Onkyo announced the August release of the $599 BD-SP809 Blu-ray player with THX certification and 3D capability. In addition to Blu-ray movies, the BD-SP809 also handles WMA, MP3 and DivX HD files via the disc drive or a user-supplied USB thumb drive. The player is DLNA 1.5 certified, thus users can connect the BD-SP809 to their home network in order to access video, photos or music. Network connection requires hard-wired via the Ethernet port, as there is no indication of Wi-Fi connectivity.
The BD-SP809 offers access to streaming services including Netflix, VUDU, Blockbuster On Demand and Film Fresh. The player offers 1080p upscaling as well as two HDMI outputs. Two outputs are useful for simultaneously connecting a 3D HDTV for regular television watching and a 1080p projector for feature films. The BD-SP809 also offers support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
The $599 BD-SP809 from Onyko has stiff competition at that price point from the $499 Oppo BDP-93 in terms of 3D reference quality. The BD-SP809 is also competing with 3D Blu-ray players with significantly expanded access to more streaming services like Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, Crackle, Flickr, Pandora and sports packages like MLB.tv, NHL Gamecenter Live or NBA Gametime. These Blu-ray players often have Wi-Fi connectivity to eliminate the need for direct router access.
