:rock: not too shabby i must admit. Can we expect cheaper 2.0 players from LG, Samsung or Funai? but then $400 is still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more expensive than $149

Spec highlights:

7.1 analogue out
TrueHD
DTS HD Master decoding (SP550) - (SP350 via bits stream)
BD-JO
BD-Live ready

sounds promising - now we need full feature BD-J and BD-Live titles to test the players



http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/6831...ay_Players.html

Sony has just announced their first line of Profile 2 Blu-Ray players, the BDP-S350 and BDP-S550. The Profile 2 players will be the first stand alone Blu-Ray players by Sony to feature web coonectivity and compatibility with external storage devices.

These features are already present in Sony's Playstation 3 models, but were until now unavailable in a stand alone Blu-Ray player. The S350 is scheduled for release in the summer while the S550 will not be out until this fall. IGN notes an interesting tidbit: The features recently adopted by Sony for their stand alone Blu-Ray players were present in most HD-DVD players at launch. We're not trying to make a statement. Just sayin'.

The S350 is expected to retail for around $400 while the S550 will come in around $500.

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SONY ADDS NEW BLU-RAY DISC PLAYERS WITH ADVANCED INTERACTIVITY
New Models Feature Ethernet Port for Interactive Functionality and Easy Firmware Updates

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 26, 2008 - Sony updated its Blu-ray Disc player line today with two new models that will be capable of accessing advanced interactive features such as BonusView and BD-Live.

The BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 models both support BonusView (Picture-in-Picture) featured on some of the new Blu-ray Disc theatrical releases. The BDP-S350 model is BD-Live ready featuring an Ethernet port for an easy firmware update and access to Internet-based interactive content features. The BSP-S550 is BonusView and BD-Live capable when it ships.

Both models also feature an external port for local storage, so users can add optional storage device. The BDP-S550 ships with a 1GB storage device.

"Building on the exceptional picture and sound quality of previous players, Sony's next-generation Blu-ray Disc models bring exciting interactive features to life and offer consumers a ground-breaking experience," said Chris Fawcett, vice president of marketing for Sony Electronics' Home Product Division. "These new devices bring home movie experience beyond the cinema and into a whole new realm of entertainment."

The players feature 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output. They are compatible with most standard DVDs and feature 1080p upscaling through an HDMI connection to capable HDTV sets, improving the picture performance of existing DVD libraries.

The models offer 7.1 channel Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and bit-stream output, as well as dts®-HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio bit-stream output. The BDP-S550 adds dts-HD High Resolution Audio and dts-HD Master Audio decoding as well as 7.1 channel analog audio output.

The players support AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology, an international standard for wide color space reproduction. The standard expands the current data range of video by about 1.8 times, allowing the players to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye can actually see. The players also feature compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD//CD recordable media.

The new models feature a slim design with reduced depth and height compared to previous models matching Sony's new home-theater-in-a-box systems, the HT-SS2300 and HT-CT100 T-SS2300, also announced today. Optimized for Blu-ray Disc™, the new component systems feature three 1080p compatible HDMI™ inputs making them the perfect match for a Full high-definition home theater when connected to a new Sony BRAVIA® 1080p HDTV.

The new BDP-S350 ships this summer for about $400 and BDP-S550 will be available this fall for about $500. They will be offered at Sony Style stores, online at sonystyle.com, at military base exchanges, and at authorized retailers nationwide.

http://gizmodo.com/360642/bdp+s350-and-s55...blu+ray-players

++++++++++++++ updated July 20 2008 +++++++++++++++++++++++


http://www.gadgetell.com/tech/comment/sony...ay-disc-player/


July 19, 2008: Although Sony has announced its next generation Blu-ray player, the BDP-S350 as early as February, it is only now that the player has started arriving in US retail stores. For those who have been waiting for the BDP-S350, the wait may well be worth it after all since like we reported before this player is fully compatible with various disc formats including BD-R/RE, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW and JPEG on DVD or CD recordable media.

In addition, the BDP-S350 also features BonusView (Profile v1.1), BD-Live (Profile v2.0) and Sony’s Precision Cinema HD Upscale feature which is a technology that converts standard-definition signals (4801) to 1080p. These signals are then outputted in full HD equivalent resolution signal to 1080p TVs through HDMI port. The player also has an Ethernet port and can handle up to 70.1 channels decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DD+ along with 7.1 channels bitstream output that includes DTS-Ma.

Finally, Sony has added an environmental footprint on the BDP-S350 to make the product a little more environmentally friendly. Sony has reduced the overall unit size of the player by 55 percent, reduced the packing material by 52 percent and reduced its total weight by 38 percent. With this, Sony was able to reduce the CO2 emissions when shipping the BDP-S350. Likewise, Sony has also made the player’s energy consumption a little less than the usual.

The BDP-S350 is available now in Sony retail and various online stores for around $399.99.

lol bhphotos excepting orders : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5506...isc_Player.html

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Updated October 2, 2008:

http://gear.ign.com/articles/914/914553p1.html

Sony Cuts Price of S350 Blu-ray Player

The first Sony player priced cheaper than the PS3.
by Scott Lowe

September 29, 2008 - Sony's BD-live enabled Blu-ray player models, the BDP-S350 and BDP-S550, are a relatively pricey commodity. At launch, the Sony BDP-S550 was priced at $499.99 and the BDP-S350 at $399.99, but now Sony has dropped the price of the latter model by $100, making it the first standalone Blu-ray player to have a lower price point than the PlayStation 3. The S350 is now available on Sony's online store and at retailers nationwide for a new low price of $299.99. For that price, consumers get a BD-Live ready player with full 1080p resolution, and 24p True Cinema video output. The player also decodes Dolby TrueHD signals and upscales DVDs to 1080p resolution.

Unfortunately, the S350 requires a wired Ethernet connection in order to utilize its BD-Live features, so wireless users are out of luck without additional hardware. The player outputs via one rear mounted component video connection, as well as HDMI.

This post has been edited by g5sim: Oct 14 2008, 02:54 PM

more to come in coming months. Finally, the wait is over

hopefully won't wait for too long for others brand as well ...

Bro g5sim sudah tukar gambar so fast, now supporting Blu-Ray camp liao. Hahaha. Toshiba sure will be very sad.

Even though the players are priced from USD400 to USD500, our local punya BDP-S300 already RM2,900 and I bet this model will be priced in the range of RM3K to RM5K. Hai ........ If it's less than RM2K, I'll definitely angkat the top model. The design looks nice for a blu-ray player and with profile 2.0 ready, I guess that's put it on par with Panasonic upcoming blu-ray player, also profile 2.0 ready. I wonder whether there are other new profile revisions in the future. I very takut liao, because the blu-ray camp got macam-macam punya profiles which can cause blu-ray compatibility problems.

sunauto, I wonder our neighbour down south will sell at what tempting price

sammy bd player in spore less than 600 sgd, msia selling for 4k
i think if its selling for 700sgd ,i might go get one and replace the ps3

can I go to SG to get one without kenal tax in JB Kustom ???

even u kena tax also rm 400 nia
still cheaper, wat more for someone as elite as u

wait, it means these 2 players capable of decoding all the HD audio and output them in PCM?

is this means we could see DTS HD MA firmware update to PS3 is near? hehe

you mean the BD1400 which is a 1.0 profile model that got sued with a class action lawsuit in the USA? RM800 oso fikir 12 kali wor

HD DVD player @ rm 800 u also dunno fikir sampai bila until the format is dead, i dun think one(1) lawsuit is gonna do anything lar

u know americans, if u terpijak their leg also kena sue

anyway, apis, those are HBR, it sends the cource over to be decode by the amp, not decoding in the player internally

no lah - just hihglighting that they will be selling a player with specs already have on HD DVD two years ago the only problem is, Sony will be selling them at a similar price Toshiba sold their players two years ago

Even Sharp blu-ray player also Profile 1.0 but was never highlighted in their brochure and they pakat with Speedy to market it by giving a few free blu-ray movies.

aiyo

now speedy got demo the pixal short film still?

or with TIKUS movie?

keekke

speed got demo BD? which branch , i went a few speedy onli see dvd played on BD player onli

u know, speedy video at the curve has sharp bd demo.

but they play std dvd on it. but the bds lying around on the shelves untouched.

This post has been edited by apisgogo: Mar 7 2008, 11:08 AM

yeap thats why no ppl know how BD looks like
i went to 1U new wing side , forgot whats the shop name opposite O'brien sandwich they got sharp LCD , BD display but 99% of the time is dvd display
then occasionally demo disc

Saw it. Not impressive as they are not using HDMI

Best Denki Mines still demoing HD DVD - but standard dvd source on HD DVD player lol

wah lau, still not on the HD bandwagon ar??