Panasonic BDP with Panny TV

[margetti]

When trying to decide between blu-ray players, how much consideration should be given to system linking ie in Panasonic's case Viera Link? Normally I'd pick a product on pure PQ/AQ, but in my advancing years am starting to take notice of such "convenience" bells and whistles...

Am looking at the dmp-bd80 vs the Pioneer's bdp-320 and obviously would not have the "advantage" of this linking if I went with the Pioneer...

cheers

 

[Andy Clough]

I think you should wait for our Sept 09 issue, on sale next week, which has a Supertest of all the latest Blu-ray players, including the Panasonic DMP-BD60/80 and Pioneer BDP-320.

 

[Andrew Everard]

If you do go for a player from a different brand, it's worth making sure that HDMI control, Viera Link or whatever is switched off on both TV and player. If you don't to this you may get some strange operational quirks.

Y'see, the HDMI CEC standard around which all this advanced interoperability isn't quite a standard, more of a serving suggestion.

And while it would be good if all manufacturers used the same commands - yeah, in y'dreams! - most seem to have their own brand-specific twists.

And that's where the problems start...

 

[Anonymous]

I've got a Panasonic Viera 42" plasma and a Panasonic BD35 Blu Ray player, and find the 'Viera' concept to be more of a marketing thing, really. Although it works perfectly well, and is not merely a gimmick, it does no more by way of interoperability than a decent remote control like the Harmony One, for instance, which you'd still possibly need depending on whether you've got a home cinema setup or not incorporating, say, an av amp, cable tv etc - in short, you'd still need more than one remote. If however your setup will comprise just a blu ray player going straight into the tv, then the Viera system is excellent.

 

[margetti]

kaotician:I've got a Panasonic Viera 42" plasma and a Panasonic BD35 Blu Ray player, and find the 'Viera' concept to be more of a marketing thing, really. Although it works perfectly well, and is not merely a gimmick, it does no more by way of interoperability than a decent remote control like the Harmony One, for instance, which you'd still possibly need depending on whether you've got a home cinema setup or not incorporating, say, an av amp, cable tv etc - in short, you'd still need more than one remote. If however your setup will comprise just a blu ray player going straight into the tv, then the Viera system is excellent.

Thanks - as I've got a full HC setup it sounds like the Viera link should be of minimal consideration when making any comparisons. Just gotta wait for thaat Sept issue to come out now I guess!

 

[digigriffin]

This is how the viera link works with my P42v10 panasonic plasma, BD35 and Onkyo 606.

All using hdmi and via the onkyo 606.
Viera link enabled in tv, blu-ray and via hdmi control in the onkyo.

Turn Tv on, amp turns on automatically.
Turn Tv off, amp turns off automatically.
Turn BD30 on, TV turns on, amp turns on blu ray input selected.

So essentially turning one bit of kit on that provides output turns on associated kit as well.
The downside is if you turn the amp on to listen to the radio it will turn the tv on which you then have to turn off.
So to me nothing more than that so would not view it as essential.