Reviews for Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-ray Disc Player

BD-RE, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, CD-RW - DVD Video, CD-DA, VCI, MPEG-2, AC3, LPCM Playback - Progressive Scan - MPN: BDHP20

  • 5
  By member: jlayne4 - Dec 30, 2007

Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-ray Player

Strengths: This player loads very fast and has an excellent high definition picture to boot. There are many available settings in the menu that allow full customization of this player to your system.

Weakness: Price is still a bit higher than a comparable hd-dvd player but they are slowly dropping.

I was pleased to be able to get into the blu ray game with an affordable high quality player such as this. I even received 5 free discs with the purchase and will be able to mail in a rebate for 5 more! This deal made me pull the trigger as I have been patiently waiting for a price drop to occur.

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  • 5
  By member: nelson714 - Jan 5, 2008

Sharp Blu ray player

Strengths: loads fast no updates needed yet

Weakness: seems to lock out skipping to disc menu

I'm new to blu-ray and honestly did not research the players before deciding on one. The price was reasonable enough that I decided to take the plunge into high definition. I was able to get $100 off the player bringing the price down to $299. The reason I bought this player is the salesperson told me it was the fastest loading player and I got 5 free movies in store in addition to the 5 free by mail with the player. I really love the crisp picture offered by blu-ray. My only real complaint about the player is that I am not able to press the menu button and skip through the previews to the disc menu.
It is very upsetting to have to make a choice between HDDVD and Blu-Ray. I hope I made the right choice. It seems ridiculous that so many people have HD televisions but in order to watch High definition movies you must pick a side and not have certain titles available.
Overall I love the player and I especially enjoy watching movies and seeing all the details that are missed in standard DVDs.

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Reply by member: ElectricAD
Jan 14, 2008

Could anyone divulge a bit more info as to where you got the 5 in-store + 5 mail-in Blu-Ray deal? I've seen the mail-in portion for months, and am very familiar with the steps involved for that part. But the 5 in-store "instant" BD's as well would make this an offer I just wouldn't pass up.

Reply by member: esqbyday
Jan 14, 2008

Where did you purchase your BD-HP20U? I have a 37" Sharp Aquos and am in the market for a Blu-Ray DVD player. Thanks.

Reply by member: dawn2008
Feb 3, 2008

I got my BD-HP20U blu-ray free when I purchased my 46 inch Aquos from Sears.

  • 4
  By member: chagnonr - Jan 17, 2008

Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-ray Player

Strengths: Excellent picture using HDMI cable. I found that an inexpensive (< $10.00) HDMI cable worked just as good as my $80.00 cable.

Weakness: This player still takes approximately 25 seconds to load the DVD before it will play the movie. You cannot skip the intros and jump right to the movie. You have to wait until it is ready on its own.

Great picture with component cable but better using an HDMI cable. I have only had player for a few days and have watched a few of my (normal) DVDs and the quality is better than my standard DVD player. Blu-ray disc viewed on a Sharp Aqous LC-42D64U is tremendous!

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  • 5
  By member: buckalewj - Feb 28, 2008

A M A Z I N G (Sound/Picture/Price)!

Strengths: EASY setup menu

Weakness: None so far

Took a chance and upgraded from my Sony HD DVD player...and couldn't be happier! Setup was a breeze via the Sharp setup menu. Downloaded the latest firmware version from Sharp (approx 25MB) to my pen drive; Blu-Ray saw the upgrade immediately and it took about ten minutes for the complete upgrade! The picture and sound is amazing...and the price was a great deal. Bought Blu-Ray from 6th Avenue Electronics for about $290 (included a 5% coupon discount) and got free shipping. So...take a look at the Sharp BD-HP20U...it's a quality product for the price. Would I spend the $290 again for this product...yes!!!

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  • 5
  By member: crossflc - Feb 4, 2008

Awesome Blu Ray Player

Strengths: fast loading, amazingly sharp picture, amazing sound

Weakness: can hang up if a blu ray is used and dirty with fingerprints.

This is an Awesome Blu Ray player. Played the brand new Hellboy perfectly. I had to clean fingerprints off of a previously viewed copy of Spider-man 3, then that played great. It loads its high def discs way faster than my HD A1 and HD A2 Toshiba HD DVD players ever did.
If you get a player that doesn't work, try updating the firmware on the internet. You'll need some kind of USB hard drive or USB flash drive to do so. Your user manual will tell you how. If that doesn't work take it back to the store and replace it with another one and hopefully that one will work like a charm. Awesome player!!!!!!!!!

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  • 4
  By member: echin2 - Jan 7, 2008

Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-Ray Player

Strengths: Sharp Blu-Ray Player loads fast and high quality definition picture. Addition menu options for customizing for your existing entertainment system. The slim design is perfect for any audio stand.

Weakness: The price is a little expensive

Stunning colors, bright and great picture quality, even the DVD upscaling makes my non Blu-ray dvd's nice. Haven't play any audio CDs on this player but if there is any problems the sharp website may have necessary software updates/patches.

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  • 2
  By member: SteveFL2008 - Feb 23, 2008

Disappointed with Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-ray player

Strengths: 1) Integration with my Sharp 52in Aquos and Harmony remote 2) Picture equal to PS3

Weakness: 1) Slower loading than PS3 2) Will not play some DVD's 3) Upconvert does not format to maximize TV (4 black bars) 4) Not all DVD menus work

I wanted to replace my PlayStation3, Toshiba (upconvert)DVD player with one unit that would integrate with my Sharp TV and Harmony remote. The PlayStation3 and Toshiba load faster. Both have full control of the DVD menu. Both have card slots to upcovert and display photo, PS3 also has a USB for a flash drive. The Toshiba upconverts in a format that maximizes (two black bars) the TV. I am still using the Toshiba for DVD's and the PS3 may be recalled from my daughter’s college apartment. I am hoping that Sharp will update the firmware fixing: the loading speed, format, DVD features and allow the USB to display photos.

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  • 5
  By member: jatascon - Jan 19, 2008

Excellent!!!

Strengths: Crisp, extremely detailed picture with Blu ray discs, 1080p upscaling for regular DVD\\\\\\\'s is very nice. If you have a Sharp Aquos you can use Aquos link to use only one control.

Weakness: Load times are not super fast, but thats only a minor complaint.

I am very satisfied with this player. I knew the blu ray movies would be superb, but i was worried about regular dvd playback. I was relieved that they looked FAR better than I expected. Even better than an HDMI upconverter dvd player which made my movies look nice. Very easy to connect to my Onkyo surround sound system. Sound is powerful and has great clarity. I highly recommend this player to anyone, especially those who have a Sharp AQUOS LCD HDTV.

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  • 5
  By member: haleska - Mar 1, 2008

Blu-ray Player is Fine

Strengths: High quality audio and video out. Speaker settings function a real plus. Ease of initial set-up. Latest firmware easy to install. Ability to up-convert DVDs is excellent

Weakness: Initial disk read is slow before play can start

I already had a Sharp 46" LCD HD Aquos TV which was only missing a HD input from a movie source. When Blu-ray finally won its war, it was time to buy Blu-ray player, and why not from same company as the LCD TV manufacturer.

Suggestions - make the front panel play-back progess display larger and tone down the shiny front panel

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  • 4
  By member: roberto1 - Jan 21, 2008

Sharp Blu-ray Player

Strengths: 1080p video source

Weakness: Still expensive

I was waiting for the price of Blu-ray disc players to come down before I took the plunge but a Sharp promotion gave it to me free with a purchase of a qualifying Sharp Aquos HDTV. Picture quality is amazing with this Blu-ray player.

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  • 1
  By member: am_offline - Mar 28, 2009

Terrible Product

Strengths: Great Video and Upconversion

Weakness: Does not play all BluRay disc, firmware upgrades needed, slow start up...

This is a great BluRay player when and if it works. Often discs will not play and you get "Incompatible Disc", even though they are. You may get lucky by reloading the disc until it plays. Sometimes midway through your movie, it starts to pause the play back or stop playing altogether.

The solution is to upgrade the firmware, however if you are on a MAC you are hosed. Why? Well you need to put the update from the Sharp Website on a USB drive, and the drive cannot have anything on it except the update. If you are on a MAC, the MAC will put extra hidden folder data on the USB, so it won't work, it needs to be done with a PC.

They should have put the USB port in the front and not the back because it is a pain to get to. I don't know how non-tech savy people survive with this thing.

Another issue is that often standard DVD functions, menus, skip, top menu will not work on this player (work fine on other players) and the loading of BluRay and SD DVD can be really slow.

Buy this is you own a PC, have a spare empty USB drive, have lots of patience, and are tech savvy enough to know how to find the software update on the Sharp Website, download it to your PC, unzip the firmware update, put that on your USB USB drive, unzip the update, then plug it in to the player and make the update.

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Reply by member: Rose4878
Jun 20, 2009

I am very disapointed in my sharp BD-HP20U player
I have done all the updates and still some of the DVD blu-rays will not play.you but a blu-ray so you can play blu-ray right ,
well it does not work that way. I would not buy this blu-ray player again . but now I have to and the warr.is over so I called to have it checked out up front 50.00 just to look at it.
I would really ckeck things before buying this player.

Reply by member: billis469
Oct 20, 2009

i could not agree more! this player is garbage. I have had nothing but trouble with it almost from the time i bought it. The firmware update did not even fix it for me. It still will only play certain bluray discs and it takes forever to load, and it freezes all the time with regular dvd movies.

  • 2.5
  cnet.com - Feb 8, 2008

Sharp BD-HP20U

THE GOOD: The Sharp BD-HP20Us Quick Start feature loads certain discs superfast; excellent video quality using 1080p/24 output. THE BAD: The Sharp BD-HP20U only supports Blu-ray profile 1.0; no onboard decoding for high-resolution DTS soundtracks or bit-stream output; poor 1080i deinterlacing on Blu-ray movies; no Ethernet port for firmware updates; poor performance with video-based DVDs; Quick...

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  • 2.0
  reviewgist.com - Dec 22, 2009

Best DVD Player with Price Under $800 and Video Upconversion 1080p (HDTV)

Video is Average according to 1 DVD Player experts. -- "excellent video quality"-reviews.cnet.com -- "this performance is impressive--most players take closer to a full minute to load a disc when the unit is off--the technology behind it isnt."-reviews.cnet.com -- "solid performance"-reviews.cnet.com Read more to find expert opinions on more features like Audio, Formats, Usability, etc.

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  • 3.0
  testseek.com - Oct 29, 2008

Sharp BD-HP20U

Testseek.com has collected 6 expert reviews for Sharp BD-HP20U and the average expert rating is 60 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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  • 3.7
  TopTenREVIEWS.com - Jul 16, 2008

Sharp Bd-hp20u

Sharp Bd-hp20u receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.99 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #7 HD and Blu-Ray DVD player of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

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  • 3.5
  hdtvsolutions.com - Apr 5, 2008

Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-ray Player

he Sharp BD-HP20U is a first generation Blu-ray player that lacks all of the interactive features that you can find in new Profile 1.1 and 2.0 models. But if the only interaction you desire from your machine is for it to start when you hit Play, and Pause when the telephone rings, then this Sharp with its high quality Blu-ray performance may be the ticket. <p> <p>Do I wish the price was less than...

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  • 3.9
  productwiki.com - Mar 17, 2008

Sharp BD-HP20U

The Sharp BD-HP20U is a budget Blu-Ray player with a decent feature-set, arguably elevating it from from the "no frills" category. Standout features are its 1080p/24 fps playback, HDMI 1.3 output with support for Dobly TrueHD audio, and a QuickStart function which gets the player showing a movie in about 10 seconds (according to the manufacturer). Like all AQUOS products, it features AQUOS LINK...

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