Panasonic DMP-BD70V dual Blu-ray and VHS player. Why?

January 8, 2009 3:40 pm

Categories: TVs & Home Cinema News Tags: Blu-ray, ces, Panasonic, VHS

This is getting silly now. We were a tiny bit dubious enough about the Panasonic portable Blu-ray player, but it’s quietly slipped out another product that is infinitely more daft: the Panasonic DMP-BD70V, the world’s first dual Blu-ray and VHS player. Why Panasonic, why?

Panasonic skipped quickly over the BD70V’s retro capabilities in the company’s keynote speech at CES today, and we can see why it might have been a smidge embarassed. Yes, the chunky fella does upscale DVD and VHS images, and yes, the player supports Dolby Digital Plus and True HD for serene surround sound, but can you remember the last time you even saw a VHS cassette? It’s not a great original source to be working with, we’d rather let old, sleeping dogs lie instead of trying to make them look shiny and new. Polished turds n’all that.

It’s BD Live enabled, but all the latest tech and software support in the world isn’t going to make us want this over Samsung’s slim Blu-rayer. No pricing details yet, but frankly even if we knew, we might not bother to say.

Out TBC | £TBC | Panasonic

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humedini

I was a Saturday lad in Currys when DVD was getting really popular and you wouldn’t believe how many of these we sold – or how militant the old people of my town were when we stopped stocking them because VHS was dead! There were literally tears of rage shed because they couldn’t get hold of a DVD/VHS player anymore! They will probably sell a few as old people are afraid of change and technology laggards won’t want to re-purchase everything on Blu-Ray – even if VHS is rubbish!
Holly

As much as VHS is not an optimal format, the truth is not everything has been re-released on even DVD, of course not Blu-Ray yet. I am a teacher, a relatively young one, and I still have VHS stuff kicking around. I have been trying to convert bad VHS to playable DVD, but, I still have a VCR hooked up to my LCD projector. I hate the VHS, but, it’s what I’ve got and sometimes is the only option, for now, at least.
Holly

Oh. And we still sometimes use the phonograph/vinyl, talk about retro.

To some of the kids, they are just “big black CDs.”
michele

I have some irreplaceable VHS tapes I would like to be able to watch, so I am certainly interested in this product. I have no interest or time to “convert” them to another format. And concerning items that are now available on DVD, I do not watch them often enough to warrant the cost of replacing them.

If I don’t get a combo item like this, I will have to keep my DVD/VHS player hooked up… another component, a possible connection headache, and more dust.
Steve

“…but it’s quietly slipped out another product that is infinitely more daft: the Panasonic DMP-BD70V, the world’s first dual Blu-ray and VHS player. Why Panasonic, why?…”

Erm VHS has been around for 32 years and there’s millions of people that still use the format you dumb twat.

http://www.gravatar.com James Holland

Tempers, gentlemen. It’s only a dying format, no need to turn the air blue…

http://www.electricpig.co.uk Ben Sillis

If I were to preserve my VHS video digitally, it wouldn’t be on Blu-ray, that’s for sure.

VHS Lover

Nice unbiased review there, especially for those of us that still have a large VHS collection. I've still got 50+ VHS, plus another 30+ home recorded VHS that either aren't out on DVD/Blu Ray, or are over priced.

Panasonic DMP-BD70V dual Blu-ray and VHS player. Why?

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