It was only a matter of time, with parent company Onkyo announcing its upcoming
HD-DVD player, but now Onkyo's high-end brand Integra is also entering the next generation DVD format fracas with their DHS-8.8 HD-DVD player ($1100, coming in the fourth quarter). The unit was on display at CEDIA Expo in Denver last week.
Specs on the player are very similar to Toshiba's
HD-XA2 (they should be, since they share the same platform), but the Integra includes some enhancements such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD bitstream out via HDMI as well as 1080p/24fps (frames/second) support (a.k.a. "1080/24p").
These new features are expected to be available for the HD-XA2 later this year in firmware upgrades, but the Integra player will have them right out of the box.
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| Look familar? Yeah, it's pretty much identical to Toshiba's HD-XA2 in appearance, but with an Integra badge on it. |
The Integra features high-end Wolfson and Burr-Brown 192 KHz/24-bit audio DACs (Digital Analog Converters) for higher quality sound from CDs and DVDs, via the 2-channel or 5.1-channel analog outputs. Like the HD-XA2, the DHS-8.8 also includes the Reon-VX video processing chip from Silicon Optix, so it should do an excellent job upconverting standard DVDs to 1080p resolution.
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| Integra's DTR-8.8 features Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding from an HDMI bitstream. |
Also at the Integra booth in Denver were receivers in their new line, several of which support Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding. Pair one of these receivers with the DHS-8.8 and you'll be in some kind of High Def Nirvana with high quality lossless multi-channel sound, and 1080p/24 or 1080p/60 full high definition video.
Yes exciting times are ahead for high definition videophiles and audio aficionados!
