Sony sneaks BDP-S500 in before 1.1 goes mandatory

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Oct 16th 2007 at 12:44PM

With October 31st barreling down on us, Sony's BDP-S500 hits SonyStyle.com just before the deadline. We have to say we're really confused why Sony -- or anyone really -- would release a higher end Blu-ray player at this point in the game and not be profile 1.1 compliant. While most think Sony should be releasing less expensive players, not more, many videophiles will appreciate the upgrades -- DTS HD, better build quality. Regardless of the feature set, why would anyone pick this up rather than wait a little while longer for a player that isn't already "obsolete".

Filed under: Blu-ray

Tags: BDP-S500, sonyStyle

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

ryan @ Oct 16th 2007 12:55PM

Just like Sony's decision to not finalize a spec, their actions make absolutely no sense.

The people that drink the kool-aid will love it though.

Neutral

mike @ Oct 16th 2007 1:02PM

As Much as I want HD DVD to win, I just don't think it's going to happen. There's just more options in players for Blu-Ray.

Neutral

Xyzzy @ Oct 16th 2007 1:40PM

Yeah, there sure are. You can get player X that doesn't support the format, or player Y that doesn't support the format. Or players A, B, C, or D that don't support the format... Oooh, and player M as well!!! Look, we have all sorts of broken players to choose from!!! :)

Highly Ranked

dman @ Oct 16th 2007 2:03PM

There are more BD players out there but does that matter? Like Xyzzy said does anyone know what the differences are (other than price)? I spent top dollar on a receiver, and top dollar on a TV... I still don't know what all the different audio standards mean! DTS HD? TrueHD? Then there's HDMI... I know I need it (because all the cool kids are using it) if I want 1080p, but why do I need HDMI 1.3, what's different with that? Was there a 1.0, 1.1, 1.2? What are the differences, what's 1080p/60? Hell, this "profile 1.1" thing that article mentions... this is the first I've heard of it, no idea what it means at all! I'm sure I'm not in the minority. When and if I go to by a HiDef player (and it will likely be HD DVD) I just want something that plays in HiDef... I'm not going to know what all these other differences are. I'm probably going to go down to the local store and say "what's your cheapest hidef player?" like most people would. If he says "But that won't support HDMI 1.3!," he probably wouldn't be able to explain to my why I need HDMI 1.3 anyway... BD has tons of players on the market, but the only characteristic I know how to use to compare them is price, and they're all still too high for me, especially when BD may still lose this war.

Low Ranked

joe @ Oct 16th 2007 6:27PM

dman- You are to put it mildly, a consumer whore.

If you are willing to spend "top dollar" on a tv and receiver but are to lazy to determine what you need to actually put the best signal through it you spend a pile of money for absolutely no reason then to feel good about spending so much money. You could at least be willing to spend "Top Dollar" on a HD source so that you can get a stab at getting a source with the possibility of actually using the high-end sound and picture you paid to have produced. Honestly you have very little chance of properly setting up your equipment since you know so little about what you have and why.

You NEED to go to a nicer high end audio video store. You will pay more,by a lot, for the equipment but they will be able to tell you what to buy and how to set configure it.

I doubt you really paid 'top dollar' but you most likely have 3-5k worth of audio and video gear that you are going to hook up a $150 bargain basement player using radio shack speaker cable. It's a shame when you can simply send a check made out to "cash" to my P.O. Box

Neutral

TrentD @ Oct 16th 2007 3:04PM

Has anybody else noticed that this looks EXACTLY like the Panasonic Blu-ray players?

Neutral

Anthony @ Oct 16th 2007 4:04PM

Could it be possible that profile 1.1 will be made available through download for this BD-Player?

HD-DVD fans - Pro Microsoft

Blu-Ray fans - Pro Sony

I rather have competition in the market.If Toshiba had already one....they could tack on premiums onto there prices due to no competition.They only sought the use of a "cheap" player to make-up ground in the HD "war".

Highly Ranked

Cam @ Oct 16th 2007 4:41PM

Good one, Sony! Thanks for using the consumer to continue your BETA testing on your shotty product before your final profile 100.2.0.1.4 comes out in 10 years.

Good thing Sony has such a good marketing team that was somehow able to trick consumers into buying this crap. Even M$ puts the label 'BETA' on their incomplete products

Neutral

domerdel @ Oct 16th 2007 7:16PM

Cam:
lol, M$ products are always in beta... they just call them windows updates/Service Packs :)

Highly Ranked

Smee @ Oct 16th 2007 7:13PM

No one should be surprised, this is the same company, sony, that installs a virus onto your machine when playing legally purchased CDs.
For them, this is a normal business practice.

Neutral

Devils Advocate @ Oct 16th 2007 7:33PM

As much as I love bluray, I had really hoped that all those bluray players coming out were 1.1 ready.

Neutral

Sean @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:19PM

No DTS-HD Master Audio decoding internal decoding or output via bitstream

no profile 1.1

not sure when it will get these features which means you should steer clear of this unit if you are a new booty to HD movies.

Neutral

JBDragon @ Oct 23rd 2007 11:51PM

Man is SONY good at Marketing. Look at all the suckers that want and like Blu-Ray. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't want this unfinished Blu-Ray DRM Infested garbage. Sure Sony sneaked this one just before the Deadline. But guess what, the Deadline will get moved once again anyway, and there still won't be any 1.1 or 2.0 Blu-Ray players until next year, MAYBE, but Sony will continue to BS fanboys over to that format. They have such Short Memory's from all the times SONY has screwed them over in the past.

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