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CES NEWS: Panasonic aims to lead the Blu-ray attack

Andrew Everard Sunday, January 06, 2008 21:54

Panasonic DMP-B D30 rescaled

Panasonic's latest Blu-ray players, the DMP-B D30 (left) and DMP-B D50, are designed to put the company at the head of the emerging HD disc market.

"Panasonic is determined to lead in Blu-ray”, said president of consumer electronics Shiro Kitajima, launching the two new machines to CES showgoers. The players, which conform to Final Standard Profile 1.1, have features including SD Card slots for the playback of HD content.

The company also has a Blu-ray home cinema in a box system, the SC-BT100, which has a flip-down iPod dock with remote control of the Apple player from the system's handset, wireless rear speakers, the option of upgrading to 7.1 with an extra transceiver and speakers, and the SD card slot which seems to be on every new Panasonic product.

It''s even found in the company's latest DVD portable, the DVD-L56. This also claims a 13-hour battery life between charges, despite having an 8.5in screen built-in.

Technorati Tags: Blu-ray, CES, Panasonic

Comments

Tobi21 January 6, 2008 22:24

The Blu Ray home cinema sounds expensive!

Andrew Everard January 6, 2008 22:39

The US press release says "Suggested retail pricing has not been announced"

Clare Newsome January 6, 2008 22:47

We're on the case out here tracking down uk availability and pricing for all the new announcements....

Tobi21 January 6, 2008 23:06

I'll stay tuned.

Dr Mcr January 7, 2008 10:32

Does anyone know if Denon plan to make an announcements at the show?

I remember that the UK launch will be delayed, but they might have some US market models to view (assuming they are there).

deanjono22 January 9, 2008 00:08

Been looking for a while now and settled on HD format .....now reading Warners statement looks like we are heading for the old Beta , Vhs war. Ahh well back to reading the magazine and wait for the new Gen Blue Ray players to come out with full spec and pricing.

Simon Lucas January 9, 2008 16:27

Panasonic is not to be drawn on pricing for the SC-BT100 Blu-ray home cinema in a box system, despite my Olympic-standard cajolery. But the company did confirm that it won't reach the UK until the second quarter of 2008 at the earliest.

The subject of its 32GB SDHC memory card is something the company is much happier to discuss. This amount of memory should be good for between five and six hours of full-HD video - expect to see it in the shops by May this year.

Bullseye January 24, 2008 21:22

I am importing one of these for $399 plus shipping. I have heard nothing but good reports on the BD30. I have no interest in BD Live so the ethernet port is not an issue.

Tomsk72 February 20, 2008 07:08

Just spoke to Panasonic andthey said it will be release sometime in March !

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About Andrew Everard

Andrew Everard, Audio Editor of Gramophone since November 1999 and What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision's Consulting Editor, read English at Queens' College, Cambridge a very long time ago! He started his journalistic career in 1982 on Haymarket's photographic magazines, and subsequently worked on What Hi-Fi?, High Fidelity, Audiophile and Home Cinema magazines, as well as contributing a monthly column to Japanese title HiVi.