Panasonic BD1.1 player now available
In spite all of the reports otherwise, the new Panasonic DMP-BD30K is not delayed, it is in stock in stores and in homes. Why were there reports saying it was delayed until December 1st? Because “journalists” (bloggers really) are lazy and they report on rumors without doing any research. Amazon listed it for December 1st so everyone thought it was delayed, but that doesn’t mean Circuit City and other retailers haven’t been selling them in the meantime.
The DMP-BD30K came out of the blue (no pun intended) late last month. There were no previous announcements (possibly to prevent hurting sales of current players) and it hit the market a week later. Why would it hurt sales of other players? It’s the first, and only currently available, BD1.1 player on the market.
BD1.1 brings persistent storage and dual-video encoders to the player to add true Picture-in-Picture support for upcoming BD1.1 discs (such as Sunshine, Resident Evil: Extinction, and others). Denon will have on available in mid-December.
Daewoo announced a BD2.0 player but there have been no signs of it in the market. BD2.0 adds ethernet support to the BD1.1 spec.
As of October 31st of this year, BD1.1 is mandatory on newly-marketed players and BD2.0 is optional.
