Albatron have some rather interesting news for us today. They have just officially introduced the world's first "Blu-Ray Decoder Card", at least in terms of how it's being marketed that is.

In essence, this card is just your typical NVIDIA 8500GT with PureVideo HD technology, 256MB of DDR-II memory running at 1600MHz and a core clock of 450MHz.

Given it sits at the bottom of NVIDIA's GeForce 8 series lineup yet carries PureVideo HD support (unlike the higher-end models), this makes the card ideal for HTPC users who dont want to spend a lot and are sick of trying to get HD-DVD and Blu-Ray content running smoothly on their TV.

Though just your run of the mill 8500GT based card, I'll certainly give Albatron credit for using one of the more cleverer marketing ploys i've seen in recent times.

Grab the press material here for the full scoop.

Albatron has recently announced the exciting new "Blue Ray Decoder Card" giving mainstream users a great alternative to Integrated Graphics. This low-profile VGA card can provide even the most basic systems with High Definition video playback including Blu-ray and HD-DVD. This card also supports DirectX 10, boosting 3D graphics performance for the Windows® Vista™ operating system.