Wal-Mart and Target Debut Venturer HD DVD Player

Looking for a new HD DVD player this Christmas? Remember the rumor of the cheap Chinese made player that would be coming out? Well, it's time to stop by your local Wal-Mart or Target and check out the Venturer SHD7000. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first non-Toshiba manufactured consumer level HD DVD player. It is very similar in function to the Toshiba HD-A3. It has support for 720p and 1080i output, as well as Dolby TrueHD decoding through the HDMI port. The retail price of $199.99 should make this very attractive to consumers looking for that HD image without the high price tag.

The initial features:

• Disc Compatibility: HD DVD, DVD, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/-RW
• Multi-Channel Audio: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD (Core only)
• HDMI, Optical Output and Ethernet Connection
• Upconvert Your DVDs to Near HD Quality
• SHARC Floating-Point Digital Signal Processors

The Venturer isn't exactly priced way below Toshiba's already-low prices (especially when they offload legacy players for $99) but it's certainly good to see anyone other than Toshiba put out an HD DVD player. We'll have to track down one of these players and put it through its paces.

Maybe this will signify the eventual release of a lower-priced Chinese-branded Blu-ray player, who knows. Not all Wal-Mart and Target stores will be carrying this item, so if your store comes up high and dry it can still be purchased online at Walmart.com or Target.com.