Welcome to the party, Yamaha. Today, the company announced its first universal Blu-ray player, the BD-A1000.

What makes this player “universal?” Typically, this means that the unit will have some love for both SACD and DVD-A. The announcement sort of left that part out, but the Australian Yamaha site is confirming support for both formats.

Aside from that, the BD-A1000 can do Blu-ray 3D and 2D playback, as well as stream up additional content from Netflix, Blockbuster and YouTube. If we’re not mistaken, this is actually Yamaha’s first player to handle 3D playback—at least the first one available.

Other features include dual USB ports (front and back), as well as RC-232C integration control, an on-screen display GUI, and detachable power cable. It also offers HD Audio decoding, 1080p/24Hz-compatible HDMI and 7.1 multi-channel analog output with four 2-channel DACs.

One other nifty feature is the remote, which can put a variety of products under one controller. For instance, push the Scene BD/DVD button, and you can fire up the receiver and the BD-A1000 simultaneously. Speaking of control, this one has the thumbs up from Control4, which means it’s easy to integrate.

“Home theater enthusiasts are demanding versatile content compatibility, and Yamaha offers the most versatile entertainment options,” said Tom Sumner, Yamaha’s president. “The new Yamaha Aventage BD-A1000 highly enhances the visual and audio experience and is the ideal match for Yamaha’s Aventage series of AV receivers.”

Expect the Yamaha BD-A1000 to sell for around $699.95 (MSRP).

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.