If you are shopping around for a stand alone Blu-ray Player, this review will assist you by giving information about the new Panasonic DMP-BD50. This is a player that generated a lot of high expectations for being one of the first to be fully complaint with profile 2.0. This is definitely among the best stand alone Blu-ray players around. If you don’t believe me, there are many other reviews online that can confirm it.

The Panasonic DMP-BD50 has a reduced start up time, being far more acceptable than previous players. I’ve not really got any discs that are particularly BD-Java heavy so this may be a false indication, but we’ll see I suppose.

The player seems to do the job, all images have excellent edge definition and crispness, creating a fantastic sense of realism. Even when upscaling standard-definition material s, the DMP-BD50 creates an inviting, detailed image that’s easily among the best in class. Soundtrack support is outstanding on the DMP-BD50. It has onboard decoding for all high-resolution soundtrack formats, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, so you don’t need a new receiver to take advantage of the improved audio quality. The DMP-BD50 can also output high-resolution soundtracks in bit stream format, so you can opt to let your AV receiver handle the decoding duties. There should be absolutely no difference as to whether the receiver or Blu-ray player decodes the soundtracks but some people just like to see their receiver light up and say Dolby TrueHD.

An Ethernet port lets you connect the player to the Internet, not only for BD-Live online features, but for firmware updates as well. When the DMP-BD50 powered up for the first time, it informs you that a firmware update is available and gives you the option to update. The entire process takes about five minutes and couldn’t have been easier. Thankfully, the days of downloading and burning your own firmware disc will become a thing of the past with Profile 2.0.

The DMP-BD50 employs Panasonic’s Viera Link, which is based on the industry-standard HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control). This conveys control codes to any compatible equipment connected by HDMI, allowing one remote to control everything.

Unfortunately, the DMP-BD50 only sends decoded DD+, DD True HD and DTS M Audio via PCM through the HDMI only (not the 5.1 phonos) so you still need an amp with HDMI connections but not a decoder to get the best sound. The 5.1 outputs (say Panasonic) only output normal DD and DTS, Panasonic tell me that they didn’t want to go backwards with this unit! One more little possible negative, the remote code is the same for a panasonic DVD recorder. So for those with both units when you press ON/OFF button both units come on or  off with trays opening at the same time, which can be annoying.

It’s been worth the wait and I can’t recommend it highly enough. So why are you still sitting there reading this?

For more details and specs read our previous post here!

Popularity: 36% [?]

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: 22% [?]

Panasonic has just announced the price on their new profile 2.0 Blu-ray player. The DMP-BD50 will have a MSRP of $699.95. This is still a lot of money and certainly much more than most consumers are willing to spend to make the move from a DVD to a Blu-ray player. However, keep in mind that this is the first stand-alone player to have BD-Live (profile 2.0) to be available. For that reason there is a lot of hype and expectations around this player. The only other one at the moment is the Playstation3, selling for much less. This new Panasonic will have internal decoders for the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio lossless audio codecs and will play images at 1080p/24. This third generation Blu-ray player will be available this spring. As soon as we have more info available we will update you

For more details and specs read our previous post here!

You can also find the press release here

Read the full story

Popularity: 13% [?]

Men in Black is finally coming to blu-ray! Sony has announced it will come out on June 17^th. The disc will be profile 2.0 compatible and will have an exclusive interactive game (Intergalactic Pursuit) via BD-Live. NOTE: Only profile 2.0 compatible players will be able to enjoy this feature! But if you don’t have one, don’t worry, there are many other features for you to play and enjoy!

The picture to the left is from an ad that will come out on ‘Home Media Magazine’ next week. It is great how they used the neat tagline “Blu is the new Black!”. Sony has a suggested retail price of $28.95 for the Blu-ray-YEAH YEAH we know…it is not cheap! Stop complaining! New technology is never cheap.

The disc will come with all the extras from the 2001 standard DVD release including “Telestrator Commentary” (with director Barry Sonnenfeld and Tommy Lee Jones), second “Technical Commentary” (with Sonnenfeld, effects artist Rick Baker, and the Industrial Light & Magic Team), deleted and alternate scenes, the “Metamorphosis of Men in Black ” vignette, visual effects scene deconstructions with optional technical commentary, character animation studies, storyboards, two still galleries (with concept art and production photos), a “Scene Editing Workshop,” the “Men in Black ” music video with Will Smith and Mikey, and theatrical trailer.

This was a huge blockbuster and I am sure most people know the movie but for those who have been space traveling or in deep coma for the last 10 years, we have a small synopsis:

In present-day America, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is a member of an organization that has been keeping track of extra-terrestrial aliens on Earth for over 40 years. When K finds himself in need of a new partner, a brash NYPD detective, James Edwards (Will Smith) fills the position, becoming Agent J. Armed with space-age technology (which J barely understands) and their razor-sharp wits, J and K investigate a newcomer who is bad news for Earth. He is searching for a super energy source called “The Galaxy”. Now, Agents J and K must stop the bug before it can escape with the “Galaxy”.

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Technical Specs

• Blu-ray
• BD-Live Enabled
• Region A

Video Resolution/Codec

• 1080p/AVC MPEG-4

Aspect Ratio(s)

• 1.85:1

Audio Formats

• English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround
• Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles/Captions

English SDH, subtitle options including French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Thai.

Disc Features

• Telestrator Commentary with Director Barry Sonnenfeld and Tommy Lee Jones
• Technical Commentary with Barry Sonnenfeld, Rick Baker, and Industrial Light & Magic Team
• Vignette: “Metamorphosis of Men-in-Black“
• Extended and Alternate Scenes
• Visual Effects Scene Deconstructions (w/Technical Commentary)
• Character Animation Studies
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Conceptual Art Gallery
• Still Gallery: “Production Photos”
• Scene Editing Workshop
• Music Video:”Men-in-Black” by Will Smith and Mikey
• Theatrical Trailers
• Easter Egg: “Frank the Pug”

HD Exclusive Content:

• Interactive Game: “Intergalatic Pursuit: The Men-in-Black Multi-Player Trivia Game” (BD-Live)

Popularity: 8% [?]

The BDP-S550 was the first player announced after the end of the format war (back in February) but it is only scheduled to be released in the fall for about $500. This will be one of the few available players with profile 2.0 (Maybe until its release we will see more). I have to say that it looks very cool with its blue-ish color and not as chunky as others currently on the market. Hopefully Sony did a better job and this will be a better player, considering that the BDP-S300 was SSLLLOOOOOW. The BDP-S550 will be competing against the Panasonic DMP-BD50, which we posted on March 31st.

This model offers 7.1 channel Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and bit-stream output, as well as dts-HD High Resolution Audio and dts-HD Master Audio decoding as well as 7.1 channel analog audio output. It supports AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color^TM (xvYCC) technology, an international standard for wide color space reproduction. The standard expands the current data range of video by about 1.8 times, allowing the players to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye can actually see. The player also features compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD//CD recordable media.

Key features

• Supports BonusView, which means it is Profile 1.1 compliant and BD-Live Profile 2.0
• 1GB local storage
• Ethernet port for firmware upgrades
• Supports 1080p output at both 24 and 60 frames per second
• Onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio
• 7.1 analog outputs
• Bitstream output for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio

Popularity: 18% [?]

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: 18% [?]