Sony Announces Two New Blu-ray Players

Sony Electronics has announced two new players to their Blu-ray line, the BDP-S350 and the BDP-S550. When released, both will not only be BonusView (Profile v1.1) players, but will also be BD-Live (Profile v2.0) ready, meaning they can be updated via firmware to full BD-Live compatibility. The BDP-S350 will ship sometime in the Summer for $400, followed in the Fall by the BDP-S550 for $500. The BDP-S350 will offer 1080p24/60 output via HDMI, an Ethernet port, and decoding of 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD. The player will also be capable of bit streaming Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution, and DTS-HD Master Audio to a capable receiver. Additionally, it will support for the expanded xvYCC color space during playback of AVCHD discs, and compatibility with most BD, DVD, and CD media. In addition to having all the features of the S350, the BDP-S550 will feature 1GB of persistent storage. Additionally, it will decode DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio and feature 7.1 analog outs. Both players will feature a slim design to match upcoming Sony Home Theater in a Box (HTIB) products.
Source: Blu-ray.com | Permalink	Relevant for:

Rainman208  » Feb 26, 2008
This sounds more like it. Just knock $100 off each price and we're in business.

jk1138  » Feb 26, 2008
Well this is just awesome, we have almost as many diffrent players on the market as we have dirrent movies. Stop making new players and make some new movies. At least anounce some more titles. Do not get me wrong this is good news, but without more movies it is pointless!

meckel  » Feb 26, 2008
looking forward to the S550 this fall. Will keep me from needing a new receiver I hope it will be closer to $450 then $500 by the time it is released.

Luis_A51  » Feb 26, 2008
Josh, how does the 350 qualify as BD-Live capable if it doesnt have the 1gb of persistant storage? Does it come with an SD slot or something?

Rike255  » Feb 26, 2008
Awe man that 550 sounds REALLY nice. I may just pick one up in time for Christmas. Too bad we don't have pics though.

Josh  » Feb 26, 2008
Luis_A51: It probably has some sort of USB or MemoryStick reader so you can add storage easily. Many companies are doing this to save some money on the build materials.

Sonny  » Feb 26, 2008
This is what I like to hear looks like lots of my players are going to family & friends

JaysDomain  » Feb 26, 2008

I'm getting the S550 ASAP; you cant expect the price on new players to fall right away, or be free, it takes time to get the costs down, and yes the older 1.0/1 players will work for most people and be cheap allowing blu-ray to continue to grow. jk1138 : there is SOOOO many new movies coming out on BD (tons next month); if they put them out any faster, people will either go broke and stop buying, or just not be able to buy as many releases when they come out, making individual BD sales look worse. I think they should keep the current pace (which is pretty good now); mixing it up, a few old and new every week. They have to put more new out than old though, or people see the selection and get that idea in the back of their head that they have to replace their existing DVD collection, which drives me nuts when people use as an excuse not to buy blu-ray.

bkbluray  » Feb 26, 2008
The BDP-S550 sounds awesome. I love my PS3, but if I choose to get a standalone, that sounds like a good choice. I bet prices will be lower than the suggested prices by Christmas.

tmok2000  » Feb 26, 2008

I don't get it. Why did Sony choose to do in-player decoding of only Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD in the BDP-S350, but not the DTS-HD formats? It almost feels like that they deliberately crippled the S350 to make people want to step up to the S550. For people who are going to do decoding using an external receiver, they are going to do that for all formats anyway. So, having Dolby TrueHD decoding in the BDP-S350 is really irrelevant, isn't it. I am really wondering which group of customers Sony was targeting.

ckenisell  » Feb 26, 2008

And these players are EXACTLY why I don't think we'll ever see DTS-HD decoding in the PS3. They can't even get a profile 2.0 player to the market until the Fall!? And at these prices? What are they thinking?! Two years into the format and players that include all features will be $500. Please. Give me a break. I have NEVER been an HD-DVD supporter, but I think price point and full-featured players is where HD-DVD got it right. How do we really expect people to adopt a format that isn't complete? And when it is complete, it costs half a grand? Get with the program Sony.

Guinness7  » Feb 26, 2008
It will be nice to see how these players are.

irfoton  » Feb 26, 2008
What about SACD and DVD-Audio!!! It would be nice to have a semi-universal player.

batty1  » Feb 26, 2008
Exactly!! I'll wait for a player that has SACD and DVD-Audio. Shame on Sony!

Zaphod  » Feb 27, 2008

This is probably a blessing in disguise for PS3 owners. I'm sure Sony was waiting until their "entry level mainstream" Blu-ray players hit the market with bitstreaming DTS-MA with the 350, or onboard decoding like the 550. That way they weren't going to trump sales of their individual standalone players by offering this on the PS3 first (as far as DTS-MA decoding is concerned). So maybe now that they have standalone's that include this decoding/bitstreaming of DTS-MA, maybe this will mean that the PS3 will get a firmware update for onboard DTS-MA decoding sometime shortly after release of the 350. Here's to hoping!

jkwest  » Feb 27, 2008
@zaphod... thats what I was figuring also.... looks like we won't be seeing DTS HD MA on the PS3 until at least this summer....

tmok2000  » Feb 27, 2008

I second the SACD and DVD-A comments. By the way, does Sony even endorse DVD-A? I have an Oppo 980 DVD player. Let me tell you, that's as close to perfection as a DVD player can get. It handles every SD format under the sun, including SACD, DVD-A, Divx, HDCD, SVCD, and DVD+/-RW, DL. It upscales to 1080p, support both NTSC and Pal, and can easily be converted to region-free. What more can one ask for? Now that Blu-ray has become the HD standard, I can't wait to see what Oppo can do with their first Blu-ray player.

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