Sony Bdp-s350 And Bdp-s550 (twice Info Article)

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This is a interesting article from Twice on the Sony BDP-S350 and BDP-S550. The BDP-S350 list price is $399 and the BDP-S550 list price is $499. According to Twice the BDP-S550 is going to have 7.1 analog outputs for those that own older receivers that do not support 7.1 HDMI.
The main advantage of the BDP-S550 is the 7.1 analog outputs and advanced audio decoding.. Both the BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 are profile 2.0 players and support all the advanced audio formats. The BDP-S350 will require a firmware update and a 1GB USB memory stick for BD-LIVE. The BDP-S550 ships with full profile 2.0 support and includes a 1GB USB memory stick.. It is great to have a USB flash drive on the front of a BLU-RAY player but I also would like to see the 1GB of memory built into all future players instead of having a 1GB USB stick located on the front of the BLU-RAY player. With 1GB of internal memory it would look better cosmetically compared too having a USB memory stick constantly plugged into the BLU-RAY player. Also if internal DDR3 or DDR2 memory was used it would be faster compared to the USB memory stick. Of course with internal memory there would need to be a option to backup BD-LIVE web downloads to a external USB memory drive when the internal memory fills up.

Highlighted quotes
“In addition, Sony said that starting with the BDP-S350, all of Sony’s Blu-ray players will have an improved six-second boot-up time.”

Both models are the company’s first dedicated Blu-ray players to offer BD Live, Deep Color, x.v. color and all of the optional surround-sound formats authorized for use on Blu-ray discs, Fawcett said.”

“The S550 also sports 7.1-channel analog outputs like the S500 model that it will replace for compatibility with early-model AV receivers that lack HDMI inputs, said Chris Fawcett, Sony home video marketing VP.”

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6579227.html

UPDATE: The Sony models have the USB port in the back of the player. Other DVD and BLU-RAY players place the SD or USB port in the front of the player.