Electronics manufacturer ezGear has introduced the first product in the company's new line of BluCobra electronics gear. The BluCobra EZ3000 Blu-ray Disc Player is the company's first foray into the high definition disc player market and should satisfy viewers with a host of features.

The company aims to make the EZ3000 a full-featured, affordable option to similarly featured competitor's Blu-ray player models available today. Says Charlie Bernstein, ezGear president: "With the conversion to HDTV almost complete, the demand for affordable Blu-ray players is growing every day.  To date, full-featured Blu-ray players have been too expensive for many consumers.  With the economic challenges facing everyone, ezGear believes American consumers are looking for Blu-ray products they can afford.  With an affordable price and the flexibility of the EZ3000 to connect to virtually any TV or Stereo, ezGear is making it easier for consumers to adopt digital television in 2009."

That sounds great, but with the EZ3000's $399.99 Suggested List Price,  it's a bit difficult to consider the Profile 1.1 (BonusView) player an "affordable" option when Profile 2.0 (BonusView+BD-Live) players from the likes of Sony, Panasonic, and Samsung are already selling well below the $300 mark.

The EZ3000 does offer some nice features right out of the box such as on board decoding of Dolby Digital, MPEG-2 Audio, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and a full array of audio/video outputs including 7.1 analogue multichannel outs and HDMI 1.3. The unit also has component and composite video outputs and supports full 1080p/24 output over HDMI plus 1080i, 720p and 480i video output.  One interesting bonus feature the EZ3000 adds is SACD playback, making it the third confirmed stand-alone Blu-ray player coming to market to support the niche high resolution audiophile format, the other being the Oppo BDP-83 and an upcoming high-end universal player from Denon, each of which goes one better by also adding playback for that other, even more niche high resolution audiophile format, DVD-Audio -- something no Blu-ray player outside of the first-generation Panasonic DMP-BD10 has done.

ezGear has not yet provided a firm date for the player's release, but the company says the player should be available in spring.

More information:

• ezGear.com