Blu-ray has arrived in the UK, if not with a vengeance, then at least a reasonably enthusiastic proclamation. Panasonic's DMP-BD10 joins Samsung's BDP-1000 at the forefront of the new format's invasion, and there's a sense that all the posturing and prevarication that has preceded the format is coming to an end. It's time for the products to start doing the talking.

Priced at a wallet-numbing £1,299 (which infuriatingly is a direct dollar-forpound conversion of the model's US price point) this is comfortably the most expensive of the new HD disc spinners; however, it's not overly pricey if you put it into context with the high-end DVD players from the likes of Arcam, Denon and others.

So is it a genuine alternative to the world's most exotic DVD decks? Or are those machines (honed after years of development) still a better bet, as their makers maintain?

Visually, the BD10 is either bland or slickly minimalist, depending on your viewpoint. It lacks the gloss black build of the Samsung model (which frankly feels more up-market), but compensates with a length-wide transparent flap.

Unfortunately, when in use this flap will spend most of its time down, revealing a less than glamorous disc tray and transport control-strewn face to the world. And because its not motorised it can't be controlled from the remote.

Rear connectivity is good, offering ample scope for hooking up to both high- and standard-def displays (ideal in a multi-screen environment). There's an HDMI output alongside component jacks, plus RGB scart, S-video and composite.

Audio outputs include digital coaxial and electrical, plus a bank of phono connectors. The latter are particularly important, as these are the only connectors you can use to access the multichannel linear PCM soundtracks, which deliver BD's premium audio format. Linear PCM is too much of a data hog to travel through the conventional digital outputs or the supplied HDMI connector. For that you would need HDMI v1.3.

The analogue outputs need to be run into an amp or receiver with a matching bank of phono audio inputs. Typically these are labelled up for DVD Audio or Super Audio CD connection.

Although BD is a fundamentally different technology to DVD, in use it's much the same, including the provision of a Setup button to configure the player for your display and audio system. It's all fairly straightforward.

Controlling the unit is a surprisingly chunky remote. Although I was originally a bit dismissive about its big-button design I must confess that it is at least easy to use. However, out of the box I found its control codes clashed immediately with a resident Panasonic DVD recorder. It is possible to change these codes if you have a similar problem.

Powered-up, the player proudly proclaims its BD status via an onscreen logo, but feed it a disc and, like other HD disc players we've seen, taking some time to read and play. Typically it needs about 30 seconds to get on with the show, from the time a disc is sucked into its guts to when video appears onscreen.

The DMP-BD10 is widely compatible with other disc and file formats. In addition to DVD and CD, it'll play multichannel DVD-Audio, RAM recordings, MP3 and JPEG-strewn CD-R/RWs and even VCD. However, it won't recognise WMA files, DivX or Super Audio CD.

Panasonic has made much of the player's ability to spruce up both CD and DVD, via either up-scaling or remastering, both of which use smart-Alec interpolation techniques to guild their respective lilies.