Panasonic Introduces New Blu-ray Player

Panasonic has announced the introduction of the DMP-BD30, the next generation High Definition 1080p Blu-ray disc player.The DMP-BD30 is the first Blu-ray player to be introduced with Final Standard Profile, which adds many new and enhanced features to the Blu-ray arena.

Also unique to the DMP-BD30 is the inclusion of an SD Memory Card slot for playback of High Definition content recorded in the AVCHD format, which allows the viewing of digital still images recorded to an SD Memory Card.

"Panasonic's commitment to excellence in entertainment and technology is evident in the establishment of Panasonic Hollywood Labs, where a great deal of research went into the development of Blu-ray," said Gene Kelsey, Vice President, Panasonic Entertainment Group.

"PHL has become one of the major centers for the authoring of Blu-ray titles and works closely with studio engineers in developing High Definition compression technologies," he added.

The Final Standard Profile is an advanced function added to the Blu-ray standard, which opens the door to new functions such as Picture-in-Picture and Audio Mixing.

With an SRP of $499.95, the DMP-BD30 also features a myriad of technology advances, including Deep Color Compatibility, and HDMI 1.3B, that bumps the step gradation from 8-bit 256 all the way up to 12-bit, 4,096 step gradation.

The DMP-BD30 also provides 1080/24p playback. This eliminates the need to utilize 3.2 pull down, a process to convert 24-fps images to 60-fps, resulting in a smoother picture.