Panasonic shows off DMP-BD10 Blu-ray player final design

I4U got their hands on photos of what Panasonic is claiming to be the final design of their first consumer Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD10, pictured here with the company's SA-XR700 receiver. As you can see, Panny has dropped most of the external controls we saw on their prototype at CES, and implemented a cleaner look that more closely matches the design of their other home theater products. Unfortunately no new info is available concerning pricing, but hopefully we'll be able to nail down a MSRP a little less vague than "under $1,500" well in advance of this product's scheduled September release.

[ty @ Apr 12th 2006 10:44AM]

How are these stand-alone BD players gonna compete with the PS3? If they release in Sept. and PS3 is out in Nov. then they only a couple of months to sell these at full price before the discount BD-Player/PS3 comes out.

[Bill @ Apr 12th 2006 11:04AM]

----As you can see, Panny has dropped most of the external controls we saw on their prototype at CES, and implemented a cleaner look that more closely matches the design of their other home theater products----

This is actually a pet peeve of mine. I think that a remote control device should be a complement to a system, not a requirement. I should not be required to use a remote controller to operate this device. I should be able to walk right up to it and operate it directly.

Bring back buttons! You can put them behind a panel if you must, but a remote control should not be required to operate any device.

[Josh @ Apr 12th 2006 11:05AM]

Is it just me or has there not really been of any companies releasing any HD-DVD players yet. Week after week theres been almost always at least one new Blu-ray player announced. Not, that thats a bad thing as I think Blu-ray sounds more promiseing anyway.

[Heath Stahl @ Apr 12th 2006 11:11AM]

Re: #1

It depends on how good of a Blu-Ray player the PS3 is and I wouldn't count on it being that great. The PS2 was a terrible DVD player (XBox wasn't really any better). Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised this time around.

[Hiro11 @ Apr 12th 2006 11:23AM]

Why are these player so insanely expensive, apart from the obvious early adopter premium? Do the contain any radically new video processing hardware? Surely a blue laser doesn't cost much more than your garden variety red one? These players should be, at most, $500 in my mind.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Apr 12th 2006 11:31AM]

Re #4. Good motion picture processing ("post processing") is very expensive. And to deliver good quality at 100Hz framerate you need some dedicated specialized units to do the job. Something computers and game consoles would never do.

Straight analogy: PC's CD drive vs. Hi-Fi CD player. Some hear the difference - some don't. I do.

[Jeff @ Apr 12th 2006 11:32AM]

"How are these stand-alone BD players gonna compete with the PS3?"

The same way early DVD players competed with the PS2.

The PS3 will play BD discs. But it will do it without a remote, with a whole bunch of fan noise, with a flimsy loading mechanism and no LCD display. It will probably not have the greatest PQ either unless you use the digital output (or maybe you have to use the digital output). It will be a really low-end player that will probably be pretty annoying to use as an everyday player. But it will be enough for some people (like me) to get by until the real players come down in price.

Hiro11: Yes, these players do contain a lot of new hardware beyond just the blue laser. They have to process a slew of formats in hardware, not just MPEG-2 - and they need fairly powerful chips to do that. Most of them also do upconversion of regular DVD's (or maybe all of them) and they output in a whole bunch of different formats. Each individual new component probably costs less than a $50 premium over what's in a regular DVD player, but add it all up and yeah, it's going to be a significant cost difference.

I'm sure there is also something of an early-adopter premium as well, but part of that is also the fact that these companies need to make up their R&D and production costs with what's going to be a pretty low volume to start with. It's not until a product reaches the mass market that they can make up for low margins with volume selling.

But you could build a BD player and sell it for $500. It's called the PS3. If you want something that actually works well as an everyday player, though, it's gonna cost more than that to build and to sell. ($1,500 is probably unreasonable, but $800 or so is about what the early DVD players cost and I think that'd work here too).

[TheGuyNextDoor @ Apr 12th 2006 11:41AM]

#2
Bill, I'd be pretty sure that there would still be controls on this machine. I expect the silver bar beneath the display on the front pulls down to reveal a gamut of buttons.


First generation CD players and DVD players were prohibitively expensive it's true. And there was a Playstation alongside every one of them. It only served to complement the uptake of the media, so I don't see it being a major problem. The audiophiles and videophiles are always the early adopters of new purpose-built technologies.

[Pfft @ Apr 12th 2006 11:51AM]

Agreed; I tried to use a PS2 as a primary DVD player but the fan noise killed it for me.

[Lee @ Apr 12th 2006 12:03PM]

Fan noise? Do you people sit the PS2 in your lap? Never heard it... ever. (Are you maybe turning your speakers off and reading subtitles?)

[Bloo @ Apr 12th 2006 12:04PM]

I don't care if the units cost $1000-$1500. It's $40 per movie that I find hard to swallow!

[zombieflanders @ Apr 12th 2006 12:23PM]

#9: The movies are retailing for ~$20-$30, same as HD DVD.

[Tommy Mang @ Apr 12th 2006 12:45PM]

PS3 will have a Blu-ray drive, but the question is how much will it comply with all de Blu-ray specs... For instance will it be able to display PIP...?

[ken fager @ Apr 12th 2006 12:50PM]

So what happens when someone loses the remote??? This is a frequent scenario for many American housholds. No sale.

[embassy @ Apr 12th 2006 1:47PM]

wats up with all these new high end electronics looking like old 70s equpiment..??..i swore that was a pic of a record player.

[blablah @ Apr 12th 2006 2:29PM]

What the heck are they putting in there that makes the form factor so huge? Every player I've seen, so far, is gigantic!

I *was* going to pickup a Blu-Ray play, but have decided, instead, to wait to see how much the PS3 is and how well it performs.

[think I will wait @ Apr 12th 2006 5:27PM]

I think the biggest potential charlie foxtrot here is the competing standard. BluRay v. HD-DVD. Can anyone say "Betamax"? And the ultimate loser is the consumer. What happens if BluRay fails and HD-DVD wins, unless you own a dual player..you are hosed. No Thanks!! I will wait until they either produce a player for both formats...or one format clearly wins over the other.

[Arthur @ Apr 22nd 2006 1:47AM]

Ugly external controls add cost and accumulate house dust. The grooves around the controls can be a warm pit for our uninvited guest the tiny dust mite. Panasonic's handsome Blu-ray player has a clean silver 'dashboard' and the receiver has two glossy classic large buttons on both ends, I assume they are for volume and tuner, not really needed but I believe it's for artistic pleasure.