Retailers give thumbs-up to newest line of Blu-ray decks

We've got to say -- we agree with the "retailers" here. According to a new report on VideoBusiness, the Blu-ray players unveiled at CES 2009 are being smiled upon by those that'll have to move 'em. Panasonic's Profile 2.0 DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray player was seen as one of the more attractive units, with airport-based InMotion Entertainment deciding that it would carry this very unit as its first BD deck in order to appeal to travelers. As expected, reactions were somewhat mixed on Panny's DMP-BD70V VHS / Blu-ray player, though it is anticipated that a small niche of consumers will eat it up. All in all, the entire '09 lineup was seen as a nice step forward from decks we've seen in the past -- our only question is do you agree? Which BD unit from the show had you most interested?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:36AM]

I'm most interested in whatever wifi equiped BD player hits the market first!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 11:25AM]

the ps3?

[DrXym Posted Jan 22nd 2009 4:45PM]

I'm surprised there isn't more of them. A proper wifi enabled deck probably costs $5-10 in parts over an ethernet cable solution but is vastly more attractive to people who have wifi in their house and don't savour running cat5 cable into their front room. They could easily slap a $50 premium on a wifi model, at least for the time being.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:18AM]

VIZIO player may get my $$ - depends on the reviews.

[Charles Posted Jan 22nd 2009 11:09AM]

I agree, the Vizio could be the machine that finally gets me into Blu-Ray if the reviews are good. The analog outputs would work with my old receiver and it would probably end up being under $150 at Costco. Bring it on!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 12:33PM]

I agree that the Vizio is probably the most "newsworthy" of the new announcements.

I'm also interested to see if the Samsung 3600 still includes the HQV processor, but I fear that it doesn't since they didn't mention it. If it doesn't, it may be inferior to the 2500.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 2:23PM]

I hope with this you can copy your Blu-Ray movies onto a VHS tape for maximum quality!

[kcmurphy88 Posted Jan 22nd 2009 12:34PM]

If you think SD TV looks bad on an HDTV, try seeing what upconversion does to VHS, what with it's poor starting rez and iffy time-base. Left to the set's upconverter, it's often unwatchable.

Now, if the Panny BD70 has VHS-aware upconversion targeting the special "qualities" of old VHS tapes, then maybe it's of some use, but you will still _really_ have to want to watch that tape.

[glennS Posted Jan 22nd 2009 3:02PM]

I really was interested in their combo DVD upconverter/recorder/VHS, but I never pulled the trigger on it. I just want to get rid of my 16 year old VHS, and have one fewer device in there. But since I finally got around to converting my old home movies from when I was a kid to digital format, I really think I'll just give up on it. All my other VHS tapes are not worth trying to preserve. Now, if the VHS version carries a very small premium and the blu-ray has all the same features as the other models, I might still be interested.