- Full HD 1080p/24 fps video output
- HDMI digital interface
- Quick Start Mode: enjoy content quickly without delay
I recently reviewed my Sony BDP-S300 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player, which gave me an insurmountable amount of quirkiness. In that review I commented at length about firmware updates (and more updates and more updates) to which finally spelled doom for my player. I also commented on replacing my Sony S300 with my newly purchased Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player. At this point I must say that this Blu-Ray player is exceptional Dolby True HD Sound, HDMI output to 1080p video, etc all the extras without the cost (without a HDMI cord included of course, but most players come without it).
Out of the box, this needed no firmware updates to play even the newest movie I owned (i.e. Superbad [Blu-ray]released the same week as this review) which my Sony BDP-S300 tried to load for 15 minutes before locking up (and this was with firmware 2.6 installed already firmware 3.30 was needed but it couldn't load due to a system error now my old player sits in Pennsylvania at a Sony service center). The load time on the Sharp BDHP20U for SuperBad was about 1-2 minutes, not too bad as you might know some players take much longer. The boot up time from off to on was only about a minute also.
The entire system seemed quick, and not to mention quiet. From the beginning I was completely happy. The system startup was simple enough I connected my HDMI and opened the setup menu to finalize my preferences. In less than 10 minutes of opening the box I was watching a movie that my previous Sony BDP-S300 died attempting to do.
For the money, this is a great player with fairly speedy load time. Compare that to the $440 I paid for the Sony BDP-S300 which I bought and now loathe.
12-29-07 update Player finally needed an update to play The Simpsons Movie [Blu-ray] not a problem though! Unlike the Sony S300 I mentioned before, the Sharp Aquos BDHP20U uses a USB port via any ordinary thumb/flash drive loaded to the back of the player to deliver the update files. No more senselessly throwing away DVD-R's and waiting 30+ minutes for updates, my Sharp Blu-Ray player updated in about 8 minutes. That little USB plug on the back and the 8 minutes are two good reasons I'm glad I purchased the Sharp Blu-Ray player. Honestly that's the real reason I like this player... it's design (inside and outside) is well thought out.
02-03-2008 update Encountered my first glitch problem. While watching Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] my player froze up. I stopped the disc and checked it for scratching or debris nothing, looked great. So, I instead checked the Sharp website for a player update since this Blu-Ray disc set was so new. The website showed that I had the most recent update already. I then decided to restart the disc. The player froze up again at a different point on a different episode. This time I knew something was wrong. I attempted to eject the disc and the player would not respond, it just powered down. But, it had no response to re-power on or anything else for that matter only thing that was happening was that the Standby light was flashing no other lights or responses. I checked the SharpUSAdotcom website, but it had no real error response information. So I checked the handy dandy manual that my player came with. There was information on the very last page of the English section which described power / static electricity / lightning strikes / other interference scenarios. I followed the steps by holding the power button down until RESET appeared on the front LED section. It then re-powered on perfectly another simple solution that was unavailable on my Sony S300 Blu-Ray player when it froze up.
Sure I might truly be comparing apples to oranges with this problem and my Sony problem, but when I originally asked the Sony customer service rep for help on my S300 she replied with this for resetting my system. She told me to unplug the AC chord and wait 2 minutes. When that didn't work, she said we could try it a few more times or possibly leave it off for a longer amount of time. She also mentioned that this system reset could cause my latest firmware updates to reset also (as well as my player preferences). With my Sharp Blu-Ray player, the reset only rebooted the system (within 20-30 seconds) all of my preferences and my latest firmware update were still intact. I must say this was much easier than I would ever guessed. Maybe Sharp needs a newer update for playing Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] and it plans to release it soon, who knows? Well not me. But I DO know this, the reset feature on my Sharp Blu-Ray player was better than sending my Sony S300 to Pennsylvania for over a month.
For those of you who have asked and those of you who are wondering, yes I did finish the entire season of Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] without any other problems. I am still not sure what caused the freeze up, but believe me I tolerated much worse from my Sony S300. I use this player usually three to five times a week and this has been my first "hiccup" since buying it. So all and all, I am still very pleased with my Sharp player and consider it among my smartest purchases of 2007.
04-14-2008 New problem that as of now is unfixable. When playing 30 Days Of Night [Blu-ray] there is no dialog in either English or Spanish, all of the background sound works and the other languages work as well. Apparently this model has had some trouble with the True HD sound on some of the newer discs and the only language tracks on this particular movie in True HD were English and Spanish, so in other words turning to any other non-True HD audio language fixed the problem... if you listened in Korean or French or whatever then you would have no problems. I went to the website to get any updates, which the latest firmware update claimed to address True HD problems (so Sharp is aware that something is wrong). But, the newest update still didn't fix the problem. I tried the disc on my Sony BDP-S500 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player and on my Playstation 3 40GB both of which played the audio perfectly. After contacting the Sharp customer service via email they emailed me 3 days later with no answers. So, maybe there is a new fix coming and maybe not, either way this makes the Sharp BDHP20U closer to a 3 1/2 star or 4 star until new firmware fixing the True HD audio problem is released. Personally I didn't mind watching the movie in another room, but not everyone has that option.
04-30-2008 There was another update listed on the Sharp website, this update again addressed the True HD problem. Fortunately this time was the trick to finally fixing the problem I had with 30 Days of Night. This movie now plays perfectly, so now everything seems perfectly once again. Back to 5 Stars!
04-07-2009 It's been a year since anything out of the ordinary has happened. The player recently started having trouble with some of the newer Blu rays we were renting. At first it wasn't a big deal, but eventually I decided to check for updates. The newest update (Oct 2008) was loaded but somehow it refused to accept the new firmware. So we had to call Sharp for help. They walked us through a few steps but soon realized that there was something wrong with our BD drive. We shipped our player to Sharp and they emailed us to keep us updated through the process. They had my player fixed, updated, shipped back to us within a week. They shipped it back via FedEx overnight and we were watching movies on the player within 8 days of my original phone call. I can't say that this player is perfect, but I can say that I feel very lucky to be dealing with Sharp. The Sony process for returning my player was very complicated and ended with me spending over $200 to receive a completely different Sony model. That was never an issue with Sharp. The woman at Sharp said what was going to happen and politely assured me that this was going to be a painless process. She was right. Thanks Sharp!
More updates to come...
Buy Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player Now
I ordered this player because it is well integrated with AQUOS TV product line. There are not too many differentiating factors among Blu-ray players from various manufacturers. This one is made in Malaysia, but SHARP says that all critical components are made by SHARP.
BD-HP20U is very sleek. Very easy setup menu. HD picture quality and sound quality is stunning!
The level of each 5.1 speaker can be adjusted via menu. It offers full 1080P output. The sound, even in 2 channel stereo mode, is great.
You can also setup the video output manually to 480i, 720P 1080i or 1080P.
There are mixed opinions about LCD TVs not accepting 1080P input signals (unless you have the very latest one).
When video output was set to AUTO, it selected 1080i for my LC45GD7U AQUOS TV. But when I manually set the output to 1080P there were no error messages.
Frankly speaking I could not tell the difference in picture quality between the two output modes. Regardless of the input mode the LCD TV will convert the signal to 1080P for display (because it does not draw alternate lines even of the siganl input is interlaced signal). So, do not worry over 1080i or 1080p signal output.
I hardly could tell the difference in picture quality between Component Video (Analog)and HDMI (Digital) connections.(The common remote feature will not work in case of analog connection).
In my opinion there is no need to buy expensive HDMI cables. The cheap ones sold for $10 also work great. Check amazon.com for good deals.
One good feature of this player is that it allows firmware upgrades using USB memory device. Instructions are to download files from internet site.
No upgrades are yet needed but I wish that SHARP offers something like this for 2005/2006 AQUOS TVs.
I highly recommend this player to anyone and particularly to those who have AQUOS TV sets.
Read Best Reviews of Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player Here
I ordered a Sharp Aquos TV and the Sharp Aquos Blu-Ray player to go with it. After they were delivered and set-up, it was with great anticipation that I put in one of the two Blu-Ray movies I had purchased. After nearly two minutes of "Reading Disk", I received an "Incompatible Disk" message. So I tried my second movie. Incompatible Disk. While disappointed, I wasn't surprised because I was aware that I'd probably need to a firmware update. This is were my nightmare started.
The Sharp Blu-Ray player is not internet capable, so all firmware updates need to be done through a USB port on the back of the machine. I went to the Sharp web-site, downloaded the firmware update and placed it on the root level of my USB Flash disk. I followed the on screen instructions for updating the firmware. After inserting the Flash disk, I received a message stating that there were multiple files on the disk. Okay, first major hurdle; my Flash drive contains the annoying U3 software that I can't delete.
I went to Best Buy to purchase a new Flash disk, but my Best Buy doesn't carry ANY flash disks without U3. I went to Wal-Mart and finally found a Flash disk without U3. Back home I tried again, and received the same error. After doing some testing I came across my next major hurdle. I am on a Mac and OSX loves to use invisible files in file directories. So even though it looked like the firmware update was the only file on the Flash disk, it wasn't. My solution: use an FTP client to move the firmware update to the Flash disk directly, by-passing the Mac OSX.
Back to the Blu-Ray player. This time I received and an error telling me that the Blu-Ray player couldn't find the update on the disk. Sharp's manual and web site was no help in finding answers, so I turned to the web forums. It was suggested that I needed to do a system reset on the player before attempting an update. Now this is a new player, why should I need to do a system reset, but I'd give it a shot. And lo-and-behold, it recognized the file on the Flash disk. I started the update and after a few minutes received a message stating that the update had failed and to contact Customer Service.
Of course no number was given for Customer Service. I couldn't find a number in the literature that came with the player (maybe I missed it, but I couldn't find it), so back to the internet. On Sharp's web site all I could find was an email form for Customer Service. I did a Google search and found a link to a page on Sharp's web site that contained a Customer Service phone number (It's 1-800-BE-SHARP (237-4277) by-the-way).
I called Customer Service and after 5 different menu options and being on hold for no more than 2 minutes I was speaking with a REAL LIVE person. I was impressed. I explained to the Customer Service representative all that I had gone through, he apologized and was surprised by the amount of trouble shooting I had already done. After answering some questions about the movies I had and conferring with his manager, he started to give me instructions to ship my player back Sharp for repair. I WAS NOT HAPPY! At the last minute he asked if I had tried unplugging the player. No I hadn't. He told me to try unplugging the player, wait and hour, plug it back in, do a system reset, and then try the firmware update. I was VERY skeptical, but what did I have to lose. It was either this or send it back in.
I followed his and instructions and the firmware update went through without a hitch. WOW! Was I surprised.
Now the moment of truth, I put in a movie, and waited, and waited. Nearly two minutes later: Incompatible Disk. I put my other movie; Incompatible Disk.
To say I was upset would be a GROSS UNDERSTATEMENT. I called Sharp back, was instructed that my wait time would be 13 minutes. 45 minutes later I hung up, called 6th Ave (the Amazon third party seller I got this from) and arranged to return my player. I was asked if I wanted a replacement or a refund. I went for the refund. Fool my once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. There was NO way I was going through this again.
I don't know what Sharp is thinking. I'm a pretty tech-savy guy and this player had me knocking my head against a wall. This player is not for the average person. The learning curve and tech knowledge level is just too high. I cringe to think of my mother or father trying to set this player up.
p.s. I want to say that when I did get through to Sharp's Customer Service, the person I spoke to was very nice, knowledgeable and genially seemed to want to help me. Also 6th Ave made returning this very easy.
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Like other reviewers, I purchased this player, my first Blu Ray, to intergrate with my Sharp Aquos TV. I set it up with HDMI cables in less than 5 minutes. The Blu Ray play back is excellent. Beautiful picture and sound. Standard DVDs look great also. Only dissapointment I have is audio CD playback. EVERY audio CD I play has slight, but annoying, hesitations and click sounds. I called Sharp and was informed my player does not need servicing. Also the player locked up on occasion during CD playback for no apparent reason. I had to hold down the power button to reset the unit. Other than these issues I would recommend this player. Sharp recently posted a firmware update for this unit on thier website which I installed in my unit. I have had no lock up issues since installing the firm ware.However, I am still disappointed at how my CDs play. I will keep updating my expierence with this player. Future Sharp models should only become better.
I ordered the Sharp Blu Ray player for two reasons First, I had seen overwhelmingly positive reviews both here and at other sites on the web, and second, I own a Sharp Aquos TV (LC37D62U) and I have been impressed with its performance. I just recieved it today, along with the BBC series Planet Earth (an excellent series).
Setup was a breeze, yes I know, there is no HDMI cable, but since I already had one that didn't matter and it sounds like most players don't come with one. As with most other HDMI devices you only need the HDMI cable to get going.
So far, I have been incredibly impressed, the picture is fantastic, and the colors are great. My Sharp Aquos TV is 1080p, however I had never had the ability to watch anything in 1080p because TV broadcasts are currently only in 1080i or 720p. There is a clear difference, and the picture is incredible.
It has been a great machine. If you have a Sharp Aquos I would strongly consider this player. It is obvious that Sharp had its TV Aquos users in mind when it created this player. I have not tried an audio CD and I doubt I will since I have a stereo for music.
