Why avoid the Funai? I know nothing about that company but I gather from Robert of ValueElectronics.com that they are fairly well respected in the CE industry:If you know something different, I'd like to hear it.

Anyway, if this is about production in China, I'll mention that the Panasonic BD50 is being made in China, as opposed to the Panasonic BD30, which was made (in smaller numbers) in Japan. More from Robert: The Funai player doesn't have the features I need, so far as I can tell, but until we see some reviews it is hard to judge how it performs. Are there any reviews out yet?

Why? Because with the way things are going with firmware updates I would want to buy one from a company that provides them on a regular basis. Sony and Panasonic appear to be the only ones that care in terms of Blu-ray players. We have no idea the track record of "Funai" or whatever it wants to call itself at Wal-Mart (Magnavox), Best Buy (Insignia), Target (TruTech). I would personally rather stick with a company that would be safe then one where I may not ever get to play certain titles until they decide to release a firmware update. Too bad Toshiba isn't maing Blu-ray players as they are still releasing firmware updates...not sure why, but they are.

Its all about firmware updates and anyone here that owns a Samsung can tell you why.

A member on blu-ray.com spotted 2 Samsung BD-P1500s at a Walmart in PA last night for $368. I guess they are out in the wild.

Neat. Odd that they just appeared like that all of the sudden. Can't wait to read the reviews on it since its apparently built from the ground up.

Panasonic has revealed that their upcoming BD-Live (Profile v2.0) Blu-ray Disc player, the DMP-BD50, will carry a manufacturers suggested retail price of $699.95 USD. The Panasonic DMP-BD50 will be the first standalone BD-Live Blu-ray player to be released on the market, and joins the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) as yet another option for those looking to experience the complete Blu-ray package.

In addition to displaying the very highest quality of Blu-ray images at 1080p24, the player will also include internal decoders for the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio lossless audio codecs, ensuring that regardless of your receiver's decoding capabilities, you will be able to experience the highest quality of audio as well.

The Panasonic DMP-BD50 BD-Live Blu-ray Disc player will be available this Spring.

www.blu-ray.com

Raising prices already?

You'll like this. There's already alot of complaints about this from other blu-ray.com members.

I have my reasons for not using a PS3 as a player, but for most people, why pay $700 when the PS3 does so much for $300 less?

Something tells me adding internal decoding of lossless audio and an ethernet port + the minimum 2.0 standards didn't add $200 to this unit.

With news like that, every day I feel better about purchasing the BD30.

I'm just boggled how they think they can charge $700 for it. The stuff they added was minor. An ethernet port and 1GB of memory requires a $200 increase? With the death of HD DVD, shouldn't more CEs be making Blu-ray players hence making the parts cheaper? $300 more then PS3? Panasonic, WTF.

I wouldn't be shocked if Sony now raises their prices. I'd love an S550 for the $499 "announced" price, but thats twice now that CE's have decided to raise prices after the death of a certain red format.

Say hello to the "INSERT STORE" Blu-ray player.

The first generation of Blu-ray Disc (BD) players manufactured by Funai are now (early May 2008) starting to work their way to retailers. Funai is a Japanese company with manufacturing factories in China. They are the largest manufacturer of DVD players (making over one half of all DVD players sold in North America). They are an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for many familiar 2nd-tier brand names including:

- Magnavox (Status: starting to show up at some Walmarts)
- Sylvania NB500SL9 (Status: multiple e'tailers, e.g, Amazon, are taking pre-orders)
- Philips BDP7200 (probably a Funai OEM BD player - Status: expected soon at retailers)
- Emerson (Status: ?)
- Insignia (Status: Expected soon at Best Buy)
- Pye (Status: ? at Circuit City)

Note: While Funai also is reported to be the OEM for several models of Denon DVD players, the OEM for the current Denon BD players is unknown.

The retail prices for the Funai manfactured BD players already announced are in the $349 to $399 price range.

This thread is intended to be a single point to collect reports from owners of any of the Funai manufactured BD players and to identify the capabilities of these units and to identify what are the differences (if any) between the Funai manufactured units that are being sold under different brand names.

Summary of features (to be updated as more information becomes available)

- Profile 1.1 BD Player
- Video Output Resolutions: 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p (1080p/24 and 1080p/60)
- DVD Upconversion to 720p, 1080i, 1080p
- Support for HD Audio Formats: (probaby bitstream output, no internal decoding)
- HDMI Ver. 1.3
- Weight 6 lbs.
- Dimensions: 17.2" x 13.9" x 2.8"

I agree completely. I am getting seriously annoyed at the delays and price increases of the full-featured BD players. If Sony follows suit with the S550, I will be really pissed.

Anyway, the bad news press release:
http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...22008022415775

If it had on-board decoding of lossless codecs over analog out, I'd be shopping for one also; I have no use for Profile 2.0. For awhile I hoped that Panasonic would add decoding to the BD30, but it appears that they want to reserve that feature for the (now) very high priced BD50.

Agreed. I'm lucky enough that my receiver can handle the lossless codecs, so it was really just the "advanced" features that I was missing out on. I debated it for about a day before I realized I would almost never use 2.0, and used that old BB BD Player coupon and a bunch of gift cards. I was slightly concerned that less than 5 months later the next batch of players would be comparably priced.

It amazes me that these companies are jacking up the prices, this is insanity, but I'm thrilled with my BD30.

I'm still looking for details of the audio output for the Funai players (lots of "unknowns" in my chart in the first post of this thread). Anyone seen one "in the wild" yet?

The Funai was spotted at Wal-mart

Panasonic, thanks for shooting yourself in the foot with your great prices!

Agreed. I'm still using my BD30 for all Blu-Ray even though I have a PS3.

Universal remotes and such.

Who on earth would pay msrp even if stores charged it. This thing will be discounted right from the start.

Best Buy and Circuit City seem to be selling players $100 off list price. $599 is still too much for this unit.

I would definitely recommend waiting on the upcoming Sony players to see if they will turn out to be lower. I have my eye on the 550 now.

Has anyone heard anything about when Oppo is going to release their BD player? If they can add region free capabilities to the the BD and dvd drive, that will be the player for me.

They are?

The 1400/BDP300 are MSRP $399....the same price they are selling them for.
The BD30 is $499....the same price they are selling them for.

I thought the BD 30 list was $599. I guess not. Amazon still shows the Sammy 1400 with a $499 list price. The Sony did drop down to $399 list. It used to be $499 I think.

It seems like the player manufacturers want everyone to buy a PS3.

If the Samsung 1500 gets good reviews and can handle Fox discs trouble free, I may pick it up. From everything I've read, it will have internal decoding of Dolby TrueHD. It will have DTS HD High Resolution via firmware later, but NOT DTS HD MA. But it will bitstream MA. All of that + being 2.0 capable for $350 sounds like a bargain, especially compared to the new Panny.

BD30 dropped to $499 officially around early December.
1400/BDP300 dropped to $399 around the same time (both were on "sale" for $299 as well).

It seems the CEs are just milking us for as long as they can.

Its only 1.1 when it ships. I would not trust any "promises" from Samsung. Feel free to check the UP5000 thread over at AVS for the Samsung promises they may never come true. While its only $350 at Wal-Mart (and apparently available now), its not a bad purchase considering Wal-Marts return policy. I would tell you to wait another month for the S350 instead.