Denon S-5BD Home Media Box Revealed [Denon's Newest AV Box Combines Audio Receiver, Blu-Ray Player]

Earlier this month at CES, the AV gurus at Denon unveiled the S-5BD, an intense looking piece of equipment that combines a Blu-Ray player with an audio receiver. The receiver end of the device will support 7.1-surround sound, with 2-source, 2-zone distribution capabilities.

The receiver also uses a Dolby Pro Logic IIz processor inside to give you the best sound you can. The Blu-Ray player isn’t skimpy, either. Of course, it has HDMI 1.4 ports on the back, but it also supports all the of the Blu-ray 2.0 technologies, including the internet-enabled BD-Live features.

The player outputs at 1080p and will upscale regular DVDs for the highest quality. It features four HDMI ports (three out, one in) as well as a SD card slot and USB ports. It features direct plug-and-play functionality for iPods and other MP3 players. An Ethernet port will connect the new player/receiver to the internet for the BD-Live internet features.

Unfortunately, the Ethernet port is only for the BD-Live features and firmware updates. It would have been nice if Denon had included some media streaming functionality so you could use the pricey box for watching media files from your home network on the same HDTV as your Blu-Ray player is connected too.

As you can guess, this gear won’t be cheap. It’ll be hitting in March of this year with a suggested price of $1,800.

The real questions is, does anybody have dedicated these Hi-Fi stereos anymore? Growing up, my father spent thousands on his Hi-Fi stereo in the basement with speakers the size of televisions and a stack of audio receivers. Now, with a good pair of Sennheiser headphones and a 1TB drive of lossless .m4a audio files, the average user can get an audio quality that can compete with any expensive Hi-Fi stereo. Sound off in the comments if you have an opinion.