Captain Obvious has swooped in to bring us the latest sales bit from the world of high-definition players, and the results are nothing short of unsurprising. According to data gathered since the recent rash of price cuts -- particularly on standalone HD DVD players -- HD disc players have seen noticeable jumps in sales. Citing Sony's recently slashed BDP-S1 and Toshiba's bargain-priced HD-A2, various analysts and company spokespeople were unanimously upbeat by the recent (and unseasonal) uptick in sales. Notably, Universal Studios' Ken Graffeo claimed that he "realized over the last couple of months that the audience was not perceiving $499 as a great value, but the $299 to $399 range really hit the sweet spot." Maybe so, but get these suckas below the magical $200 point and watch the mayhem really begin.

Since, HD DVD and Blu-ray firmware updates seem to come out weekly, we quit covering them; but Sony just dropped a big one this morning. After you update your BDP-S1 you'll be able to enjoy Dolby TrueHD and DD+, like HD DVD fans have for some time. We are actually surprised that Sony would even bother, considering they have a new player right around the corner.

[Via AVSForum]

Sony has finally officially announced its first standalone Blu-ray player for the European market. Just like the PlayStation 3, a several month delay on the hardware has resulted in a few hardware revisions, however instead of limited backwards compatibility, the new BDP-S1E adds HDMI 1.3 and x.v. Colour support -- for AVC-HD-encoded discs -- to the package. Along with 1080p/24 output from the earlier model, this should make it an excellent player for aficionados demanding that "film-like" experience when paired with any of the new BRAVIAs hitting the market soon. With the BDP-S1E due this summer, no word on a price, or if Europe will ever see the BDP-S300 that should be launching in the U.S. around that time, but since its not a continent of "cheap people", we're sure they'll be able to deal with it.


[Via Crave]

Just in time for summer blockbuster season, Sony's pre-announced its new BDP-S300 low-end Blu-ray player. It'll go for a cool $600 -- still significantly less than the better-late-than-never S1 -- and will apparently have all the fixins of its predecessor, as well as CD playback, and a size closer to a traditional DVD player. Which makes you wonder why they'd announce a "low-end" model so early and that's basically the same. Perhaps because they're not as confident about consumer Blu-ray pickup as they'd have hoped? We don't know, but we have a feeling they just killed S1 sales through summer.

There is no doubt we live in a time where almost every electronic device we own could use some sort of firmware update. Lucky for us HD DVD and Blu-ray player manufactures don't mind admiting when they made a mistake and release an update for their hardware. First to the market and first to release an update was HD DVD and then Samsung and now Sony. Based on the list of fixes we can only assume this was released as a direct result of issues with The Descent, but we will have to wait and see what users say after they have had a chance to download the disc image or order a disc from Sony.

The update is supposed to address:

• Improves BD-Java compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs
• Enhances playback compatibility with certain BD-ROM format discs
• Corrects the output signal status information for audio output and display when Linear PCM 5.1 channel soundtracks are played back via HDMI

[Via High-Def Digest]

The Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray player is finally available to the masses, but how does it stack up against other players on the market, or even Sony's own PlayStation 3? HDGuru has put up a review of the unit after testing it out on a Panasonic TH-50PX600 plasma. One major complaint are the loading times, with it taking well over a minute from power on to actually playing a movie, as well as some lag on commands via the remote. Still, that $999.95 does buy the first player capable of 1080p/24 output and didn't display the annoying visual problems encountered by the earlier Samsung BD-P1000. The pack-in copy of The Fifth Element still looks as bad as ever but other Blu-ray releases show the potential of the format. Just like the PS3, it's BYOC for HDMI and component connections, that a high definition player doesn't include a way for it to connect to an HDTV is still just silly. CD playback is also not a part of the package, but future firmware updates will add Blu-ray Java and BD-R/BD-RE compatibility. Without features like HDMI 1.3 and BD-Live support, it's tough to see this as a good buy right now but we'll see if the picture quality is worth it to some.

[Via HDBlog.net]

Sony's first standalone Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1 has been pushed back so many times it's not even funny anymore. This time, the company is saying the push back is not due to any blue laser shortage, but "a specific software function that resides in the hardware" as confirmed to Electronic House. No word on what the problem is, but as complex as these next generation players are there's surely a million things that could trip it up. Hopefully it will arrive sometime this year and have totally glitch-free playback of those BD-J interactive titles due for the holiday season. Who are we kidding? Start the countdown to the first firmware update...now.

The last time SonyStyle pushed back the anticipated ship date of the BDP-S1 standalone Blu-ray player, we jokingly suggested it might end up being pushed beyond the (at that point) already delayed-until-November PlayStation 3. Apparently the joke is on anyone still waiting for this box; while the $999 price hasn't changed, it is now expected to ship "on or about December 4, 2006". In light of the previous July, August, and October prognostications, the Playstation 3 shortage, battery fiasco, and even a just-announced delay of the LF-Box1 LocationFree TV streamer, Sony's manufacturing prowess seems to be slipping. Some customers who contacted Sony have reported that those who have already ordered the BDP-S1 might receive shipments before December, but these days you can't really take anything for granted.


[Via AVS Forum]

Unfortunately this post isn't about where you can go to buy a DVD hologram projector, plasma vision walls or TemporalVision truly-time shifting television as those products only exist within the world of SciFi Channel show Eureka. However if you go to the Made in Eureka website and try to order one you will be entered to win a Sony KDS-R60XBR1 HDTV and Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray player. Whether you're a dyed-in-the wool Blu-ray fan or a longtime HD DVD supporter we'd think that free is just about the right price for some next gen high-def viewing. We'll just keep waiting for that TemporalVision monitor, it will probably actually be available long before we find out what's really going on in Lost.

[Via TV Squad]

The internet went ablaze a couple weeks ago when someone finally noticed that the Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray player had been delayed until August on their SonyStyle website (even though it had been like that since April). Now, our friends at HDBlog have noticed that the date has changed again, now shipping on or about October 25th.

Ouch. Although as HDBlog notes, SonyStyle is sometimes delayed in receiving new products, until now their website has reflected the exact expected shipping date of Sony's Blu-ray player so we believe it still does. There have been reports that Sony's hardware is still far from ready, and this could support that conclusion, or may be they are just waiting for better quality movies to be available. Another theory suggests they are delaying the BDP-S1 to increase drive availability for the Playstation 3 and alleviate shortages.

Whatever the cause, HD DVD is on the ground and gaining momentum, if the BDP-S1 keeps slipping, the PS3 may end up being Sony's first Blu-ray release.

Previous Sony BDP-S1 release info:
Yes, Sony's BDP-S1 is delayed; Blu-ray isn't
Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray player available for pre-order (again) (August)
Sony Blu-Ray available for pre-order (July)

[Via HDBlog.net]

Breaking news: Sony is delaying the launch of their Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1.

That headline has been all over the Internet the last few days. Besides not being "Breaking News" at all (we posted on this in April), people forget that this does not delay the entire Blu-ray launch. Oh no, Samsung is guaranteeing that they will ship their Blu-ray player (BD-P1000) on June 25. In fact, some lucky people already have their players. There is more then one or two manufacturers making these player and just because three major players (Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer) are delayed does not mean the entire Blu-ray thing is put off. It is a shame though that the Sony will not be available at the launch of their format but they are releasing a bunch of titles.

Blu-ray is almost here - get those credit cards ready!

Whether or not you believe the latest price rumor about the PS3 ($399 US according to PSM) we can be pretty sure it will be less than $999.95. Not so coincidentally, that is the current pre-order price for Sony's own top of the line BDP-S1 Blu-ray player. We still have no idea what the final features of the Playstation 3 will be, however we've been shown dual HDMI outs and expect DVD upconversion, hard drive and probably a snazzy new videogame or two that won't be on the BDP-S1, which brings me to my main question.

Why would anyone pay probably twice the asking price of the PS3 for additional features that appear to begin and end with "rigid beam construction"?

The Blu-ray camp is moving the hype machine to 11 now that HD-DVD is in stores. The latest is Sony's own BDP-S1 showing up on their website for pre-orders, ready to take the $999.95 that has been burning a hole in your pocket. Of course if you start financing it at $29 a month, you'll have it paid off by the time HVD comes out.

Continue on for the feature list, is all that 1080p, uncompressed multi channel audio goodness worth it to you? Frankly I'm unimpressed, you'd think that for $1000 you could at least get the twin HDMI outs they claim will be on the Playstation 3. And a "blue glass front"? Call me back when it's chrome plated and spinning. "On or about August 15", update your calendars children.

[Via engadget]