Denon shows off two new 3D ready Blu-ray players

Denon has announced two new Blu-ray players that will be available later this summer, with both models supporting streaming Netflix and YouTube, along with being "3D ready".

What's "3D ready"? It means that the hardware can support 3D, but it's not yet available. Denon won't ship 3D support with either player when they're released this summer, but they promise a firmware update in the fall that will enable the functionality.

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The Denon DBP-2011UDCI and DBP-1611UDS models will have support for Blu-ray, DVDs, CDs and SACD content, with the added benefit of YouTube and Netflix support.  Each player also has faster boot-up and disc loading times than Denon's current DBP-2010CI model, resolving complaints from some owners that were annoyed by slower loading times.

The significant difference between the two new models is that the higher-end BDP-2011UDCI model will include the Anchor Bay decoding engine.  The BDP-1161UD has only HDMI v1.4a outputs and 36-Bit Deep Color, while the BDP-2011UDCI also has Burr-Brown 32-Bit Audio DACs.

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The BDP-1611UD will ship in June for $399, while the BDP-2011UDCI will be released two months later for $799.

Most new standalone Blu-ray players today ship with built-in streaming capabilities -- but 3D support also is growing in popularity.  Actual demand for 3D in the living room still isn't known at the moment, but manufacturers and movie studios continue to promote the new format.

Denon is still known as a company that caters to higher-end consumer products, with most of its recently announced products listed at $599 or more.  The company's lower-cost Blu-ray players and receivers still are high quality, even if they lack major features than more expensive products.

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