First came the US, then came the UK. Now, it's Canada's turn. Sony Canada has just announced that the BDP-S350 Blu-ray player will be made available "later this month" at Sony Style retail outlets, SonyStyle.ca and other authorized Sony retailers in the Great North. By this point, you should know all there is to know about this BonusView-packin', BD-Live-ready machine, and yes, the $400 price tag remains in tact.

[Via Digital Home]

At just over the two year mark since the first Blu-ray players hit the streets, Sony releases its third-generation player, one that some would argue isn't even a fully featured unit. But aside from how important you think BD-Live is, Sony's latest BDP-S350 has a lot more to offer than its predecessor (the BDP-S300); in fact, it addresses most of our complaints, but unfortunately our favorite feature also got the axe (source direct). The biggest difference you'll notice right off the bat is the size, as it's about half as deep as the 300. While this really doesn't make much difference when enjoying Blu-ray movies, it does show how much more mature the HD chipsets have become in two years. The speed improvement of the player on the other hand will make a difference. While the 300 took 45 seconds just to eject when powered off, the 350 can do it in 6. This puts it in a two way tie with the fastest player we've tested.

The "BD-Live-ready" BDP-S350 only started shipping in the US a few weeks ago, so we suppose the Brits / Scots / Welsh / Northern Irish (did we just make that up?) can't grumble too loudly about Sony's latest release. Both the BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 have finally been deemed official and ready for use in the United Kingdom, though specifications are precisely the same outside of that really funky power adapter. Curiously, there's no mention of release dates or prices, but it's almost guaranteed that you UKers will be forced to cough up way too many pounds as Sony takes advantage of the current exchange rate situation fiasco.

For those out there totally stoked about paying $400 for a Blu-ray player that's just "BD-Live-ready," have we got a surprise for you! Our brethren over at Engadget Classic got a chance to swing by Sony's demonstration today in New York City and take a peek at the firm's recently released (as in, shipping) Blu-ray deck alongside a few other audio related products. Whatcha waiting for? Get over there and check it all out!

Wow, Toys 'R Us was only a day off. Sure enough, Sony's BDP-S350 -- which was first introduced / spotted in February -- has gone on sale at Sony Style retail outlets, the Sony Style website and other fine retailers near you. If you're looking for a quick refresher, this Profile 2.0-compliant deck supports BonusView (picture-in-picture), but curiously enough, Sony mentions that "a firmware update enabling BD-Live is planned [for] later this year." You'll also find full 1080p output, 7.1-channel Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio support and a promise to suck down 21% less power in playback compared to the BDP-S300. All yours for $400 (give or take a few pennies).

When Sony introduced its classically-styled BDP-S350 Blu-ray player in late February, all we knew was that the $400 machine would land sometime this summer. Now, we're seeing a pre-order page (on Toys R Us, admittedly) that pegs the ship date at July 15th. Yeah, a fortnight from now. The price remains unchanged at $399.99, but at least you'll find Profile 2.0 compatibility as well as bitstream support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, right? Okay, now that it's a date, who's buying (and more importantly, who's not?)

[Thanks, Rahul]

We know, we know, we're really late on this one -- thanks Sony -- but around here we think it's important to review every Blu-ray player. And we're sure there are some who don't want to wait for the replacement due out in a few months, so here's the impressions of Sony's current entry level Blu-ray player. The good news is that although this player is missing many critical features, it shares just about everything we loved with the much more expensive BDP-95FD that we reviewed last month (psst: it's obvious that Pioneer and Sony work together on their Blu-ray players). So if picture-in-picture, internet content, TrueHD and DTS-HD aren't important to you, then you may want to save some money and pick one of these up now.

Those waiting for the next generation of Blu-ray players, here you go: Sony's got two new ones for you today, the BDP-S350 and BDP-S550. Both feature BD-Live (and thus Ethernet) and USB (for external) storage and PiP (BonusView), while the S550 has 7.1 discrete analog outputs and 1GB of onboard storage. As for the rest of the specs, well, expect TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus (and DTS-HD MA & HR in the S550), AVCHD and xvYCC color support, and, of course 1080 60/24p. The S350 will hit for $400 this summer, while the S550 will run you $500 this fall.