Sony's BDP-S300 does Blu-ray on the cheap this summer

Just in time for summer blockbuster season, Sony's pre-announced its new BDP-S300 budget Blu-ray player. It'll MSRP for a cool $600 -- still significantly less than the better-late-than-never S1 -- and will apparently have all the fixins of its predecessor (as well as CD playback), and a size closer to a traditional DVD player. Which makes you wonder why they'd announce such an attractive "low end" model model so early when it's got all the same features as the current generation. Perhaps because consumers still aren't as confident about picking up a Blu-ray as Sony might have hoped? We don't know, but we have a feeling they just killed S1 sales through summer.

[akintz @ Feb 26th 2007 2:32PM]

I guess I'll have an alternative to the PS3 if I want to go BluRay cheap anytime in the future.

I don't know about the confidence part... they sure want to at least appear confident in this "war." You know, claiming they already won it and all... Perhaps they're trying to drive their supposed stake in a little deeper?

[James Rainey @ Feb 26th 2007 2:35PM]

Or.. is SONY simply doing what it should have done with BETA players. Keep the heat on. Keep it very hot for HD-DVD and hopefully win this race?

I'm betting that is the strategy. Although $600 is still too expensive for me.

[John Doe @ Feb 26th 2007 2:44PM]

$600 is too much for most people. Only die hard videophiles are going to consider this a deal. Hell HD-DVD's price this summer\fall is going to be half of that. Frankly I won't spend a dime over $300 on a player and even then with no clear winner at this point. DOH! *smacks head* I forgot. Sony has announced they have already won. *rolls eyes*

[Scooter @ Feb 26th 2007 2:49PM]

"on the cheap"... I don't think so. 600 is sill way to high for the mass consumer. It does put pressure on HD-DVD, but you can still get the PS3 for less... with a lot more functionality...

Scooter
http://www.gadgetgrid.com/

[hmurchison @ Feb 26th 2007 2:53PM]

Hmmmm you can get a HD DVD A2 for under $400 now. Toshiba will likely lower the price by summer making it an even better deal. Sony will sell some of these because of their name but let's be honest the PS3 is the only BD player worth buying for many reasons (BD Live and BD Java support without much headache)

[Eric Pham @ Feb 26th 2007 3:07PM]

I think the important thing is that the price of bluray players is actually dropping . We shouldnt actually think of it in terms of actual price but rather in terms of price drop, hopefully meaning this price drop is showing a future trend. So maybe a much more reasonable $200 blu ray player is in the works.

[ciaran.lamphier @ Feb 26th 2007 3:15PM]

I don't understand, why would you ever pay $600 for a stand alone blu-ray players when you could just buy a PS3?

[Reginald @ Feb 26th 2007 6:31PM]

...because nobody is buying the PS3 and Sony needs to get Blue-Ray into the homes so they can win the format war (even though by their own misinformation they have already won).

Or, maybe production was slowed-down on PS3s and Sony needed somewhere to put all these "extra" BD drives and are just trying to recoup some of their losses on the PS3 :)

[CharlieX @ Feb 26th 2007 3:19PM]

Seriously.... there's a stack of at least 20 PS3's at my local BestBuy ready to go.

[PDubNYC @ Feb 26th 2007 3:33PM]

I have never had a good experience with a Sony optical drive. Everything from portable CD players, to DVD players, to PlayStations to computer drives, they all starting f'ing up in fairly short order. I don't think I would buy anything from Sony outside of a TV, or possibly a video camera. The rest is sh*t, in my experience and opinion. I don't see myself adopting Blu-ray until it is the clear winner (if it is), the drives are cheap, and from a manufacturer I trust more.

[Pixelbender @ Feb 26th 2007 3:49PM]

You realize this is all a ploy to sell more PS3s? The comments thus far prove it.

[humpty @ Feb 26th 2007 4:14PM]

All of Toshibas players have been sold at a loss.. they have to; they are the only ones making dedicated HD-DVD players.

[Rick Lyon @ Feb 26th 2007 4:21PM]

Follow up- I think Sony realized they needed to slash prices to gain market share. However, they instead slashed the size? Why not just slim down the big boy and throw in some more plastic rather then coming out with a dorky Betamax size?

[Chimuel @ Feb 26th 2007 4:30PM]

Why would Sony do this? The PS3 is cheaper (20GB $499 models) and has more value for the price. The PS3 is an excellent Blu-Ray player and I can't understand why Sony would invest money into standalone players than to the PS3.

[Rick Lyon @ Feb 26th 2007 4:36PM]

So this sells to whom? Because most HT owners won't want the tiny, non standard cabinet conforming size and that's who's buying these, it surely isn't gamers and it ain't J6P at $600 a pop. Not sure about this move-novice HT owners who are not clued into anything or they'd know about the PS3 or even HD DVD? Hmm, Sony what are you doing, lol.

[butchink @ Feb 26th 2007 4:50PM]

For those saying to just buy a PS3: Not everyone plays games. I have absolutely no use for a PS3 except for the Blu-Ray player. That's why it's nice to see prices starting to drop. It's a sign that soon they will be even less expensive, and I'll be able to affordably upgrade to a stand-alone player.

[Russell @ Feb 26th 2007 5:12PM]

Another big hit on the PS3 is you can't use an IR universal remote like a Harmony 880 / Crestron / Control 4 system with it...

[Pete @ Feb 26th 2007 5:29PM]

I wonder how many bdp have been sold vs. ps3. and then I wonder if sony counts blu-ray video games when they announce "blu-ray outsell hd-dvd!"

They love to count units shipped, not units sold. this would carry that spirit forward.

[DJ @ Feb 26th 2007 5:40PM]

I don't get it. If you compare this to a PS3, given it's lack of features: 20GB hardrive, Bluetooth, MemoryStick slot, web access, and the fact that it's only available in BLUE; the price should be $299, not $599!

[Jesus @ Feb 26th 2007 5:59PM]

The reason that PS3 is cheaper is that is a game console, we all know that. They always recover their lost from games sales. However there is no recover from games on stand alone Blu Ray player. And even if the PS3 is cheaper than the Blu ray player, I think people who really isnt in the games, would rather have a stand alone Player. Anyway even if rather like Blu ray over HD-DVD is not a good idea to expense so much money on neither Blu Ray or HD-DVD until we know who really won.

[Thinker @ Feb 26th 2007 6:52PM]

This $600 player is going to put the heat on HD-DVD. But for $500, you can get the PS3 which has a Blu-ray player, a cell-processor, and a 20GB hard-disk drive. But I guess the PS3 is not going to be as easy to use as the BDP-S300, though I find the PS3 very easy to use as a Blu-ray player. I guess the main point here is since Sony has announced shipment of over 4 million PS3's (over $2 Billion retail), we are starting to see the production cost of Blu-ray players go down dramatically.

[Reko Beko @ Feb 26th 2007 7:44PM]

Cheaper, cheaper electronics, thats what you want and thats what you'll get. Crappy Chinese or Korean made products with no care in QUALITY. And cheaper at the expense of people building your geek machines (PS3, Wii's, iPods, Cells, etc.) being paid low-near-poverty wages.

If I want to see the current stupid effects movies coming out on BlueRay, I'll bust out on a effing $800 Blue Ray. Make the geeks pay Sony! Build them in Japan!

[KC @ Feb 26th 2007 8:41PM]

The BDP-S300 can upconvert DVD to 1080p. The PS3 cannot.
The PS3 can play SACDs, the DBP-S300 cannot.

The BDP-S300 probably has a separate audio board and electronics (guessing from the S1's specs). I'm sure it has an IR remote, which you can integrate with your Harmony remote. I can see how this would be preferred over the PS3 in a proper home theater system.

[Dave @ Feb 27th 2007 3:55AM]

True!

[Grahame @ Feb 27th 2007 10:27AM]

Thanks for confirming SACD playback, been looking for specs.

I think this will replace my Pioneer 656A now.

I will awanit the GBP sterling price but if less than 400 will try it out. Heck 10-15 years ago was paying 399 for a VCR.

[nxp3 @ Feb 26th 2007 10:44PM]

Even if you don't play games just buy the ps3 as a standalone bluray player. It still saves you money. It's not like it's so ugly that it can't be with the rest of your equipment. I think it looks really nice. Give it a year or so I'm sure someone will make a usb infrared receiver that will control the blu-ray if you're worried about your multi-remote controller not working with it.

[Darrell @ Feb 27th 2007 12:11AM]

Here's your answer to everybody's asking "Why would you buy a $600/$1000 Blu-Ray player when the PS3 is cheaper?" In the most simple way that I can put it, availability of either machine. Another reason, some people have the money to buy the player and are not interested in a video game system. I just paid a visit to my local SonyStyle Studio and they can't keep them in the store. So obviously, somebody (rich) is buying it.

[Grahame @ Feb 27th 2007 10:27AM]

What about SACD support and very nice if sony include HDCD too for true all in one multi device.

[KC @ Feb 27th 2007 12:21PM]

Sony has a real winner in the PS3, seeing that it can do SACD, I wish they would have an online music store that would sell multi-channel music for a direct download to the PS3. I do not see the logic of paying for 2 channel stereo music when all the (my) equipment is capable of 7.1.

[davbluto @ Mar 1st 2007 8:41PM]

If you use the ps3 as blu-rayer be prepared for the added sound effects this unit brings to the table.

ALL these players are too expensive.

[Jon @ Mar 19th 2007 12:01PM]

There are also some know issues with the PS3 in terms of playing 1080p on many tv's. For instance the PS3 plays 1080p at 60Hz when many 1080p TV's only accept 24Hz which is going to be the video frequency standard for home audio. Because of this many people including myself... :( cannot use the 1080p output on the playstation which is kind of the point of why anyone would want BluRay... or at least one of the major reasons... ;) Very Frustrating indeed considering it is a good bargin.

[rockintom99 @ Jul 9th 2007 9:34AM]

Seriously, why the hell are these players so expensive? For a hundred dollars less, you get a game console included with your blu-ray player! (along with the ability to run linux, etc etc)