The DMP-BD55K is fast, although it's no record breaker. It took just over a minute to start playing a disc, and lagged only slightly when skipping chapters and barely at all when pausing.

Packed with features, the DMP-BD55K can play DivX files, AVCHD movies, and other media formats. An SD Card slot sits in front; you can use the card slot to view photos, but when I tried it, the images stretched horizontally, making everyone look fat. This player has an ethernet port in the back, but no built-in memory: You have to bring your own memory in the form of an SD Card, annoying considering the otherwise premium qualities of this player.

The player offers audiophile features, too. It has 7.1-channel analog and HDMI audio-out, and it can decode both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio if your amplifier can't.

If you're willing to pay a lot for a Blu-ray player, you deserve one as good as the Panasonic DMP-BD55K.