Posted by Ian on May 6th, 2008 at 11:59 AM CST

Panasonic sent out a press release this morning, introducing its third generation Blu-ray Disc player, the DMP-BD50. This new player offers a long list of features including lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, Panasonic's Uniphier digital video processor, VIERA Link technology and support for BD-Live.

Corporation of North America, the principal U.S. subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC), announces the introduction of the anticipated DMP-BD50, Panasonic's third generation Blu-ray disc player -- the ultimate playback source for high definition 1080p content. Blu-ray media offers a wide range of functions that foster the transition to HD -- including 1080p image quality, lossless Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™ and versatile Picture-in-Picture applications. The BD50 adds the new BD-Live function, which uses the internet to further enhance the consumer's entertainment experience and employs VIERA Link,™ a technology that allows the consumer to operate VIERA Link equipped home theater components with a single remote. The DMP-BD50 will be available this spring and will have an SRP of $699.95.

BD-Live opens up a myriad of interactive possibilities for the consumer. In the future, BD-Live will allow users to connect the DMP-BD50 to the Internet to download such data as images and subtitles, and to join in multi-player interactive games that are linked to bonus movie content contained on Blu-ray discs.

The DMP-BD50 will be available this spring for a suggested retail price of $699.95. Full details can be found here.