CES NEWS: Philips launches Blu-ray bargain and wireless style systems

"The future for the consumer is nothing but Blu", claims Philips, the latest of the Blu-ray-backing manufacturers to celebrate HD DVD's severely dwindling studio support.

Despite its confidence, Philips only launched one new HD player at the show, sticking to DVD as the basis of its two new home cinema systems.

The BDP7200 (pictured above) is Philips' first BonusView compliant Blu-ray player, meaning it can access all the interactive features on the latest disc releases. It's a full 1080p, 24fps design with support for all the HD audio formats plus billion-colour Deep Color images.

The player will be available in the US by April, priced $349 - here's hoping we get the machine in the UK around the same time and reasonable price.

Due slightly later in the year (May) are two new wireless home cinema systems in Philips' Ambisound range - both members of the manufacturer's new 'female-friendly' Design Collection.

The HTS6100 is a soundbar-style system designed to sit sleeky under flatscreen TVs. The system includes 1080p-upscaling DVD playback, pseudo 5.1 surround sound and an integrated iPod dock that enables charging, playback and control of your Apple player. US price is to be $599.

The HTS6515D (pictured below) offers 1080p-upscaling DVD playback, an integrated iPod dock, 2.1 sound and a system unit that can be positioned horizontally or vertically. The US price will be $499.

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