Sony has updated their Blu-Ray disc player product lines with a lower-priced bargain player that still supports all the wonderful features of high definition media. Along with the price drop comes the fact that this is now the cheapest Blu-Ray player, as the $499 20GB PS3 has been phased out of existence.
The BDP-S300 is expected to broaden the high-definition disc player market while delivering new features including the advanced Dolby® Digital Plus audio codec as well as BRAVIA® Theatre Sync™ and CD playback.
“The BD format gained great momentum in the past several months, and we’re going to capitalize on that with the new model,” said Chris Fawcett, vice president of marketing for Sony Electronics’ Home Product Division. “The player gives a broader consumer segment the opportunity to experience the exceptional quality of Blu-ray Disc format at a competitive price.”
The new model can output 1920 x 1080/24p high-definition video, currently the highest resolution high-definition signal available through an HDMI™ connection. The player supports various video formats, including MPEG2, MPEG4-AVC and VC1.
For those who own an HDTV set without HDMI, an analog component output for 1080i (interlaced) is available as well.
The new BD player is compatible with most standard DVDs and has the added feature of 1080p upscaling through HDMI to 1080p capable HDTVs, improving the picture performance of existing DVD libraries.
The model also supports AVC-HD discs encoded with x.v.Color (xvYCC) technology, a new international standard for wide color space. The standard expands the current data range of video approximately 1.8 times allowing the player to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye can actually see.
