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Panasonic is revamping its GUI for 2011. The brand has always taken a very conservative approach to its user interface, keeping it largely unchanged over the years. As these shots reveal, however, it is giving its 2011 line-up of  Blu-ray players a face-lift. I took the snaps during a tech briefing about the upcoming BDT110 [...]

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An interesting snippet emerged while I was having lunch with Masayuki Kozuka, who heads up R&D for Panasonic’s Media and Content Alliance office. He confided that PHL (aka Panasonic Hollywood Laboratories), the power house behind the development of the Blu-ray 3D specification was currently working on an optimized version of the MPEG4 AVC High Profile [...]

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Samsung is to challenge old rival Panasonic in the race to launch the first dedicated BD Live Blu-ray player. The two companies first went head-to-head in the global rush to release a dedicated player, and now they’re competing again to introduce players compatible with both Bonus View (Profile 1.1) and BD Live (profile 2). Panasonic [...]

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Not very, if a new report from Bernstein Research is to be believed. The company says that Blu-ray will achieve 25 per cent penetration in US homes in just three years, predictably fueled by a drop in the cost of individual Blu-ray discs and a reduction in dedicated player prices. Yet while Bernstein calculates that [...]

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Panasonic has formed a strategic alliance with Samsung to develop Blu-ray hardware. Speaking at a Pre-IFA press event, brand Corporate Communications Chief Peter Weber confirmed the tie-up and promised a big push behind the high-resolution format for 2008. The company is expected to bring its first profile 2.0 Blu-ray model to market in a matter [...]

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Star Trek fans who have been waiting for the newly remastered Original Series to migrate from HD DVD to Blu-ray will be disappointed by Paramount’s announcement that reissues will continue on DVD only. The HD DVD camp made quite a ballyhoo after the first season of Trek:TOS debuted on its hi-def format, following an impressive [...]

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The PlayStation 3 will finally get support for DTS-HD Master Audio on Blu-ray discs. The high-quality lossless audio format will become available to PS3 owners with a firmware update due April 15. DTS-HD MA has long been favoured by Fox for its movie releases. With a bit-rate up to 24.5 Mbps, the system can deliver [...]

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The UK’s ultimate home AV gear for 2008 was revealed at a ceremony in central London last Friday, as the annual Home Cinema Choice Awards were announced. Presented by former Dr Who Sylvester McCoy, the 19 categories were judged and awarded by leading reviewers from UK AV magazine Home Cinema Choice. Amongst the winners, BT [...]

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