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Blu-ray.Com: Low cost electronics manufacturer Funai has revealed in their latest financial report that they plan to launch a Blu-ray player.

With 52% of the DVD player/recorder market in the US, it is very likely that a low cost Blu-ray player would be widely adopted, similar to the success Funai continues to have in the DVD market.

No specific player has been announced, nor any time frame, or manufacturer partnerships, but the inclusion of the bullet in their annual financial report alerts stockholders of their intention to move into the Blu-ray market.

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Afterdawn.com: Panasonic has released its DMP-BD10A Blu ray player in the States, with the somewhat cheap price tag of US$600 (around €440). The player will offer 7.1 channel sound and has support for Dolby TrueHD as well as DTS-HD Audio.

The player features full 1080p resolution and can upconvert standard DVDs to the HD signal.

As an added incentive to buy the player, Panasonic is bundling 5 Blu ray movies for free which the company says have a combined retail value of around €110.

The movies are:”Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl”, “Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest”, “Transporter”, “Fantastic 4″ and “Crash”.

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At last, Pioneer announced the European arrival of it’s “high-end” Blu-ray disc player, the BDP-LX70.

It’s a beauty, with Pioneer’s trademark piano-gloss finish.  Specs are impressive, with DLNA home network-compatibility via Ethernet, Dolby TrueHD support, and what the company calls ‘master quality’: audio and video exactly as the film-makers intended: played back at 1080p and 24Hz.

Here are some more images and the full player specifications.

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GameShout: Sony has developed a Blu-ray disc player at a much lower price tag than the their first iteration; this time priced about 40% less than their previous model.

Their new BDP-S300 is somewhat similar to the later model BDP-S1 but the price is what brings it more in line with rest of the market. While the older model runs $999 (around €750), the new slimmer BDP-S300 runs only $599 (around €450) .
 

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Engadget: Earlier at this month’s IFA show, Daewoo launched their DBD-8000 HD Video Recorder.

What it records to we have no idea since there’s nothing listed in the specs or printed on the chassis.

But that ShowView EPG icon bottom-left means it definitely records to something. However, if it records to Blu-ray Disc then it certainly trumps Panasonic’s first.

For sure, it plays Blu-ray Discs and includes a built-in DVB-T TV tuner, HDMI out, DV in, and additional support for DVD, VCD, CD, and MP3 or JPEG laden discs.

As yet there are no release dates or pricing details.

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Dow Jones Newswire: Matsushita, maker of Panasonic-brand products, has said it will start marketing Blu-ray disc recorders in Japan this November.

The brand will launch two Blu-ray recorder models with different hard disk drive capacities and plans a monthly output of 3,000 for each model.

The recorders will come with a high price tag, but Takuya Sugita, Matsushita’s video equipment business director, said in a news conference their price should come down as sales grow. The company expects retailers to sell the high-end model for around Y300,000 (approximately €2,000).

The move will make them one of the first companies to launch the Blu-ray recorders, as the battle over the next-generation video standard heats up.

Matsushita has already released a Blu-ray player, but it has yet to finalize plans for selling recorders outside of Japan, Sugita said.

Electronics companies have basically divided into two camps. Sony, Samsung, Philips, Pioneer and Sharp also support the Blu-ray standard, while a group led by Toshiba is pushing the rival HD-DVD.

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EasyBourse: According to an executive at Sharp, the company will be releasing their Blu-ray player into Japan and European markets early in the new year.

“We haven’t decided on the date yet, but we want to release them as early as possible,” said Mikio Katayama, senior executive director of Sharp.

The move by the Osaka-based electronics manufacturer, which is known for its Aquos LCD TVs, may give the Blu-Ray camp additional support in the competition to establish the next-generation DVD format standard.

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Gizmondo: Pioneer’s first Blu-ray player is late to the game, but as the company seems to be practically run by engineers, it means its stuff is good and often doesn’t come out until they’ve got it right.  Unlike the first generation players from the other guys.

Their BDP-HD1 adds in movie, picture, and music playback from a USB stick, PC, or DLNA compatible device (by Ethernet).

The player will be released this Autumn in the States, but according to the company’s European website, the BDP-HD1 will hit the mainland in early 2007.

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CNET: Samsung was the first to release a Blu-ray disc player in the US, and has said it will also be the first to release one in Europe. They say the BD-P1000 will hit just before the October release of the Panasonic DMP-BD10, and the November release of Toshiba’s HD-E1 and HD-XE1 HD DVD players.

Samsung’s BD-P1000 has HDMI, composite, component and S-Video, plus there’s a 10-in-2 memory card interface. Usefully, there’s a universal remote control that lets you control your TV as well as the BD-P1000.

But before you buy, consider: there won’t be any Blu-ray movies released until November at the earliest. Secondly, it’ll cost an arm and a leg: around €1,000.

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Tech Digest & various sources: It’s the world’s largest consumer electronics show – and it will be open from today until 6th September. Here are some highlights from the manufacturers:

Philips: they’ll be announcing a new Skype VoIP phone, a new Windows XP Media Center for the living room with 250GB hard drive and Blu-Ray (again the product was first shown last year). See www.ifa.philips.com for more.

Pioneer: their latest line-up in Plasma, AV Receivers, DVD players and Sat Nav systems, plus a few surpises.  Expect samples of their Blu-ray player, the BDP-HD1, their new 60-inch Plasma TV – the PDP-607XD and a new HDMI DVD Recorder DVR-940H with huge 500GB hard disk.  See Pioneer’s news release for more.

LG: plan to launch new TVs with built in DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) following the success of the 43-inch plasma model launched in May.  Apparently LG has shifted two million handsets of its ‘hero product’, the chocolate phone, but no news on a successor yet.

Samsung: Among the new products will be the company’s Blu-Ray DVD players which are due to go on sale before the end of the year. Also showing off an LCD TV that uses LEDs as a backlighting source.

Grundig: Now part of the Alba Group, Grundig is showing off a pair of wireless stereo speakers which according to the blurb ‘have the potential to be design icons’.

Thomson: Unveiling a completely wireless (2.4GHz) system for linking up various devices in the home, including DVD player, set top box and TV screen.

Yamaha: The company plans to launch two new Sound Projector models (a single speaker mounted below the TV screen which replaces five or more surround speakers).

Daewoo: An interesting sounding GPS system with built in DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) system so you can listen to the radio and watch TV whilst navigating.

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