Onkyo Announces First HD DVD Player

Onkyo has announced its first HD DVD player, offering HDMI 1.3a and support for lossless surround sound formats for $899.

Audio and video electronics maker Onkyo has formally announced its first HD DVD Player, the DV-HD805. And rather than battle with Toshiba for the entry level of the HD DVD player market, Onkyo is instead going for the high end, offering HDMI 1.3a connectivity and support for lossless surround sound audio formats to bolster even the tweakiest home theaters.

Part of the irony of Onkyo’s DV-HD805 is that it’s reportedly licensed from Toshiba’s high-end HD-XE1 HD DVD player—currently available in Europe—albeit with a new face and a few Onkyo-inspired changed. Onkyo has tweaked the HD805 to complement its line of A/V receivers, both of which sport HDMI 1.3a connections, enabling even the fussiest home theater fans to get 1080p resolution, Deep Color, and high-quality audio from end to end. The HD805 streams lossless surround sound (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HS Master Audio) as well as the "lossy" Dolby Digital Plys and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio. The HD805 is built on the HQV Reon VX chipset and supports 24fps playback (the native format for much HD content), The HD805 also sports an Ethernet jack for popping onto a home network and accessing Internet-enabled content via a home broadband connection and interactive elements which can be included in HD DVD discs (like, say, polls).

Onkyo says the DV-HD805 should be available "in the fall" (we presume they’re talking about the northern hemisphere) at a suggested retail price of $899.