Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-Ray Player
Blue Ray is finally here - Yay ! Hmm, well not quite - it is here granted, but do we really need it ?
For those who don't know, Blu-Ray is the new disc format that manufacturers and hollywood studios hope will eventually replace DVD. A typical blu-ray disc can store around 25 gb of data compared to DVD's 4.7 gb (9 gb if you allow for dual layer discs). There are dual layer blu-ray discs promised later such as the BD-50 which will store you guessed it 50gb of data. Resolution of Blu-Ray improves significantly from the existing DVD standard of 720 x 576 pixels to 1920 x 1080p. Add to this various lossless multi channel audio formats from Dolby Digital and DTS and people should getting really excited about the launch.
But the trouble is they are not especially if the Panasonic DMP-BD10 is anything to go by. Reports in the Hi-Fi press have suggested that build quality for a machine costing £1200 leaves a little to be desired.
There is no doubt the audio and visual experience for the viewer is improved through the higher resolution and superior audio, but I have to say I have grave doubts that manufacturers will be able to convince buyers to move away from DVD to Blu-Ray in the same way people ditched their LP's for CDs and VHS recorders for DVD.
I have to admit I am a bit cynical about Blu-Ray. I fear the launch of Blu-Ray is more about replacing a perfect adequate mass market product (DVD) because the encryption was hacked by a 13 year old Norwegian boy and piracy of DVD discs is out of control as a result....but I could be wrong. To make matters worse consumers have too rival formats in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD to choose from nad neither at the moment are cross compatible - it's like VHS and Betamax all over again !
Oh well - we will see what happens, for the mean time, I will sticking with DVD.
The Panasonic DMP-BD10 go on sale in the UK this autumn and costs £1200.
Panasonic DMP-BD10 Specification
Disc Compatibility : BD-Video, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3, JPEG
Output Sockets: HDMI, SCART, Component Video, S-Video, Composite
Digital Audio : 7.1 ch Audio Out ( 1 optical, 1 coaxial)
Analogue : 2 ch Audio Out
Audio S/N: 125 dB
Voltage :AC 230V @50Hz
Power Consumption: 42W
Dimensions (WxHxD): 43 x 8.5 x 33.1 cm
Weight: 4.7 kg
This entry was posted on Tuesday November 28th, 2006 at 8:17 PM and is filed under Home Cinema. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
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