Panasonic Ships First Portable Blu-Ray Player

Panasonic's DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray player sports an 8.9 inch screen, HDMI output, SD storage, and - if you've got Ethernet - support for Viera Cast and BD Live content.

Just in time for road-trip season, Panasonic has announced the availability of its DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray player. It’s just like those small-screened portable DVD players that were all the rage a few years ago, except this one also handles Blu-ray content. And, if you’ve got Ethernet available at grandma’s house or in a hotel room, it’ll even connect up to BD Live content and Panasonic’s Viera Cast service for more content.

“Panasonic was the first company to bring to market a portable DVD player and stand-alone Blu-ray players to feature Bonus View and BD Live, and with the B15 we continue that tradition of being first to market with unique technology,” said Panasonic’s entertainment group director Richard Simone, in a statement.

Panasonic originally announced the B15 back at January’s CES show in Las Vegas.

The B15 features an 8.9-inch WSVGA (1,024 by 600 pixel) display and Panasonic claims it offers twice the color accuracy of conventional displays, and can (of course) play back Blu-ray discs in addition to standard DVDs. What’s more, if a user has broadband available, the system can tap into BD Live content, Panasonic’s Viera Cast service, which lets users access things like Amazon Video-on-Demand, YouTube, and Picassa. The B15 features SD storage for onboarding videos and photos, there’s an HDMI output for hooking up to a bigger screen, and users can expect up to 2.5 hours of use off a single battery charge.

The DMP-B15 is available now for a suggested price of $799.95