http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/ Engadget HD Comments for Sony launches BDP-S500 Blu-ray player http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/Aug 30th 2007 11:33AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
If you want non-bias or even slight non-bias news, stay far away from Blu-ray.com!]]>Aug 30th 2007 11:44AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
Expect it to be very competitively priced!

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/08/30/ifa_daewoo_bluray/]]>Aug 30th 2007 2:19PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/Aug 30th 2007 12:08PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
I'm not so sure I believe them.]]>Aug 30th 2007 11:47AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/]]>Aug 30th 2007 12:02PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.

]]>Aug 30th 2007 12:20PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/Aug 30th 2007 12:12PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.]]>Aug 30th 2007 12:25PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/Aug 30th 2007 4:56PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
But whatever, scamper back to your beloved Blu-ray.com with all the other zealots.

No skin off of my teeth.]]>Aug 30th 2007 12:31PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.]]>Aug 30th 2007 12:39PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.]]>Aug 30th 2007 3:13PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.
]]>Aug 30th 2007 3:30PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.]]>Aug 30th 2007 4:28PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.]]>Aug 30th 2007 6:24PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.]]>Aug 31st 2007 9:15AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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]]>Aug 31st 2007 3:08PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
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.
]]>Aug 31st 2007 9:14AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/08/30/sony-launches-bdp-s500-blu-ray-player/
Is there a pdf manual for this Sony S500?

Is it unable to play blank BD -R & BD -RE media like the S300 too? ]]>Oct 16th 2007 7:55PM