Referring to it as “popularly priced,” Sony representatives said they expect the new BDP-S300 to broaden the high-definition disc player market.
“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 the Home Product Division of Sony Electronics. “The player gives a broader consumer segment the opportunity to experience the exceptional quality of Blu-ray Disc format at a competitive price.”
The price of the BDP-S300 is a full $100 less than Sony originally projected it to be when the player was first announced, and the $499 price is roughly half the price of the first Blu-ray players, which were released just six months ago. Fawcett attributed the reduction in price to a decline in production costs and growing demand for Blu-ray products.
The BDP-S300 is capable of outputting 1920x1080/24p hi-def video — which is currently the highest resolution HD signal available over an HDMI connection, according to Sony. The player also supports a wide range of video formats, including MPEG2, MPEG4-AVC and VC1.
In terms of audio output, the BDP-S300 features multichannel linear PCM digital audio output via HDMI, and can decode Dolby Digital Plus to deliver quality surround sound to any appropriately equipped receiver. The unit also offers 5.1 channel decoding capability to provide backward compatibility with existing receivers.
The player also supports DVD video and DVD playback from DVD/DVD+R/+RW encoded discs, CD playback, BD-ROM, AVC-HD Media, as well as MP3 audio files and JPEG images stored on DVD recordable media.
According to the release, the BDP-S300 will be available “shortly” at Sony Style stores, online at SonyStyle.com, and through other retailers nationwide.