News and Show Reports
CES: VIZIO to offer Blu-ray Player with BD-Live for $199 (VBR100)
By Chris Boylan
2009-01-13 04:15:01

Upstart California HDTV maker, VIZIO is expanding their product line with their first Blu-ray Disc player, coming to stores and online vendors this Spring for a list price of just $199.99. On display at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas last week, the VBR100 is not just a bare bones model. It will support Bonus View (BD-ROM Profile 1.1) and BD-Live (BD-ROM Profile 2.0) right out of the box as well as including on-board decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio to both multi-channel PCM and multi-channel (7.1) analog audio outputs.

The player outputs resolutions of up to 1080p (1920x1080 pixels progressive) from Blu-ray Discs, as well as selectable 720p/1080i/1080p upconversion from standard DVDs over its HDMI 1.3 output. A 24-bit/192kHz audio Digital to Analog Converter handles all of the latest surround sound formats including Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS-HD Master Audio, and multi-channel PCM. In addition to Blu-ray Discs, the player supports playback of standard definition DVDs, video DVD-R and DVD-RW, standard CDs, audio CD-R and CD-RW, plus MP3 CDs.

VIZIO's VBR-100 Blu-ray player will support DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD decoding as well as BD-Live right out of the box.

The player measures in at a svelte 17x11x2 inches (WxDxH) which should make it a comfortable fit in virtually any A/V rack or cabinet. The VBR100 is expected in stores this April.