JVC announced their first Blu-ray player at the CES 2009. It is amazing that they could afford to not offer a Blu-ray player until now. The JVC XV-BP1 Blu-ray player offers also playback of the AVCHD format, the high definition format widely used for HD camcorders, including the JVC HD Everio line.

Among the features of the new JVC XV-BP1 Blu-ray player is BD Live (Profile ver. 2.0) compatibility when used with USB memory. With BD Live compatibility the player can be connected to the Internet to access BD Live 2.0 features, including easy firmware updates, new movie trailers, updated subtitles, online shopping, chat and gaming. Connections include HDMI ver.1.3 with Deep Color and x.v.Color, USB Host, LAN for BD Live, component and composite video outputs, and analog, optical and coaxial audio outputs.

In addition to AVCHD, other playable formats are JPEG, MP3, WMA, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS and DTS HD.

The JVC XV-PB1 Blu-ray Player goes on sale in March with a $299.95 price-tag.
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