NEWS: Lexicon Announces THX-Certified Blu-ray/Universal Player At CEDIA

Elkhart, IN-based Lexicon announced a new Blu-ray/univeral Player, called the BD-30 ($3499), which debuted at CEDIA Expo last week. We use the term “Blu-ray/universal Player” because, according to a Lexicon press release, the BD-30 not only handles Blu-ray disks, but also a wide variety of other video and audio disk formats, including: DVD-Video, upconverted DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD, HDCD, CD, and what Lexicon terms “popular niche formats” such as AVCHD and Kodak Picture CD, and recordable formats including CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R and BD-R/RE.” Given its versatility, the BD-30 is plainly geared to appeal both to videophiles and audiophiles—and especially to those who appreciate high-resolution, multichannel music formats.

The BD-30 is, says Lexicon, a “next-generation Profile 2.0 Blu-ray disk player, which supports both BonusView, Blu-ray’s picture-in-picture feature, and BD-Live, the advanced Blu-ray feature that enables users to access content via an Internet-connected Blu-ray player and download a variety of up-to-date content such as refreshed previews and exclusive special features.” To help ensure maximum performance the BD-30 also incorporates Anchor Bay’s VRS (Video Reference Series) video processing chips.

Audiophiles will be pleased to learn that the BD-30 not only provides the expected HDMI, coaxial, and Toslink (optical) digital outputs, but also includes both a full set of 7.1-channel analog outputs and a separate set of stereo outputs.

An impressive fact readers will want to note is the BD-30 is one of the first two Blu-ray players to receive THX certification (the other is a Pioneer unit), and of those two units the BD-30 is the only one to provide a full spectrum of universal player features and functions.

At CEDIA, a Lexicon spokesman indicated the BD-30 would become available in late October 2009

For more information, visit: www.lexicon.com