Panasonic Bring BD Profile 2.0 To Their Blu-ray Lineup

DMP-BD35_Angled.jpgIt must be Australian Blu-ray day or something. After finding out about Samsung’s free Blu-ray player promotion and LG launching their BD300 in Australia, Panasonic has decided to join the BD Profile 2.0 bandwagon and release the DMP-BD35 in Australia just in time for Christmas.

Along with all the standard Profile 2.0 features (BD-Live, HD audio decoding, PIP), it also offers some pretty sweet benefits to owners of their PZ850 series plasmas (like me). There’s x.v. color and Deep Colour for more realistic colour reproduction, and PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus, which reproduces the colours as close to the original film as possible. There’s also 24Hz mode (granted, you don’t need a Panny plasma for this one) and support for 7.1-channel audio, even if your system doesn’t decode all eight channels.

If that sounds like it might entice you, then you can pick up the DMP-BD35 for $495 RRP, or cheaper in the shops.

Panasonic announces new-generation Blu-ray player featuring BD-Live

New DMP-BD35 provides access to the latest bonus content on Blu-ray discs

27 October, 2008 – Panasonic is set to release a new Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD35 – which features BD-Live compatibility, allowing users to connect to the Internet to download images, subtitles and other data and take part in interactive activities and multi-player games linked to bonus cinema content found on Blu-ray discs1.

Sophie Barton, Product Manager, DVD and Blu-ray, Panasonic Australia, said: “This new model is enhanced with an Ethernet port to support BD-Live, and has an ultra-slim profile at just 49mm high.

“Amazing Full High Definition (FHD) home cinema is assured with high-quality sound from advanced formats and Panasonic picture technology designed for outstanding viewing. With this Blu-ray player and the latest VIERA FHD TV, you can enjoy the full potential of Blu-ray movie viewing.”

“With quick start-up time, an easy to use menu and VIERA Link – plus connectivity with your digital camera and camcorder via an SD Card slot – the BD35 is a convenient, stylish model for the Australian loungeroom.”

Advanced micro-processing has allowed Panasonic to fit a signal processing circuit onto a single LSI chip. This allows a slim design, lower power consumption than the previous model and high quality image and sound reproduction.

The player is also equipped with VIERA Link, a function that links operation of a Panasonic VIERA Link compatible TV and other Panasonic home theatre components by pressing a single button on the remote. This intelligent linking function adds convenience to home entertainment.

The stylish black DMP-BD35 will be available in mid-November, priced at $495rrp.

Technology for true-to-life colour
The DMP-BD35 features technology that reproduces movies with colours that are exceptionally faithful to the original. This advanced technology, incorporated in the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus video processor, was developed after more than 15 years of collaboration between Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory and professional cinema studios in Hollywood.

With PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus, users viewing content on Blu-ray discs enjoy crisp, vivid colours that are extremely close to the original. A high-precision 4:4:4 function creates video signals in which each pixel of the signal from the Blu-ray disc is colour-compensated, so when the DMP-BD35 is connected to a compatible Panasonic VIERA TV2, the colours are even sharper and more vivid.

To get the best images from a BD-Video disc, you need a player that renders high-quality progressive images, expresses motion smoothly and draws sharp diagonal lines. The DMP-BD35’s P4HD processes more than 15 billion pixels per second and applies the optimum processing to every pixel in the video data on the disc. The result is images with exceptional resolution.

The DMP-BD35 produces 1080/24p output. It reproduces cinema images from a Blu-ray disc or DVD in their original 24p form with no need for conversion. Users can enjoy a cinema image in the same format used in cinemas, via a 1080/24p TV.

For rich, natural, and detailed colour, the new player also supports ‘Deep Colour’ and ‘x.v. Colour’, when connected to a compatible TV.3 ‘Deep Colour’ reproduces images with 12-bit, 4,096-step gradation; while ‘x.v. Colour’ features a colour expression range that is around 1.2 times the conventional sRGB colour range.

Life-like surround effects
The DMP-BD35 also excels in sound quality. It features an HD Audio Decoder (Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential) which supports the 7.1-channel surround sound newly adopted in Blu-ray discs. Users can enjoy 7.1-channel surround sound even with systems that do not support HD Audio – as long as the DMP-BD35 is connected to a 7.1-channel receiver equipped with an HDMI terminal.

The DMP-BD35 also performs 96KHz sampling4 and re-mastering of 48kHz lossless audio signals as well as sound signals with data that is lost due to compression. This increases the sound information and adds dynamic, life-like sound to movie reproduction.

UniPhier System
The high quality image and sound technologies found in the DMP-BD35 are incorporated in the UniPhier chip. UniPhier is a Panasonic-created system LSI developed by applying 45-nanometer processing to a consumer product. This single-chip integration technology also contributes greatly to the DMP-BD35’s slim height of 49mm.

BD-Live and Final Standard Profile
The DMP-BD35 features BD-Live compatibility allowing users to connect to the Internet to download images, subtitles and other data and take part in interactive activities and multi-player games linked to bonus cinema content found on Blu-ray discs5.

Final Standard Profile6 lets the user enjoy functions such as Picture-in-Picture (which displays a second image in a sub-window) and Audio Mixing (allows the consumer to switch the sound between the main and sub windows).

It also supports additional movie content – for example Picture in Picture could allow you to access entertainment enhancements such as having the actor or director pop up to discuss a scene you are watching.


Versatile Networking

The Blu-ray player is equipped with a Secure Digital (SD) Memory Card slot that makes it easy to transfer images from an HD camcorder or digital still camera that uses SD cards. Simply insert the SD Card into the DMP-BD35 and it plays AVCHD-format video images or HD JPEG stills on your flat panel HDTV. The DMP-BD35 can also play slide shows, complete with background music.

The DMP-BD35 is also compatible with Panasonic’s VIERA Link function so can be operated by your VIERA HDTV remote control, streamlining playback of Blu-ray discs and Blu-ray menu selection.

The DMP-BD35 will be available in mid-November from leading consumer electronics retailers. For more information contact Panasonic on 132 600 or visit www.panasonic.com.au

1Blu-ray disc must be BD-Live enabled
2VIERA PZ850 Series TVs
3 TV must be Deep Colour or x.v Colour compatible. VIERA models supporting these features include the PZ850, PZ800, PZ80 and LZD850 Series
4 CD sampling is done at 88.2 kHz
5 Blu-ray disc must be BD-Live enabled
6 Function must be enabled on the Blu-ray disc media