Harman Kardon is hardly a newcomer to home entertainment equipment, mostly producing cream-of-the-crop audio systems. Now, they’ve decided to try their hand at manufacturing a Blu-ray player, a first for the company. The player, titled BDP10, will feature Bonus View and BD-Live capabilities enabling users to access extra content for compliant Blu-ray movies via the Internet. It will also include advanced audio codec support and will play back 1080/24p videos without pulldown conversion.


Ironically, the BDP10 won’t support multi-channel analog audio outputs for users to connect the player directly to speakers – it instead depends on digital. Other connections include an HDMI 1.3a with x.v.Color output, component and RCA video outputs, Ethernet, coaxial, optical audio outputs and conventional two-channel analog audio outputs. A front panel USB port will allow users to view DiVX and JPEG-format media.

There is currently no official release date for the US, but it is expected to follow shortly after the European launch in May. The list price in Germany is €700, which according to Google, converts to roughly $954 – a handsome penny.