Well, would you look at this. According to an atypically short blurb on Panasonic's own website, the elusive DMP-BD50 that we peeked briefly at CES has been "released on the European market." Sadly, we're still left to wonder about the price, but the website does dish out a whole slew of specifications. Granted, there's not anything out of the ordinary: BD-Live, UniPhier chip, Deep Color compatibility, 1080p24 playback, Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD support, VIERA Link, DivX support, SD expansion slot and an Ethernet jack. The site does warn, however, that these specs are valid "on the European model only," but we don't imagine the US edition being all that different. Now, if anyone across the pond actually finds one for sale, do us all a favor and holler, cool?

[Thanks, Eric R.]

Every so often, we see a firm go out of its way to let loose not just one or two new products, but enough fresh kit to totally overwhelm anyone trying to digest it all. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on perspective) for us all, Panasonic has done just that with a smattering of televisions. Up first is the 17-inch TH-17LX8 LCD TV, which will be available in five different hues and offer up a 1,366 x 768 resolution, HDMI input, VIERA Link and built-in SD slot. Next in line, we've got a trio of new LCD TVs in the LX series ranging from 20- to 32-inches in size, all featuring a 1,366 x 768 resolution and an analog / digital tuner to boot. Lastly, we've got three new plasmas (37-, 42- and 50-inches) with lackluster resolutions, a 15,000:1 contrast ratio and a bevy of inputs (including an SD slot and Ethernet port). The whole lot is slated to land in mid-February, so be sure and tag the links below if any of these just happened to tickle your fancy.

Read - 17-inch TH-17LX
Read - Three new mid-sized LCD TVs
Read - Three new plasmas

Regrettably, Panasonic's SC-PTX5 won't play either high-definition disc format, but for those still basking in the glory of plain ole DVD, it's not a half bad setup. The system consists of an upscaling DVD player that takes your DVDs to 1080p over HDMI as well as a 2.1 sound system with 140-watts of total power. The DVD player also plays nice with WMA, MP3, JPEG, MPEG4, and DivX files, touts a built-in DTS decoder and VIERA Link, and boasts a slew of ports including component, optical digital audio in / out, optional iPod connectivity, and a USB socket to boot. Per usual, there's no official deets on pricing, availability, or whether we Americans will ever see this package make its way to our side of the drink, but word on the street has it at €649.99 ($888).

[Via Pocket-Lint]

Panasonic just went live with their 2007 plasma lineup in Japan. While missing the big 58-incher prepped for big-azz US living rooms, they've notably taken the "world's smallest" 42-inch 1080p plasma from prototype to full-blown production status. The TH-42PZ700 1920 x 1080 panel ships on April 27th for ¥430,000 (about $3,602) with side-mounted speakers or ¥20,000 (about $168) less if opting for the single, under-panel speaker. The Japanese models also feature new AVCHD playback direct off SD (and SDHC too, we presume) cards in support of Panny's lineup of 3CCD HD camcorders. Rounding things out are the US-bound, 50-inch 1080p TH-50PZ700 and three lesser PDPs from the PX70 series ranging in size from 37- to 50-inches.

Say good morning to the first production run of Panasonic's AVCHD 1080i 3CCD camcorders. That's right, Panny took the drab yet so, so sexy CEATEC prototype and turned her out with some shiny new paint as the HDC-SD1. Fortunately, it's still packing that 12x optical zoom Leica DICOMAR lens in addition to a 3-inch LCD, 1.5-hour battery, and HDMI (1.2a) for output and control with Panasonic's VIERA Link universal remote. The camera utilizes those three 1/4-inch CCDs to record video to SD/SDHC cards for up to 90/60/40-minutes with 13/9/6-Mbps compression, respectively, when toting the bundled 4GB SDHC card. It'll even grab a 1.5 megapixel snap while simultaneously recording if you have the urge. On sale in Japan for ¥180,000 or about $1,531 starting December 1st. Oh, and Panny also announced their HDC-DX1 model which shares the same specs but records to 8-cm DVDs instead for ¥160,000 (about $1,361) starting December 15th. More pics of both 3CCD cams after the break.

[Via Impress]

The Panasonic DMP-BD10 is the second standalone Blu-ray player to become available, not quite making its expected September launch but sneaking onto store shelves near you this month. Was it worth the wait and/or the $1,300 price tag? Compared to the Samsung BD-P1000 player, reviewers note a slightly better picture quality and load times, plus excellent audio output. It doesn't support next-gen lossless audio codecs like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD out of the box but, those are promised for a future firmware update. Negatives include a clunky remote and lack of BD-Live connectivity that will be present in the PlayStation 3. This player appears to do the same 1080p to 1080i to 1080p conversion present in the Samsung, so if 1080p/24 output is a must, it's a pass. Still, with EZ-SYNC HDMI control to matching SA-XR700 receiver and flat panel HDTV, if you must have the best Blu-ray hardware available -- at least until Sony and Pioneer's offerings hit the street -- the DMP-BD10 is ready to give it to you.

Read - Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray Disc Player - Canada Hifi
Read - Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-Ray Player - Home Theater Forum

For the technically-inclined Japanese household looking to back up HD episodes of Desire and Fashion House (or their Japanese equivalents) the Panasonic DMR-BW200 and DMR-BR100 Blu-ray recorders may just fit the bill, and are due out November 15th. With 500GB and 200GB HDDs respectively you've got plenty of space to save important telenovelas prior to burning them to 25GB or 50GB BD-R/REs at 4x speed. Tuners for terrestrial, BS, 110-degree CS digital broadcasts and analog TV are included, as well as all the usual ins and outs like 1080p HDMI. The high-end BW200 adds dual tuners for digital broadcasts, an i.Link port for D-VHS dubbing and Ethernet connectivity. Both have Panasonic's Viera Link technology and HD Optimizer for cleaning up noise in digital broadcasts and upconverting SD content. As our friends at Engadget point out, unlike the Sony Blu-ray recorder these have a release date, specs and price -- ¥300,000 (about $2,550) for the BW200 and ¥200,000 (about $1,700) for the BR100 -- and their slim design seems to carry less pet-crushing risk than the Toshiba RD-A1.

[Via Engadget]