Panasonic has given its Blu-ray line a bump, with the DMP-BD50.

The company’s third-generation Blu-ray player adds in BD-Live functionality, meaning you can tap into additional features, including games, images and other content, on some newer Blu-ray movie titles. It also has VIERA Link, which allows users to rope in applicable home theater components under one remote.

“Panasonic was the first to bring a Blu-ray player with Bonus View (Final Standard Profile 1.1) to market and now with the DMP-BD50 we are again leading the industry with the inclusion of BD-Live,” said Paul Sabo, Panasonic, National Marketing Manager Entertainment Group. “The beauty of the Blu-ray player is that we can now see movies the way the film maker intended, in glorious HD video and audio. The consumer can now combine the new generation DMP-BD50 with a VIERA flat-screen television to create a true living in high definition experience.”

Of course, it’s still got the 1080p playback, as well as picture-in-picture, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support. Other features include a PHL Reference Chroma processor and P4HD i/p conversion processor and an SD memory card slot.

The DMP-BD50 ships this spring, for $699.95.

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.