Blu-ray

Panasonic prices its 2012 Blu-ray players

Not to be outdone by Samsung, Panasonic has also announced full pricing and availability for its 2012 line of Blu-ray players. Panasonic's quoted prices are "suggested retail pricing," so expect these players to be a little cheaper when they hit the streets.

Panasonic's 2012 Blu-ray line Panasonic DMP-BD77: $90 Panasonic DMP-BD87: $120 Panasonic DMP-BDT220: $150 Panasonic DMP-BDT320: $200 Panasonic DMP-BBT01: $270 Panasonic DMP-BDT500: $350

All of Panasonic Blu-ray players are available now, except the higher-end DMP-BDT500 and DMP-BBT01, which will be released in May.

Panasonic released most of the information about these players back at CES … Read more

Samsung's home theater line gets pricing, available now

Samsung showed most of its home theater line at CES 2012, but the company finally got official with pricing at a media event in New York this morning.

While the products weren't new, they're now officially available, with pricing (estimated selling price) breaking down as follows:… Read more

Samsung tilts at the iPad 3 with scheduled product launch

After months of court wrangles with Apple, Samsung still can't resist poking the bear by launching its 2012 range on March 6, the day before Apple's much-rumored iPad 3 announcement.

Samsung will officially launch its range of 2012 televisions at an event in New York and is expected provide more details on one of the most impressive entrants at this year's CES, the 55-inch "Super OLED" TV. (Update: Samsung tells us the OLED TV won't be announced at that event; availability is still said to be the second half of 2012.)

The company will … Read more

Morrison's Mailbag: Why does my TV have a noise reduction setting?

CNET reader "Nindevo" asks:

In regards to your articles about the HDMI cables, I was just wondering why TVs have "noise reduction" settings. I thought digital signals (HDMI) couldn't have noise.

Interesting question.… Read more

Sony Google TV update coming soon

A tweet from the official Google TV twitter account indicates that a noteworthy update's coming to Sony's Google TV devices.

When the update lands this week, owners of the NSZ-GT1 Google TV/Blu-ray player will be able to watch 3D Blu-ray movies through the device. The new firmware update also speeds up the Google Chrome browser implemented in the aforementioned Internet TV box and Sony's short-lived NSX-24GT1, NSX-32GT1, NSX-40GT1, and NSX-46GT1 televisions with Google TV built-in. We assume the next generation of Sony Google TV devices (NSZ-GS7 and NSZ-GP9) will ship with this new functionality. … Read more

Panasonic releases more Blu-ray players than anyone else

Most manufacturers have made a marked effort to pare down the number of different Blu-ray player models they make, but not Panasonic.

Panasonic announced six new Blu-ray models at CES 2012, with separate 3D and 2D lines, plus the ultraslim DMP-BBT01. Half of the models also feature Panasonic's new touch pad remote, which might make it easier to navigate online content.

Panasonic's line of 3D Blu-ray players breaks down as follows:… Read more

Vizio gets in the Google TV game, will support OnLive

LAS VEGAS--Google TV looked like it might be on the ropes after the disappointing Honeycomb update to Android, but it's making its presence felt at CES 2012.

Vizio announced two Google TV products here at the Consumer Electronics Show: the VAP430 set-top box and the VBR430 Blu-ray. The VAP430 is one of the smallest Google TV devices available so far, looking more like a jumbo Roku box than the larger design of the Logitech Revue.

The remote included with the VAP430 will be slightly different from some of the Google TV remotes available with other products, in that apparently it will also fire IR commands to control other devices, rather than IR using blasters. There are also dedicated buttons on the remote for Amazon Instant, Netflix, and Vudu, which should be helpful for getting around Google TV's somewhat clunky interface.… Read more

Samsung's flagship Blu-ray player switches HDMI inputs, stores your DVDs in the cloud

LAS VEGAS--There hasn't been much news at CES 2012 in the standalone Blu-ray player space, but Samsung's flagship BD-E6500 has a couple of legitimately new features.

The BD-E6500 has two HDMI inputs on the back, so you can switch between two devices. That could be an attractive feature for those who've run out of inputs on their HDTV (and don't have an HDMI-switching AV receiver), although I could see it causing problems for Harmony remotes not used to treating Blu-ray players as switchers.

The other big feature on the BD-E6500 is disc-to-digital, which enables you to "sync" your DVD collection in the cloud, making it accessible from any device which has the Flixster app.… Read more

Getting a feel for Panasonic's touch-pad remote

LAS VEGAS--LG has its Magic Motion, and Sony has its Google TV nub. And until now, Panasonic hasn't had an effective way to navigate Web content. Enter the new Panasonic touch-pad remote control.

Available on Panasonic Blu-ray players--DMP-BBT01, DMP-BDT500, DMP-BDT320--and select televisions, including the WT50 and the VT50--the new remote offers a simple touch-pad surface, with a couple of additional buttons.

This year's Viera TVs and Blu-ray players feature a beefed-up Viera Connect smart-TV service and an onboard browser, and the touch pad is designed to make it easier to navigate around Web pages and services like … Read more