Blu-ray’s biggest backer shows off five new products

Sony’s press conference was packed with product announcements in a number of categories. Here, we’re going to focus on Blu-ray.

The company discussed five new products, including the previously announced BDP-S550 Profile 2.0 player, the BDV-IS1000 home theater system with Blu-ray, and a VAIO desktop with a Blu-ray drive and 25.5-inch screen – all available in October.

What caught our eye are the two new Blu-ray products that Sony will add to its high-end ES line. The BDV-IT1000ES home theater system has a Blu-ray player and super-slim tower speakers that communicate wirelessly with the base; it’s slated for an October release.

The BDP-S5000ES is a dedicated Profile 2.0 player that supports BD-Live, offers bitstream output and onboard decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD (with 7.1-channel analog audio outputs), and uses the popular XrossMediaBar menu. Among its list of high-end features are Sony’s new 14-bit HD video processor, HD Reality Enhancer to improve detail, Super Bit Mapping for smoother color gradation, and RS-232/IR ports for easier integration into advanced control systems. The BDP-S5000ES will be available in November.

PRICES:
BDV-IT1000ES, $1,999
BDP-S5000ES, $2,000

CONTACT:
(800) 222-SONY, sonystyle.com