Panasonic Blu-ray players add Amazon VOD.... and VHS?

[blu2]

Sony should really hook up with someone like Blockbuster soon.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6627159.html

JAN. 7 | Panasonic is adding several twists to its 2009 slate of Blu-ray Disc set-top players, including Amazon Video On Demand streaming, portability and—in one of the stranger announcements from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week—VHS playback capabilities.

Panasonic's four new BD Live-enabled players will all come equipped with the manufacturer's branded Viera Cast Web connectivity technology, which will offer streaming content from Amazon’s VOD service for the first time. Other available Web programming will come from YouTube, Google’s Picasa Web Album, Bloomberg and a weather channel, which have been featured within certain Panasonic Viera Cast TV models launched last year.

This year will mark a time when many Blu-ray player manufacturers are supporting such third-party streaming services. Samsung is backing players that access Netflix, and LG is behind players with both Netflix and CinemaNow programming availability.

[...]

Also on deck is Panasonic’s VHS/Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD70V. The company describes it as the world’s first such hybrid format model. LG had previously promoted dual HD DVD and Blu-ray players, but since the end of the format war in early 2008, manufacturers have been launching straight Blu-ray players with standard-definition DVD compatibility.