Panasonic USA Pressroom
What was originally expected to be $499-$599 is now officially $699.
Combine this with the terrible upconversion of BD50's Uniphier chip (same chip BD30 used) and Panasonic's past history of failing to pass 480i over HDMI for external upscaling means I am going to get a Sony 350/550 instead most likely.
$499 was reasonable.
$599 was a bit high.
$699 is a joke, especially with the 550 arriving in August which will have similar featureset and ability to output 480i native to scalers for $499 MSRP.