JVC today announced its first Blu-ray player, a low-profile unit that offers BD Live compatibility and AVCHD playback, among other features.

The new JVC XV-BP1 is a truly versatile high definition player, offering playback of high definition Blu-ray discs, plus playback of the AVCHD format, the high definition format widely used for HD camcorders, including the JVC HD Everio line.

Among the many features of the new JVC XV-BP1 Blu-ray player, to be available in March, is BD Live (Profile ver. 2.0) compatibility when used with USB memory. With BD Live compatibility the player can be connected to the Internet to access BD Live 2.0 features, including easy firmware updates, new movie trailers, updated subtitles, online shopping, chat and gaming.

Connections include HDMI ver.1.3 with Deep Color and x.v.Color, USB Host, LAN for BD Live, component and composite video outputs, and analog, optical and coaxial audio outputs.

In addition to AVCHD, other playable formats are JPEG, MP3, WMA, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS and DTS HD.

Playable discs are BD-ROM, BD-R/RE, BD/DVD Hybrid, DVD-Video, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, Audio CD and CD-R/RW. The XV-PB1 model will be available nationally in March of 2009 for $299.95 .