Integra launches Blu-ray player
Announced just in July, the first Integra Blu-ray player is now coming to market. In such a short time, I suspect they had help from another company.
The DBS-6.9 is BonusView (BD1.1) equipped, meaning you will not be able to access BD-Live content. It features HDMI 1.3a allowing video output of 1080p/24 and bitstream audio for all advanced codecs, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio. It is not known at this time if it decodes on board.
Additional features include DVD upscaling to 1080p over HDMI, an SD card slot and DivX support.
Absent from the player is a multi-channel analog output, and BD-Live capabilities. It doesn’t even have an ethernet port for future upgradeability.
Integra is positioned specifically for the custom integration channel, but the DBS-6.9 also lacks RS-232 control and rear-panel IR.
It is available now for $599, which is considerably less than their previous HD DVD player which sold at $1,099. This sort of sprang out of nowhere, so we’ve yet to learn what kind of performance we can expect. My guess is the Sony BDP-550 will offer more bang at $399.
