LAS VEGAS--Panasonic fell a little behind in the Blu-ray features wars last year, with the company's players lacking Wi-Fi, Netflix streaming and onboard storage, which were available on competing players. At CES 2010, Panasonic introduced three new mainstream Blu-ray players, the DMP-BD45, DMP-BD65 and DMP-BD85, that address some of these criticisms, although with some caveats.
Key features of the Panasonic DMP-BD45:
•PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus video processor
•SD card slot
•Lower power consumption--14 watts in usage, .1 watts in standby
•14 second boot up time
•Limited to 5.1 audio decoding
•Available spring of 2010; no pricing announced
Key step-up features of the Panasonic DMP-BD65:
•Wi-Fi ready, requires USB Wi-Fi dongle (sold separately)
•Supports Panasonic's VieraCast streaming content portal, which will feature content from Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Picasa, Netflix, Pandora and Twitter
•Onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio
•Supports full 7.1 audio decoding
•USB port
•Available spring of 2010; no pricing announced
Key step-up features of the Panasonic DMP-BD85:
•Includes USB Wi-Fi dongle
•7.1 analog audio outputs
•Digital Tube Sound Simulator mode "to produce the warm, realistic sounds associated with a tube amplifier"
•Available spring of 2010; no pricing announced
VieraCast was available on Panasonic's 2009 Blu-ray players, but the content portal gets a significant boost 2010 by the addition of Netflix and Pandora streaming. (It's unclear if 2009 VieraCast products will be able to use the new services.) The addition of Wi-Fi to the product line is also a much needed upgrade, although we would have preferred if it were built-in, as offered on the competing LG BD570 and Samsung BD-C6500. We're still trying to confirm if any of these players have onboard storage
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10428011-269.htmlLAS VEGAS--Panasonic is one of the major players in the new push to 3D and the company announced its first 3D Blu-ray player at CES 2010. Like most of the 3D announcements so far, there hasn't been that much information released, but here's what we know so far.
Key features of the Panasonic DMP-BDT350:
•3D Blu-ray player
•PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus video processor
•Supports Panasonic's VieraCast streaming content portal, which will feature content from Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Picasa, Netflix, Pandora and Twitter
•SD cart slot and USB port
•14 second boot up time
•Wi-Fi ready; requires USB dongle (not confirmed whether or not this is included)
•No release date or pricing announced
As far as 3D Blu-ray goes, we haven't had enough hands-on testing with the new format to report whether it's worth the extra money. It's worth mentioning that 3D Blu-ray will likely require both a compatible HDTV and a new HDMI 1.4 cable, so the true cost of 3D will be relatively high. There's also the issue of 3D Blu-ray media, which will probably be scarce for all of 2010. With no manufacturers announcing pricing or release dates for 3D Blu-ray players, it's also hard to get any idea of how the new players compare.
Panasonic also announced three standard Blu-ray players, the DMP-BD45, DMP-BD65 and DMP-BD85.
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10427858-269.html
