Another product launch from Japan has left some people scratching their heads, as Panasonic has launched a new Blu-ray player that also has a hard drive and... VHS. The Panasonic DMR-BR630V also ships with a 320GB HDD, SD slot, and digital and analog TV tuners.
Owners can use the built-in USB port to connect their digital cameras and camcorders into the Blu-ray player, and can write BD-Rs at six times speed.
The VHS deck is for dubbing movies to Blu-ray, DVD or the HDD, and will not be able to actually play VHS movies, according to Japanese media reports.
The Panasonic DMR-BR360V will first be released in Japan on October 1, with a $1,450 retail price tag. It is unknown if Panasonic will release this model in other parts of the world.
Another Panasonic Blu-ray player scheduled to be released in October, the DMR-BW930K, offers 1TB of storage along with a $2,600 price tag. The HDD will be able to hold 90 hours of 24 Mbps high-definition content in the MPEG-2 mode.
What color is the sky in the world in which Panasonic executives live?
This is about a stupid idea to put together. WTF????? Now if the BD part was a burner same as those VHS/DVD standalone players/burner to convert the VHS to BD this might be a good thing for those? Not that the burned BD from VHS will really do anything as far as upconvert as we all know that can't be done.
I guess those of us with Beta Max are just out of luck for now....
While Panasonic are making crazy products.
While this one is a waste of money, what I would really like is a Blu-Ray and Laserdisc combo player. Or even a Laserdisk/DVD recorder combo player.
I probably would be the only person to buy it. But hey it will be one more than who will buy the DMR-BR630V
Nahhh, this product is absolete...... No Laserdisc support in it.
I think an 8mm-to-Blue-ray combo player/recorder would be great, especially if they added 78-RPM-record to DTS conversion!!
Well, if they let a user record digital TV to the hard disk, or analog for that matter, and let them copy that to the SD slot, and/or burn it to BD discs, then I'd guess they'll find takers for this, even though it is a bit pricey. Of course, if it does all that, the MPAA will carp kittens and demand it be banned, but what else is new.
Anyone else notice that it CANNOT play VHS?! The only purpose the VHS interface serves is for dubbing. It's just gets better and better as I think about it. 
But does it allow for the copying of old VHS movies you bought and can't get on DVD or BD??
Whats VHS?
LOL.....I am conviced these guys aren't smoking Sativa's and are smoking straight crack laced with meth :P
I wonder if this model will be released in Australia to complement the DMR-BW500 Blu Ray Recorder already available to record high definition TV.
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