No-one has done more to push Blu-ray technology forward than Panasonic, and the Japanese company's latest player, the DMP-BD60 is imbued with the same pioneering spirit that made its previous models such a success.

The snazzy new addition to the feature list is Viera Cast, which, like the BD370, allows you to watch YouTube videos on your telly as well as to browse photos uploaded to Google's Picasa website.

The same technology is found inside some of Panasonic's latest plasma TVs and marks the next step in the convergence between AV products and the internet.

Features

Like the LG BD370, the BD60's web content is limited by the current lack of download services in the UK. In the US, BD60 owners can download movies from Amazon VOD and watch Bloomberg.

The deck's video credentials are bolstered by Panasonic's now familiar arsenal of picture processing technologies, including P4HD and PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus. The former takes care of all the core video duties, such as 16-level motion detection, 1080p upscaling, i/p conversion and diagonal processing, while the latter boosts the strength and fidelity of colours by processing each and every pixel.

The brains of the operation is the UniPhier chip, which packs the entire video signal processing circuit into a single piece of silicon and therefore brings about a 16 per cent decrease in standby power compared with the DMP-BD35.

The BD60's audio talents are also solid. It supports Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio soundtracks, sending both as a raw bitstream via HDMI or converting them to PCM for HDMI-equipped receivers without the relevant decoders. However, there are no multichannel outputs on the back.

Of course, the BD60 supports BD-Live and BonusView features, and there's an SD card slot on the front that lets you add the necessary memory for updates and web downloads. 1080/24p output for Blu-ray and 1080p DVD upscaling are also on board.

Ease of use

Panasonic's Blu-ray players are among the easiest to use on the market. The warm and fuzzy main menu and onscreen playback banners are all pastel shades and chunky text, and the layout is more straightforward than a Roman road. Changing settings in the setup menu is child's play, thanks mainly to the player's helpful explanations of the more complex options (such as HDMI audio).

The excellent remote layout gives menu and disc navigation an intuitive feel, and there's a new button towards the top for direct access to Viera Cast.

Press it and up pops a menu offering YouTube on the left and Picasa on the right. With the former, you can choose from pre-selected video lists or search for content using the virtual keyboard. Both this and the Picasa portal are slick and enjoyable to use.

The deck boasts a Quick-start mode that uses up more power in standby, but shaves seconds off the boot-up time. However, disc loading times are still up at about the minute mark.

Picture

Picture quality is quite simply sensational, particularly with The Dark Knight in the tray. The amount of detail packed into the picture gives every scene astonishing depth and life-like lucidity; you really could be watching the events unfold right in front of you.

Colours are forceful and pure, making the Joker's white, make-up smudged face look starker than ever, while skin tones and other gentle shades are rendered with admirable sensitivity. What's more, blacks are devilishly deep and the superb contrast level lets you make out detail within them, which is particularly useful when watching a film as dark and shadowy as this.