Sharp Aquos BD-HP21U Review
Sharp may have a lemon on its hands with this Blu-ray model. We saw several customer complaints about this product, and Sharp apparently has discontinued it and suspended firmware updates, although it's still available from some national and local vendors. This is a profile 1.1 Blu-ray player, so it doesn't support BD-Live. However, like all 1.1 players, it will still support BonusView for Blu-ray discs that have this feature.
Sharp's Aquos BD-HP21U didn't fare very well among professional reviewers or among users. A Sharp Aquos BD-HP21U review on PC World notes that the video quality of Aquos BD-HP21U isn't up to par with other players, and it also suffers from slow load times.
It appears that Sharp has pulled the plug on this product. The company no longer features it on its Web site, and there appear to be no firmware updates available despite the fact that you can still buy this model online.
You'll find the usual basic features in this Blu-ray player that appear in most: an HDMI port, component output, and an optical digital audio output. Because this player is a profile 1.1 player, it doesn't support the BD-Live feature. However, it does support the usual high-quality audio formats, including Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD.
Sharp generally makes pretty decent products, but this particular Blu-ray player seems to be a "miss". We saw too many user complaints and found other shortcomings to recommend it. And given that Sharp no longer seems to support the product, take that as a hit to consider another player.
Other Recommended Blu Ray Players
Panasonic DMP-BD60K
This budget Blu-ray player garners lots of positive reviews for its picture quality, easy firmware updates, and ease of setup and use. It may not have all the bells and whistles of other players, such as Netflix streaming, but we found fewer complaints about this model than many others. A 2.0 profile player, it supports Panasonic's Viera Cast feature, which lets you connect to the Web to access YouTube videos and view online photos via Picasa. Read more »
Sony BDP-S360
Although a few people report problems playing DVDs on this model, most users are very satisfied despite its lack of some video streaming features; professional reviewers also praise its picture quality. It's a good player for high-end audio as well, with support for Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD audio formats. And because it's a profile 2.0 player, you can access extra BD-Live content on Blu-ray movies that support this feature. Read more »
Samsung BD-P1600
Samsung's BD-P1600 player isn't without its problems. It receives good marks from professional reviewers, but some customers note issues replaying some Blu-ray movies, and a handful of players stopped working prematurely. But when it does work, it works well. This is a 2.0 profile player that also supports Netflix and Pandora, a couple of nice extras at this price that aren't available in our top two picks. The BD-P1600 also supports many audio formats, including DTS-HD, Dolby Digital TrueHD, and Dolby Digital Plus. Read more »
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