Sharp BD-HP17U

Blu-ray technology first appeared as something that surpasses the capabilities of DVD technology, but many consumers didn’t really take the technology seriously until their television screens got bigger supporting 1080p content and the quality of the DVD titles didn’t take full advantage of the video and audio. Now these Blu-ray players are on the rise and not all need to be highly expensive like the Sharp BD-HP17U Blu-ray player. Designed to be a perfect match when paired any AQUOS LCD TV, the Sharp BD-HP17U delivers all of the core features that are needed to enjoy the high definition experience and comes with a few extras to make it a suitable replacement for any DVD player.

Sharp BD-HP17U | Player Details

Design

The Sharp BD-HP17U Blu-ray player sports a solid black finish having just minimal buttons on the front. All that can be found are the power, play, stop, and pause buttons on the left side. The LCD display found on the near center is small enough to perfectly squeeze in the playback time. On the right side is a tray for the disc that can be opened by pressing the open/close button just left of it. Although this layout doesn’t make the BD-HP17U very unique, the Blu-ray disc logo on the center adds a nice touch since it is placed in a circular outline that emits a blue light when turned on.

The back of the player is quite simple as well having a single HDMI out, digital, BD terminal, Ethernet terminal, and standard output jacks. A useful design aspect is the dedicated cable holder where the HDMI cable passes through so it is secure with some slack and without pressing weight on the terminal.

Features

Because of the simplistic design, one of the main highlights of the Sharp BD-HP17U Blu-ray player is that it is very simple to set up. With the HDMI output, a single HDMI cable is required to link the TV and the Blu-ray player in order for it to transmit both audio and video signals in their highest quality. This kind of setup ensures that video is played back at the highest resolution possible at 1080p all progressively scanned. Blu-ray titles load quickly thanks to the “Quick Start” feature allowing the average title to load in less than 10 seconds.

The audio quality backs up the top resolution supporting up to 7.1 channel digital surround. It is powered by the Dolby TrueHD format which means clearer audio due to the lossless approach. This means that it is possible to experience the real life effects of any movie title in master recording quality.

The BD-HP17U can also take advantage of some of the extra features offered in selected Blu-ray titles. If the title has the BD Live logo and an Ethernet connection to the Internet is hooked up to the player, extra content can be accessed including extra scenes, games, previews, and anything else that is included. The Bonus View function allows the special features to be displayed on a smaller screen (Picture-in-Picture) so both the features and movie scenes can be witnessed.

DVD titles that lack the benefits of Blu-ray discs can still be watched at a higher quality than when played back in ordinary players because of the backwards compatibility of the HP17U. DVD playback can be upscaled to 1080p through HDMI with some fair improvements to the sound quality as well. Other discs like CDs can also be played too even if there are images or videos inside as it has a built-in JPEG viewer. This viewer can play back images in a slideshow fashion.

The Sharp BD-HP17U Blu-ray player can be used to fullest when connected to any 1080p display, but it works best when coupled with AQUOS TVs as the player includes the AQUOS PURE MODE which automatically optimizes the color settings be directly communicating with the TV.

Bottom Line

The Sharp BD-HP17U Blu-ray player is a great first Blu-ray player to get considering its price at around $250 and the very simple approach of getting it set up. In addition, it has sufficient features that it has to finally enjoy favorite movie titles at home theater quality. Even people that do not have a huge Blu-ray collection can still benefit from the compatibility features.

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