In addition to announcing its
"low-end" BDP-S300 will be pond-skipping to Europe, at IFA today Sony also announced its latest Blu-ray player, the BDP-S500. Before we start in, and it's neither here or there, but didn't Sony notice that "S500" is the most common consumer electronics model name around? It's the John Smith of tech, if you will. (See:
Sony's other S500 and
S500,
Nikon's S500,
Samsung's S500, Canon's S500,
Casio's S500, etc.). That aside, we can find little about this new player that differs from the BDP-S300: both feature HDMI (duh), 24p, and x.v.Color, and Dolby Digital Plus -- only the S500 has Dolby True HD and DTS-HD1, and HDMI 1.3. Is that worth £200 (about $400) more to you? If so, both will be out overseas by the end of October and run you £400 and £600 ($800 and $1200 US), and even come bundled with the Spider-man trilogy in the UK.
posted Aug 30th 2007 11:23AM
Mercedes Benz S500, while it doesn't qualify as "consumer electronics", it does use the name as well.
yeah first thing I thought of was Mercedes S500 too. But they don't make one anymore, now it's S550.
So, while the "others" are dropping below $200, Sony decides consumers need to spend MORE?
It's only the crap that below $200.
If you want something half decent, you will pay $350.
Seems Sony still doesn't understand that jacking up prices isn't going to get you any potential buyers.
HD players won't sell in significant quantities (regardless of the price) until HDTV prices come down to mainstream levels. There's at least a year before that happens. By then, Sony will have over 10 million PS3s sold and ready. The PS3's price will also be at $399 or lower.
The Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-ons have sold less than 300,000. Which means less than 3% of Xbox 360 owners have bought them.
Also, Toshiba's last sale didn't help:
"Toshiba Lowers HD DVD Sales Target" (by 44%)
http://www.tvpredictions.com/toshibaforecast061207.htm
But it doesn't play regular DVDs so what's the GD use.
blu-ray players DO play "regular DVDs", so that's a non-issue
Sony: snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for over 60 years!
Seriously, the HD-DVD consortium is finally getting their act together, and _this_ is what they put out?
Consortium? You have got to be totally kidding me here.
To date I have seen exactly 1 (one) HD DVD player and that's the one by Toshiba.
At least Panasonic, Sony & Pioneer have real-world BD players out there.
Who gives a hoot that the HD DVD player is $400 or so, it will be obsolete like the Xbox add-on in no time. Then Sony and the others will drop the price on the BD players.
And if you can't afford $1200 BD player, then buy a $499 PS3...
@MacGuru
Get your facts straight, their are 3 stand alone HD-DVD players and there is the Xbox Add-on which makes the current total 4. Onkyo and Venturer have annouced HD-DVD players so far. We will see what else comes out of CEDIA. Don't forget the dual format players either.
Also, while one of the HD-DVD players is around $400, their entry level has reached a all time low of $250 with it dropping most likely for the Holiday season. That is a far cry from Blu-ray cheapest player currently.
I am also baffled as how you think these HD-DVD players will be obsolete in "no time" when Toshiba is releasing their generation 3 players starting in September and Onkyo and Venturer confirmed with players and more to come. Never mind the fact that there are dual format players out now, with more annouced and probably more on the way.
The Toshiba A2, A20 and X2A all have higher sales rankings on Amazon than any of the Blu-ray players, I think that also says a lot.
You got to face the facts, HD-DVD is hear to stay, it is not going any where. Just accept it, go format neutral and be happy.
Also, stop spreading FUD.
don't forget about the LG and Samsung dual format (which use to be a blo-ray only)
They will have to do much better, plus get their ducks in a row by actually getting their format specs finalized (Profile 2.0) before I am going to dive into Blu-ray and become format neutral.
Are their new players even Profile 1.1?
Will it be Blu-ray 1.1 ready?
If not, send it back!
The prices are not that far out of line. The Toshiba HD-XE1 sales for £444.00 and the Toshiba HD-E1 sales for £289.99 across the pond. So £400 and £600 MSRPs for Sony products are not bad.
Prices in the U.S. for an XA2 are way below. I've seen XA2's brand new for as little as 450.00 U.S. and this is from a B&M store.
So, the prices ARE way far off. The XA2 will remain Toshiba's "flagship" even when the Gen 3's come out.
HD-E1?? -£199
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-HD-E1-High-Definition-Player/dp/B000I7IHHI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/026-7170375-5781268?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1188491072&sr=8-1
I think it's less the Sony prices being in-line and more Toshiba's street prices being MUCH lower. The HD-E1 is available for E199 from Amazon UK, while the higher end HD-XE1 is hanging in near MSRP.
For those North Americans like myself, the E1 and XE1 are equivalent to the A2 and XA2 respectively, not the first generation A1 and XA1 as the name would imply.
@Mak
1. How to you know "its crap?" You tested it??
2. We'll see who's on life support in a few months. It doesnt take a genius to know thats Sony's Blu-Ray plan isnt quite going the way they planned. Slow PS3 sales, anyone??
3. Most consumers' HDTVs are indeed 720p/1080i. The 1080p thing is still relatively new.
4. See # 3.
$800 and $1200 US. They must not want people to buy Blue-Ray.
Time to start paying attention: The S300 is available for $487 at www.bestbuy.com right now. If that doesn't work for you, go buy a new or used PS3 starting at $450. Also, with Panasonics announcement today that they "are confident that Blu-Ray will be the dominant format", don't be suprised to see a 2007 holiday-friendly price of $200. With more hardware manufacturers supporting Blu-ray at present, odds are good you'll have a competitive price point sooner rather than later.
@Silverfrog
So you're saying that the BD players will drop from $487-$450 to $200 by Black Friday? Yeah, right.
@Silverfrog
I dare go out on a limb and say there is a fat chance we will see a $200 Blu-ray players defiantly before years end, if not longer.
HD-DVD hasn't officially even hit $200 yet, but I do think we will see sub $200 HD-DVD players by years end. Hell, we already know the generation 3 Toshiba player, the A3, is going for $250. A2's most likely will drop in price to clear stock and then we will see the A3 start falling.
Silverfrog -
You know, I didn't even shop around, but the price is still steep. I didn't make my point clear at all. Essentially it doesn't make a lot of sense to blow $400+ on a standalone player when you could opt for the PS3.
Also, if I do purchase a HD player, it wont be for a while. Reason 1, I'm waiting for the price to dip below $300. Reason 2, I will only invest in the format that wins or a player that fully supports both. Yes, I'm sitting on the sidelines.
And Mak, guess what. Most people buying HDTVs from wal-mart are buying 720p TVs. Not to mention that a lot of early HDTV adopters most likely have a CRT rear projection TV that can only display up to 1080i. A 1080i HD-DVD player from wal-mart is more than enough for them. Those people are going to have a better movie watching experience than with blu-ray at a more affordable price.
i agree, can people really tell the difference between 1080i and p? i've actually seen the player playing hd discs, superman, looked bad, but the movie had a lot of compression; all those extras, the onscreen menu is crystal clear tho on a 42" toshiba lcd, and the player is nice and solidly built
That player is cheap for various reasons:
1/ it's crap
2/ it supports the "on a life support machine" HD DVD format.
3/ It's 1080i only
4/ There is no 1080p
Interesting to see the AVCHD branding on the front of the player. Looks like they want people to know this thing will work with their high def digital camcorders. That's a good thing too, because support for those things is a bit limited for now.
I think the currency conversions in this article are off... according to Yahoo Finance, 400 euros is about 546 USD, and 200 euros should be about 273 USD.
That may be true, but those prices are listed in pounds, not euros. ;)
oops, my bad... thank you Jeff :)
This is Profile 1.0, IIRC.
Man I just hate Sony using their brand name to keep their price so darn high. I love their products but for goodness sake, try lowering it or else people will buy some other brand. Not a lot of people will wait for a price drop.
I used to be a big Sony fan and think they still make some good products, but I'll be waiting for someone like Oppo Digital to release a player.
@MacGuru:
Okay so what do you consider real-world? A player that's 1200.00 or a player that's 250.00 dollars which would pretty much do the same thing ...oh wait, I totally forgot that BD players have not launched their 1.1 profile. Damn, that means I bought this 1k player and I can't even accessthe movies extra features?
Yeah ...great thinking Mac. Would you like to meet my friend--Mr. Reality?
Have you checked the new price for Sony's S500 player? You really think they're dropping the price? And the lower end model is 499.00?!! Give me a break !