Panasonic says its first Blu-ray Disc (BD) player, the DMP-BD10, will be available this September for under $1,500 in the U.S.

The announcement comes not long after Toshiba quietly put the kibosh on releasing its HD DVD player in March, delaying the actual roll out date until later in April to coincide with the release of the first HD DVD movie titles from Warner Home Video. There are also reports that Samsung's first Blu-ray Disc player, the BD-1000, which was originally scheduled to ship before the first Sony model (BDP-S1), will now also be delayed. Sony is still expected to ship the $1,000 BDP-S1 in July.

Panasonic claims it's timing the release of the DMP-BD100 to coincide with the introduction of the company's first 1080p plasma TVs, the TH-58PX600U and TH-58PX60U, both 58-inch models. Panasonic's EZ-Sync technology will be included in the new plasma HDTVs as well as in the DMP-BD10. EZ-Sync is said to provide for easy usage of components in a system by allowing one button press to control many different activities such as turning on equipment and changing inputs and settings.