CES NEWS: Panasonic aims to lead the Blu-ray attack

Panasonic's latest Blu-ray players, the DMP-B D30 (left) and DMP-B D50, are designed to put the company at the head of the emerging HD disc market.

"Panasonic is determined to lead in Blu-ray”, said president of consumer electronics Shiro Kitajima, launching the two new machines to CES showgoers. The players, which conform to Final Standard Profile 1.1, have features including SD Card slots for the playback of HD content.

The company also has a Blu-ray home cinema in a box system, the SC-BT100, which has a flip-down iPod dock with remote control of the Apple player from the system's handset, wireless rear speakers, the option of upgrading to 7.1 with an extra transceiver and speakers, and the SD card slot which seems to be on every new Panasonic product.

It''s even found in the company's latest DVD portable, the DVD-L56. This also claims a 13-hour battery life between charges, despite having an 8.5in screen built-in.

Technorati Tags: Blu-ray, CES, Panasonic

Andrew has written about audio and video products for the past 20+ years, and been a consumer journalist for more than 30 years, starting his career on camera magazines. Andrew has contributed to titles including What Hi-Fi?, GramophoneJazzwise and Hi-Fi CriticHi-Fi News & Record Review and Hi-Fi Choice. I’ve also written for a number of non-specialist and overseas magazines.