Leading the 3D race, Panasonic displayed a 3D Blu-ray disc player at the recent CES2010 at Las Vegas. The player in question is the Panasonic DMP-BDT350. It will need to be teamed up with a 3D HDTV and a set of active shutter 3D glasses.  The DMP-BDT350 has was given the prestigious Consumer Electronics Show Innovations Award. It plays 3D Bluray, upscale DVD and standard audio CD, and comes with the standard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding. It also features an SD memory card slot for MP3s and still images and video playback, BD-Live and the VIERA Cast range of online streaming media.

Panasonic have also announced 3 other blu-ray disc players namely the Panasonic DMP-BD45, then the mid-range Panasonic DMP-BD65 and concluding and the high end Panasonic DMP-BD85.  The BD45 is the basic player, and does not have networking capabilities. The BD65 and BD85 share many characteristics, including HD audio decoding, VIERA Cast online streaming media, an SD memory card slot, and Panasonic’s PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus image processing solutions.  What separates the BD85 is built-in Wi-Fi, DivX video support via the SD card slot, 7.1 analogue audio outputs, an HDMI Jitter Purifier, gold-plated terminals, a 192kHz-24 bit D/A converter and something called a Digital Tube Sound Simulator, which is said to emulate the sound of a tube amplifier. These new players measuring a mere 4 inches tall, you get a plenty of innovative functions and features including BD Live, a USB port, SD card slot for data and Video On Demand services such as Netflix and YouTube. The DMP-BD65 is DLNA compliant, which would mean that it will work seamlessly with other similarly compliant devices over your home network.

In keeping with Panasonic’s pledge to create players that are more eco-friendly, all the new players will have a Power Save function that promptly turns off the player when you switch to watching TV. Panasonic’s newest blu-ray players are ready to hit the Japanese segment soon but there are no release date assured for the rest of the world.