Denon Announces Flagship DVD-3800BDCI Blu-ray Player

Following weeks of rumors, Denon Electronics today announced that its DVD-3800BDCI Blu-ray player will hit stores this fall, including some of the most advanced features yet seen in a next-gen player.

Retailing for $1,999, Denon says the high-end DVD-3800BDCI will be the first Blu-ray player to hit the market with the Realta HQV video processor, which allows for advanced video clean-up of even the best high-def signals.

The deck also includes full 1080p output and decoding for all current high-resolution audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Lossless Master Audio and uncompressed PCM, with output up to 7.1 channels.

But perhaps most exciting for early adopters, the DVD-3800BDCI will be among the first Blu-ray players on the market to support BD-ROM Version 1.1, aka it will boast dual built-in audio/video decoders to take advantage of picture-in-picture content encoded on Blu-ray discs. That will allow the deck to play back In-Movie Experience-type features that have long been a mainstay on the rival HD DVD format. (Though there are currently no Blu-ray titles available that include picture-in-picture features, the major studios are expected to begin announcing discs with such content as players capable of accessing them begin to hit the market.)

Denon has not yet announced an exact street date for the DVD-3800BDCI outside of the fall timeframe. We'll keep you posted as further release information is unveiled.

Stay tuned!

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