Panasonic packs a punch with portable Blu-ray player at CES (hands-on)

Panasonic was showing off its new lineup of cameras and camcorders at its display table at Digital Experience, but that wasn't what really caught our eyes. Nope, that honor went to the DMP-B500, a portable Blu-ray player that had both a killer screen and a (fairly) slim profile. Better yet, it doubles as a standalone Blu-ray player when you connect it to your TV, and it links up nicely with other VIERA products. Also on display was a WiFi photo frame with a built in CD player and a hidden iPod dock. Calendar and photo widgets looked nice on the crisp display, and let's just put it this way, we don't know how much we'd mind waking up to that in the morning. You don't have to take our word for it though, check our the goods in our hands-on gallery.

Panasonic CES 2010 lineup hands-on

[peter0328 Posted Jan 6th 2010 11:57PM]

What's been taking so long for portable Blu-ray players to be released?

Nobody wants to have to re-buy their movies on DVD just so they are portable....

[Special Agent Steve Posted Jan 6th 2010 11:59PM]

@peter0328
Because there's no point in having a device that plays 1080P when you're 2 feet away from it. Because this doubles a standalone Blu-Ray player (wifi?), it's actually useful. And hopefully not 500$.

[jedimacfan Posted Jan 7th 2010 1:56AM]

@peter0328

Yea, since Apple apparently has no interest in a blu-ray MacBook Pro, I'm interested in the new Panasonic models. Can't wait for Amazon to list the 500. Oh, and Steve, you can shove that "bag of hurt" up your ass.

[EtherGnat Posted Jan 7th 2010 12:25PM]

@Special Agent Steve You realize that a 10" screen at two feet is equivalent to a 50" screen at 10 feet right? At any distance less than 3.5 feet you will be able to make out more detail than you would on a DVD; at less than two feet you will be able to make out more detail than 720p; and at 1.3 feet you will be able to make out every pixel.

Would 720p be adequate? Sure, but to say it's pointless is just dumb.

[DJPalesto Posted Jan 8th 2010 10:55AM]

@EtherGnat

You seem to know what you're talking about so thank you for that enlightening comment!