Panasonic BluRay player sighted in Harvey Norman

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Panasonic BluRay player sighted in Harvey Norman

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#10350 17-Nov-2006 09:24

Was in HN the other day to browse and one of their sales folks showed me the Panasonic BluRay player. It was connected to a 42" Panasonic LCD panel and showing a custom disc which illustrates the quality difference between DVD and BluRay (side by side). There were also clips on Ice Age on the disc. Having seen BluRay before the quality was as good as I had experienced. When asked why they didn't connect the set up to say the 60"Sony SXRD for greater effect, they said Panasonic insisted the player be connected to a Panasonic panel! Price was not clear - there was a sticker for $2999 on it (!) and abouT $10K for the package (player and panel) but I was told the price for the player alone was more like $1999. Still a bit out of my current budget.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Rickles

2938 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#52797 17-Nov-2006 10:28

LV Martin flyer this morning has the Panasonic Blu-ray at $2999.90 ($2954.90 for cash) ... as you say a bit steep over standard DVD recorders. besides, I'm not sure I want/need 5 DVD disks all on one Blu-ray disk.

R.

JAMMAN2110

871 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#52799 17-Nov-2006 10:34

Now we wait for BR movies to be targetted at children.. Budget? What budget?

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#52810 17-Nov-2006 12:16

Rickles: LV Martin flyer this morning has the Panasonic Blu-ray at $2999.90 ($2954.90 for cash) ... as you say a bit steep over standard DVD recorders. besides, I'm not sure I want/need 5 DVD disks all on one Blu-ray disk.

R.

If you could see the quality of BR on a large screen there would be a pretty compelling case for getting one but $3K is just a bit rich. I also note with interest that the PS3 will be out on Friday in the US but has been completely presold. And while RRP is US$600 I have seen them now on ebay for $1200(!) and people are bidding. Furthermore, people are saying I haven't got it yet - I have my order in and will pick it up on Friday and ship to you soon after! Capitalist society to be sure.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Frankei

66 posts

Master Geek

#52858 17-Nov-2006 19:13

We got our one probably close to a month ago and just got a big as display stand for it and a 42PV600
RRP is $2999 we're trying to pop em out the door at $2500 but thats still expensive really

The demo disk is not really that great... Ice Age 2 looks awesome but most of the movies aren't that clear but is still an enormous improvement over the norm. DVDs

Most places wont have BluRay because you have to order two of the players and a SA-XR700GN-S AMP and SB-TP100 speakers at the same time; which you know RRP of $10,000 is a lot for most retailers to invest into something that is still a niche market in NZ with little to no movies actually available for purchase here.

We had ours running on all the TVs thanks to the distribution amps ;)
Looks good on the SXRDs, with the Ice Age 2 demo in particular you could literally have your nose on the screen and it would still be somewhat watchable.

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#52860 17-Nov-2006 19:25

I did mention to the HN staff they should display the signal on the 60" SXRD also. That would show up the quality but they would need a way to connect the HDMI cable a significant distance from where the player was currently setup. On a 42" LCD it hardly does it justice

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Frankei

66 posts

Master Geek

#52867 17-Nov-2006 20:06

We run ours using component through a 3 way Kramer switch fed into 3x 18 way distribution amps feeding every flat panel and projection TV over 32"

BluRay
Panasonic HD magic box of tricks
DVD Rec for DVDs and norm TV

All makes for a fairly nice setup

jitendra

21 posts

Geek

#52876 17-Nov-2006 20:58

Frankei: We got our one probably close to a month ago and just got a big as display stand for it and a 42PV600
RRP is $2999 we're trying to pop em out the door at $2500 but thats still expensive really

The demo disk is not really that great... Ice Age 2 looks awesome but most of the movies aren't that clear but is still an enormous improvement over the norm. DVDs

Most places wont have BluRay because you have to order two of the players and a SA-XR700GN-S AMP and SB-TP100 speakers at the same time; which you know RRP of $10,000 is a lot for most retailers to invest into something that is still a niche market in NZ with little to no movies actually available for purchase here.

We had ours running on all the TVs thanks to the distribution amps ;)
Looks good on the SXRDs, with the Ice Age 2 demo in particular you could literally have your nose on the screen and it would still be somewhat watchable.

Frankei - did I read this correctly? You are selling the PV600 at $2500. That seems damm cheap to me. i've seen a bunch of PV60A's advertised at around $2800 (with a cabinet or DVD player)

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

jitendra

21 posts

Geek

#52877 17-Nov-2006 21:00

ok, i just re-read your post and understand now!

So, what is the likely price for a 42pv600a?

any idea when the next gen viera's will be released?

Frankei

66 posts

Master Geek

#52958 18-Nov-2006 19:50

TH42PV60 $3500
TH42PV600 $4000

Thats what you should be able to pick them up for if not a little bit cheaper
As for the TH42PA60 which is the low res model; theres at least two places in Auckland that can give you change from $2400

PV600s are raped on price these days with people just letting them go and virtually no profit made
PV60s are good sets but you should fork out the extra $400-$500 for the PV600
If you are cheap get the PA60s nothing wrong just a low res panel

You probably wont see the new gen Vieras until at least March or April; most brands update their range once every -/+ 12 months

JAMMAN2110

871 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#52960 18-Nov-2006 20:07

They have adverts on tv for them now.. saw it while I was on break at work, Retravision I believe.

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#52985 19-Nov-2006 18:23

Sighted also at LV Martin. As noted $2999 or a bit less for cash. They were playing the BluRay demo disc which has segments from Click, Fantastic Four and other movies. But I wonder what other content there is? If you were to import BluRay from the US could you play it on this machine? If not then it could be an expensive DVD player :-(

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Frankei

66 posts

Master Geek

#53058 20-Nov-2006 18:19

Maybe you didn't quiet read my post right but what I was meaning to say is that its been released about a month ago and most larger retailers will have it in stock now.

Were the same region as Europe so American DVD's wont work here; but European DVD's will work here
Panasonic dezone the DVD part of it but the BluRay is zoned; could be dezoned if you know someone in Panasonic service department

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#53065 20-Nov-2006 20:00

Fine - it's in stock but what content is there? I was in the US recently and was really tempted to get the Samsung BluRay player since I could get it for about US$600. And I don't care about zoning since most of the discs I would purchase would be Zone A(?). You can buy a lot of discs for the difference between the Samsung and the local Panasonic price.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

jitendra

21 posts

Geek

#53080 20-Nov-2006 21:24

Also, FYI. Hill and Stewart in Lynn Mall have the Panasonic Ble-Ray player hooked up to a 60 inch Bravia. Naughty people. I watched a bit of Ice Age. I can confirm it looked stunning. A 60in TV is too big for me (untill I can get a dedicated home theatre room!) but yeah, damm it looked good!

Frankei

66 posts

Master Geek

#53260 22-Nov-2006 17:40

If you want an oil rig or a crane you go and buy a Samsung