Panasonic DMP-BDT220 Review

I've watched at least 3 PAL DVD's (all post enhanced firmware update) start to finish on this player and did not notice any problems with them. One other PAL DVD that I tried to play refused to even play at all either pre or post enhanced firmware update.

@saketb, I have watched several PAL DVDs without a hitch. It is possible that there is a problem with the DVDs themselves. I have indeed 'lost' some DVDs - NTSC as well as PAL. They are unplayable on all players including laptop and desktop DVD readers.

Sent from my GT-I9100G using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the information. This is quite surprising that my unit is giving this problem while playing PAL discs.

I tried to re-activate the enhanced setting for PAL playability, and watched a PAL DVD, it played fine. I did not come across any stuttering issue till then.
But later after a few hours, I wanted to watch another and when I started, the same problem started again, stuttering and skipping every now and then, making it impossible to watch.

I have checked the DVD's and they are fine. They play in my desktop readers perfectly.

When playing PAL DVD's the TV screen displays 1920x1080 50hz and with NTSC DVD's it displays 1920x1080 60hz.
Now, 60hz is playing perfectly with no issues, only when playing at 50hz, the issues start. Is there any way to change that setting from 50hz to 60hz for PAL discs.

Maybe, this solves the problem, else my player looks like its defective. :sad:
 
I tried to re-activate the enhanced setting for PAL playability, and watched a PAL DVD, it played fine.

I don't remember activating this setting at all, just threw in those PAL DVD's post the firmware update and they all played right out of the box.

Matter of fact, I can't seem to find the enhanced settings you refer to, could you refresh my memory with how to get to this setting?
 
I don't remember activating this setting at all, just threw in those PAL DVD's post the firmware update and they all played right out of the box.

Matter of fact, I can't seem to find the enhanced settings you refer to, could you refresh my memory with how to get to this setting?

After I upgraded the firmware, I tried to play a PAL DVD and it displayed as no disc or cannot be played. I'm surprised how your player played the PAL DVD's.
Then after reading further, I came across the enhanced setting to enable the PAL support (for American & Japanese players). Doing so, allowed me to play the PAL DVD's but with issues.

As per the firmware website: the enhanced setting in the firmware upgrade allows you to activate certain blocked features in the player due to marketing reasons by Panasonic.

By applying the following remote control buttons you can enable many of the blocked features including PAL support.
To enable - press: OPTION-270891
To disable - press: OPTION-270892 (factory setting)

As, this player is imported and having issues, I am stuck with it. I just have to live with it without PAL DVD's. Not fair!! :sad:
 
After I upgraded the firmware, I tried to play a PAL DVD and it displayed as no disc or cannot be played. I'm surprised how your player played the PAL DVD's.
Then after reading further, I came across the enhanced setting to enable the PAL support (for American & Japanese players). Doing so, allowed me to play the PAL DVD's but with issues.

As per the firmware website: the enhanced setting in the firmware upgrade allows you to activate certain blocked features in the player due to marketing reasons by Panasonic.

By applying the following remote control buttons you can enable many of the blocked features including PAL support.
To enable - press: OPTION-270891
To disable - press: OPTION-270892 (factory setting)

As, this player is imported and having issues, I am stuck with it. I just have to live with it without PAL DVD's. Not fair!! :sad:

Since you and "jsmithe" both are in Bangalore, how about giving some of you non-playable DVDs to him to confirm the issue.
 
To enable - press: OPTION-270891
To disable - press: OPTION-270892 (factory setting)

That I did, but don't see the PAL setting, how do you get to that setting. Also one PAL DVD that I tried displayed the "cannot be played error" before and after the firmware update, so I just chalked it up to some wierdness with that DVD.
 
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That I did, but don't see the PAL setting, how do you get to that setting. Also one PAL DVD that I tried displayed the "cannot be played error" before and after the firmware update, so I just chalked it up to some wierdness with that DVD.

After you apply those codes from the remote, the player restarts and enables blocked features.

You cannot see the PAL setting on the player, it just enables the support to play PAL DVD's. You can check the firmware website where the details are given.
 
After you apply those codes from the remote, the player restarts and enables blocked features.

You cannot see the PAL setting on the player, it just enables the support to play PAL DVD's. You can check the firmware website where the details are given.

Got that. I did enable the enhanced settings right after the firmware update, so if that's all that's needed for playback of PAL DVD's then I have a BDT220 that plays PAL DVD's
 
Guys.. can you confirm whether BDT220 can play both PAL & NTSC DVDs with the special unofficial firmware apart from all region BDs?

Btw.. do other US import BD players which can be made region free for DVDs can play all PAL DVDs?
 
Guys.. can you confirm whether BDT220 can play both PAL & NTSC DVDs with the special unofficial firmware apart from all region BDs?

Btw.. do other US import BD players which can be made region free for DVDs can play all PAL DVDs?

Well, don't know about other players but Panasonic DMP-BDT220 can play NTSC DVD's by default and PAL DVD's after the firmware upgrade. You have to enable the enhanced setting for PAL support.

Though, my player is having certain compatibility issues and functioning rather weird with PAL DVD's.
 
Guys.. can you confirm whether BDT220 can play both PAL & NTSC DVDs with the special unofficial firmware apart from all region BDs?

Btw.. do other US import BD players which can be made region free for DVDs can play all PAL DVDs?

My player is from India and was able to play back PAL and NTSC by default, even before the firmware upgrade. As per the firmwareinfo.com page, the specialized firmware unlocks the PAL playback capability that has been suppressed for commercial reasons.

Sent from my GT-I9100G using Tapatalk 2
 
Just wanted to share some media formats playability with this player.

I burned a DVD-RW (multi-session) disc with MP4, MKV in the first session and FLAC, MP3, WAV in the next, all plays well except MP4.

The same media burned on a DVD-R with multi-session enabled and the player reads only the first session (No MP4). The subsequent sessions which contained the audio formats are not visible to the player and does not show any files.

So, a multi-session DVD-R cannot be played other than showing the first session only. But a DVD-RW shows all the sessions on the disc.
 
Yesterday finally I got hold of a voltage converter for my DMP-BDT220 player, and tested few things. Could not get enough time to test extensively. Anyway, here are my views about the player based on whatever I tried:

Blu-Ray Disk:

Oh man, blu-ray is simply brilliant! I just put a "Spiderman 3" blu-ray disk and watched it for sometime, not the full movie. The picture quality is stunning; I've never seen a picture like this on my more than two years old TV earlier. The colors are amazing, contrast is excellent with inky blacks and very smooth motion handling. After watching this, my TATA Sky SD channels look rubbish; even HD channels look pale compared to this. This player does the true justice to my Panasonic 42V20 plasma TV, and make it really shine! :D

Network:

After few attempts, I could connect to my home network. Network connectivity seems to be good. I just tried watching few YouTube videos, and it looked pretty good.

Please forgive me, due to time constraint I could not test much. May be on weekend I'll try few more things like playing DVDs and other local media, then will post more.

I have few queries with this:

1. Currently I've got only 20W voltage converter. 50W one was not available, but the shopkeeper promised to to exchanged that after two days. After using that for more than an hour, it felt very slightly warm; very normal. So my question is should I keep that and continue using that, or should I get the 50W converter, just to be on safer side?

2. May be this is too dumb, but I could not make the YouTube videos to full screen. How to watch that in full screen?

3. There are lots of internet features built in the player, but what actually works and is useful in India?

4. There are few blank/empty icons in the internet section; what are those for?

Many thanks for the suggestions and help! :)
 
Edugresh,

Congrats on your new purchase.

I am waiting for my player to arrive and have already bought this step down transformer suggested by Saketb.

I am new to the Blu ray world and would require some guidance from our FM, on the top 3 or top 10, 3D Blu ray titles.

Also seen few places like a shop in Chandra mall(Shopowner says the discs are from singapore and sells Tamil discs for Rs 400 and all the 3D 50 GB movies for 900) and lot of shops near Anna Arch selling the Blu ray discs.

Is it advisable to get some discs from these shops initially, before ordering from Amazon sites or the discs from these shops are total waste of money please suggest.
 
If you purchase from amazon it will cost you ~ 900 to 1200 rs / movie or some box-sets and that too original discs
Then why you want to pay 900 and get a digital copy.
 
Edugresh,
I am new to the Blu ray world and would require some guidance from our FM, on the top 3 or top 10, 3D Blu ray titles.

Also seen few places like a shop in Chandra mall(Shopowner says the discs are from singapore and sells Tamil discs for Rs 400 and all the 3D 50 GB movies for 900) and lot of shops near Anna Arch selling the Blu ray discs.

Is it advisable to get some discs from these shops initially, before ordering from Amazon sites or the discs from these shops are total waste of money please suggest.

There is nothing like top-3 or top-10. It entirely depends upon your choice and taste. For reference you can use IMDB site for the best rated movies. For 3D, you can opt for any of the animation movies for a better output. Don't know whether the guy selling the Blu-ray are original or not, it advisable to get from a reputed shop, or from Amazon to be sure. Most recent releases are around 1000-2000 bucks for each movie, and older ones are mostly available from 300-1000. Few good box sets are there, where per BD costs comes down to as low as 200-300.
 
Thanks narenkum!

Even I'm quite new to BD stuff, and just few days back only I got my player and because of time constraint and non-availability of the voltage converter, have not tried much. Till now I have not purchased any BR disc; just borrowed few from my friend and tested yesterday only.

Sorry buddy I cannot help you on purchase; may be experienced forum members can guide you better on this.
 
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I am new to the Blu ray world and would require some guidance from our FM, on the top 3 or top 10, 3D Blu ray titles.

What are your favourite genres - Action? Fantasy? Sci-Fi?, Animation? Documentaries?

Suggesting best BDs is not easy as 'best' is personal. I have LOTR Extended trilogy and I will say it is a must have collection if you like fantasy and action genre. For documentaries 'Life', 'Planet Earth' and 'Human Planet' are fantastic titles.
 
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