Blue Ray Player | Blu-Ray Player
With the upcoming 2.0 player profile requiring Blu-ray players to be networked, Sony finally gets to play its trump card: the PlayStation 3, which has clearly emerged as one of the best Blu-ray players on the market—and is likely to remain so for some time. Because the first player now becomes the most versatile, sporting a future-proof Blu-ray setup. 13
Designed for those passionate about their home entertainment experience, the Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc™ player unleashes the full potential of your high definition television. Experience Full 1080p high definition video with depth and clarity like never before. The BDP-S1 player brings the highest HD resolution available straight to your home. Plus, with Dolby� True HD and Dolby� Digital Plus decoding, the BDP-S1 unleashes the incredible audio capabilities of Blu-ray Disc. BD-Java� support enables interactive features that provide a new dimension in video entertainment. The BDP-S1 is fully compatible with your existing DVD library, and with built-in 1080p upscaling it creates a better image than a standard DVD player ever could. 15
Perhaps the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war will have one positive result after all—more quickly driving down the cost of next-generation players in general. The HD DVD consortium has been stressing the format's lower manufacturing costs for some time, and there's a good chance that a manufacturer will attempt to undercut Sony even further before the BDP-S300 launches this summer. 14
Blu-ray was a little bit slow out of the gate, but after the initial quirks with the first wave of releases and the pioneering Samsung BD-P1000, it has edged to almost even with HD DVD in picture quality. Other manufacturers' first-generation Blu-ray players are coming out now, including the Panasonic DMP-BD10, the Sony BDP-S1, the Pioneer BDP-HD1, and the Philips BDP9000 reviewed here, which has the least buzz of the bunch. For nonaudiophiles who are content with missing lossless soundtracks like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master, this might not be a problem. 5
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