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 believe I saw this at Target last night (Lancaster, Pennsylvania). I thought the price tag said it was $299.
I didn't realize these things were brand new or I would have looked at it more closely.
@agentk7
Yup, same with me, at the Target in Minneapolis. $299, I just blew it off thinking it had been out for a while. whoopty doo.
350$ ?? Why not just get a small laptop with a bluray drive 600 or so? 200$ for this, MAYBE.
We've had these at my Target for a couple of weeks now... I think the price was $249 sitting right next to the RCA portable DVD player for $80. Don't know what took so long for this story to break...
$350 is not bad. I could do $350...
I think we should be getting close to the point where portable optical devices become obsolete. We have laptops, iPods, and iPads now with internal storage now, so really what we need is for all blu-rays to come with a digital copy so we don't need a device like this.
@bjbjohnson
I agree... do we see anybody carrying around a portable dvd player?
I havent seen anybody running to an isle in best buy and saying "OMG! portable dvd players! "
:|
@cwalters74 iPhone, iPad, Apple... first! Down-rank me if you dare! (makes voice like Puss from Shreck) I am not a troll. I am an Apple news addict and Engadget has not fed me my steady dose of Apple goodness today. You hear me Engadget!!
Wouldn't it be preferable for most to watch movies on a PSP with 8-16GB card inside it (or any other portable media player, for that matter?)
I would not be carrying that bulk around and I know that that screen is not going to be doing many any resolution favours and the audio on that thing is not going to be pleasing me, either.
So I don't see much point except for those who really need to play back in DVD or Blu-Ray format on-the-go (and all the inconveniences associated with that).
ya it's been at The Target I work at for a few weeks also
I didn't know toddlers needed 720p/1080p to watch Kung Fu Panda now, because let's face it, these portable players are just babysitting machines. This RCA looks about as piss poor as it gets.
@MisterWarmth
> I didn't know toddlers needed 720p/1080p to watch Kung Fu
> Panda now, because let's face it, these portable players are
> just babysitting machines. This RCA looks about as piss poor
> as it gets.
That's kind of what I was thinking as well.
The real target market for this device (namely minors) couldn't give a rats *ss if the disk is in high res or not regardless of where you're playing it.
Shoving 300 movies on a fat PMP probably would be much more useful.
On a screen that small is HD going to be a huge difference?
I Just Bought this and it's not the brc3108,
Its the brc3109.
It's full 1080p straight from the player,
also does 1080p via HDMI out.
It upconverts standard dvds to 1080p, not 1080i.
Has a lan jack, and already has a firmware update out for bd-live.
Supports dolby truehd, dts 2.0+digital out, not DTS-HD.
Has two headphone jacks and the ability to mount it on the back of the car seat.
Has full remote control, but not volume control on it. Only on the player.
Update: Does support DTS-HD. Doesn't say it in the manual.