HOME About Buyers Guide Reviews Archives

High-Definition DVD Player Reviews

Sony BDP-S300 High-Definition DVD Player

Sony’s second high-definition DVD player, the BDP-S300, was announced in February 2007, with sales expected from around summer 2007.

According to the company press release:

The newest unit is expected to broaden the market with a price of around $600, a new design, advanced audio codecs, BRAVIA Theater Sync, and CD playback.

...The new BDP-S300 model can output 1920 x 1080p (progressive) high-definition video, currently the highest resolution high-definition signal available through an HDMI connection. The player supports various video formats, including MPEG2, MPEG4-AVC and VC1.

For those who own an HDTV set without HDMI, an analog component output for 1080i (interlaced) is available as well.

The new BD player is compatible with most standard DVDs and has the added feature of 1080p upscaling through HDMI to 1080p capable HDTVs, improving the picture performance of existing DVD libraries.

Sony’s BD player outputs signals at 24 frames per second, reproducing a film-like image.

Engadget commented:

Just in time for summer blockbuster season, Sony's pre-announced its new BDP-S300 budget Blu-ray player. It'll MSRP 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 such an attractive "low end" model so early when it's got all the same features as the current generation. Perhaps because consumers still aren't as confident about picking up a Blu-ray as Sony might have hoped? We don't know, but we have a feeling they just killed S1 sales through summer.

Digital Trends wrote:

Letting information slip about the BDP-S300 is another move in Sony's campaign to declare victory for Blu-ray in the high-definition DVD format war: although we think it's too early to write off HD DVD just yet (what with five studios and heavy hitters like Microsoft behind it), there seems little doubt that Sony's format has gained momentum with the introduction of the PlayStation 3; offering stand-alone players at friendlier price points will only serve to make the technology more appealing.

* Get the Latest Price on the Sony BDP-S300 High-Definition DVD Player.

March 12th, 2007