Panasonic Blu-ray player gets 54% price cut, free movies

[Ex Accountant]

Check out what I found at CNET's homepage today:

Among the first-generation Blu-ray players, Panasonic's DMP-BD10 was remarkable for its higher-than-average price tag ($1,300 versus the $1,000 norm) and the company's promise of a future firmware upgrade that would unleash the full sonic power of Blu-ray audio soundtracks. Having made good on the firmware upgrade in April, Panasonic has now shaved 54 percent off the price. In addition to sporting the upgraded firmware, the newly christened DMP-BD10A will retail for $600 and include five Blu-ray movies--Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Transporter, Fantastic Four, and Crash. Not coincidentally, all five films are Blu-ray exclusives; barring a major sea change in the high-def format war, it's unlikely they'll be seen on HD DVD in the foreseeable future.

While the newly discounted DMP-BD10A will be the exact same price as the Blu-ray-capable PlayStation 3, its audio capabilities may give it a leg up on Sony's console--at least for home theater buffs who appreciate such subtleties. Panasonic is pledging that the DMP-BD10A will deliver onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, a feature that would distinguish it from rival players such as the Samsung BD-P1200, which cannot decode those bleeding-edge better-than-DVD audio soundtracks or even pass them to an external AV receiver. And the Panasonic's 7.1-channel analog outputs would, in theory, be able to deliver those top-notch soundtracks to most run-of-the-mill AV receivers--no fancy HDMI ports required.

We'll be putting the DMP-BD10A to the test as soon as we can get our hands on a sample.

Here's the link if you're interested:
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-971...ml?tag=slide_1

[Mystique]

Hurray!!

[joeorc]

and with the cheap Funai blu-ray players heading to the market..its good, soo good... ,with blu-ray getting cheaper..its just all good

[Footloose301]

I CANNOT WAIT! ;-) I need to buy a blu-ray player, but I'm going to wait until this panny comes out! It's killing me, I hope its out soon

[Stuie]

Woohoo.

Gonna stick with my PS3 though.

[JTK]

So it's official:

HD-DVD's supposed price advantage is officially dead, even if you completely take the PS3 out of the picture.

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by JTK

So it's official:

HD-DVD's supposed price advantage is officially dead, even if you completely take the PS3 out of the picture.

How's the price advantage officially dead? Panasonic blu-player is $600 vs HD-DVD players $300. Half the price, I would say it still has a price advantage. Movie selection on the other hand, Blu-ray Rules!

[GoldenRedux]

They are incorrect in stating that it will decode DTS-HD Master Audio. It will not. It will only decode DTS-HD HR (High Resolution) which is still lossy, but with a bitrate of 3Mb/s, double that of regular dts. It will also, of course, decode Dolby TrueHD which is lossless.

[Sir Terrence]

Originally Posted by MasterXeus

How's the price advantage officially dead? Panasonic blu-player is $600 vs HD-DVD players $300. Half the price, I would say it still has a price advantage. Movie selection on the other hand, Blu-ray Rules!

You have to consider what half the price doesn't get you. What you don't get is 1080p(so folks don't care about that). You only get a 640kbps transcoded output from the optical inputs if you don't have a HDMI receiver. You don't get Dts HD, you don't get 5.1 analog output, and you get a cheaper build quality. You have audio sync issues, studdering, and a less stable platform. No thanks, I would rather keep my A1 than to deal with this feature cheapened player.

I would rather pay the extra $300 myself.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by Stuie

Woohoo.

Gonna stick with my PS3 though.

Me too. Don't most home theater and audio buffs already have a high-end AV receiver and don't they all plan on using HDMI cables anyway? When you assume those things this player offers no advantages.

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by Sir Terrence

You have to consider what half the price doesn't get you. What you don't get is 1080p(so folks don't care about that). You only get a 640kbps transcoded output from the optical inputs if you don't have a HDMI receiver. You don't get Dts HD, you don't get 5.1 analog output, and you get a cheaper build quality. You have audio sync issues, studdering, and a less stable platform. No thanks, I would rather keep my A1 than to deal with this feature cheapened player.

I would rather pay the extra $300 myself.

Ok... where did all that come from? All I was talking about was the price advantage, that's it. I wasn't comparing what they can and can't do. Someone said so much for HD-DVD price advantage. I simply replied that there is still a price advantage. That doesn't mean it's better or as more feature. I personally would look at everything it can and can't do before I buy one, but that doesn't mean the average joe will.

Oh, and personally if I had to buy one of these, I pay the extra 300 dollars too and get the Panasonic. I still prefer my PS3 though.

[Sir Terrence]

Originally Posted by MasterXeus

Ok... where did all that come from? All I was talking about was the price advantage, that's it. I wasn't comparing what they can and can't do. Someone said so much for HD-DVD price advantage. I simply replied that there is still a price advantage. That doesn't mean it's better or as more feature. I personally would look at everything it can and can't do before I buy one, but that doesn't mean the average joe will.

Oh, and personally if I had to buy one of these, I pay the extra 300 dollars too and get the Panasonic. I still prefer my PS3 though.

Don't be defensive. I was just outlining that the $300 cost difference comes with a price in flexibility and feature set. However, any attempt to list the price alone without including the caveats is just a little misleading. Not that you were trying to mislead(please don't take it that way), but the fact the A2 is a stripped player, and the Panasonic is not, must be taken into consideration when we talk price.

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by Sir Terrence

Don't be defensive. I was just outlining that the $300 cost difference comes with a price in flexibility and feature set. However, any attempt to list the price alone without including the caveats is just a little misleading. Not that you were trying to mislead(please don't take it that way), but the fact the A2 is a stripped player, and the Panasonic is not, must be taken into consideration when we talk price.

I agree, when talking price we should consider everything, but I don't think the "average joe" thinks like us. Most average joes look at price only and that's how they decided to buy items. This way of thinking doesn't make sense to me, but I've seen it happen time and time again.

[Iceman_II]

So what does this machine do that the PS3 doesn't? Or should I say, that it won't do after another jaw dropping firmware update like we got today?

Does it wirelessly access a media server like the PS3? - No
Does it let you play games? - No

I think I will stay witht he PS3, but thank you Panasonic for appealing to those videophiles who think that using a mere "game system" as a "media system" is a bit too "plebian" for their taste

[Footloose301]

I think the Panny has an advantage for me because it has the 7.1 analog outs..... since I screwed up and bought a receiver with only HDMI pass thru

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by Footloose301

I think the Panny has an advantage for me because it has the 7.1 analog outs..... since I screwed up and bought a receiver with only HDMI pass thru

You just pointed out the main reason why I went with the Panny over the PS3 way back in November when it was still priced at $1299. The analogue 7.1 outs and the promise of decoding the advanced audio codecs was a no brainer for me. Since I already have an A/V receiver with two sets of analogue multichannel inputs (one 5.1, one 7.1) plus a passive 3x1 5.1 analogue multichannel switch from Zektor, the Panasonic was the only option for me. I really have no plans to purchase an HDMI capable receiver or pre/pro anytime soon. The one advantage I see to the PS3 is that it can do 1080p/24, which the Panasonic cannot. I have yet to get a television that can do this, so it is not a problem for me yet.

[HDJK]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

Since I already have an A/V receiver with two sets of analogue multichannel inputs (one 5.1, one 7.1) plus a passive 3x1 5.1 analogue multichannel switch from Zektor, the Panasonic was the only option for me.

Just looked it up and found this:

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/APR04/component/comp3.html

Looks like a very nice solution. Thanks for the (accidental) tip

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by HDJK

Just looked it up and found this:

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/APR04/component/comp3.html

Looks like a very nice solution. Thanks for the (accidental) tip

The thing is, I believe the switch I have has been discontinued, but they do have this model now, the MAS7.1. Or, another option is, as they say, you can actually use one of their component video switches as a pure analogue audio switch.

[donricouga]

Panasonic is pledging that the DMP-BD10A will deliver onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio

Very nice. Currently no player can decode DTS-HD Master Audio. I believe Sony also pledged that the PS3 would do this right. I believe DTS has been having problems with the decoding process/algorithm for Master audio.

[Footloose301]

So does anybody really know when this supposed to come out? I've searched and several sites say that Panasonic has already launched it.... I have yet to see it for sale anywhere.