Panasonic announces DMP-BD35, DMP-BD55 Blu-ray players
Panasonic has announced two new Blu-ray players, the DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55, which both support Blu-ray Profile 2.0 and have onboard decoding for high resolution audio soundtracks.
Rumors of new Panasonic Blu-ray players have been kicking around for weeks, but now it's official. Panasonic has announced two new Blu-ray players at CEDIA, the DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55, which look to be mostly a refinement of the cutting-edge DMP-BD50 that was released this spring. There is no pricing or release dates yet, but let's take a look at the major features of these new players.
Panasonic DMP-BD35
Key features of the Panasonic DMP-BD35:
- Blu-ray Profile 2.0
- Onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, as well as bitstream output
- Blu-ray and DVD playback at 24 frames per second
- Ethernet port for firmware and content
- Deep Color and x.v.Color support
- SDHC card slot
Panasonic DMP-BD55
Key step-up features of the Panasonic DMP-BD55:
- 7.1 multichannel analog outputs
- High-end internal audio components
The DMP-BD35 looks to have a pretty solid feature set. Profile 2.0 support means you'll be able to take advantage of BD-Live features available on some newer Blu-ray discs, and onboard decoding for both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio means you'll be able to take advantage of both high resolution soundtrack formats with any HDMI-capable receiver. This model seems to be pretty close to the DMP-BD50 in terms of features, but we're hoping it sports a price tag under $400.
While the step-up features on the DMP-BD55 look pretty minor, we're happy to see this kind of product differentiation on Blu-ray players. The majority of home theater fans don't need 7.1 analog outputs--and can opt for the cheaper DMP-BD35--while the few people that do need it can opt for the more expensive DMP-BD55. Of course, we'll also be interested to see if there are any performance differences between these two players, and we're hoping for improved DVD performance from players, as the DMP-BD50's DVD playback had room for improvement.