I confirm those rumors. A panasonic rep was in for training at the retailer where I work and mentioned these player were to replace the very short lived 50 model. The new models should be out sometime in October

We sell these where I work and while it is a solid piece of equipment with a great interface, the picture quality seemed a little sub-par to me. While the remote is very easy to use and rf is a plus, it is impossible to integrate into a home theater remote, so add IR input and or rs 232. Finally, like others said the ability to play stored media like pics and music would add some value to the box that is right now not worth it for most people.

Sorry I made a mistake, next time I will try not to add my perspective, someone who actually sees this stuff on a daily basis and talks to people every day about this stuff, and by the way the commision on both formats is relatively small so I really dont care who wins, and this is the last time I will say this but we have never had problems keeping up with demand for hd dvd players and we have had supply issues with blu ray with demand outstripping supply every time, sorry fellas just is the truth here, I am not saying this is the case everywhere but it is here, and from a commission perspective I would rather sell what is in stock but most people who I see ask for bluray, and if they ask about both I usually tell them there is very little difference in quality between the formats but bluray has more titles and is more available from rental outlets, sorry for trying to contribute and making one small mistake about firmware upgrades, continue bickering.

The numbers for the 25 stores in florida for bluray players right now at my company(paid for and not picker up right now): bdps300-97,BDPS500-32, BDPS2000ES-4, BDP95FS-30. Those are just the ones not picked up yet, for hd dvd models HDA3-5,HDA30- 3,
HDA35-3
I may have been mistaken about the firmware upgrade but dont call people liars it just makes you look like an asshole if you don't know what you are talking about, and I was referring to build quality between the two machines which is relatively subjective. And by the way we have moved over 600 since july of just the bds300(FL stores only, 25 stores) and we are relatively smaller retailer with just 100 stores nationwide, continue to be a fan boy if you want and keep ignoring hard data.

I actually work in a retailer that sells both and blu-ray has out sold hd-dvd 20 to 1 here if not more, the vast majority of out client base here seems far more aware of bluray. From a personal stand point the toshiba players are built as cheap as their price would indicate, terible remotes, and as far as I know firmware upgrades can not come through the ethernet port. The sony was actually selling pretty darn well here before the price drop, we have been getting in hundreds a month and cant keep them on the shelf, and is built like a 500 dollar machine, and is now available for 300, the toshiba hda3 was built like a 99 dollar dvd player, and debuted at 300 dollars and still has not come down in price to match its build quality.
I know you may think I am just being biased but these are just observations form a 12 year vet of the av business, and by the way almost no one knows or cares about profile 1.1, 2.0 , besides the discs are backwards compatible anyways if you dont care about PIP commentary(most people dont use commentary now.)

Why does everybody think a record company is inherently evil. Essentially they give artists interest free loans to create their art, promote their art, and distribute their art. Yes they do take a geat deal of the money usually 90% or more but they are also assuming 90% or more of the risk. While it is seems unfair, the fact is that record companies loose money on almost every artist they sign as hit songs are rare and the cost of getting a song recorded and to the radio is very high. If you have a problem with people making money or turning a profit in a fair market then maybe you should move to Russia where communism is making a big come back. We live in a capatilist country that means that profiting is encouraged, as long as don't take advantage of people in need, and art is a luxury purchase. File sharing is the worst thing to happen to art since MTV.

While I do think the fine is way too much, she was stealing and helping other people still. Offering copyrighted material for free is the equivalent of walking into a record store stealing cd's and sharing them with other shoplifters. If you think that file sharing weather it is music, movies, or anything is not wrong than you are just delluded. If you create something that other people want and you want to charge for it than you should be able to profit from it. Call me crazy but if I had a million dollar idea I would be a little mad if people thought they should be able to steal it with out reprocussions.

I really think the people who trust consumer reports are nuts. I also work at retailer that sells Elite and Panasonic and the Kuro's easily destroy the panasonic, and what ever pioneer they reviewed was not the 5080 not at 1900 dollars. Actually as I was writing this some 100 year old guy came in with his copy of consumer reports looking for that TV. All he could do was say look at what this says, and I said just look at them and see for yourself, and he would not even look.

The universl player is the bdup-5000

vsx92 1299.99
vsx94 1599.99