Portable DVD players are not exactly a fantastic novelty nowadays, their popularity actually decreasing over the recent couple of years, especially due to the advent of PMPs. However, things might really change in the future, since Panasonic has decided to combine this concept with its own Blu-ray playback technology and obtained the DMP-B15, a device that occupies the proud position of world's first ever portable Blu-ray player.

The device features an 8.9-inch WSVGA LCD screen, which is not exactly great for watching HD content, but not bad for a portable device, either. The processing tasks are taken care of by the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus, a high quality image-processing technology that precisely processes each pixel of the Blu-ray disc video signal in the vertical direction, reproducing color data with twice the accuracy of conventional systems.

We must not forget that the DMP-B15 is, after all, a portable device, and for this reason, it has been equipped with a rechargeable battery, that provides an estimated functioning time of around three hours per full charge. For the same reason, the device also offers an optional headrest mounting bracket.

The connectivity options provided by the Panasonic's portable Blu-ray player are quite varied, consisting of an HDMI interface (for connecting to a widescreen HDTV), plus the necessary audio interfaces for connecting to an HD-Audio compatible AV receiver with a home theater speaker system. Plus, similar to pretty much any playback device on the market, this one also comes equipped with an SD card slot.

Moreover, the DMP-B15 has two of the most recent developments in the field of consumer electronics networking, namely VIERA CAST Internet accessibility and BD Live functionality.

Unfortunately, Panasonic has not provided any pricing details yet, but we're likely to find out more about this issue when this thing actually arrives in stores, at some point in May 2009.


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