Sharp announces AQUOS BD-HP20U Blu-ray player for US
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 6th 2007 10:11AM
posted Sep 6th 2007 10:11AM
Looks like those whispers we heard about Sharp's forthcoming announcement of (yet another) Blu-ray player were true, as the firm has chosen CEDIA as the locale to introduce the US market to its slim-profile AQUOS BD player." The BD-HP20U will be the first product "outside of the Sharp LCD suite to carry the AQUOS name," and will feature HDMI 1.3, 1080p24 support, AQUOS LINK, component outputs, compatibility with the lossless audio formats, and 1080p upscaling of vanilla DVDs. According to Sharp, the unit itself will boast a "piano black finish with one of the slimmest designs in the industry," and if all goes as planned, we should actually see this one hit shelves later this month for $549.99.
Wish the specs had told us whether that "piano black finish" makes the player compatible with BD-J and the final BD profile specs. My guess is no.
How about some dual format love, too?
You might double check, but I only saw one lossless audio codec stated in the press release. Looks like we may have to wait longer for DTS-HD MA, or do you know something we don't?