Just in time for Christmas, Sharp has released a couple of Blu-ray HDD recorders. The BD-HDW20 sports a 1 TB HDD and the ability to record to BD-R discs whilst it’s little brother the BD-HDW15 only 500 GB of HDD. I’m a bit bemused as to why Sharp have not offered the ability to record to re-writable BD-RE discs on these machines, their non-HDD recorders the BD-AV1 and BD-AV10 both sport this functionality so why not have it on the HDD recorders?

These puppies have a lightening fast 0.8 second start-up time, gold-plated HDMI ports no less, Dolby HD sound, i-Link connectivity and the 1 TB model can record up to 127 hours of glorious hi-def TV. Both units are able to record to lowly DVD-RW/R and DVD-R DL discs as well in case you wanna go ‘retro’ ;)

Unfortunately Sharp are only planning to release these suckers in Japan at the moment, on the 1st of December for the equivalent of US$1,730 for the 500 GB unit and US$2,600 for the 1 TB big boy. So come on Sharp give the rest of world’s hi-def enthusiasts some Christmas cheer and get these suckers on Santa’s sleigh.

Source: I4U

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More news from the IFA 2007 in Berlin - Sharp announced the launch of their first dedicated Blu-Ray player outside of Japan. The BD-HP20S will appear in Europe sometime in the autumn and in the US not long after, presumably in time for it to be found in a number of Christmas stockings across the country.

In terms of spec there’s nothing amazing in the BD-HP20S, just the usual suspects, 1080p res, 5.1 audio, HDMI 1.3, support for Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD etc. It plays well with other Sharp devices that conform to their CEC control standard and offers ‘Quick Start’ which provides playback ‘within seconds’ - this is to counter the oft touted ’slow start’ criticism of Blu-Ray players. The sucker has a nice slim line look to it, measuring a mere 2.7 inches from top to bottom and should fit snugly into most entertainment units.

Unfortunately there’s no pricing available but I would imagine that this puppy won’t be setting you back too much and could be added to even the most frugal of Christmas present shopping lists.

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With the NFL season and the Rugby World Cup just around the corner, Sharp has just provided the sports fan with the ultimate excuse for purchasing a new HD TV. Their latest range of 1080p LCD TVs, the D64U not only boast a contrast ratio of 10,000:1, a 4 ms response time and a 176 degree viewing angle but

a body that is approximately 25% slimmer than previous AQUOS models and about 20% lighter than previous models. The D64 series also features a thinner bezel, and tight fit stealth speakers, giving consumers the ability to fit larger screens in smaller spaces

Yep, that’s right, you can throw out last year’s that ancient bulky LCD TV and buy one with a bigger screen but takes up less space. How can your better half say no?

Even the price tags seem reasonable - 42 inches at US$2,100, 46 at $2,700 and 52 at $3,800. So go on guys give the AQUOS a whirl, should be delivered just in time for kickoff ;)

Featured tags: aquos lcd tv sharp

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