Panasonic DMP-BD70 Blu-Ray / VHS (1 Viewer)

[Jon Martin]

I just read this story, about Panasonic coming out with a Blu-Ray / upconverting VHS player for $399.

Panasonic 'bullish' on Blu-ray - 3/17/2009 - Video Business

Does anyone know anything more about it?

 

[Steve_Pannell]

I saw this last week: VHS Tape Goes 1080p for HDTV: Panasonic's DMP-BD70V Blu-ray/VHS Deck: BigPictureBigSound

It doesn't really say too much about it but it does show a picture of it. Looks like a good idea to me if you still do VHS.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Must be an early April Fool's Day joke.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Upconverted VHS?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Can't look any worse than upconverted basic cable.

 

[Clinton McClure]

You got me there!

 

[Stephen_J_H]

What would have been an interesting possibility, although possibly cost-prohibitive, would have been a VHS/BD combo deck that was D-Theater compatible, so you could do comparisons between the old 1080i masters and the new discs. Of course the MPAA and software manufacturers would be all over that as a "piracy device", since it could potentially create near-perfect copies of BDs on D-Theater tapes. @ least, that's what their paranoiacs would claim.

 

[Steve_Pannell]

Here's a review of the BD70:

www.bigpicturebigsound.com/Panasonic_DMP-BD70V_VHS_Blu-ray_Player.shtml


Amazon has them for about $280.

I guess it's not a joke.