Panasonic officially introduced a new portable Blu-ray player that has a custom LCD screen and the ability to connect to the Internet for further content downloads.
"Panasonic was the first company to bring to market a portable DVD player and stand-alone Blu-ray players to feature Bonus View and BD Live, and with the B15 we continue that tradition of being first to market with unique technology," said Richard Simone, Panasonic entertainment group director.
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The DMP-B15 uses an 8.9" WSVGA LCD screen able to operate up to 2.5 hours per charge, BD Live, Internet accessibility, SD memory card slot, and an image processing technology. The Viera Cast functionality allows owners to connect to the Internet to view YouTube, Amazon Video-on-Demand, Google Picasa Web Album, and other select sites.
The Panasonic DMP-B15, with a $799.95 MSRP, was first shown off during CES in January, though very few details were available about the unit.
I haven't seen the unit first hand, but with an $800 price tag I'm not sure how many people will be willing to purchase it. An 8.9" viewing screen is adequate while traveling for some -- though it being an HD unit -- would require a viewer to be fairly close to the screen. Furthermore, the 2.5 hour battery life on a single charge worries me, as it's not a long duration without charging it.
