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Gadgets Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray Player Released
Brandon Hill (Blog) - December 5, 2006 3:11 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 65 comment(s) - last by ElJefe69.. on Dec 7 at 2:06 AM

Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray Player
Sony sends its BDP-S1 out into the real world

When DailyTech last covered news on Sony's BDP-S1 Blu-ray player, it was delayed until October 25. The late October release date would have given the player a three week head start on the headliner Blu-ray player for 2006: the PlayStation 3.

October 25 came and went as did November 14 (the PS3's launch date) with no sight of the BDP-S1. Well, we can now safely say that that Sony's BDP-S1 is finally out the door and should be available in significant quantities in retail stores in time for the holidays.

The BDP-S1 supports 1080p through its HDMI connector, MPEG2, MPEG4-AVC and VC1. For users without a 1080p capable television, the player can fall back to 1080i with component cables. And as expected from a player that rings in this price class, it also upscales regular DVDs to 1080p over the HDMI connector.

The player also supports BD-ROM, AVC-HD and DVD playback on DVD/DVD+R/+RW media. A firmware update will be available in 2007 which allow the BDP-S1 to play BD-R/RE media.

The BDP-S1 is available now from a number of retailers. Best Buy is currently showing the player in stock for $999.99 plus shipping.

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Ah yes
By creathir on 12/5/2006 3:33:18 PM , Rating: 4
Movies that cost twice as much as their SD counterparts...
Players that cost TWICE what the competing format costs...
Content that though has the potential of being greater, so far has not been...

Sounds like a winner to me...

- Creathir




RE: Ah yes
By AnnihilatorX on 12/5/2006 3:43:33 PM , Rating: 2
Who will buy this over PS3 which offers more function and being cheaper?


RE: Ah yes
By creathir on 12/5/2006 3:49:45 PM , Rating: 2
The fella that cannot find a PS3 I guesss...?
Got me...
I'd rather buy and HD-DVD player...
Or, a 360, and buy the HD-DVD add-on (since I already have a 360... thats the most logical solution)
I mean, a 360 with the add-on is the cost of a PS3... but is available...

- Creathir


RE: Ah yes
By deeznuts on 12/5/2006 3:53:46 PM , Rating: 2
Not really. Unless you mean if you get the 360 with rebate for $300AR, and add the HD-DVD drive on. That'll make it $500, same cost as the PS3 20GB version.

I have a PS3. And this is new tech, how many times has it been said and how many times does it have to be said, new tech is expensive how much did DVD players cost when they came out? And add to that inflation etc.


RE: Ah yes
By BladeVenom on 12/5/2006 4:01:49 PM , Rating: 2
The Xbox HD-DVD player will also work in a computer.


RE: Ah yes
By ani4ani on 12/6/2006 5:55:18 PM , Rating: 1
Yep, spend all that money and sit 2 ft from a 17" screen. Cant wait to plug mine into a PC..not.


RE: Ah yes
By bbomb on 12/6/2006 7:21:34 PM , Rating: 2
Well some of us have PC's connected to our big honkin tv's.


RE: Ah yes
By therealnickdanger on 12/5/2006 4:14:43 PM , Rating: 3
Or just buy the HD-DVD add-on for $160 after $30 MIR via Circuit City, then connect it to your HTPC and load PowerDVD HD Edition. Voila! No Xbox360 required, no $500 player...

Sheesh, $1,000 for a player is crazy ridiculous. I know people are buying it and early adopters and so forth, blah blah blah, but it's still extreme. What I would like to know is if this model still uses the Broadcom chip like the BD-P1000 does. Still seems so dumb that all these "1080p" players still convert internally 1080p24-->1080i60-->"1080p". I'm content with my HD-DVD add-on for now, but I think I'll avoid any future hardware purchases until I can get a HD/BD hybrid player that outputs 1080p24/48/72 natively without any internal processing.


RE: Ah yes
By hubajube on 12/5/2006 4:34:24 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Or just buy the HD-DVD add-on for $160 after $30 MIR via Circuit City, then connect it to your HTPC and load PowerDVD HD Edition. Voila! No Xbox360 required, no $500 player...
No friggin way dude!!!!


RE: Ah yes
By hubajube on 12/5/2006 4:38:48 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
PowerDVD HD Edition
Did you mean BD or HD Edition?


RE: Ah yes
By therealnickdanger on 12/5/2006 4:55:18 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Did you mean BD or HD Edition?

HD, as in High-Definition. It is labeled HD-DVD, but AFAIK, it doesn't care whether you use HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, they both use the same codecs, but I've been wrong before. One thing I'm pretty sure of, however is that the HD Edition is only available with the purchase of certain drives. *ahem* I'm sure it exists somewhere in Cyberspace, for those who *cough* are resourceful...

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=325&type=expe...


RE: Ah yes
By encryptkeeper on 12/5/2006 5:19:01 PM , Rating: 1
Ohh, very nice. I'd probably get one of these bad boys and start buying HD-DVDs, but the movies are still too expensive. Not that I'm going to replace any of my DVDs I have now, except maybe Lord of the Rings. The bottom line is if this is already this simple, then Blu Ray is in serious trouble.


RE: Ah yes
By boardstrapd on 12/5/2006 5:30:47 PM , Rating: 2
Do you need to have a video card that has HDCP for the 360 HD-DVD to work on a pc?


RE: Ah yes
By boardstrapd on 12/5/2006 5:38:20 PM , Rating: 2
Just re-read the article. Don't forget you need to add a HDCP video card to your pc, if you don't have one already. Not too many out HDCP cards out there, and the cheapest is over $150. Still a great option for HD on your PC, but I just wanted to point out your current video card might not be able to play HD-DVDs.

List of HDCP cards available:
http://www.htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic...


RE: Ah yes
By hubajube on 12/5/2006 5:57:47 PM , Rating: 2
Does PowerDVD HD Edition support 1080p? Thanks.


RE: Ah yes
By therealnickdanger on 12/6/2006 9:43:58 AM , Rating: 2
If your graphics card and display both do, then yes. Assuming you have an HDCP-enabled graphics card (sorry, forget to mention that earlier), you'll be able to scale the native 1080p24 source to any size you wish.


RE: Ah yes
By hubajube on 12/6/2006 11:10:10 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
If your graphics card and display both do, then yes. Assuming you have an HDCP-enabled graphics card (sorry, forget to mention that earlier), you'll be able to scale the native 1080p24 source to any size you wish.
Thanks much for the info!!!! Looks like I'm getting an HTPC afterall.


RE: Ah yes
By creathir on 12/5/2006 4:51:32 PM , Rating: 2
Well, I am saying, from a player standpoint, you could purchase the core system and the HD-DVD Player for $499.00. Sure that would not have a hard drive, but it is cheaper than the $1000 BluRay player.

As far as the new tech argument. Tell that to the owners of the HD DVD players. They paid $500 for their players... 8 months ago...

I guess the new tech is expensive... buy the Sony new tech is double the cost... funny how that works...

- Creathir


RE: Ah yes
By deeznuts on 12/6/2006 3:00:04 PM , Rating: 2
Umm, it is well known that HD-DVD is new tech but based largely off the DVD standard, with cheaper implementation and therefore cheaper costs. It is more evolutionary then new. BD is new.

It remains to be seen who will win. By the time someone wins, if either does, we can probably buy them cheap. So buy one now, and buy another later when a $100 player will outperform your few years old $1,000 player. Just the way tech is.

And regarding yoru player standpoint, yeah you can buy a core player and HD-DVD add on, and be $500, which will be cheaper then a $1,000 bluray player. But you can also buy the 20GB PS3 and get a player with a hard drive, and a bluray player which normally cost $1,000. It's hard to argue with the value of the PS3, notwithstanding any PS3/Xbox arguments. And the PS3 is a very very competent player:

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/hd-dvd-bluray/192...

This is coming from a non-gamer just a video/audio-phile. Good read.