[Ben_Williams]

From www.endgadgethd.com:

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...12007092938532

Not too long after Pioneer went and introduced its second generation Blu-ray player, along comes Panasonic to follow suit, but unlike the BDP-LX70, we've got a pricetag as well as a few tempting reasons to pick this one up over the competition. The DMP-BD10A packs an audio upgrade that brings 7.1, Dolby True HD, and DTS-HD on board, and it incorporates Panasonic's EZ-Sync system for "one-touch operation" of your home theater. The overall design doesn't deviate too far from that seen in the first iteration, but you will find 1080p upconversion via HDMI, a 14-bit DA converter with 4x oversampling, support for BD-J, and compatibility between select HD camcorders via the AVCHD (H.264) codec. Notably, Panasonic is giving users two reasons to seriously considering its new offering, as the fairly reasonable $599.95 pricetag looks even better when you consider the five BD films (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Transporter, Fantastic Four, and Crash) you'll be getting right in the box.


In short, this new offering from Panasonic is a DMP-BD10 with the newest firmware and a 50% price drop. This is a pretty unbeatable deal - - especially considering the 5 free movies!

[Grant H]

About time we got a price tag attached to this. I know it's not much more than a firmware upgrade from the 1st gen unit, but it's nice to see the pace being set in the price race.

There should be a good selection of affordable BD players by Christmas.

[ScottJH]

Does it do 1080p/24?

[Bruce Morrison]

Will it support HDMI 1.3?

[Robert George]

No official word on 1080/24p, but the current model does not and this new model is basically the same design with a second gen drive (much less expensive). Until Panasonic releases some more detailed specs, the safe assumption is that the new model will NOT output 1080/24p.

Also, no official word on HDMI 1.3. This, however, I am betting will be 1.3a.

[Ben_Williams]

The current Panasonic can easily be upgraded by firmware to support 1080p/24. I've heard that it is just a matter of time before this is a reality. So, this should be the same on the BD10a.

[Robert George]

Well, Ben, being a PS3 owner, I have come to treat supposed firmware update capabilities with a grain of salt. The PS3 has been highly touted as being capable of all kinds of additional features, yet here we are seven months after the player launched (a year late to begin with) with a player that does NOT support 1080/24p, DTS-MA, clips below black and above white, and will not pass advanced audio codecs natively.

If the Panasonic could be "easily" updated, my feeling is it would have been by now.

[dkny75]

Since the BD10 only had HDMI 1.2, the BD10a should have exactly the same since the only difference is the pre-installed firmware upgrade.

This is a very good deal. Tempting.......

[Ben_Williams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert George

Well, Ben, being a PS3 owner, I have come to treat supposed firmware update capabilities with a grain of salt. The PS3 has been highly touted as being capable of all kinds of additional features, yet here we are seven months after the player launched (a year late to begin with) with a player that does NOT support 1080/24p, DTS-MA, clips below black and above white, and will not pass advanced audio codecs natively.

If the Panasonic could be "easily" updated, my feeling is it would have been by now.

I understand your skepticism, but every promised firmware update for the Panasonic has been met on time and delivering the exact upgrades promised. I have it on good authority that the Panny will be 1080p/24 capable in a matter of a few months. The broadcom chip that is in the player simply needs to have the feature activated.

Trust me on this one... Panasonic is far superior to Sony when it comes to support and promised updates. Check out the Panasonic sticky for more info and user reports on what I've just mentioned.

[Bruce Morrison]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben_Williams

Trust me on this one... Panasonic is far superior to Sony when it comes to support and promised updates.

Ben, do you know whether this new player will have HDMI 1.3 support? There are some different views about this earlier in the thread.

[DaViD Boulet]

one more question. Does "DTS-HD" also imply that it will decode the fully-lossless DTS-HD MA?

It makes me nervous that this lossless mode was not specifically mentioned. I'm wondering if DTS-HD decoding and DTS-HD MA decoding don't necessarily share the same algorithm/decoding strategy.