Sony launches BDP-S500 Blu-ray player
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 30th 2007 11:23AM
posted Aug 30th 2007 11:23AM
posted Aug 30th 2007 11:23AM
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Ryan: There are a TON of other players that should make the news. Like BenQ's PC BD-ROM Drive $199. go to blu-ray.com for sources.
Blu-ray.com is a cesspool Blu-ray FUD and is chalk full zealots.
If you want non-bias or even slight non-bias news, stay far away from Blu-ray.com!
Daewoo have also launched there Profile 1.1 player.
Expect it to be very competitively priced!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/08/30/ifa_daewoo_bluray/
Zargon: remove your personal/political feelings about blu-ray.com... very childish of you. I'm not sure how it's bias news when a new player comes out HD-DVD or Blu-ray... that's news. you got to live with that.
If the blue laser prices are really dropping to $8 like Sony has said they have in the past, why on earth are Blu-Ray players and drives still so damn expensive?
I'm not so sure I believe them.
Another 1.0 player, what the hell?!
It is by no means childish, I am merely stating fact that there are far better places to get ones news about Blu-ray, HD-DVD and HDM in general, than Blu-ray.com. It has nothing to do with the news of the BenQ BR-Rom, just where you are point people to go for this news!
Like I said, it is a cesspool of Blu-ray FUD. A place for Blu-ray zealots to continue living in their blue tinted fantasy world. It is heavily biased in favor of Blu-ray, not a good source for news.
If you do want to talk about childishness, you have to look no further than Blu-ray.com. A group has created a "Hit List" that is intended to call out any one that supports HD-DVD, even if they are format neutral, ranking them in tiers. This includes screen names and where they post. Pretty childish and pathetic if you ask me.
I have no problem with Blu-ray as a format, I hate the format war, but I have long since decided I would be going format neutral. Knowing that it would be the only way to get my movies in HD.
Is that a laser disk player? ;)
Zargon: ...it's out of context, that's the point i'm trying to make. I'm talking about players, not politics, sales stats, etc. Blu-ray.com is doing some fast coverage of IFA for blu-ray (who would've thought?).
If I were to say "HD-DVD sucks, blu-ray has all the truth" now THAT would be childish and out of context. Somehow, the phrase blu-ray.com is a trigger phrase that sets off a seizure for you, and I must tell you, you need to deal with that on your own.
When an HD-DVD player is talked about on here, and you were to point out "there are 4 more that are showing up on hd-dvd.com" I would have no response for that, it's clearly in context towards players of HD-DVD formats, no politics.
So once again, blu-ray.com is doing coverage on other players showing up at IFA that declare more news than this sony player... nothing else, no rants, no raves, just another source of other players soon to hit the market.
zargon; I can't find this hit list you speak of that you say is on blu-ray.com. What do they call it?
Nope, not out of context at all, again, just stating fact that Blu-ray.com is not a good source for news. Other sources have it about the BenQ drive, better off going their to get non-bias news.
But whatever, scamper back to your beloved Blu-ray.com with all the other zealots.
No skin off of my teeth.
Zargon: I've disagreed with more intelligent HD-DVD supporters, you seem to be blinded with something very personal against Blu-ray.com And for the record, "stating the fact" is not FACT, even if I think it's a good source or not, it doesn't make it fact, it's perspective, thus its subjective (aka non-fact).
And for non-bias "Sharp announces a new BD player" I'm not sure how bias gets interlaced into that type of news, it's called product news. Blu-ray.com has bias news about politics before, and to anyone who is anti-format war or an HD-DVD supporter, it is insulting... but it makes sense, blu-ray is in "Fact", a supporter towards it's own media. So it can be as bias as it wants to.
Therefore, when blu-ray players are being launched, blu-ray.com and even IFA website would be a good source, but again.... IN CONTEXT (hope you dont miss that), this is an article about a blu-ray player, thus giving the source suggestion to blu-ray.com is just where I saw it first... don't get all hurt about that. So, there are no jabs to HD-DVD, but again, everytime I mention the phrase blu-ray.com you start foaming out the mouth.
Product News vs. Format War Politics remember there is a difference.
Geez Zargon, what did Blu-ray.com ever do to you? It's not like they're purporting to be unbiased with a name like blu-ray.com. I'm sure there are HD DVD sites that are just as biased. If you have an alternate link to the article, let us know. Otherwise, its like complaining that thelookandsoundofperfect.com is HD DVD biased and we should all stay away!
Looks like a pretty solid player. It's out at the end of October, so it should be 1.1. But it looks like its definitely geared more to the high-end videophile crowd. Hopefully it means we'll see a $1-200 price drop on the BDP-S300.
Still holding out on a standalone player. I just sold my HD DVD standalone, since I wasn't getting a lot of use out of it. But if I get a 360, I might pick up the HD DVD add-on, depending on what exclusives Universal and Parmaount manage to crank out in the next year. But Serenity and King Kong were just not worth it to have that massive HD-A1 taking up the space. If HD DVD does win, I'm sure I'll be able to pick up a super-sleek new player at about $99.
I still think the game consoles are the safest bet. Even if your preferred format fails, you still have a great HD Gaming system. Online capability is built-in for things like firmware updates, and I'm still holding out hope that a simple system update will make PS3 1.1 compatible. And once things have shaken out one way or the other, you can get a better standalone player at a cheaper price.
"It's out at the end of October, so it should be 1.1. "
1.1 is mandatory for players introduced to market AFTER October 31. This and all the other players announced today except the Daewoo are being released in October because they're Profile 1.0.
Josh, there's a lot more to the players than the lasers. The lasers themselves are the same wavelength for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray standards. The optics are slightly different.
I'm really at a loss as to explaining why BR players are still so expensive relative to Toshiba's HD-DVD players. HD-DVD is more stringent than the first profile BR in terms of capabilities. The best I can think is that Toshiba is cutting their margins very thinly in the hopes of making the money back in royalties in the long term. At any rate, I think it's tough to argue for a BluRay player when the discs cost about the same (more or less, and except for the DVD/HD combo discs) and the BR players are $200 more expensive.
Disclaimer: I am not endorsing either system. I am simply trying to show one reason why the Blu-ray prices are higher.
Blu-ray optical systems are considerably more expensive. The blue wavelength is the same for both but the aperture is considerably larger on Blu-ray.
Aperture Sizes
DVD - 0.60
HD - 0.65
Blu - 0.85
The aperture on Blu-ray allows for higher bandwidth and reading closer to the surface of the disc. However, these optics must be made out of glass while DVD and HD DVD can be made from plastic.
Its this optics system that allows Blu-ray to reach 48.0 Mbit/s bandwidth for video+audio while HD DVD only reaches 30.24 Mbit/s. Also to back up this 50% increase in bandwidth takes more processing power which is more expensive.
"At any rate, I think it's tough to argue for a BluRay player when the discs cost about the same (more or less, and except for the DVD/HD combo discs) and the BR players are $200 more expensive."
Well, except that you have more studio support. I would rather pay $500 for a player that will play more movies than $300 for a player that will play a much more limited selection.
Heck, you're seeing people drop $1000 to buy films on both formats, either through a combo player or 2 standalones. People will pay a little more if it means they can get the movies they want.
Right now, the studio advantage is moot, there are about an equal number of titles in both the HD formats, with a slight lead in the direction of HD-DVD in terms of the number of titles.
The thing I've said in other stories is that not many people are going to buy a player in both formats. It's a hardware purchase that shouldn't be necessary
"1.1 is mandatory for players introduced to market AFTER October 31. This and all the other players announced today except the Daewoo are being released in October because they're Profile 1.0."
I see. So that means we should be starting to hear about some high-end players launching in November/December soon (which of course will probably end up delayed until Q1 2008...).
This is part of why I've begun advocating game consoles instead of standalone players for the time being.
Daewoo "released" nothing, they merely demo'd something they hope to produce at some indetermined point in the future (and if it's a cheap & nasty as their cars & TVs I'd not be crowing about it if I was you).
Is there a pdf manual for this Sony S500?
Is it unable to play blank BD -R & BD -RE media like the S300 too?