Budget Blu-ray Player On The Horizon February 18, 2008

Read more Blu-ray , Entertainment , Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , HD , HD DVD , HDTV , Movies

We’ve heard a lot about cheap and budget HD DVD movie players over the past year but dedicated Blu-ray players have been consistently overpriced.

Now, French outfit Sigmatek is planning to launch a budget Blu-ray player in April for £185. The new SBR-1000 would finally put Blu-ray players in the same price orbit as some of Toshiba’s HD DVD models. As news goes, it’s just more bad news for the HD DVD camp, which has always been able to boast about having cheaper hi-def movie players. Here’s what’s on offer:

* Output Resolution: 1080p (24/60) / 720p
* HDMI Version: 1.3
* Audio Decoding: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS, MP3
* Media Support: BD-Rom/DVD/VCD/CD/CD-R/DVD+R (RW)
* Video Output: HDMI/Component/Composite
* Audio Output: Coaxial

The Blu-ray laser inside the SBR-1000 is one of the new, low-cost ones developed by Sony with Nichia, which will also appear in forthcoming laptop and PC Blu-ray drivers.-Martin Lynch

[Blu-ray.com]

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