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Panasonic Corporation of North America, a major developer and contributor to the success of the Blu-ray format, today introduced an expanded Blu-ray Disc player lineup with three new models – the DMP-BD45, DMP-BD65 and the DMP-BD85. In addition, Panasonic introduced its first 3D Blu-ray Disc player, the DMP-BDT350, which when coupled with a Full HD 3D Plasma television and 3D shutter glasses gives the consumer the ultimate home 3D experience.
The BD65 and BD85 combine high quality images with enhanced networking functions, including VIERA CAST's improved and expanded Internet functionality and VIERA Link™, which allows the consumer to operate their VIERA Link capable audio/video components with one remote. To further enhance the networking experience, the BD85 includes a Wireless LAN adaptor, while the BD65 features Wireless LAN capability (a wireless LAN adaptor- DY-WL10 is sold separately). The BD45 offers all the non-networking basic functions needed to fully enjoy the Blu-ray 1080p High Definition experience. In keeping with Panasonic's pledge to reduce the planet's carbon footprint, the new models have been designed to reduce power consumption and also feature a slimmer, more efficient design to reduce packaging waste.
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Toshiba America Consumer Products, a market leader in home entertainment products, expands its range of Blu-ray players with the introduction of three new players, the BDX2500, BDX2700 and the BDX3000. The BDX3000 will feature Blu-ray 3D™ capability for added entertainment.
With all models featuring online connectivity, consumers will enjoy access to online streaming entertainment from partners such as Netflix®, Cinema Now® and Pandora®. These Toshiba Blu-ray models will also feature access to 1080p VUDU™ content.
"Entertainment options have come full circle, not just from high quality, high definition disc based Blu-ray content, but now also through online streaming of movies, TV shows and music," said Jodi Sally, Vice President of Digital Audio/Video Marketing. "With these new devices, consumers will now not only be able to enjoy thousands of TV episodes and movies streamed from Netflix and Cinema Now, but also 1080p content from VUDU. In addition, to round out the offerings, consumers can enjoy their favorite music playlists created with Pandora for a fuller experience."
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Syabas, a global provider of over-the-top settop software and hardware and makers of the award-winning Popcorn Hour C-200, today announced Popbox, a small, $129 open platform settop box that streams music, movies, photos, games, social media updates and more to today’s HDTVs. Popbox supports just about every audio and video file type and recognizes content from the Internet, a personal computer and a USB-attached storage device such as a Flip Video™ HD camcorder or an external hard drive.
What separates Popbox from its competitors is its ability to handle virtually any file and content type, its ease-of-use and open development platform, which allows media companies to rapidly develop, deploy and monetize a wide range of interactive high definition applications and content. Those applications and content may then be given away or sold on the Popapps Portal.
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LaCie today unveiled LaCinema Mini HD, the all-in-one Wi-Fi High Definition media center. Its amazingly small and stylish design packs a big punch, bringing your HD movies, photos and music collections to your widescreen TV in full 1080p resolution.
LaCinema Mini HD bridges the gap between the computer and entertainment worlds in full HD quality. Featuring built-in high-speed 802.11n Wi-Fi, LaCinema Mini HD brings a DLNA® media player and server to your home without wires.
Transferring content to the LaCinema Mini HD is easy through the bus-powered USB connection for maximum transfer speeds, or by connecting the drive to a home network. Users can conveniently load files wirelessly from their computer or via the Ethernet connection.
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One year after announcing a major commitment to the development of Full HD 3D television, Panasonic has today made good on its promise by introducing a complete lineup of Full HD 3D consumer products. The new range of Full HD 3D-capable VIERA Plasma HDTVs and a fully-featured Blu-ray 3DTM Disc player will bring a new era of immersive visual entertainment into consumers’ homes, by creating a 3D experience that easily rivals the best that can be seen in cinemas.
By delivering a full 1080p-resolution image to each eye, Panasonic’s Full HD 3D technology offers consumers the highest possible visual experience. To enjoy Full HD 3D programming, users wear a stylish and lightweight pair of active-shutter glasses.
“We’ve successfully moved from black and white, to color, to high definition television. But immersive, totally realistic 3D imagery has been the final frontier,” said Bob Perry, Senior Vice President, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “With Panasonic’s new line of Full HD 3D products, we have now conquered that as well.”
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Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the U.S. launch of a new generation of ScreenPlay™ HD Media Products, including the top of the line Iomega® ScreenPlay™ Director HD Media Player, a feature-rich HD media player that makes it easy to browse your home network for content to watch on the TV, and also incorporates the Roxio CinemaNow™ entertainment platform from Sonic Solutions®, giving consumers instant access to buy or rent movies and other premium entertainment from the Internet to view on your TV.
The new family of Iomega ScreenPlay HD Media Player products, on display at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, represents the most versatile multimedia product offerings in the market today: three different products with different features at different prices. The ScreenPlay family of products includes something for everyone that wants to enjoy their videos, photos, music and all of their digital content on the TV, as well as the additional feature on select ScreenPlay HD Drives that enable renting or purchasing premium content from the Internet - all without being connected to the computer.
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment today announced two Blu-ray™ packaging initiatives that will give consumers greater value and portability when shopping for the best possible way to watch movies at home. Beginning in the first quarter of 2010, Warner Home Video will be releasing its entire Theatrical New Release slate as Blu-ray combo packs, containing a Blu-ray Disc of the film with exclusive special features and exciting BD-Live interactivity, a standard-definition DVD and a Digital Copy of the film. For no additional cost, Blu-ray combo packs offer consumers significantly more value by merging the unsurpassed quality of Blu-ray with the convenience of being able to watch the film in any format, on just about every playback device.
Warner Home Video is also launching the industry's first line of Blu-ray Double Features, priced at $24.98 (SRP). Beginning February 23, the attractively packaged and entry-level priced Blu-ray Double Features pack will include a pair of well-matched catalog hits spanning multiple genres – comedy, action, drama/thriller and horror. The first wave will include Dirty Harry and Magnum Force starring Clint Eastwood; Analyze This and Analyze That starring Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro; Presumed Innocent and Frantic starring Harrison Ford; Miss Congeniality and Miss Congeniality 2 starring Sandra Bullock; and Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.
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The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) today announced the finalization and release of the “Blu-ray 3D” specification. The specification, which represents the work of the leading Hollywood studios and consumer electronic and computer manufacturers, will enable the home entertainment industry to bring the 3D experience into consumers’ living rooms on Blu-ray Disc, the most capable high definition home entertainment platform.
“Throughout this year, movie goers have shown an overwhelming preference for 3D when presented with the option to see a theatrical release in either 3D or 2D,” said Victor Matsuda, chairman, BDA Global Promotions Committee. “We believe this demand for 3D content will carry over into the home now that we have, in Blu-ray Disc, a medium that can deliver a quality Full HD 3D experience to the living room.”
The “Blu-ray 3D” specification fully leverages the technical advantages of the Blu-ray Disc format to deliver unmatched picture quality as well as uniformity and compatibility across the full range of Blu-ray 3D products, both hardware and software. Notably, the specification allows every Blu-ray 3D player and movie to deliver Full HD 1080p resolution to each eye, thereby maintaining the industry leading image quality to which Blu-ray Disc viewers are accustomed. Moreover, the specification is display agnostic, meaning that Blu-ray 3D products will deliver the 3D image to any compatible 3D display, regardless of whether that display uses LCD, Plasma or other technology and regardless of what 3D technology the display uses to deliver the image to the viewer’s eyes.
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Broadcom Corporation, a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that it is the first silicon provider to ship a true single die Blu-ray Disc® chip. The new Broadcom® BCM7630 offers an unprecedented level of integration combining proven optical front-end and back-end video decoding and display technologies in a single die solution. In addition to industry leading Blu-ray performance, the BCM7630 also supports leading-edge Internet streaming applications including Netflix® 2.0, Pandora® Internet Radio, Vudu™, CinemaNow® movie services and others. This unparalleled integration and functionality delivers a premium home entertainment experience to consumers.
Also announced today is the BCM7632, which supplements the capabilities of the BCM7630 by adding support for the playback of 3D Blu-ray movies. The potential for watching 3D movies in the home has generated great excitement with more than a dozen 3D movies released in 2009. Although the 3D Blu-ray standard is not yet finalized, it is anticipated that the BCM7632 will comply with the final specification.
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AMD today announced that it will demonstrate the forthcoming Blu-ray stereoscopic 3D standard at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, showcasing how consumers will soon get to enjoy high-fidelity 3D entertainment once reserved only for theaters.
Expected to hit store shelves in the second half of next year, Blu-ray stereoscopic 3D combines the crisp, high-definition images the format is known for with high-quality 3D visuals that seem to jump from the screen. As a contributing member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, AMD is working closely with technology partners as the format specifications are finalized over the coming year in order to help ensure compatibility with upcoming AMD hardware.
At the upcoming 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, AMD and CyberLink will jointly preview Blu-ray stereoscopic 3D entertainment for those in attendance. AMD will be located in the Grand Lobby (GL-8 and GL-10) of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The new standard is one of many 3D technologies AMD openly supports, along with 3D DLP televisions, dual-panel and line interleaved 3D monitors, and is part of AMD’s initiative to further both the art of 3D entertainment, and its adoption in homes worldwide through close collaboration with 3D technology partners, including OEMs, software developers and content distributors.
