Sharp BD-HP20U

Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-ray Disc Player

BD-HP20U Review, by Lincoln Spector May 28, 2008

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• Reviewed by: am_offline

  Strengths: Great Video and Upconversion

  Weaknesses: Does not play all BluRay disc, firmware upgrades needed, slow start up...

  Overall: This is a great BluRay player when and if it works. Often discs will not play and you get "Incompatible Disc", even though they are. You may get lucky by reloading the disc until it plays. Sometimes midway through your movie, it starts to pause the play back or stop playing altogether. The solution is to upgrade the firmware, however if you are on a MAC you are hosed. Why? Well you need to put the update from the Sharp Website on a USB drive, and the drive cannot have anything on it except the update. If you are on a MAC, the MAC will put extra hidden folder data on the USB, so it won't work, it needs to be done with a PC. They should have put the USB port in the front and not the back because it is a pain to get to. I don't know how non-tech savy people survive with this thing.Another issue is that often standard DVD functions, menus, skip, top menu will not work on this player (work fine on other players) and the loading of BluRay and SD DVD can be really slow. Buy this is you own a PC, have a spare empty USB drive, have lots of patience, and are tech savvy enough to know how to find the software update on the Sharp Website, download it to your PC, unzip the firmware update, put that on your USB USB drive, unzip the update, then plug it in to the player and make the update.

• Reviewed by: haleska

  Strengths: High quality audio and video out. Speaker settings function a real plus. Ease of initial set-up. Latest firmware easy to install. Ability to up-convert DVDs is excellent

  Weaknesses: Initial disk read is slow before play can start

  Overall: I already had a Sharp 46" LCD HD Aquos TV which was only missing a HD input from a movie source. When Blu-ray finally won its war, it was time to buy Blu-ray player, and why not from same company as the LCD TV manufacturer. Suggestions - make the front panel play-back progess display larger and tone down the shiny front panel

• Reviewed by: buckalewj

  Strengths: EASY setup menu

  Weaknesses: None so far

  Overall: Took a chance and upgraded from my Sony HD DVD player...and couldn't be happier! Setup was a breeze via the Sharp setup menu. Downloaded the latest firmware version from Sharp (approx 25MB) to my pen drive; Blu-Ray saw the upgrade immediately and it took about ten minutes for the complete upgrade! The picture and sound is amazing...and the price was a great deal. Bought Blu-Ray from 6th Avenue Electronics for about $290 (included a 5% coupon discount) and got free shipping. So...take a look at the Sharp BD-HP20U...it's a quality product for the price. Would I spend the $290 again for this product...yes!!!

• Reviewed by: SteveFL2008

  Strengths: 1) Integration with my Sharp 52in Aquos and Harmony remote2) Picture equal to PS3

  Weaknesses: 1) Slower loading than PS32) Will not play some DVD's3) Upconvert does not format to maximize TV (4 black bars)4) Not all DVD menus work

  Overall: I wanted to replace my PlayStation3, Toshiba (upconvert)DVD player with one unit that would integrate with my Sharp TV and Harmony remote. The PlayStation3 and Toshiba load faster. Both have full control of the DVD menu. Both have card slots to upcovert and display photo, PS3 also has a USB for a flash drive. The Toshiba upconverts in a format that maximizes (two black bars) the TV. I am still using the Toshiba for DVD's and the PS3 may be recalled from my daughter?s college apartment. I am hoping that Sharp will update the firmware fixing: the loading speed, format, DVD features and allow the USB to display photos.

• Reviewed by: crossflc

  Strengths: fast loading, amazingly sharp picture, amazing sound

  Weaknesses: can hang up if a blu ray is used and dirty with fingerprints.

  Overall: This is an Awesome Blu Ray player. Played the brand new Hellboy perfectly. I had to clean fingerprints off of a previously viewed copy of Spider-man 3, then that played great. It loads its high def discs way faster than my HD A1 and HD A2 Toshiba HD DVD players ever did. If you get a player that doesn't work, try updating the firmware on the internet. You'll need some kind of USB hard drive or USB flash drive to do so. Your user manual will tell you how. If that doesn't work take it back to the store and replace it with another one and hopefully that one will work like a charm. Awesome player!!!!!!!!!