Panasonic Intros DMP-BD30 Blu-ray Player
October 31, 2007 | by Geoff Duncan
Panasonic's DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player sports an SD memory card slot, and supports BD-Video Final Standard Profile 1.1 for picture-in-picture capabilities.
Electronics maker Panasonic has announced its DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player, which the company is touting as the first Blu-ray player to support BD-Video Final Standard Profile 1.1. Support for Final Standard Profile 1.1 means the unit offers both a secondary audio and video decoder (so the player can handle audio and/or video from a second source—say, a director's commentary displayed picture-in-picture while a movie is running) and a virtual file system. The DMP-BD30 also sports 64 MB of built-in flash memory, 256 MB of local storage, and an SD card slot that enables users to push their high-def snapshots or even video to their televisions.
"One of the more intriguing aspects of the Final Standard Profile is the Picture-in- Picture feature that would allow the movie fan to access a variety of entertainment enhancements, such as having the director or an actor pop up to discuss a scene you are watching, or with an animated movie, you might see the actor performing their character's voice over, all while still watching the movie," said Panasonic Entertainment Group VP Gene Kelsey, in a statement. "Not only do these features give Panasonic a strong advantage in the high definition market, but they provide the movie community with numerous opportunities to embellish the viewing experience with additional creative elements."
The DMP-BD30 also supports Deep Color, HDMI 1.3b, and 1080/24p video playback. The SD card slot can handle AVCHD video (and offers a Direct Navigator function to help users find video content) and scales JPEG images to 1,920 by 1,080 pixels for display through the HDMI port.
Panasonic isn't quite saying when the DMP-BD30 will be available (scuttlebutt is that retailers should have it the second week of November), but the company has given its suggested retail price: $499.95.
Post Your Comment...Comments
What is Blu-Ray? on Nov 1st, 2007 at 8:01 AM:
I am NOT ready for another type of *-disc player. Blue-Ray is just an attempt by the industry to get us to buy the same movies that we already own on DVD, again. The movie industry is unable to create new good movies, so they must sell the same old movies to us again. Blu-Ray has absolutely no real advantage over DVDs for the average (and above-average) person. They would be smart to dump the Blu-Ray players at $10 a piece so that people will pay thousands of dollars to buy Blu-Ray movies that they already own on DVD. maybe I'll buy them all on HD-DVD as well, no? So that I can have four copies of Star Wars (can't forget VHS).
Greg on Nov 15th, 2007 at 12:06 PM:
This is one great HD player for HDTV's owners.
In response to the person who said "What is Blu Ray"?, Blu Ray is a High Definition Disc format that will progressively replace the DVD, as DVD's do not sport the data capactiy to accomodate for full length High Definition movies.
You should try to go at a Best Buy or Circuit City and ask the clerks to show you a Disney movie in High Def, and you'll be likely blown away by the quality, contrast and sharpness of the picture.
The sound too is improved, with Uncompressed PCM on many titles now.
Of course, the first step is having a HDTV set, but this is something most homes will have by the end of 2009.
In comparison, soon, watching non HD on your HD TV would be like watching Black and White on your color TV in the 70s.
(and yes, on a large screen and with a decent movie, the difference SD - HD is pretty much as big as B&W to Color).
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Tantrum on Oct 31st, 2007 at 9:07 AM:
Sounds like a sweet player, $499 is still pretty steep though.