Vizio has made a major dent in budget-priced flat-panel TVs, and now it has turned its attention to Blu-ray. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, the company flaunted its VBR100 Blu-ray player, which is coming out in April at an announced retail price of $199. That means discounters should be selling it in the $150-$175 range.

But the best part is that, unlike other budget Blu-ray players now selling for that price, the VBR100 looks as if it will be fully loaded, including the ability to play Web-enabled content (BD Live, aka Profile 2.0). Other features:

* 1080p output
* Up-conversion for standard DVDs
* Built-in decoding for Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and multi-channel PCM (plus Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS)
* 7.1-channel audio output
* Super-slim design

There’s no word yet on how it connects to the Internet, but I’m guessing that it would be a wired connection. As such, wireless capability — as the PlayStation 3 has – would be the only real drawback for this player. But the built-in decoding will make it a great, low-priced option for viewers with older receivers.

Speaking of Blu-ray players, Don Lindich has put together a Blu-ray Player Buying Guide at his Sound Advice blog. It’s a great resource for people looking for all of the inside info before deciding what to buy.Â

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 8:51 am and is filed under DVDs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.