Sony Press: Sony's New Blu-Ray Disc Player and Home Theater Systems go Wireless (1 Viewer)

SONY’S NEW BLU-RAY DISC PLAYER AND HOME THEATER SYSTEMS GO WIRELESS
New Line Includes Wi-Fi Enabled Player and S-AIR Wireless Theater Systems

LAS VEGAS, March 2, 2009 – Sony is adding four new Blu-ray Disc™ devices to its line-up today, including a stand-alone player with Wi-Fi® capability for easy BD-Live™ access and Blu-ray Disc home theater systems with S-AIR™ wireless audio.

The BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 stand-alone players and BDV-E300 and BDV-E500W BD home theater systems deliver full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema™ output, decode the latest advanced audio codecs and are BD-Live capable with your broadband internet connection and purchase of external memory.

“The demands of today’s home theater go beyond pristine picture quality and our new Blu-ray Disc product line offers a breadth of technologies that deliver an amazing entertainment experience,” said Chris Fawcett, vice president of marketing for Sony Electronics’ Home Product Division. “Consumers don’t want a living room cluttered with wires and the new Blu-ray Disc product lineup breaks down the wired barriers of the past.”

Offering built-in Wi-Fi wireless network capabilities (802.11N/G/B/A), the BDP-S560 can easily connect to the Internet through your existing wireless home network to download and stream BD-Live content including additional scenes, short subjects, trailers, interactive games, and more. It also enables easy firmware updates to assist in keeping your player up-to-date with the latest Blu-ray Disc media and features.

While compatible with most wireless routers, the BDP-S560 also supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup™, for a quick and easy connection to enabled wireless routers. Additionally, the player is Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA®) ready, allowing it to connect to other DLNA compliant devices to share digital photos.

Since many consumers own extensive DVD movie libraries, the BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 incorporate Sony’s Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology that converts standard-definition signals (480i) to near HD quality.

Additionally, the models add Sony’s Precision Drive™ technology, which helps to detect and correct wobbling discs from three directions, supporting stabilization of the playback of bent or scratched Blu-ray Discs and DVDs.

The BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 models support 7.1 channel Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus, DTS®-HD High Resolution Audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding as well as bit-stream output via HDMI.

Both players support Deep Color video output and AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology. They 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 BD/DVD/CD recordable media.

The models also offer an external port for local storage so users can add their USB flash storage device. The BDP-S560 features a front USB port for viewing photos from your USB flash memory device or directly from a digital camera.

Shipping this summer, the BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 will retail for about $300 and $350, respectively.

Styled to match the BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 with a black gloss exterior design, the HT-SS360 component home theater system is an integrated A/V receiver supporting full HD 1080p video and high resolution audio. Added to either of the new players, the theater system completes the package with 5.1 surround sound for a true cinematic experience.

The model will be available this May for about $350.

BLU-RAY HOME THEATER SYSTEMS

Sony also launched two new 5.1 channel Blu-ray Disc home theater systems, the BDV-E300 and BDV-E500W. The models are BD-Live capable and support the latest advanced audio codecs including 7.1 channel Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus, DTS®-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding as well as bit-stream.

The BDV-E500W features integrated S-AIR wireless audio capabilities. Sony’s S-AIR technology transmits audio up to 164 feet from the main system to wireless rear speakers for simple surround sound (signal and sound quality may vary) or up to 10 individual S-AIR AirStation audio devices (sold separately) throughout the home. The BDV-E300 model is S-AIR ready so users can add optional modules, also sold separately.

Both systems include Sony’s Digital Media Port, which adds control and connectivity options for music playback through various accessories, including a cradle for iPod® players which is packaged with each system, or an optional Network Walkman™ cradle, a PC client device and a Bluetooth® adapter (each sold separately).

The models include an easy set-up DVD, eliminating any confusion during the set up process. Also, Sony’s BRAVIA® Sync™ technology simplifies every day operation with one-button command of compatible home theater components through HDMI.

The models also feature Sony’s Xross Media Bar (XMB™) graphic user interface for easy menu navigation, Precision Drive technology, Precision Cinema Upscaling technology and a USB port allowing users to add their external flash memory for BD-Live features. The units ship with an easy set-up DVD for step-by-step instruction on initial set up process.

The BDV-E300 and BDV-E500W ship in June for about $600 and $800, respectively.

All of the new models will be offered at Sony Style stores, online at Sony Style USA | Sony VAIO® Computers | Sony Consumer Electronics, at military base exchanges, and at authorized retailers nationwide.

It's about time that wireless was integrated into a BD player other than the PS3.

I plan on buying a BD player in June when I'm in the States. This might be a good option. I like the wireless capability for smooth updates. I have a ps3 and I very seldom use BD live, but the software updates are convienent.

Wait a minute. Will the BDP-S560 have analogue outputs? The press release didn't say anything about the 560 having that feature. That's strange since the 550 (which I think the 560 is replacing) does have it.

Looks like no 7.1 or 5.1 analog outputs on the 560. 2-channel analog only.

View specs here: BDP-S560 | Blu-ray™ Disc Player | Sony | SonyStyle USA

Sony outs BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 Blu-ray players - High-Def Digest Forums

Well, that's too bad. I plan to buy a new blu-ray player by June. This one won't be on my list of possible players to purchase.

Same here. I want analog outs. I waited too long on the Panasonic BD55 - could have gotten a good price during December sales but now discontinued. I had decided on it over the Sony 550. But I was willing to take a look at the next Sony until I saw they dropped the analog outs.

Can someone explain the importance of Analog outs ?

Its the only way to get lossless audio for those w/o a HDMI equipped AVR. This assumes of course that the player has onboard decoding for said codecs.

Brian

Omitting multi-channel analog outputs seems like a serious mistake, IMO. The only differentiator between the two models appears to be WiFi. Analog outputs with on-board decoding would be much more useful and attractive a feature, IMO.

Sony is going to lose sales to Panasonic and Pioneer due to this issue. I guess Sony must figure everyone will have a new receiver with HDMI inputs.

Speaking of which- I'm surprised Panasonic hasn't announced their new blu-ray models yet. Even their website still shows the old players.

While I like the idea of getting rid of some of the wires behind my home theater. I will not have a wireless network in my home! I do not trust the wireless routers even though they are password protected. I have heard to many stories of wireless networks that where compromised. And IMHO there is always the chance that something could interfer with the picture so I will stick with cables. Is it just me or with all the big push for WiFi products on the market place does anyone else see problems on the horizon? I mean with hackers messing with things as more and more product intergrate WiFi into them? Also is there any guarentee that in a enviroment like an apartment building that other wireless/wifi devices are not going to ether interfere with your devices?

Don't get me wrong I am a big fan of technology and have worked hard to keep my home theater on the cutting edge. But I personally do not want a bunch of wireless devices in my house. I just do not want the possible headaches that could pop up and again I do not want anything tied into my wired computer network. While WiFi devices have there place I honestly would limit there use, not sold on WiFi! My roommate was even pissed off at first when I made him disable his WiFi on his laptop when connected to the network.

I will be upgrading my Sony BDP-S300 after I get a new reciever and my only concern is how good does the picture look and does it bitstream lossless to my new reciever.

Quick start, Wireless N, and a rather modest price point. This is exactly what I've been watching for in my next Blu-Ray player.

Happy birthday to me this summer!

Just a question, is this the first Blu-Ray player that will be wireless?

I'm was planning on finally going Blu, yet in all the readings about the different models, I keep reading about how it needs to be hooked up to the internet for firmware updates and BD Live, etc.

In my case, that would be impossible as I have my internet router on one floor and the TV on another. I don't want to run wires around. I had assumed they were all wireless, but I guess that isn't the case.

Do you need to be hooked up to the internet?

Nope. My player isn't hooked up to the internet and, unless there's decent BD Live features at some point in the future, I have no intention of ever hooking it up. If I need a firmware update, I just burn it to a disc and update that way.

Thanks Travis.