Remember Panasonic's
DMP-B15? You know, that "world's first portable Blu-ray player" that was introduced at CES and just
started shipping last month? With an $800 price tag, there's a good chance you never even let the thing enter your stream of consciousness, but we can only wish you the best of luck as you try to ignore this one.
RCA has quietly started to ship its BRC3108 10-inch portable Blu-ray player, which is equipped with a rechargeable battery, integrated stereo speakers, a headphone jack, 1080p HDMI output and bundled car / AC adapters alongside a carrying bag with headrest attachment for in-car use. The mini player lists for $349.99 on Amazon, and it's already starting to appear in select Target locations. You'll notice that Amazon still shows the device as being available for pre-order, and even the Target model didn't have a shelf tag yet. That said, we're sure someone in the back can pull some strings if you wave your credit card around long enough.
Update: Looks like it's listed at $299.99 at Target -- image is after the break. Thanks, Thomas!
[Thanks,
Scott]
posted July 30th 2010 12:06PM
I don't know why you'd pay $400 for one of these when you can get a decent laptop with a bluray player for $200 more
@Thedude983 You lie! There is no such thing. Show me the link!
@iPhone 4 Yeah 200 is really REALLY low. I'd like to see a link for this to.
@iPhone 4 I think he means the OPTION to add a blu ray drive in a laptop is about $200
well...its about $120 actually
http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-u30jcb1-p-2763.html?wconfigure=yes
@Thedude983
He said 200 MORE... Reading comprehension ftw
@iPhone 4
Just get a an ION or similar netbook/laptop and an external BD drive for ripping. Rip the disks onto the internal harddrive and do the ipod/archos thing with it.
BD collection on the road with the kids? Sounds gruesome.
This is 2010. I thought portable devices of this sort were a thing of the past.
@SystemError But the hardware that decodes the video, outputs video and sound, and the drive itself is going to cost more than the option.
Why would anyone dish out $800 for A portable Blu Ray player? I still don't get it.
@Sk8erMikez
here is the point: NO ONE will ever pay 800U$ on that shit..
i cant imagine someone paying that amount on that crap..
with a little more you get a nice notebook with bluray and bigger screen.
@rwdebes $800?? Hell for a little bit LESS you can get more than a blu ray player
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sony-Acer-Toshiba-HP-Blu-Ray-15.5-to-17.3-Laptop-PC-with-Windows-7-Home-Premium/14663164?sourceid=1500000000000003142050&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=14663164#Specifications
@Sk8erMikez $349.99
@iPhone 4
is _______________________
fill in the blank, gogogo!
Is the screen 1080p? If not, then blu-ray is wasted on it. 720p at least? Still a little expensive, but its a nice start.
@iPhone 4
Yeah it has that. I read :D
@iPhone 4
1080p on a screen this small would be useless.
720 is just fine
@iPhone 4
Does HD even matter on a screen this small?
@bravokiloromeo I was thinking the same thing. HD really only is worthwhile above 20" IMO.
@iPhone 4 Are you stupid it even 720p would be a bit
Much on this player , theron reason for this piece of tech is so you can play movies on the go and not have to sorry about having an extra DVD copy and it has a hdmi put
What a genius u r
@manofchao5 An iPhone 4 fits 960-by-640 pixels on a 3.5 in. screen. Having a higher resolution even on a screen that small does arguably benefit the device resulting in better images and "movie playback". So no doubt that 1080p or 720p even on a small screen would look spectacularly better than 480p (DVD resolution). My point is if you can only produce DVD resolution there is no point in having a blu-ray movie, you would not see any benefits over a standard DVD player.
You have a point about not having to buy an extra DVD copy.
@bravokiloromeo My first question exactly when I read this. Do you really need Blu-ray HD movies on a screen this size? Or is it mainly so that you can take your Blu-ray collection on the road and have a device that can play them? Seems like a waste to me. If I really wanted Blu-ray to go I'd get a laptop with a Blu-ray drive.
I prefer having less devices to carry around, but maybe that's just me.
WTF? Why does it have a 4:3 screen?
@smartpatrol
Well observed!
I guess this is aimed at consumers who only own really old TV shows transferred to Blu-ray.
What's the point, the screen wont be able to show all of that HD goodness
@rstoplabe14
you can connect to an external display using HDMI..
yes: is that ridiculous and useless..
@rstoplabe14
The point is that you won't need to buy 2 copies of every movie if you want to watch it on a portable screen. I know a least 2 people that have told me that they will never buy kids movies in blu-ray until they update their portable players to blu-ray. If you ever tried explaining to a 3 year old that they can't watch their favorite movie on road trip b/c "daddy's car doesn't support blu-ray", you'd understand why.
@scyber
Well, most kids movies come with DVD+Blu-Ray+Download, so thats not really a reason to buy this. Maybe if it has a really hi-res screen it would be worth it, but i don't think RCA is the kind of company to do such a thing (or its licensee, since RCA is just a brand for others to license and put on a product)
@tehslax ...is the best phone in the world, but not perfect. No phone is perfect...
@tehslax "Good. What, you expect to contact people with it?!"
how many they sold of those panasonics ? 0 ?
I just saw this at the Target down the street from my job a day or two ago.
I thought to myself that it was cool, but then I thought, "Why would anyone pay that kind of money for a portable BR player? At that price point, you are $200 away from a functional laptop."
Personally, I would prefer a tablet at that price point that has HDMI out which plays MKVs, DiVX HD or H264.
@iPhone 4
Comments like this should be an auto ban
This thing is nice and all, but ill take that portable PS3.
I don't care if it was $100. RCA makes garbage. Everyone I know who's ever owned an RCA TV, DVD player, VCR, etc in the last 10-15 years has had nothing but problems.
$199 at the Target I was at... not bad.
Plus what exactly is the point of a portable blu-ray player? On that small of screen it's not going to look much different than a regular DVD.
@CapsLockKey
The point of it the exact same point of a portable DVD player.
To play the discs you own while you are away from home.
If you are only buying Blu-ray discs now or replaced your old DVDs than you need something to play them. I for one only buy Blu-ray releases now, so I would need a dedicated portable BR player if I wanted to take my discs out on the road somewhere.
@arkweld
> The point of it the exact same point of a portable DVD player.
...which was kind of made moot by the ipod and all of it's rivals.
@jedi
To get it on a iPod you need a digital version first. To get it on a portable Blu-ray player you just need the disc.
No ripping, no digital download, no transferring files etc.
@arkweld
> No ripping, no digital download, no transferring files etc.
Destroying your overpriced BluRay disks...
As others have said this device is kind of pointless. It's Blu Ray on a four inch screen. Eh?
Also, just put those two hundred books to either a low end laptop with a Blu Ray player or one of the upcoming Android tablets or an iPad.
Besides, when they get cheap enough over a couple of years, tablets will kill this product category.
The main reason to buy this over a laptop is battery life. If this thing has enough battery to watch 2 full movies on a charge, it's going to beat most laptops. Most laptops can barely get through a single movie with the default small batter they ship with.
@arbeck77
No. If this thing has any advantage over a laptop it will be because of how much power it draws when it is plugged in. Power is usually easy to come by. The problem is that you don't necessarily get enough depending on where you are.
The clamshell design will mean that it is just as awkard as a laptop too. That's a definite fail.
A tablet design would make much more sense in tight spaces.
@jedi The only time I would worry about power is on an airplane. If the thing can't last the flight on one charge, it's worthless. Most laptops can't last a 4 hour flight while playing movies. If this can, it has some value.
@arbeck77
> If the thing can't last the flight on one charge, it's worthless
Power is easy to come by and there are lots of flights long enough that you will drain any portable device available. So being fixated on a single battery charge only serves to feed a particular brand fetish.
Storage is much more important. It allows your device to be useful if your network connection flakes out and eliminates the need to put originals in harms way.
Battery life is something to fixate on if you're going to a Boy Scout jamboree or some such.
Who cares if the battery is still good if there's nothing on?
@jedi I don't need tons of battery life. However, I recently bought a laptop. I didn't pay extra for a blu-ray drive because most of them couldn't play a whole movie on a single charge.
This is certainly one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in awhile. A complete waste of money. On a screen that small you won't see anything more than you would on a dvd, especially if they didn't make it 1920x1080, which I highly doubt they did. And as others have said you can get a laptop with blu-ray for not much more, or a usb blu-ray drive for a fraction of the price. But people are morons, though, and buy it just because it's "blu-ray". The same morons that pushed laptop lcd makers from 1920x1200 displays to 1920x1080 just because they gotta have that awesome 1080p! They didn't realize wuxga was better.
Can I use the screen with my xbox :D lol thats the only use i see coming out of this
and i still wont get it.
Although on further consideration I will admit it would be useful for people that have amassed a collection of blu-rays and don't have dvds of the movies they want to watch...
What's the point you ask?
What about those of us with Blu-rays that we'd like to watch outside the home. Do you really prefer the portable DVD players and be limited to your dwindling and/or aging DVD collection?
It's not about getting full resolution, it's about being able to watch your movies. Granted, it's 4:3, but this is only the beginning. Eventually when all we have are Blu-rays, this sort of product won't look so bad and it'll evolve into something better. (Glassless 3D maybe?)
Sony ea has one as an $ 80 upgrade