For those who insist on the highest picture quality for their kids in the back seat, Panasonic is working on a car Blu-ray player for the Japanese market.
The system actually consists of two components. The CN-HX900D is the main device, with a 7-inch screen, GPS, CD and DVD player, 40 GB hard drive, iPod dock and Bluetooth. To play Blu-ray discs, you'll need the CY-BB1000D, which hooks up to the main unit. Unsurprisingly, the player doesn't support BD-Live.
NewLaunches, which translated the news from the Japanese site Impress, says this is the first Blu-ray player for automobiles, but it actually looks like there's a race for that distinction. Mitsubishi announced a Blu-ray player for cars -- presumably its own -- in February, but didn't set a more specific release date than fiscal 2009. Panasonic's player has a fall release window. There's no word yet on pricing for either model, or whether they'll make it out of Japan.
Packing such high video quality into a small screen may seem silly, but it's probably more of a convenience option for existing Blu-ray collectors. Blu-ray discs won't play in a DVD player, so this would allow you to take your high-definition library on the road.
