Our good friends at FormatWarCentral has kicked off a new Blu-ray player undressing series with the recently-updated Panasonic DMP-BD30K. Not a lot of big surprises behind the sheet metal kimono -- there's a lot of air inside the chassis. Click on through for photos of the sparsely populated circuit boards, which are a pretty good indication that the engineering and design of these Profile 1.1 players are pretty mature. All that empty space also bodes well for some price-cutting possibilities, we hope. Of course, the real excitement will come as more players go through the FormatWarCentral lab -- rebadgers/rebranders, beware!

[Image courtesy FormatWarCentral]

We keep hoping that Toshiba will come to its senses and just let this whole thing die, but no. Apparently insistent on keeping the last-generation format alive for as long as it possibly can, it seems the outfit is getting ever-closer to a super-resolution DVD player that would reportedly upscale DVD content like nothing we've ever seen. The latest tidbit in this woefully depressing saga is a newly approved DVD Download DL logo, which was given the final thumbs-up by the DVD Forum Steering Committee last month. In reality, no one outside of Tosh's headquarters has any idea if this development is indeed intrinsically related, but at this point, we wouldn't be shocked one bit to find that it was. Then again, the June 11th meeting also saw specifications for CH-DVD approved, so here's to hoping Toshiba isn't jumping on that bandwagon fiery wreck.

[Via TG Daily]

Read - DVD Forum approval
Read - Discussion / rumors

When Sony introduced its classically-styled BDP-S350 Blu-ray player in late February, all we knew was that the $400 machine would land sometime this summer. Now, we're seeing a pre-order page (on Toys R Us, admittedly) that pegs the ship date at July 15th. Yeah, a fortnight from now. The price remains unchanged at $399.99, but at least you'll find Profile 2.0 compatibility as well as bitstream support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, right? Okay, now that it's a date, who's buying (and more importantly, who's not?)

[Thanks, Rahul]

In case you needed something stamped from Onkyo itself in order to believe that a Blu-ray player was on the way, here's your sign. Said outfit has just announced that a currently unnamed BD player (its first, in fact) will hit the "international" market in late 2008. Unfortunately, details beyond that are scant, as all we're told is that it'll play nice with Onkyo's AV receivers, pack an HDMI port and decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats. Additionally, we aren't notified of whether Onkyo has any plans of bringing the elusive deck stateside, and we haven't a clue about pricing. But hey, you can go ahead and circle all of Q4 to be on the lookout.

[Via Electronic House]

The downturn in the housing market is producing some interesting cross-marketing promotions. Well-heeled jet-setters moving into NYC's SoHo Renwick luxury condos when it opens in 2009 will be greeted by Bang & Olufsen gear, including a BeoVision 8 32-inch LCD TV, BeoSound 4 audio player and a BeoLab 4000 speaker. For sure, luxury space comes at a premium price in SoHo, so we can understand the desire of residents to own a compact system. And with the Renwick's all-glass exterior, the super-bright output of an LCD display also makes sense. Top it all off with B&O's famous design, and you've got a system that's a good fit for the target demographic. Sure, it's not the most bang-for-your-buck setup, but we don't really expect that Renwick residents will be counting pennies anyways -- prices for the units start at $975,000 for a one-bedroom unit. For that price, couldn't they toss in a larger 1080p set?

Not that we had a whole heap of complaints about Samsung's BD-P1500 when we reviewed it earlier this month, but Samsung has already pushed out a minor firmware update that reportedly addresses "playback compatibility." Chances are you won't find it posted online just yet, but for those who connect directly to the 'net with their Blu-ray player, the v080621.02 update can be sucked down and installed. Sadly, Profile 2.0 is not included, but it's nice to be treated to free updates nonetheless. Chime in below if you notice any drastic changes.

[Thanks, Jacob]

Update: It's now available via Samsung's website.

Remember how your curiosity level shot through the roof when Pioneer abruptly discontinued the BDP-LX70A Blu-ray player in the UK? We're willing to bet this is why. Announced over on Pioneer's European website, we're being treated to three fresh faces -- the Profile 2.0-compliant BDP-LX91, Designer BDP-LX08 and BDP-LX71 -- along with one familiar face (the BDP-51FD). All of the new units will feature 1080p24 support, HDMI 12-Bit Deep Color support, KURO LINK, DTS-HD Master Audio / Dolby True HD compatibility and professional-quality Wolfson Digital Audio Converters (DACs). As for pricing and availability other than Europe, your guess is as good as ours, but we are told to expect the BDP-LX71 in September, the BDP-51FD / BDP-LX08 in October and the BDP-LX91 "later on in the winter."

Take all of this with a grain of salt for the time being, but word on the street has it that Pioneer has lowered the retail price of its BDC-S02BKZ Blu-ray Disc Combo drive in China by just over 41%. The new sticker shows 999 yuan ($145), while just last week it was marked 1,699 yuan ($247). We're also hearing that Pioneer will soon be lowering the retail price of its BDC-S02 optical drive in the Taiwan market, and if that wasn't enough, (hopefully believable) sources have stated that Sony will launch a Blu-ray Disc Combo drive in this very region for around $230 next month. We can't say that BD prices are where they need to be for mass adoption, but it's good to see them finally headed in the right direction.

Read - Price drops
Read - New Sony drive

Samsung's been pretty good about keeping its HDM players up to date with the latest protocols, and now it's launching a dedicated site to keep prospective consumers and current owners alike informed about the Blu-ray format. The aptly-titled Blu-ray resource center is split into two sides, one of which includes topics for existing BD addicts and one with information for those "looking to buy Blu-ray." Interestingly, the forum packs some pretty noteworthy questions, with the latest explaining how upconverted DVD just isn't as good as bona fide Blu-ray. Head on over and swallow some knowledge -- just be sure to watch for falling propaganda.

Yesterday, Panasonic announced that it would be bringing 6x BD-R media to Japan. Today, we've got NEC leap-frogging said announcement by trumpeting the shipment of its newest SoC (system on chip). Sure enough, samples of the SCOMBO/UM2A, a "SoC chip designed for use in Blu-ray Disc systems that support 8x recording and playback," have begun to ship out to undisclosed recipients. We're told that the chip is being aimed at the PC and AV markets (obviously), but there's no telling how long we'll have to wait until 8x Blu-ray burners (and 8x BD-R / BD-RE media, for that matter) hit the streets.

Let's get real honest with one another here: if folks are legitimately arguing that a $700 Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player is overpriced, there's absolutely no way a DVD player is worth over four times as much. That being said, the folks over at Sound & Vision put the pricey pair through the paces, and they were actually quite pleased with the results. In a nutshell, it seems that reviewers found the best upscaling DVD players this planet has to offer, and while all the fawning over their pristine reproduction of colors was fine and dandy, it's the value proposition here that's absurdly out of whack. In fairness, it's good to hear that the bundled Sigma Designs' Gennum VXP video processor chip lived up to the hype, but all the upconverting in the world won't make us believe these things are worthy of the stratospheric prices.

And you thought Toshiba's super-resolution DVD player taking on Blu-ray was comical. Kaleidescape -- the company famous for selling grossly overpriced (albeit fanciful) DVD / BD archiving systems for wealthy home theater junkies -- has just announced two new standalone DVD players that "provide a viewing experience that rivals Blu-ray." The argument goes something like this: there are 170,000 titles on DVD, and "just 6,000" (wait, for real?) on BD -- why support the next-gen format when these two upscaling DVD players display content that is utterly indiscernible from Blu-ray. For starters, the outfit is launching the 1080p Player (pictured), which earns the "ultimate DVD player" label by featuring a Sigma Designs Gennum VXP chip, 10-bit processing and full support for Dolby Digital, DTS, MPEG and PCM audio formats. The 1080p Mini Player offers the same, but in a tinier package meant for inconspicuous installations. Granted, both units do have exclusive access to Kaleidescape's Movie Guide database, but that hardly justifies the $4,295 / $2,995 price tags (in addition to the required $10,000 Kaleidescape System). Full release after the jump.

Yes, this really is yet another research firm chiming in on the pace at which Blu-ray is being adopted. This go 'round, we've got Futuresource digging into the numbers, though it is looking exclusively at western Europe. According to Jim Bottoms, managing director of corporate development at the outfit, the "early indications are that Blu-ray player sales are running way ahead of DVD after the same time period." He continued on to say that his firm expects some 10 million Blu-ray players (Sony's PlayStation 3 included) to be in use before 2009 dawns, whereas just 1.5 million DVD players were installed after its third year on the market. Notably, the importance of the PS3 in all of this wasn't understated, but the data didn't mention how many of those 10 million were expected to be consoles.

[Via MarketNewsGadgetTalk]

It's right around the midway point between last CES and the one to come, and for Philips, that means it's time to dump a few new HDTVs onto the unsuspecting public. Announced today from atop a New York City hotel, the outfit got official with its 5000, 7000 and Eco series of LCD HDTVs. The 5000 FlatTV lineup includes 32- ($799), 42- ($1,799), 47- ($2,099) and 52-inch ($2,899) flavors, all of which are bathed in glossy black and feature HDMI 1.3a inputs. The Eco sets tout "several power-saving features such as a proprietary dimming technology" and arrive in 42-, 47- and 52-inch sizes ($1,099 to $2,299). Lastly, the 7000 Series ($1,699 to $2,699) -- or Ultimate TVs, as Philips likes to say -- offers up 120Hz ClearLCD / Perfect Pixel HD technology, an "invisible" speaker system and four HDMI-CEC connectors. For what it's worth, Philips is also re-introducing its Profile 1.1-compliant BDP7200 Blu-ray player, which has already been reviewed and brushed aside in anticipation of fresher Profile 2.0 decks.

The Blu-ray fans at Hollywood in High Def took their videocams with them to a Disney Sleeping Beauty event and have come back with a nice preview video of the BD-Live features planned for the title. The Disney BD-Live Network demo highlights Movie Chat instant messaging, Movie Mail for sharing video content and online interactive gaming that can be used to collect Disney Reward points. It's pretty good-looking stuff, and definitely leaves us with a better impression than, say, Yakuza Fighter. The Movie Mail demo came off as a little creepy to us, but that has to do with the content rather than the tech. The big question is, how many profile 2.0 players (besides the PS3) will be on the market when the title ships on October 7? The marketing folks from Disney had something to say about that -- hit the video after the jump to check it out.

[Via HollywoodInHighDef]