Sharp might intro, yet again, another Blu-ray player

by Matt Burns, posted Aug 30th 2007 at 12:26PM

This might be the last time we report on a Sharp Blu-ray player launch as it will be the fifth announced model (BD-MPC70, BD-HD1000, BD-MPC10, BD-HP1 & BD-HP20S), but yet, where are they? We have yet to see a Sharp Blu-ray player on any shelf -- virtual or physical for that matter. CEDIA is next week and an insider is reporting via AVS Forum that a $499 player should drop. Deets are somewhat sketchy, but the good money is on that the player is either going to be the BD-HP20S or something very close to it. This means the unit should be slim with supposedly quick load times, equipped with HDMI 1.3 support; still no word on profile 1.0 or 1.1 though. Hopefully all these details will be cleared up at CEDIA next week, or maybe sooner at IFA, but if this player launches and doesn't hit the market -- we're done.

Filed under: Blu-ray, Sharp

Tags: bd-hp20s, cedia, hdmi 1.3, Hdmi1.3, ifa, sharp

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Low Ranked

Dave @ Aug 30th 2007 1:01PM

Yeah! Go Blu-ray!!!!!!!!

Neutral

Kris @ Aug 30th 2007 1:10PM

yeah.. and HD DVD "might" win the format war.. is news really news when the word "might" is involved? Geeze, 2 new posts today on new Blu-ray players, one overseas even though you won't count overseas HD DVD import releases.. the 2nd nothing more than "might" speculation, what a joke you guys are. Was funny to hear Ben mock XZZY in his podcast about engadgetbd.com but you guys know its true. Where's the news on the new HD DVD players? AVS reported Sharp "might" announce an HD DVD player at Cedia and also that there "might" be another Chinese HD DVD player coming besides Venturer, yet none of that gets posted.. keep drinking your blu cool aid!

Neutral

Dave @ Aug 30th 2007 1:53PM

IFA HD-DVD announcements tomorrow. Keep your shirt on.

;)

Neutral

pimpdee976 @ Aug 30th 2007 2:58PM

According to a published report, Venturer has revealed pricing for its recently-announced SHD7000 HD DVD Player.

As we first reported yesterday, budget electronics manufacturer Venturerplans to release a value-priced HD DVD player ahead of the holiday shopping.
ADVERTISEMENT

Today, DVD Town is reporting that according to a Venturer rep, the deck will be made available at a record-low suggested retail price $199.

As we've previously reported, the player's announced specs include 1080i video output via HDMI and Dolby TrueHD support.

No word yet on a release date, nor whether the deck will be carried by Wal-Mart, Venturer's largest North American retail partner. Stay tuned...

Neutral

JeffDM @ Aug 31st 2007 2:54PM

pimpdee, don't be lame and copy & paste an unrelated story to other stories. I see you've done it at least twice now.

Neutral

Xyzzy @ Aug 30th 2007 3:59PM

"Was funny to hear Ben mock XZZY in his podcast about engadgetbd.com but you guys know its true."

Wow, I made it into the Podcast? I might actually have to listen...

But yes, it's true. I've submitted three articles for consideration over the past 15 hours or so, complete with writeups to become a full-time writer on the blog. Haven't heard anything.

One article mentioned that Fox is joining Disney and Lions Gate to release HD content on Xbox Live Marketplace. Guess what? You can buy a 360/HD DVD add-on drive and watch almost all of the movies in HD if you want.

Another article was about BDA members being asked about "financial incentives" in remaining exclusive to BD, and everyone passed the mic around and said, "No comment." You mean BD-exclusive studios are getting kickbacks, yet BD fanboys cry that Paramount may have gotten some incentives?

I don't remember what the third article was about offhand... But it was also pro-HD DVD, so you'll never see it here (or if you do, it will have a Blu slant like 90% of the other HDM articles).

Neutral

domerdel @ Aug 30th 2007 5:00PM

Xyzzy:

I've been following your posts (moreso just spectating). You and a few others have very thorough information in regards to level of depth what HD-DVD has to offer, and you make some strong arguments in your case(s)...

However, you tend to feel an inbalance/variance in HD articles, rather the term "EngadgetBD" was conceived. I rather than suggesting to be a writer for Engadget, perhaps you need to look at the source and the marketing campaigns for HD-DVD.. Blu-ray, over the majority of news, just gets more PR, it has a stronger marketing campaign (but I will admit to the non-videophiles, the PR on Paramount and Dreamworks raises a brow).

I even remember you proclaiming all the benefits to owning 300 on HD-DVD because of all the extra features, and after sales numbers came out, that didn't convince a swing for HD-DVD to come on top (blu-ray outsold hd-dvd in this case).

Trying to make sense of this statement:
"One article mentioned that Fox is joining Disney and Lions Gate to release HD content on Xbox Live Marketplace. Guess what? You can buy a 360/HD DVD add-on drive and watch almost all of the movies in HD if you want."

Why would you need the HD-DVD add-on? How does this support your argument for HD-DVD?

Another statement:
Another article was about BDA members being asked about "financial incentives" in remaining exclusive to BD, and everyone passed the mic around and said, "No comment." You mean BD-exclusive studios are getting kickbacks, yet BD fanboys cry that Paramount may have gotten some incentives?

--- Guess what? BDA members aren't lawyers, so they don't want the mass media to recompile what they say (That game telephone you used to play)... and if you call target end caps an incentive, it's not, thats called RETAIL, people sell end cap space all the time.

Last, I hope to see more discussion from you in supporting your side, but let's look at the basics of context... look at your post. You posted Pro-HDDVD propaganda in an article of blu-ray product that doesn't speak politics. Even my response here is out of context, but you've got to stop making yourself look desperate and try to convince people there's another format out there, it's just one is getting more PR in cycles, and I've seen several HD-DVD articles on here. Let it be my friend, Let it be..

Neutral

JeffDM @ Aug 30th 2007 4:43PM

"A $499 player should drop". Yes, as in, it should drop by $200 in price. The BR premium might be acceptable to a good portion of the early adopters, but I think it's silly to expect that's going to hold.

Neutral

andres @ Aug 30th 2007 6:02PM

"Trying to make sense of this statement:
"One article mentioned that Fox is joining Disney and Lions Gate to release HD content on Xbox Live Marketplace. Guess what? You can buy a 360/HD DVD add-on drive and watch almost all of the movies in HD if you want."

Why would you need the HD-DVD add-on? How does this support your argument for HD-DVD?"

I'll field that one. The reasoning is this. IF you have an xbox 360 you can purchase the Add-on and be open to the world of HD-dvd.

Also since Disney, Fox, and Lions Gate are now selling HD versions of there films (only avaliable on Blu-ray) you now no longer have a need to buy a blu-ray player since at this moment in time. Those that have the 360 with add-on are exposed to more HD movies then those that are sitting on the fence, those that are blu-ray only, and those that are HD-Dvd only but with out a 360.

Neutral

Fezmid @ Aug 30th 2007 6:32PM

@domerdel:

First, Andres answered the Xbox360/HD DVD statement. If you have that combo, you can get HD content from all of the studios except for Sony. I have a standalone player and a 360, so I can download and watch Fox, Disney, and Lions Gate films if I want. Granted, they're not all on the Marketplace yet, but they probably will be.

"You posted Pro-HDDVD propaganda in an article of blu-ray product that doesn't speak politics"

Well, the only reason I posted in this thread is because Kris commented that Ben was mocking me in the Podcast (which I've never listened to). If you look at my history, you'll see that I generally keep things on topic, and this is indirectly ontopic based on Kris' comment. In addtion, it's hard to comment on the HD DVD news I talked about because this site rarely posts about those things. There's not a single mention of HD DVD on the front page (yet 20% of the posts are about Blu-Ray...). That's where "EngadgetBD.com" comes from -- this site finds every obscure article about Blu-Ray (even if it's just a rant by Michael Bay) and puts it up, but rarely posts anything aside from the biggest news about HD DVD. Even when they DO post HD DVD news, it almost always has a BD slant. For example:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/08/22/michael-bay-drinks-the-kool-aid-now-supports-hd-dvd/

If you actually look at the article, Bay is saying that he was drinking the BLU-RAY Kool Aid, but after being shown '300' on HD DVD, he's now firmly behind the decision. The author of the post has a total BD slant on it making it sound like Bay is drinking the HD DVD Kool Aid and that he's a sellout. That MAY be true, but Bay's post (the guy this is all about) doesn't come CLOSE to even IMPLYING that.

As for the incentives I mentioned -- there were a couple of posts on the site when Paramount allegedly received some incentives (even though there's NO proof at all -- the only reference is to an "anonymous source" from the New York Times, and we all know how credible they've been over the past few years). This "no comment" from the BDA is JUST as interesting as that "anonymous source," yet there's no mention of it on the site. Again, more "EngadgetBD.com" evidence.

Want even more? Why hasn't there been any posts about the new Denon BD player being delayed until next year? Oh, and the reason for the delay? I've read multiple reports that Profile 1.1 won't be ready this fall like the BDA initially said. Gee, more waiting from the Blu-Crew. Any posts about the delay? No.

This goes well beyond PR. This site pretty much only reports pro-BD news and anti-HD DVD news (or pro HD DVD news that they turn into negative news, like the Michael Bay story, or the article about HD DVD being desperate because they were selling $99 players to people at a trade show, a common practice in the industry).

I'm not the only one who sees this site has Blu borders, and I think you'd be hard pressed to say that it's not true.

Neutral

domerdel @ Aug 31st 2007 11:05AM

Fezmid or Xyzzy:

I appreciate all your elaborate responses, but at times (when they get too lengthy) you sort of remind me of a hippie with a picketing in front of a corporate office "stop the conformists".. I'm not one to really do name calling, and I don't mean to go to that low level... I am just out of constructive analogies.

once again, getting back to PiP/interaction/extra features/etc... quite frankly (for the time being) the market has spoken... people don't care. It's not the primary reason for buying movies, and the 300 blu-ray sales over hd-dvd is one of many major factors that prove that.

HD-DVD has ALWAYS been the underdog, so some of it's business deals are mistaken as acts of desperation. I will say this, the Paramount and Dreamworks CONFIRMED PAID INCENTIVES (No, not rumors, or speculation), show a great deal towards an act of desperation upon the situation for HD-DVD...but they need it, and it will serve them well for the time being.

About the workaround for watching disney flicks on Xbox live marketplace... congrats, you found a great loop hole to watch this (no saracasm). However, this will not serve a marginal market to capture disney flicks for the average-joe HD-DVD fan. However, it is forshadowing post-medium format wars... downloadable content... but for those who believe of getting a 360 and then adding on a HD-DVD and using market place, that definitely works for you, but not for the vast majority.

HD-DVD guys will gribe about BD-J and production costs... quite frankly, you aren't keeping up on the news, these aren't factors anymore, and when you get in the 10-100 thousand numbers of discs, the margin is hardly a factor in production cost (but consumer buying blanks still is, but that's no surprise).

As for 1.0 profile, that is something in the works as well, can't deny that... but for a specification that's not quite there AND sales are still beating HD-DVD 2:1... once that's in place, and prices come down... what's HD-DVD's next leap?

BD laser aperture is much larger than the one found on HD-DVD, giving it a higher bitrate for video, and not to mention the space on a dual layer disc, is a definite bonus for "extra features" to come, and also will help for more TV shows , and minimize the amount of discs that come with a box set. And wait, there's more... in testing phase (labs), BD is working on 100gb and 200gb disc (still years out, but thinking ahead)...

So, don't blame engadget when a product is launched about blu-ray and they're writing an article... they do the exact same about HD-DVD. and there have been childish articles on BD like the tech analyst Rob (Something) who said BD had already lost (the guy who thought apple would be dead by now since 1995)... even HD-DVD guys hate him... but guess what? this is BLOG NEWS. quite frankly, if you don't like it, don't read it...

In summary, Blu-ray is superior in sales with mandated specs in the works... and once those are finalized will build a stronger forecast for blu-ray that you can't deny.

****ATTENTION ALL HD-DVD SUPPORTERS****
When a product article is written about blu-ray don't post a product article about HD-DVD underneath, if it were politics that would be different, but I only speak for myself if the same was done for HD-DVD product news, I'm not going to take away the spotlight on that article.

Neutral

joe @ Aug 30th 2007 6:56PM

Fezmid- You remind me of the socialists I met in college. They spun and spun facts, blowing them out of proportion and ignoring facts that supported the 'other' side because well the people on the 'other' side do it.

You ARE introducing bias into articles and reviews. Engadget recently announced the new low cost HD-DVD player with little fanfare, the Bay comment was around on all the tech blogs like that and you are faulting a blog for referencing the NEW YORK TIMES. As much as you claim a bias the NYT is unaffiliated and respectable compared to EVERY tech blog.

I haven't seen a product delay announcement since the launch of the format. They are non-news issues now unless they are significant products. It's not like the Denon player was going to be any different from any other player.

Just because everyone can see bias in one side of an argument doesn't mean they don't think your a dick for doing the same thing.

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