Sony announces players BDP-S350 and BDP-S550

[Grubert]

Press release



Summary data:

                       S350      S550
BonusView               Yes       Yes
Ethernet port           Yes       Yes
BD-Live               Ready     Capable
Storage port            Yes       Yes
1GB storage device       No       Yes
1080/60p                Yes       Yes
1080/24p                Yes       Yes
DVD upscaling           Yes       Yes
DD+/TrueHD decoding     Yes       Yes
DD+/TrueHD bitstream    Yes       Yes
DTS-HD/MA decoding       No       Yes
DTS-HD/MA bitstream     Yes       Yes
7.1 analog outputs       No       Yes
Availability          Summer     Fall
Price                   400       500

[Big Daddy]

I 'll take two of each.

[Trean]

I wonder if this will affect the price of the PS3. I don't see it effecting it that much because it should mainly compete with other consoles but these are not just any stand alones they are sony's.

[Bullseye]

I wonder why both are not BD-Live ready out of the box.

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

I wonder why both are not BD-Live ready out of the box.

The S550 will support BD-Live out of the box.

However the S350 lacks persistent storage so you have to buy some memory and plug it in the storage port (don't know if it will be USB or SD).

[NutsAboutPS3]

What range of months do they normally mean by "summer" and "fall"? Just wondering how long we'll have to wait for these. Buying a BD-30 in the near future is looking quite appealing compared to waiting for one of these new Sony players.

[bootman]

There is already a couple of threads on this.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=38687
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=38349

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by bootman

There is already a couple of threads on this.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=38687
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=38349

That was unconfirmed info based on a leak by a retailer. Here we have (a) an official announcement, (b) complete specifications, and (c) official price -a bit higher than what was leaked.

[Blu Titan]

Thanks for the info Grubert. Great news for Blu-ray fans. The players are going to be agreat hit. Hopefully the price of the 300 will decline to $250.

[Bullseye]

According to your earlier post with quote:

S350 S550
BonusView Yes Yes
Ethernet port Yes Yes
BD-Live Ready Capable

It appears the cheaper player is ready and the more expensive player is capable

[nelsona]

Oooh, depending on the reviews of the S350, I could see myself replacing my Sharp player with that one.

[nycomet]

Originally Posted by Grubert

[URL=http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080226/latu018a.html?.v=1]Summary data:

                       S350      S550
BonusView               Yes       Yes
Ethernet port           Yes       Yes
BD-Live               Ready     Capable
Storage port            Yes       Yes
1GB storage device       No       Yes
1080/60p                Yes       Yes
1080/24p                Yes       Yes
DVD upscaling           Yes       Yes
DD+/TrueHD decoding     Yes       Yes
DD+/TrueHD bitstream    Yes       Yes
DTS-HD/MA decoding       No       Yes
DTS-HD/MA bitstream     Yes       Yes
7.1 analog outputs       No       Yes
Availability          Summer     Fall
Price                   400       500

My question is this:

What is the storage port for and what is the 1GB storage device for? I hope it's not just for people who want to load jpegs from their digital camera memory stick.

Will these features speed up the loading time of Java-heavy BDs?

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by nycomet

My question is this:

What is the storage port for and what is the 1GB storage device for? I hope it's not just for people who want to load jpegs from their digital camera memory stick.

Will these features speed up the loading time of Java-heavy BDs?

It's for storing Web-enabled stuff. That's what BD-Live is about.

[alphadec]

Having just got a BDP-S500 a player is just love but these new models got some features I just gota have so guess I will upgrade in 6 mounts (if there come some dics that uses the new features).

[Sy-]

You know what doesn't make sense is that the only thing keeping the 350 from being a 2.0 player is the 1gb of storage which you can buy at retail for like $6. Why would Sony not include a 1gb memory stick and sell the player as a 2.0 player? Do they feel obligated to sell at least one profile 1.1 player?

[Zvi]

What's the difference betwen BD Live "Ready" and "Capable"?

[Alan Gordon]

I'm currently viewing my Blu-ray movies via a PS3. I have it hooked up to a HDMI-less receiver which means no lossless for me. I'm considering picking up the Pioneer receiver coming out in June with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA decoding, but I still want to get a stand-alone receiver this year.

While I liked the rumor of the $349 and $449 price tag, $50 extra isn't too bad, and I guess I'll pay the extra and get the BDP-S550, I was really liking the cheaper price tag on the BDP-S350 as my Uncle and Aunt want to upgrade to Blu-ray this Fall. Hopefully retailers will discount it down to $299-$349 by the time they intend to pick up a player...

~Alan

[Quint van der Vaart]

The specs for the BDP-550 look good.....
Will probably buy that player instead of the Panasonic that is coming.

[meckel]

Originally Posted by Quint van der Vaart

The specs for the BDP-550 look good.....
Will probably buy that player instead of the Panasonic that is coming.

Same here, plus it is cheaper then the receivers I'm looking at to get DD HD and DTS-HDMA. At least my current can handel 5.1 uncompressed

[meckel]

Originally Posted by Zvi

What's the difference betwen BD Live "Ready" and "Capable"?

Ready means you need to add something not included to make it work. Looking at the specs, my guess is memory.

Capable means if it does not have it out of the box a firmware update should add it.

I would love some knid of wireless