Tascam announced the second generation of its BD-MP1 professional Blu-ray player. With a feature set and “intuitive” operation, the company says the new BD-MP1MKII is designed for high-end residential and commercial installations, including educational lecture halls, meeting spaces, theatres, dining facilities, retail stores and more.

Tascam says the compact, 1U rack-mountable BD-MP1MKII supports a wide range of media formats via Blu-ray, DVD and CD discs, and can play many video, still image and audio formats from SD cards and USB memory devices. Since SD cards with a maximum capacity of 512 gigabytes (SDXC) are now supported, users can access significantly more data than with the original model.

The Tascam player boasts a Power-On Play function, enabling playback to commence automatically upon power-up. Combined with repeat playback, audio/video will start, loop and play continuously until the system power is turned off. This allows content to be made available without keeping a constant eye on the unit. A repeat function is also available, which can be defined by chapter, title or A–B range.

Tascam says another notable feature of the BD-MP1MKII is the ability to display a black screen on the monitor during startup rather than the manufacturer’s setup screen and source selection menus. The function also hides status messages (Play, Pause, etc.) on the monitor during normal operation, helping to avoid any unwanted visual distractions in both situations.

The BD-MP1MKII offers a host of outputs, including professional XLR connectors and RCA connectors for stereo signals, a seven-channel output array for 7.1 surround sound systems and an HDMI output, which can pass audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD to an AV amplifier. There’s also a coaxial digital audio output for Dolby Audio, DTS and other professional formats.

The BD-MP1MKII can be controlled remotely via LAN or RS-232C. To prevent accidental changes to settings or unauthorized use, the front panel and tray can be locked as an IR remote control operation.