front. There are no analog jacks at all. Its predecessor had ports for HDMI, AC power, Ethernet, analog AV out, analog AV in, optical audio and 2 USB ports.Considering that this model is the next in the same model line, I’m shocked and disheartened that Panasonic has really stripped this model way, way down and is charging the same price. There are only 3 “enhancements” to this model: a minimal web browser, DTS Neo-6 (remixes 2 channel sound to 5.1, actually a decent feature) and a much smoother user interface (it looks the same, but has a sharper font and loads much more quickly, especially for network content).PROS+ Smooth, responsive user interface+ Disc based content plays without issueCONS- Stripped of ALL advanced audio/video settings- Zero audio output options, not even analog out- No 24p for network apps- Loud optical drive, sounds like a weed whacker when initially loading a discTo be honest, if the BDT-220 did not exist, I would not have a big issue with the BDT-230. It plays all content well, and the average Joe who doesn’t calibrate will be happy with everything that it does. But the problem is, its predecessor DID exist, it was the same price (I actually got it for well less than its MSRP), and this year’s model has the same MSRP and has been stripped of the aforementioned features. Considering that there are units from other manufacturers that have similar feature sets for much less money, you’re probably better off getting one of those models than paying more for this one. And if you have a BDT-220 that needs replacing, unfortunately you’re out of luck, as that model is now going for nearly $300 from re-sellers on the net.UPDATE: Less than a month after using this unit, I got an error message regarding the Wi-Fi adapter (which is internal). “The Wireless LAN adapter has been removed. Unable to connect. Please insert compatible Wirelss LAN adapter in USB port.” The wireless adapter is internal and can’t be removed manually. I’m going down to 1 star from 2. Avoid this unit like the plague.

Software problem makes it freeze up and become unusable

When the player works it works ok. However, navigating the menus is extremely slow. Furthermore about 4 months into it the player gets hung with “bye” on the screen and becomes unusable at which point I have to physically unplug the device and reset it before it work again. Very annoying to the say the least. This probably happens 2-3 times per week. To get it fixed I would have to box it up, send it to panasonic and wait 2-3 weeks for them to fix it. Clearly not worth my time. I am considering buying a samsung rather than dealing with this.

Solid blu-ray player, with a few caveats

Pros: Great picture quality, quick start-up, quiet, SD/USB input(s), nice looking aesthetics, dedicated Netflix buttonCons: “Miracast” feature is a bit misleading, no built-in storage, poor menu system, “ads” are on by default, requires (1.40) firmware update to fix bugs*Please note- Review is with “new” firmware 1.40. The original firmware my player shipped with caused it to hang/freeze between menus, and not play some BD movies*I recently picked up a Panasonic 60” ST60 plasma, and was looking for a “matching” blu-ray player. I was hoping to find a “famed” 2012 Panasonic DMP-BDT220 (because of the great reviews), but was a couple of weeks too late. The store had sold out and would not be getting any more in. The new 2013 “230” model was in stock however, and after looking it over I decided to take a chance and take one home.Setup- Setting the DMP-BDT230 up was pretty simple. In the box was a manual, remote, batteries, power cord, and the BD player itself. The player also has a good amount of inputs/outputs, and was very happy with the fact that it had SD-card and USB inputs. The player does come with ads enabled as a default (Just like my ST60), but these were easily “hidden” though the menu. The BDT230 does NOT come with built in storage (for BD Live, etc), so I was glad that I had a spare 2GB SD card lying around for me to use. Setting up netflix/vudu/hulu were simple. Just logged in my information and the apps were good to go. To download additional “apps”, you must do so in the Vierra store, which unfortunately makes you sign up for a Panasonic account (if you do not already have one), even for free apps. I was not able to set up Miracast, even though I have an android device that supports the Miracast functionality. The player currently only supports the stock Android Nexus 4 phone. I find this a bit misleading, as this is listed as a major feature of this model. I personally don’t care too much, as I’d probably never use the function… but others should know that their device (unless it is a stock “Google Nexus” device) will probably not be supported.Performance- The player has a “quick boot” option that really makes it power up very fast. Switching between menus is also fairly fast, as well as playing/loading up an actual blu-ray movie. Blu-ray picture quality is superb on the BDT230. There are a lot of picture “enhancing” options, although I kept most of these off (I prefer a more pure “stock” image). Netflix and other apps are pretty quick to load, and performance is great. Built in WiFi seemed to work excellent, though I personally chose to hook up via ethernet (I always do this to get the best connection on a “streaming” device). 3D performance was also spot on, and there are a few options to dial in your preferred 3D depth/image settings. As mentioned in the header of this review, you will definitely want to update the firmware (as soon as you can) to the newest firmware. It fixes some major “bugs” people (including myself) had been having with the original “shipped” firmware. My main problem with performance is, I really wish the menu system was laid out differently. To get to Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, you have to go into the “Network Services” submenu, when I feel they should just be on the home screen. It’s a minor gripe, but somewhat of an inconvenience to have to go through several menus to get to such frequently used apps/services. DLNA performance was also PAINFULLY slow (although it did find/connect to my DLNA server rather quickly). It took over 2 minutes to start playing my test movie. I actually had almost given up on connectivity, when the movie finally came on.Value- So, is the Panasonic DMP-BDT230 worth the current asking price of $129.99? The answer is… kinda. It really depends on what you are looking for in your blu-ray player. If you are looking for a solid, quick loading, simplistic (yet stylish) 3D BD player with excellent picture quality, then I would recommend it to you. If you are looking for a little more from your blu-ray player, the BDT230 is probably not for you. The DLNA performance was very slow, Miracast won’t work with most Android devices, and the apps (although performed well) are hidden behind more menus than they need to be. Therefore, I give the Panasonic DMP-BDT230 a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Best DVD/Blu-Ray with WI-FI for the price

I think this is one of the best DVD/Blue-Ray players on the market. This replaced a Samsung Blu-Ray that could not sync HD on Component Video, and the Panasonic works great. Also has built in wired and wi-fi internet with easy set-up (recommends an “n” connection), native selection of content providers such as Amazon and Netflix, and internet access. My device uploaded firmware upgrades on wireless and installed with no issues. Sleek unit takes little space, can be controlled by IR repeater. I liked it so much I bought another one for my significant other as her idea of an action flick is Downton Abbey. I have had no problems with either unit.

Great except for the Ads!

It works very nicely, but whenever I turn it on, it displays ads for Zales, Myspace… and I am sure lots more will follow. I turned off the firmware updates because I KNOW this is how they change ads or make them more prominent. I would give this player 5 stars if they just let me use the player without invading my privacy. One day ad companies will realize the ads don’t work. I won’t go on Myspace or shop at Zales because they are invading my space without permission and/or warning.

Not satisfied with WiFi capabilities

Not satisfied with WiFi capabilities

Would buy it again.

This is a great Blu-ray player. I got rid of the other ones, and now only have these. The remote is a good size and easy to use. I would buy one again.

Five Stars

Good unit. works like a champ. Good price

Four Stars

Works great and I like the low profile.

Two Stars

it already broke

Five Stars

Excellent player for older model. Simple to use, good quality

Competent, semi-relaible internet BR player

Owned player for about 3 years and it works well, although on occasion it will freeze up and requires unplugging to reset.

I have purchased two of this model. The first …

I have purchased two of this model. The first one broke in about two months and the second one broker within a week. I bought a similar Sony instead and have had no troubles.

Works great and very good price over retail stores

Works great and very good price over retail stores. 2D to 3D conversion does not make things “jump out of the screen” but it does add a lot of depth to the viewing.