Sharp brings its first Blu-Ray player to the US
updated 09:05 am EDT, Thu September 6, 2007
Sharp BD-HP20U
Joining in the announcements made during the CEDIA expo, Sharp today revealed its intent to launch its first AQUOS Blu-Ray player in the US. The BD-HP20U keeps in tune with its European equivalent, the BD-HP20S, and outputs its 1080p image with HDMI 1.3 for deep color support and the ability to scale back its frame rate to 24 FPS for some movies. CEC support also lets the player control other supporting devices over HDMI, such as turning on a TV and setting its input to the Blu-Ray player.
The company's inaugural player is compatible with user-made Blu-Ray movies as well as DVDs and will upscale the latter up to 1080p on the right TV. Audio support extends to Dolby's 7.1-channel TrueHD when attached through HDMI and Dolby Digital Plus for more conventional surround sound. The US edition of the player is due this month and now has a fixed price of $550.
