Meridian 800 Reference DVD player bumped to version 4 -- still $20k

So Meridian has updated their über-expensive 800 reference DVD player to version 4 which goes for a cool $20,000. V4 improves both sound and picture quality with updated DSP code and adds an HDMI output for upscaling vid to 1080i HDTV — 1080p support coming via a soon to be released firmware update. As company co-founder Robert Stuart tells us, the question isn't why should you pay so much for a DVD player, rather "you should ask, what do you get for so little?" Uh, ok. Look, we don't doubt the quality of the device, however you could hold off a few months and save most of those 200 Franklins by picking up an upcoming Blu-ray or HD DVD player due out early next year. 'Cause no amount of signal processing magic is gonna make an up-converted DVD image better than native HD over HDMI, dig?

[Via HD Beat]