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Panasonic introduced two new conventional Blu-ray players, the DMP-BD60 ($300, pictured) and BD80 ($400), which are identical except for 7.1 analog outs on the BD80. Also on hand was the DMP-BD70V ($450), which combines a Blu-ray player and VHS VCR for those who still cling to those relic tapes. All are BD-Live out of the box with 1GB of internal memory, and all can access online and networked content. Twentieth century, meet the 21st!

LCDs aren't the only TVs slimming down this year. Panasonic unveiled the TC-P54Z1 54-inch plasma that's only 1 inch thick. Using the company's new Neo PDP plasma panel, the Z1 achieves a claimed <I>native</I> (not dynamic) contrast ratio of 40,000:1. It's also twice as bright as last year's panels while consuming the same amount of power, or looked at the other way, it produces the same brightness with half the power consumption. Not only that, the Z1 has wireless HD capability. It should be available in April or May.

In addition to many TVs, LG also introduced two new Blu-ray players, the BD370 and BD390 (pictured here). Both are BD-Live ready (the BD390 has 1GB of internal memory), and both can stream content from Netflix, CinemaNow, and YouTube via Ethernet as well as access content on networked DLNA servers. The BD390 can also stream via WiFi, and it has 7.1 analog outputs.

Anthem Electronics demonstrated its upgraded version of the Statement D2 pre-amp/processor/tuner. The upgraded D2 includes 8 HDMI v1.3c inputs with 2 outputs, a new Sigma Designs video scaler and new audio decoders for DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD.