Sharp BD-HP20H Blu-ray player lands in the UK next week

£399 for the company's first UK BD offering

27 September 2007 11:55 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Sharp has come in for some industry grumbles for not actually releasing its Blu-ray players outside of Japan, but all that is about to change as we can reveal that the BD-HP20H, announced at IFA as the BD-HP20S, will be available in the UK from next week, possibly as early as Monday.

The slimline, piano black BD-HP20H will provide 1080p resolution for both BD discs and will upscale ordinary DVDs as well as a 24p progressive scan process which is the same frequency in which the films were recorded.

To counter complaints of next-gen player's slowness, this model offers "Quick Start" which promises playback "within seconds" and offers full Blu-ray Java support.

A thin 6.8cm and boasting glossy black and glass finish, this has good looks aplenty to back up all that tech-spec and will look just peachy next to your AQUOS TV - especially as the player will work with AQUOS LINK CEC technology.

Other specs to note are the energy saving features, support for HD sound formats with 5.1 output, HDMI 1.3 and playback of DVD-R, CD-R, DVD-RW and CD-RW discs.

The Sharp will be on sale in the UK for £399, matching the price of Sony's cheapest standalone offering.