Panasonic debuts Tiny HD with portable Blu-ray

The Portable Blu-ray viewer/player that Panasonic showed off in its CES keynote this year was officially announced today, and will be available this month for $799.95.

Panasonic's DMP-B15 utilizes the same technologies as the company's full-sized Blu-ray players, so it can be used as a standalone player, or as a component in a home theater setup. It includes support for BD Live and Viera Cast functionality, which requires an Ethernet connection and opens the device to Amazon's Video on Demand, YouTube, Picasa Web albums, and more as services are added.

As a portable device, the DMP-B15 is equipped with an 8.9" WSVGA LCD screen and can run for approximately 2.5 hours per battery charge, according to Panasonic.

There remains a serious question with this device, though: whether this is actually a viable HD vessel. According to the linear scale of visible screen resolution limits, the viewer could only sit a little more than a foot away from an 8.9" monitor to even begin to appreciate a difference in picture quality.