Panasonic preps Blu-Ray launch

[apreading]

Press conference on 8th August T3 News here (http://www.t3.co.uk/news/247/entertainment/dvd_-_player/panasonic_preps_uk_blu-ray_launch)

Had a quick look and didnt see it mentioned on the forums.

[Noggin1980]

It would be very interesting and significant if its true but...

That article says

Panasonic's first Blu-Ray player's already on sale in the US, costing around £715

which simply isn't true, isn't it due around september? if they can't get that right what chance is there of the rest of the article being accurate?

Edit- although thinking about it, their pc blu-ray writeable drive is out I belive, so they could be refering to that. I can't see that its very likely that Panasonic would release their player here before the US but its possible it could be near the same time I guess. Time will tell.

[Mr.D]

I always think T3 is the AV enthusiast's Daily Mail whilst the avforums is the Telegraph.

[Evil Engineer]

which simply isn't true, isn't it due around september? if they can't get that right what chance is there of the rest of the article being accurate?

Edit- although thinking about it, their pc blu-ray writeable drive is out I belive, so they could be refering to that. I can't see that its very likely that Panasonic would release their player here before the US but its possible it could be near the same time I guess. Time will tell.

It's also on AV Zombie.

http://avzombie.com/blog/category/hd-dvd-blu-ray/

So it looks like the press conference date is accurate.

Just because the press conference is in August doesn't necessarily tell us anything about when the players will go on sale.

They probably want to get their pre-launch "hype" in the September home cinema mags before all the IFA show news, including Toshiba's launch details, gets printed in the October issues.

It does raise hopes that we will see some non-PS3 Bluray action before Christmas, though.

Perhaps we'll have a real battle on our hands in Europe.

[inzaman]

It will be interesting to see reviews of this machine when it comes out to see how it fares, especially in relation to PQ to hd-dvd and any comparisons etc.

[AML]

I always think T3 is the AV enthusiast's Daily Mail whilst the avforums is the Telegraph.

Nice one! :rotfl:

[Rasczak]

Panasonic are the masters of MPEG2 and have produced some excellent results in their DVD players (the S97 for example ). Out of all the BluRay players due this year I am confident this one is the one to watch. Panasonic have a proven track record with MPEG2 decoding/encoding. They have a proven HDMI upscaling system and they are one of the major companies that invested R&D into BluRay. It is 'their' format as much as Sonys.

I know many enthusiasts are looking towards Pioneer - but IMHO it has been years since that company really set the world on fire. These days their products are over-priced, under-performing and, in cases such as DVD recorders, legacy products are left to the scrapeheap (how many early Pioneer recorders have been updated to take 8x+ DVD-R media or 4x+ DVD-RW media? Products six months old left to rot!). I wouldn't trust them with a bargepole with a first generation product.

[Nic Rhodes]

They also know what is what for MPEG4 stuff.

[AML]

I think Denon will bring something really good in the end, but for now Panasonic will probably be the players to go for.
Not sure about sony, but as far as they are concerned the PS3 will be the first sony BR player.

[Nic Rhodes]

Panasonic is the player I am most interested in BD. Aren't Denon in the HD DVD camp?

[inzaman]

They also know what is what for MPEG4 stuff.
Thats good news, it could be a very interesting development once this is released; maybe a player that will stretch or 'open up' the BR technology.

[Rasczak]

Aren't Denon in the HD DVD camp?
Officially Denon is not backing any format yet although it is both a member of the DVD Forum (HD DVD) and BluRay Association. Privately I should think they have started R&D on a next gen product though...

[Noggin1980]

8th has come and gone, anything happen?

[meltonboy]

Officially Denon is not backing any format yet although it is both a member of the DVD Forum (HD DVD) and BluRay Association. Privately I should think they have started R&D on a next gen product though...

See the latest podcast for a fella from Denon being interviewed. From memory they hadn't commited and emphasised pursuing the highest quality available. Mentioned universl palyers would be prefered.

They also mentioned that people have mistaken the picture from their high-end players as HD, so therefore, there's no need to rush into either camp. EDIT: Thier view not mine !!

[Jeff]

They also mentioned that people have mistaken the picture from their high-end players as HD, so therefore, there's no need to rush into either camp.

This is of cause nonsense, it sounds like they are some way off an HD solution. I'm sure the sale of high end DVD players has already started to plummet so market forces will force them to make a stance.

[Evil Engineer]

8th has come and gone, anything happen?

My question as well.

[Ian_S]

Some useful information on the upcoming Panasonic machine.

http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/blu-ray/

Some of you will be pleased to know it includes Dolby Digital Plus support on the audio side. It's also claiming 7.1 sound with 8 192KHz, 24bit DACs. No detailed specs but, looks promising depending on price of course.

Edit: Also try this site (http://panasonic.net/blu-ray/index.html), more general Blu-ray information from Panasonic including details of authoring tools for AVC on Blu-ray. Don't know if anyone has taken that up yet. Another interesting snippet there was that they were getting 80% yield rates a while back on BD-25 discs in prototype, wonder if they're higher than that now??

[Rasczak]

Some of you will be pleased to know it includes Dolby Digital Plus support on the audio side. It's also claiming 7.1 sound with 8 192KHz, 24bit DACs. No detailed specs but, looks promising depending on price of course.
Excellent news - we know the Panasonic is priced at US$1300 although i believe the first batch are going to be marketed with a seperate sound system. Hopefully they will sell the debundled unit as well as I think this is likely to be the BluRay player of choice for the first generation. Won't do anything about the poor quality of the software though :(

The September show should be quite interesting: hopefully the second generation models will all feature 7.1 sound and 1080p as standard. Certainly that's what I'm hoping for the high end NAD model.

[Nic Rhodes]

7.1 and DD+ are a big plus in my book, looks nice as well.

[AidenL]

7.1 and DD+ are a big plus in my book, looks nice as well.
It does look nice - I'd be tempted by one of those as well :cool:

[danvitale]

The more BD players out the better. This should after a while drive down the prices of all the players..

[Rasczak]

The more BD players out the better. This should after a while drive down the prices of all the players..
Hmmm. The underlying reasons for the breakaway from the DVD Forum and the creation of the BluRay Association was to ensure the 'cut-throat' competition that forced Pioneer and others out of the DVD/DVDR market was not repeated for the next generation. All the time BluRay remains exclusive we won't see any dramatic drop in prices - just a slow reduction. The pricing of the units shows how keen they are not to step on each others toes:
- Sony/Samsung (same model different case) - US$999
- Panasonic (rumoured to have more features, e.g. 7.1) - US$1300
- Pioneer (high end model) - US$1500
...all nicely priced to aim for specific sections of the market - hardly aimed to drive the price down.

[nehalem]

- Sony/Samsung (same model different case) - US$999
.

Have a you more info on above statement as I have it on good authority that the Sony offering is a proper Sony designed bit of kit and not rebadged or anything similar. cheers