CES: Panasonic Bows 4 New Blu-ray Players Including VHS Combo Deck, Portable Player: BigPictureBigSound

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Published: 2009-01-07 - 19:00:01
Home Theater : News and Show Reports

CES: Panasonic Bows 4 New Blu-ray Players Including VHS Combo Deck, Portable Player

By Chris Boylan

Hot on the heels of their uniformly acclaimed BD35 and BD55 Blu-ray players introduced last fall, Panasonic is unveiling four new models of Blu-ray Disc player at CES in Las Vegas this week including their first portable player and their first combo VHS/Blu-ray deck.

The DMP-BD60 is Panasonic's new entry-level player, replacing the popular DMP-BD35 in the line. It will offer full BD-ROM Profile 2.0 support, including BonusView and BD-Live as well as on-board decoding of the latest surround sound formats, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

Next up in the line is the DMP-BD80, which replaces the DMP-BD55 in the line. Like the BD55, the BD80 will include multi-channel (5.1/7.1) analog outputs for compatibility with older receivers and preamp/processors that lack HDMI audio support.

Two new players are also being unveiled, unlike any that Panasonic has released before: the DMP-BD70V will include a VHS VCR in with a Blu-ray player, for those who can't quite part with their library of VHS tapes, but want to embrace the latest 1080p Blu-ray technology as well, in a compact space-saving dual deck form factor. Meanwhile the DMP-B15P is Panasonic's first portable BD player, sporting a high resolution 8.9-inch WSVGA LCD screen as well as an HDMI output for use in a full home theater rig.

The new players (including the portable player) will also include Panasonic's Viera Cast IPTV feature, previously only available in the company's high-end 850 series plasma HDTVs. This allows the user to view select web-based content directly on the Blu-ray Player and any connected display. And that content is getting richer as Amazon has announced support for Viera Cast in their own Amazon "unboxed" download service. This means movies on Amazon's own content-on-demand service will be available on Viera Cast-enabled components later this year.

Panasonic is also building Viera Cast and BD-Live functionality into two new Blu-ray HTiB (home theater in a box) systems, also to be delivered this year, the SC-BT200 and SC-BT300.

Pricing and availability details are not yet announced for the new models.

Where to Buy:

DMP-BD60 (2009 model) on Amazon.com

Update: Here are a few shots of the new players:

Panasonic's Blu-ray Disc player remote hasn't changed much from the current generation except with the introduction of a "Viera Cast" button to access internet-based online content.

The DMP-B15 will be the first portable Blu-ray player available in the U.S.

The DMP-BD60 will replace the popular DMP-BD35 model in Panasonic's Blu-ray line later this year, adding Viera Cast networking to the BD35's already rich feature set.

The DMP-BD80 will offer multi-channel (5.1/7.1) analog outputs for compatibility with older non-HDMI receivers and preamp/processors.

Want to add Blu-ray to your system but you still have an assortment of VHS tapes? Then check out the DMP-BD70V which will upconvert not only standard DVDs, but VHS tapes to 1080p resolution.