Technology web site CNet has one of the first reviews we've seen of the new Panasonic DMP-BD55 Blu-ray player.

Panasonic DMP-BD55K Blu-ray Player

Panasonic has built a good reputation for itself in making solid standalone Blu-ray players at prices that are reasonable, at least within the confines of the rest of the Blu-ray players on the market. When Samsung was having trouble with firmware updates to their player some time ago, the Panasonic player found many fans for its performance and compatibility.

The arrival of BD Live capable Blu-ray players couldn't come soon enough, so it's great to see this $400 player and its $300 little brother, the DMP-BD35, hitting the market later this month. Amazon has them both on pre-order with expected availability of 10/28 for the DMP-BD55 and 10/25 for the DMP-BD35.

You can read the full review on CNet's web site via the Read link below, but in summary, they were impressed with its performance on both HD and SD material, but they didn't feel that the analog audio features of the DMP-BD55 would justify the extra cash the upper-level unit commands over its otherwise-similar sibling.