These are the first 6x recordable BD media and Panasonic got a head start! The LM-BR25MD and LM-BR50MD will be released in Japan in July,  at this time we do not have a estimated release date for Euroupe or US. The new discs will be available in two versions, 25GB (single sided/single layer) at a price of $15 and  $37 for the 50GB (single sided/dual layer) version. They will provide a data transfer speed of 216Mbps.

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You can find the full press release bellow:

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PANASONIC INTRODUCES WORLD’S FIRST 6X WRITE-ONCE BLU-RAY DISC MEDIA*

Secaucus, NJ (June 18, 2008) – Panasonic today announced that it has developed the world’s first Write-Once Blu-ray Discs (BD-R) with 6X writing speed*. The new discs will be available in both 25GB** and 50GB capacities.

Panasonic, which introduced the world’s first dual-layer 1X BD-RE Blu-ray Disc in 2004***, 2X BD-R/RE Discs in 2006, and 4X BD-R Disc in 2007, is now launching the first 6X BD-R to meet consumer demand to read and write large amounts of data at higher speeds. The new 6X discs have a maximum data transfer speed of an amazingly fast 216Mbps. This transfer speed, along with the discs’ high capacity, allows consumers to use these discs for a variety of applications such as storing high-definition video or backing up PC data.

The new discs feature a wide power margin at any writing speed from 1X to 6X. This enables high-quality recording, even if the drive’s laser power fluctuates, resulting in greater overall drive compatibility.

Panasonic’s adoption of newly-developed disc technology produces extremely level and well-balanced discs with highly precise signal grooves. This improves servo characteristics and enables the laser beam to focus to the right position even when the disc is rotating with 6X high speed, thus providing optimum reading and writing performance.

Specifications

6X BD-R

Format Name: Blu-ray Disc Recordable Format Ver. 1.3
Model Number: LM-BR25MDE, LM-BR50MDE
Data Capacity: 25GB, 50GB
Layer Constitution: Single Sided/Single Layer, Single Sided/Dual Layer
Recording Format: Phase Change Recordable
Laser Wavelength: 405nm ?Blue-violet Laser?
Objective Lens Numerical Aperture (NA): 0.85
Disc Diameter/Thickness: 120mm x 1.2mm
Track Pitch: 0.32 ?m
Minimum Mark Length: 0.149?m
Data Transfer Speed: 216Mbps(Max.)
Hard Coating

*As of June 18, 2008

**The capacity of Blu-ray discs is expressed in units of 1GB=1 billion bytes, but the capacity is slightly below that after formatting, so that the actual amount area that can be used will be less.

***Introduced in Japanese market only

See more details on the chart bellow:

Popularity: 19% [?]

We’ve had the Panasonic DMP-BD30 for a little while here is the US but our friends from the middle east are just starting to have a taste on the player. The middle east is definitely an emerging market, specially UAE and Dubai (I’ve heard incredible things about this place!). With plenty of disposable income, Arabs are very likely to buy the newer generation Panasonic DMP-BD30 in their country instead of having to bring the player from abroad. This will be the first Panasonic BD player available in the Middle East and also the first to carry profile 1.1. So for you Middle Eastern readers, here is an overview on your potential new toy:

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Design
We were happy to note that DMP-BD30 lacks the extremely annoying flip-down panel of its predecessor, the DMP-BD10A. While a large panel still conceals most of the BD30’s front-panel controls, the disc tray hides behind a separate, smaller panel that automatically flips down when you hit the Open/Close button. We definitely prefer this arrangement to having to manually lower the BD10A’s panel every time we wanted to change a disc. On the right half of the DMP-BD30’s face player is the LED display, which was sized to be easily legible from a seating distance of about 7 feet.

The good: Excellent picture quality on Blu-ray discs; 1080p output at 24 frames per second; DVD upconversion up to 1080p; HDMI 1.3b output; can output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio in bitstream format; first Blu-ray Profile 1.1 player; SD card slot can play high-def video from AVCHD camcorders.

The bad: No built-in decoding for high-resolution audio formats; no Ethernet jack for firmware upgrades or future interactive content.

The bottom line: The Panasonic DMP-BD30 offers excellent video quality and is Blu-ray Profile 1.1 compliant, but those who want high-resolution audio will need a cutting-edge AV receiver.

You can read the full detailed review of the DMP-BD30 on http://reviews.cnet.com

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Specs

• Chipset- Panasonic UniPhier
• Post-processor- None
• BD profile-Bonus View (1.1)

Video

• Video resolutions-480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
• DVD upconversion-720p, 1080i, 1080p
• Video frame rates-60i, 24p, 60p

Media Compatibility

• BD media- BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE
• DVD media-DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM
• CD media-CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW

Playback video Compatibility

• MPEG-2 - Yes
• MPEG-2 HD - Yes
• MPEG-4 - Yes
• MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) - Yes
• VC-1 - Yes
• DivX - No
• DivX HD - No
• DivX Ultra - No
• XviD - No
• XviD HD - No
• JPEG - Yes
• JPEG HD - Yes

Playback audio Compatibility

• Dolby Digital - Yes
• Dolby Digital+ - Yes
• Dolby TrueHD - No
• Dolby TrueHD (bitstream) - Yes
• DTS - Yes
• DTS-HD - Yes
• DTS-HD MA - No
• DTS-HD MA (bitstream) - Yes
• PCM - Yes
• WMA - No
• WMA Pro - No
• MP3 - Yes
• OGG - No
• AAC - No
• AAC+ - No
• SACD - No
• DVD Audio - No

Connections

• HDMI - 1
• HDMI version – 1.3a
• HDMI audio output 7.1
• HDMI CEC - No
• DVI - No
• Composite - 1
• Component – 1
• S-video - 1
• Optical - 1
• Analog - 1
• Analog audio output - 5.1
• Coaxial - 1
• Ethernet - No
• Wireless - No
• Firewire - No
• USB - No

Converters

• Video DAC - 12bit / 148.5MHz
• Audio DAC - 24bit / 192kHz

Remote

• Universal - No
• Programmable - No
• Bluetooth - No
• Infrared - Yes
• Display - No
• Radio frequency - No
• Backlight - No

Other

• Parental lock - No
• Hard drive - No
• SD card reader - 1

Dimensions

• Width (cm) 43.02
• Height (cm) 5.97
• Depth (cm) 32.07
• Weight (kg) 3.31

Download the full User’s manual here!

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In general, the DMP-BD30 is a great quality player and gets the job done! However, keep in mind that the DMPBD50 is right around the conner. It is being released in the US soon so I am guessing it will be hitting your side of the world around the beginning of 2009 if all runs as expected. The Panasonic DMPBD50 is Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) Player with all the latest interactivity technology. If you want to know more about it before taking the plunge into a DMP-DB30 click here! and Here to check out what we’ve covered before!

Popularity: 33% [?]

Panasonic is releasing the first Blu-ray Recorder outside Japan, in Australia, hitting store’s shelves later June. The Panasonic DMR-BW500 apparently is very similar to the Panasonic DMP-BD30, which is a profile 1.1 player already released here in the US but of course without the recorder addition. The player is selling in Australia for AU$2,299! That is in Australian Dollars… Ouch! Still, didn’t help much… but I guess you have to pay the price of new technology.

On top of being a Full HD, 24p Blu-ray player, this model can record up to six hours and 40 minutes of Full HD content to a 50GB BD disc. More impressively, it has a 500GB hard drive built in, along with twin HD TV tuners, 7-day EPG support, HDMI v1.3, 1080p upconversion with HDMI (for DVD playback) and support for all the latest audio codecs, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. There’s also a USB port and an SD card slot for JPG, MP3 and AVC-HD files. The unit does not have decoders built-in for the new Blu-ray audio standards, but it can deliver the sound in ‘bitstream’ format over HDMI to any of the several new home theater receivers that can decode these.

Panasonic Australia’s Director for Consumer Electronics Group, Paul Reid said, “Panasonic has led the way in home entertainment products and continues to bring innovation to the market with Australia’s first Blu-ray Recorder for the living room. This product is a significant breakthrough for Blu-ray and sets the standard in Full High Definition recording. With a twin High Definition Tuner and 500 GB Hard Disk Drive it is the ideal one-box solution for any home.”

Thomas Bartlett from www.gadgetguy.com.au did a pretty good and thorough review of this new recorder. To sum it up he absolutely loved it! Now, when will we get this type of “toy” in the US? This is crazy and not fair.

The reason we haven’t got Blu-ray recorders in the Uncle Sam’s land probably has to do with our regulatory agencies and pressure from the big Networks such as: NBC, ABC, CBS and all the letters of the alphabet… The networks and their studios like to sell their television series season box sets and of course wouldn’t want you to be able to record it and burn it yourself… Maybe when the FCC (Federal Communications Commission, which regulates broadcastings in the US) allows broadcasts with content protection flags we may start seeing Blu-ray recorders arrive.

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Via: www.gadgetguy.com.au

Popularity: 64% [?]

Panasonic has posted the highly anticipated DMP-BD50’s manual on their website and it is available for download. You can find all details including features, functions, outputs, design, etc…If you are looking into buying a stand-alone Blu-ray player but is still not sure which one, the Panasonic DMP-BD50 is an excellent choice. For about $699.95 you will get the lastest features available with high quality. This Panny should arrive to US stores very soon. Click here for more info on this player!

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Popularity: 27% [?]

Today Panasonic introduced the MN2WS006, the first single chip signal processing LSI for Blu-ray Disc players. The new chip will allow mounting surface to be 50% smaller, it will use 25% less power and it is compatible with profile 2.0 standards, which include functions such as dual-screen simultaneous video playback, high-quality audio playback and network compatibility. The MN2WS006 will have the Panasonic’s updated UniPhier platform and will support all high definition video and audio formats. Before this chip, players required seven external memory chips and separate front and back end LSIs. This new technology will allow Panasonic to make players slimmer.

Panasonic will start having samples shipped out on June.

Here you can find the original press release!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Being one the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics, taking place in August, Panasonic will start a nation wide tour entitled “Get Your Family Ready for the First HD Olympics” to promote its Blu-ray players and Viera HDTV line. The tour will have a fleet of trucks that will visit several retailers across the U.S. They will be giving out limited edition Panasonic Olympic Games pins, having small competitions with Panasonic prizes, bringing Olympic medalists to sign autographs to consumers, and of course showing off their products . They have more information on their website about the tour including tour dates and cities, promotion, sweepstakes, etc. .

It looks like it will be a fun thing to go to with the family and to top it off win some prizes! I could definitely use a new blu-ray player in my room! Panasonic seems to be excited as well:“The world’s athletes are getting ready to come together and compete at the Olympic Games this summer, and Panasonic is helping families get ready to come together and watch them,” said Christine Amirian, VP of consumer marketing group at Panasonic Consumer Electronics. “We are proud to be helping deliver the first ever Olympic Games to be shot and broadcast entirely in [high-def] to consumers in the United States and around the world.”

This will be the first Olympics entirely broadcasted in HD but Panasonic’s eighth time sponsoring the Games.

Popularity: 7% [?]

A lot of expectation is being built around the new Panasonic DMP-BD50. As one of the first players with profile 2.0 (BD-Live) its release is scheduled for May, 08. Currently the only player that has BD-Live capabilities is the Playstation3. The Panasonic DMP-BD50 will have an Ethernet port to be able to connect to the internet to download data such as images and subtitles, and to join in quizzes and multi-player interactive games that are linked to bonus movie content contained on Blu-ray discs. It will also come comes equipped with a slot for SD Memory Cards so you will be able to view HD photos and motion images your digital still camera or HD camcorder.

Video Features

• PHL Reference Chroma Processor
• P4HD (Pixel Precision Progressive Processing for HD)
  • Precise Pixel Generation
  • 16-Level Motion Detection with Pixel-Based Motion Adaptive
  • Diagonal Processing
  • Detection of 3:2/2:2 Pull-Down Progressive Processing
  • i/p Conversion for 1080p* Playback
  • Up-Conversion to 1080p* Playback
• 1080/24p Playback (Blu-ray disc)
• HDMI^TM V.1.3 with Deep Colour^TMand “x.v.Colour” *¹
• 148.5MHz/12bit Video D/A Converter
• Digital Noise Reduction (3D-NR/ Integrated NR)
• Picture Mode (Normal, Soft, Fine, Cinema, User)
• Picture Adjustment (Contrast, Brightness, Sharpness, Colour, Gamma Correction)

Audio Features

• Built-in Dolby^® TrueHD, Dolby^® Digital Plus and DTS^TM-HD*²Decoder
• High Quality 192kHz/24bit Audio D/A Converter
• Pure Audio Components
• High-Speed 50Mbps Optical Output
• Audio Re-Master for All Formats (BD, DVD, CD, MP3 and DviX^®*³)
• Advanced Surround (V.S.S.) Creates a Surround Effect for BD and DVD from Only Two Speakers (2 Modes)
• Dialogue Enhancer
• Dynamic Range Compression

Output

• HDMI AV Output
• Component Video Output
• S-Video Output
• Video Output
• 5.1ch Audio Output
• 2ch Audio Output
• Digital Audio Output (1 Optical, 1 Coaxial)

Convenience Features

• VIERA Link*⁴ for Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Product Line-up
• Movie (AVCHD) & JPEG View with SD Memory Card Slot
• JPEG Slide Show with Music
• Multi-Format Playback [BD-Video(BD-Live*⁵), DVD-Video, DVD-RAM, AVCHD (SD Memory Card/DVD), DVD-RW*⁶, DVD-R*⁶, DVD-R (Dual Layer)*⁶, +R*⁶, +R (Double Layer)*⁶, +RW*⁶, CD, CD-R/RW*⁷, MP3*⁸, JPEG, DivX^®*³]
• Super Hi-Speed Scan: 5 Speeds up to x200
• Easy Setting Guide
• Graphical User Interface
• Audio/JPEG Navigation Menu
• Remote Control

Notes

*1 x.v.Colour is a registered trademark.
*2 DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS-HD Master Audio
*3 Official DivX^® Certified product. Plays all versions of DivX^® video (including DivX^®6) with standard playback of DivX^® media files. Certified to the DivX Home Theater Profile. GMC(Global Motion Compensation) is not supported. DivX^®, DivX^® Certified, and associated logos are trademarks of DivX^®, Inc. and are used under license.
Maximum number of folders recognizable: 300 folders. (including the root folder)
Maximum number of files recognizable: 200 files
*4 This function is available for Panasonic products that support VIERA Link (HDAVI Control 3 or above).
*5 BD-ROM Profile 2 (BD Live feature includes BONUSVIEW (Final Standard Profile) functions)
*6 Discs recorded and finalized on DVD video recorders/cameras.
*7 Playability may vary depending on the contents, discs and quality of the recording.
*8 For contents recorded on CD-R/RW for your personal use only.

Watch this video on the DMP-BD50 player

Popularity: 37% [?]