I have no idea if Panasonic had this particular DMR-BR30 on display at CES 2011, but their booth was so huge that it would be easy to overlook.

The DMR-BR30 is planned to hit the Japanese market soon, and it has what most Blu-ray players don’t have: a slot for swappable HDDs.

Unfortunately, you can’t use any HDD, but have to go with Panasonic’s DY-HDD500. That is good for about 500GB, and connects via USB, costing the user about $240. Users can copy video from Blu-ray discs or DVDs to the HDD and vice versa.

The DMR-BR30 supports BDXL and comes with HDMI interface, Ethernet, a digital TV tuner, as well as an SD card slot. It should show up in Japan for approximately $600 on February 25th.

Source