CEDIA: Denon's New Blu

Yep, love it or hate it, Blu-ray is springing up all over. Denon showed its "affordable" player, the DVD-1800BD. This profile 1.0 version 1.1 player features HDMI 1.3a output, Deep Color and BonusView support, full bitstream output of Dolby and DTS-HD audio formats, 1080p upscaling from SD DVDs, and 2-channel analog audio output.

The DVD-1800BD will natively output an HD audio bitstream to a connected receiver via HDMI. The receiver can decode this signal into its native format such as Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS HD Master Audio. Not forgetting CD playback, the DVD-1800BD has a dedicated 2-channel analog output with Burr-Brown D/A converters.

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Using the Profile 1 version 1.1 guideline, the player has secondary audio and video decoders. This allows simultaneous playback of a secondary audio and video track which can be used for interactive audio and commentary and for picture-in-picture capability. Additional information such as subtitles and audio streams can be stored on a SD card that the player will accept and play along with Blu-ray movies.

The DVD-1800BD joins Denon's DVD-3800BDCI player ($1,999) and DVD-2500BTCI transport ($1,199). The DVD-1800BD will be available in October, at a list price of $749. -Ken C. Pohlmann

photo: E. Will Greenwald

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