CeBIT Panasonic will ship its first Blu-ray Disc player in Europe in the Autumn, the consumer electronics giant said today, providing a timeframe for the next-generation optical disc format's roll-out in the Old World. It also announced single- and dual-layer recordable and rewriteable blank BD media, all designed to work with 2x speed drives.

The single- and dual-layer discs provide 25GB and 50GB of raw storage capacity, respectively.

Worryingly, Panasonic's press statement warned: "Specifications are subject to changes without notice!" We hope the exclamation mark indicates this a humorous reference to the recent shenanigans with the AACS copy-protection specification not being finalised in the timeframe anticipated by both the Blu-ray and HD DVD camps. If not, BD may take even longer to come to market than anticipated...

Whatever, Panasonic's media announcement comes a few days after Sony made a similar announcement, though while Sony put a date on its single-layer BD-RE and BD-R disc debuts - March and April 2006, respectively - Panasonic preferred not to. Presumably, it's waiting to get dual-layer product ready, something even Sony couldn't say when it would offer in Europe. ®