Home Theatre and DUO Player
Next up is the ‘Home Theatre in a Box’, which is pretty much what it says…. It’s a home theatre set-up made simple. This harks back to the connectivity and content ethos, the idea being you get a high level of functionality without needing a degree in home networking or audio cabling.With a compact, dual-layout chassis and a clean, modern design, the 2.1-channel HT-X710 and the 5.1-channel HT-X715 easily integrate into most any home theater. Bluetooth capability makes it easy to connect and control. 5.8GHz wireless-ready functionality on the HT- X715 offers the opportunity of upgrading to convenient and clean wireless home theater system. Additionally, the HDMI-CEC and 1080p upconversion features optimize the viewing experience.
The HT-X710 and HT-X715 will be available in May 2008.
But all this HD goodness and home theatre wonderfulnessability (just to make Bob cringe at my murdering of the English language) is no good unless you’ve got yourself a decent source to hook up to everything. So here’s Samsung’s BD-UP5500 next-generation Duo HD player which brings both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats in one device. Featuring an HDMI 1.3 connection, which Samsung says allows for expanded color and surround sound through one cable, there’s also CEC functionality to let users to manage an entire home theater with only one remote. For added convenience, the BD-UP5500 features an easy-to-read display and direct touch controls.
With the latest BD-Java and HD DVD interactivity available, the BD-UP5500 lets you make the most of the new features on both HD formats and, using the BD-UP5500’s ethernet connection, users will be able to experience an array of viewing options with numerous movies from online partners such as Bongo, as well as download new firmware to easily upgrade the player’s capabilities.
The BD-UP5500 supports the latest audio decoding with 7.1-Ch PCM, DTS-HD High Resolution and Master audio, and Dolby TrueHD Bistream output via HDMI 1.3 and let’s not forget it’s also a fully-functioning DVD and CD player.