Sharp chose the blue pill-make that the Blu pill-and ended up a winner in the high-def DVD format war. Of course, so did Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic. But slowpoke players from those companies take anywhere from 60 seconds to (seemingly) 8 weeks just to spin up and reach the title menu. The fleet footed BD-HP20U, however, fires up from standby mode to opening credits in just 15 seconds. When we hooked the player up to Sharp's own 1080p-pumping Aquos LC-46D64U, the player made colors dance and explosions sing. But rabid spec-checkers will almost certainly bemoan the practically obsolete Blu-ray profile 1.0, which leaves out interactive features like picture-in-picture. You can update the BD-HP20U's firmware, but not its profile. Show of hands: anyone care? The war is over; it's time to enjoy the spoils.
Review: Sharp BD-HP20U
Sharp chose the blue pill-make that the Blu pill-and ended up a winner in the high-def DVD format war. Of course, so did Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic. But slowpoke players from those companies take anywhere from 60 seconds to (seemingly) 8 weeks just to spin up and reach the title menu. The fleet footed BD-HP20U, […]
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
WIRED
Quick Start mode begs the question: Why do other Blu-ray players take so freakin' long to load movies? Upscales old-fangled DVDs to 1080p. Supports Dolby TrueHD for lossless digital audio. The remote can also control a Sharp Aquos TV; one less clicker on the coffee table.
TIRED
Silvery façade kinda fugly. No support for DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. (The other lossless-audio white meat.) Quick Start mode disabled out of the box-WTF?. Non-backlit remote scores negative one-million on the style meter. $550 for a DVD player-any DVD player-seems insane in the era of Netflix/iTunes movie downloads.