Panasonic Releases First Blu-ray Player

Up until now, early adopters for Blu-ray had only one choice when it came to stand-alone players: the Samsung BD-1000. Now, Panasonic has gotten into the Blu-ray business with the release of their DMP-BD10 model.

The player is now available, but the initial shipment from Panasonic to retailers and e-tailers was limited to 5,000, so one may have to do a bit of hunting to track down one.

The Panasonic DMP-BD10 carries a MSRP of $1,299.99. That's roughly $300 more than the Samsung player, and far more than Toshiba's $500 player for the competing HD-DVD format.