Sharp to intro focused, fast Blu-Ray player

Sharp will introduce a Blu-Ray player later this year which centers only on movie playback. Unlike the company's Japanese AQUOS recorders, the BD-HP20S will strip out DVR tools in favor of advanced movie features. HDMI 1.3 will be standard and should support both deep color on compatible sets as well as uncompressed, 7.1-channel sound such as Dolby's TrueHD standard. Sharp also hopes to wipe out complaints about slow load times: a Quick Start feature will load discs within several seconds rather than the minute or more sometimes seen in other Blu-Ray and HD DVD players.

Germany will receive the HP20S sometime during the fall, which may also include a North American release given the use of English and the lack of high-definition players from the company so far in the West. Pricing was not included in the revelation but should dip well below that of the company's Blu-Ray recorders. [via Blu-Ray]