New Panasonic BD Player (final standard profile) announced

[Bullseye]

http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/202602859?cid=RSSfeed_digitaltvdesignline_dtvdlRSS

[Trilogy]

Its something that I would probably not use on a player as I never watch the extra features.

[Bullseye]

I think its one less stick of the HD-DVD side to through at BD. I am all for it if it helps to end the format war.

[CocoPUFF]

I think its one less stick of the HD-DVD side to through at BD. I am all for it if it helps to end the format war.

at that price I think its still too expensive to market to the masses. If they want to win the war, they need to make affordable players IMO.:)

[Bullseye]

Coco Toshiba cannot be making money on those $169 prices. Its not sustanable. Eventually the BD player prices will come down. $499 is not a bad price for a Panasonic.Thats only €356 or £249.50 sound cheap here in Europe.;)

[thecallahan]

Wait, so BD players haven't had certain standardized functions yet? And I love how they call it next generation High Definition. Hah. Man, I want a BD player :(

[Bullseye]

Wait, so BD players haven't had certain standardized functions yet? And I love how they call it next generation High Definition. Hah. Man, I want a BD player :(

For most BD supporters PiP is not an issue. They prefer best possible picture and audio. But now they will also have the option for this interactivity which i have little interest in.

HD-DVD have great picture and interactivity but not the audio i want. But now i will get all three.:thumbs2:

[noseeb13]

Coco Toshiba cannot be making money on those $169 prices. Its not sustanable. Eventually the BD player prices will come down. $499 is not a bad price for a Panasonic.Thats only €356 or £249.50 sound cheap here in Europe.;)

They might by now while Blu Ray is leading disc sales HD DVD has sold quite a few stand alone players. It depends on the deals they worked out with Microsoft for revenue sharing and the like. Microsoft could have eaten a lot of the development/R&D costs so Toshiba could see a return by now and give Microsoft a share or it could be once they make say $50 million off the players they start giving back to Microsoft.

[Trilogy]

Wait, so BD players haven't had certain standardized functions yet? And I love how they call it next generation High Definition. Hah. Man, I want a BD player :(

Unfortunately like any new format it will evolve with time and these functions will become standard. DVD went through the same evolutionary stages to get to were it is now.

[Bullseye]

They might by now while Blu Ray is leading disc sales HD DVD has sold quite a few stand alone players. It depends on the deals they worked out with Microsoft for revenue sharing and the like. Microsoft could have eaten a lot of the development/R&D costs so Toshiba could see a return by now and give Microsoft a share or it could be once they make say $50 million off the players they start giving back to Microsoft.

Its the reason BD players have not been cheap. They need to make money and not make a loss. Prices have been dropping however from $1000 to $500 in less than a year on a relatively small market is pretty progressive IMO. I am sure they will eventually make the slimmed down cheap models with 1080i to match the HD-DVD players.

[CocoPUFF]

Coco Toshiba cannot be making money on those $169 prices. Its not sustanable. Eventually the BD player prices will come down. $499 is not a bad price for a Panasonic.Thats only €356 or £249.50 sound cheap here in Europe.;)

I know they are not making money on those. But the point is, I think they should do a better job on trying to get bluray out there...a 499 dollar player is not going to do it. Just like Sony is losing money on their PS3 to get it out there...

[noseeb13]

Its the reason BD players have not been cheap. They need to make money and not make a loss. Prices have been dropping however from $1000 to $500 in less than a year on a relatively small market is pretty progressive IMO. I am sure they will eventually make the slimmed down cheap models with 1080i to match the HD-DVD players.

Yes that is the reason Blu Ray players have not been cheap, but Microsoft has a history of fronting the costs letting things get established and then taking a big chunk at the end of the day. Just saying that is what could be happening here.

[Bullseye]

It could very well happen N. We are but mere puppets in this format war.

[elwood49]

Wait, so BD players haven't had certain standardized functions yet? And I love how they call it next generation High Definition. Hah. Man, I want a BD player :(

Unfortunately this player isn't final spec either. It's profile 1.1, which doesn't contain BD-Live or an ethernet port.

As of now, 2.0 is the actual final spec, and who knows when they'll release that.:thumbsdow The best thing to do is get a PS3 that should allow 2.0/BD-Live through a firmware upgrade.

[CocoPUFF]

Unfortunately this player isn't final spec either. It's profile 1.1, which doesn't contain BD-Live or an ethernet port.

As of now, 2.0 is the actual final spec, and who knows when they'll release that.:thumbsdow The best thing to do is get a PS3 that should allow 2.0/BD-Live through a firmware upgrade.

I love that you can do that with the PS3:buttrock:

[Bullseye]

Unfortunately this player isn't final spec either. It's profile 1.1, which doesn't contain BD-Live or an ethernet port.

As of now, 2.0 is the actual final spec, and who knows when they'll release that.:thumbsdow The best thing to do is get a PS3 that should allow 2.0/BD-Live through a firmware upgrade.

The problem with that is the other manufacturers would not be very happy. It will get done in good time.

[Bullseye]

I love that you can do that with the PS3:buttrock:

Agreed. One of the best pieces of kit ever.:thumbs2: