Blu-ray got a boost recently.
In a story from The Hollywood Reporter, "Panasonic on Tuesday unveiled a next-generation Blu-ray Disc player with enhanced interactivity, including picture-in-picture and audio mixing."
Called the DMP-BD30 it "will ship Monday and should be in stores nationwide within a week, said Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, vp corporate development at Panasonic and GM of its Blu-ray Disc Group.
The DMP-BD30 will sell for $499 and it "is the first Blu-ray player to be introduced with Final Standard Profile, with a variety of new and enhanced features. Among them are picture-in-picture and audio mixing, which lets users switch sound between the main and secondary windows."
In addition to this "the 1080p player also includes an SD memory card slot for playback of high-definition content recorded in the AVCHD format. The slot also allows viewing of digital still images recorded to a high-capacity HD SD card."
"Panasonic's adoption of the Final Standard Profile adds a whole new dimension to the entertainment experience," states Gene Kelsey, vp of the Panasonic Entertainment Group. "One of the more intriguing aspects of the Final Standard Profile is the picture-in-picture feature that allows the movie fan to access a variety of entertainment enhancements, such as having the director or an actor pop up to discuss the scene you are watching, or when watching an animated movie, allowing you to see the actor performing their character's voice over, all while still watching the movie."
Also, "the DMP-BD30 also comes with other technological advances, including deep color compatibility and HDMI 1.3B, which bumps the step gradation from 8-bit 256 all the way up to 12-bit 4,096."
Lastly, "the player also provides 1080/24p playback, so the consumer can enjoy the same 24-frames-per-second reproduction as the original movie."
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So, because this is NEW to Blu-Ray, it will, "add a whole new dimension to the entertainment experience?"
I just love how every HD DVD related article or editorial, that I read on the Internet, begins by profiling some "Feature," of HD DVD, almost always invaribly ends with a comment about the seemingly superior capabilities or features of Blu-Ray. I find it odd that I have never seen the REVERSE situation. Case in point, this quote! Absolutely no mention of the fact that these new Blu-Ray features have been on HD DVD since it's inception! Objective journalism....yea right!
It's too bad that;
a) Most Blu-Ray supporters on the user forums have profusely indicated they do not need or want these extra "Experience," capabilities, and only want to watch the movie in all of it's HD glory! I'm very sure the Blu-Ray, "Fanboys," in those same user forums, will latch on to any potential vestige on cannon fodder for use in some sick (IMO) comparative Blu-Ray technical advantages over HD DVD. Especially, now that the Blu-Ray camp has had access to the HD DVD specifications, since before the first product hit the streets. And the Blu-Ray camp has had a year +, to see just how to do this stuff, by simply watching HD DVD do it all along.
b) Because most Blu-Ray players on the market today do not have the current or future capability to support some of the Profile 1.1 specifications, those early Blu-Ray Player owners are basically out of luck, for those features. At least until they buy a new Blu-Ray player! $800-$1200 for the 1st & 2nd Gen players and $500 for the 3rd Gen that will do more.
c) It is my understanding that Profile 1.1 is not the Final Blu-Ray profile! Blu-Ray Profile 2.0 is! I believe that this profile 2.0 mandates network connectivity and network interactivity support in Blu-Ray players. Note: There is no published date for Profile 2.0 as of yet! At this point though, Blu-Ray will have caught up to where HD DVD was, from the start!
With all of that said, if this player manages to actually live up to it's marketed potential and is priced right (