Panasonic Blu-Ray Player Launching in June
The Register is claiming that Panasonic is preparing to launch one of the industry's first Blu-Ray players in June. The strange aspect of this launch however, is the fact that the player will not be able to play Blu-Ray movies out of the box as there is no bundled software to support this functionality. So essentially, everyone purchasing this player is really buying a very expensive Blu-Ray player that doesn't play movies. Apparently, those wanting to see Blu-Ray movies will have to wait to get their hands on a Playstation 3 to do so.
Panasonic certainly isn't bundling any such code, curiously, even though it plans to include PowerDVD for DVD viewing. It will also bundle back-up software that will write to BD-R/RE discs, it said.
Panasonic has already said its consumer-oriented Blu-ray Disc player, the DMP-BD10, will ship in September for "under $1,500".
The manufacturer said it was not naming a price for the LF-MB121JD, but local reports expect it to retail for around ¥100,000 ($851/£477/¬689).
