Sherwood America introduces $300 Blu-ray player

The Sherwood name has been attached to electronics for more than 50 years, but it may get some new visibility with its announcement that it's releasing the $299.95 BDP-5003 Blu-ray player next month. By hitting that price point, it will match low-priced competitors like the Samsung BD-P1500 and the Sony BDP-S350.

Though a full spec sheet isn't yet available, the BDP-5003 features the usual array of features for a budget player, including Bonus View Profile 1.1 (but not, apparently, the latest Profile 2.0), Dolby TrueHD and DTS lossless audio decoding, support for HDMI v1.3, and 1080/24p playback. No word on where you'll be able to pick up the BDP-5003, but you can probably expect to pay a bit less for it than the listed price since it comes out right around the holiday shopping season, which could see Blu-ray players dip under $150.