Sony's Blu-ray MegaChanger hits the streets next month with new ES standalone
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jul 23rd 2009 3:00PM
posted Jul 23rd 2009 3:00PM
SONY ORGANIZES YOUR ENTERTAINMENT COLLECTION
WITH NEW 400-DISC BLU-RAY DISC/DVD MEGACHANGER
Company Expands Blu-ray Disc Player Options with Three New Models
NEW YORK, July 23, 2009 – Looking to help consumers simplify and manage their living room entertainment experience, Sony today announced the new BDP-CX960 and the "Elevated Standard" (ES) BDP-CX7000ES 400-disc Blu-ray Disc™ MegaChangers.
The company also announced the BDP-S1000ES single disc ES player expanding the Sony's Blu-ray Disc line to 13 models offering a broad set of performance and features.
The Blu-ray Disc MegaChanger models store and play 400 Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and CDs, allowing consumers to relocate their disc library to a convenient, easy-to-access location.
They also feature the ability to download information from Gracenote's MusicID® and VideoID™ products to organize movies and music. When a disc is inserted into the device, Gracenote technology automatically downloads information across an existing Internet broadband service and saves title, director, some cast information, release year, and genre information for most titles, allowing users to easily navigate the library intuitively through the player's xross media bar™ menu system.
"Think about all those great movie and music discs in your collection," said Chris Fawcett, vice president for Sony Electronics' home audio and video business. "Wouldn't it be great to instantly play those movies or CDs -- definitely gives a new meaning to the notion of a movie marathon!"
BDP-CX7000ES and BDP-CX960
Leading the MegaChanger line up is the BDP-CX7000ES which outputs full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema™. Designed to integrate with third-party automation control systems, the model features an RS232 connection and IR-in and is built to high-quality ES standards.
It offers exceptional audio quality with 7.1 channel analog output and superior video incorporating Sony's HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping technologies. The HD Reality Enhancer technology continually analyzes the original source bit by bit, sharpening edges and reproducing detail, while reducing the effects of film grain. Super Bit Mapping delivers smoother color gradation realizing true 14-bit equivalent color tone from 8-bit sources.
The model also upscales standard definition DVDs to 1080p through Sony's Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology when connected to a 1080p display via HDMI.
Precision Cinema HD Upscale uses advanced conversion and processing to detect image changes at the pixel level, rather than the level of whole scan lines. Additionally, separate algorithms are used to process the moving and still parts of an image, resulting in sharp backgrounds with moving objects that are free from motion artifacts.
Complementing the BDP-CX7000ES, is the new BDP-CX960. This 400-disc MegaChanger also delivers full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output and Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology.
Both the BDP-CX7000ES and BDP-CX960 feature an Ethernet port for connectivity to a local home broadband network to download metadata from Gracenote, software updates and to access BD-Live™ content. There is also an external port for local storage so users can add their USB flash storage device to support BD-Live content.
The models support 7.1 channel Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus, DTS®-HD High Resolution Audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding as well as bit-stream output via HDMI. It is compatible with an array of video formats, including BD-ROM/R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD-+ Video/R/RW, CD/R/RW, and MP3/JPEG on BD/DVD/CD recordable media and supports x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology. The BDP-CX7000ES also supports Deep Color via HDMI (v1.3).
The BDP-CX7000ES is available this August for about $1,900, while the BDP-CX960 will be available this fall for about $800.
BDP-S1000ES
The single-disc BDP-S1000ES Blu-ray Disc player bolsters the ES line adding built-in Wi-Fi® (802.11N/G/B/A) capability for easy BD-Live access. The model offers full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema™ and upscales standard definition DVDs to 1080p through Sony's Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology.
The model can easily connect to the Internet through an existing wireless home network to download and stream BD-Live content from select titles including additional scenes, short subjects, trailers, interactive games, and more. It also enables easy firmware updates to assist in keeping your player up-to-date with the latest Blu-ray Disc media and features.
While compatible with most wireless routers, the BDP-S1000ES also supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup™, for a quick and easy connection to enabled wireless routers. Additionally, the player is Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) ready, allowing it to connect to other DLNA compliant devices to watch digital photos on your TV.
The model also incorporates Sony's HD Reality Enhancer, Super Bit Mapping, and Precision Drive HD technology.
It supports Deep Color video output and x.v.Color technology. The player is compatible with an array of video formats, including BD-ROM/R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD-+ Video/R/RW, CD/R/RW, and MP3/JPEG on BD/DVD/CD recordable media.
The model also is compatible with advanced audio codecs including 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS -HD Master Audio, and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio decoding and bit-stream output, as well as analog 7.1 channel output.
The BDP-S1000ES is available this August for about $700.
I was considering the oppo, but this might be worth waiting for. Not sure the ES is worth the extra 1100 though.
It's not really the ES badge that I would be putting my extra cash on. It's the RS-232 and IR-in that catches my eye. ES is more like icing on the cake. And at $1900 you'll probably be able to find them around the holidays on sites like Amazon around the $1500 mark.
Simple math would show that you pay about $70 for a Sony upconvert single-tray and about $500 dollars for a multi-disc player. So you're paying about 7X for a few hundred more discs' spaces. With Blu-ray you pay about $300 for a single-tray and a proposed $1900 for multi-disc? That's just over 6X for not only 400X more discs but also RS-232, IR-in and an ES security net.
That sounds like a pretty convincing price point to me for those people who can drop that kind of money and not even blink.
You can't just equate parts cost into something like this. It's the ease of use, lack of effort to set up, and peace of mind that people are looking for in something like this. You have to remember that this is a "Premium" product.
For $2000 you can build a 15TB media center with an 8x bluray drive. Add-in Arcsoft's bluray software (with the ability to play bluray iso's) - Man, no disc changer can ever beat that.
Except that you would be doing more work by having to copy each disc while worrying about HD failure. At 15TB, that would be about 400 discs but you wouldn't be backing a single thing up. One disk goes down and you lose about 45 movies.
Assuming you are using 1.5TB drives and each copy is 30GB.
The backup would be your original discs still on your shelves to keep it all legal. ;)
There's also the Investment in time. Ripping all those movies (assuming you had that many) will take a significant amount it time.
You also have to consider the "nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity" it would require to run a system with that many drives. You either need some sort of NAS or multiple PCs either way I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood off 850 watts to keep it running?
The non-ES changer should sell very well.
This looks promising - does anyone know if you can link the changers together? Is that what the RS232 is for? It would be great if the cheaper changers could link...
If this scratches disks like the Sony DVD mega-changers, think how much $$$ you'd be out! Also, the Sony "Explorer" interface was pretty lame.
the price is out of my range but i would love if i could hook a disc changer to my ps3
"Wouldn't it be great to instantly play those movies or CDs?" says the Sony vice pres.
"Yes it would" says I, "especially if I could play more than one disc at a time, the way a media centre would allow me to do!"
I have been waiting since the inception of blu-ray for this!! I have a NON-ES DVD changer and I love it. What the F*&% took them so long! I knew it was going to be 800 bucks in my bones and that much didn’t bother me but I was hoping for RS232. The only regret I have with mine is that I didn’t get the ES with the RS232. Then I could connect it to my HTPC set up because that old Explore interface SUCKS!!
I know we talk about how we would love to have this all on the hard drive but we are just not at that point yet. I have the HTPC setup and I stream movies wired over gigabit and wirelessly on N from my WHS but when it stops working for unknown reasons during the day when my wife and son are at home who gets the angry phone calls? I do. That just doesn’t happen with real components. It is rock solid every time.
I just got a BD390 with that sweet built in N WiFi for father’s day so maybe I can wait a while for some price relief but I don’t have walls covered in DVD’s and that is great now that I have a 2 year old.
P.S.
My changer has never scratched a disc and because of it neither has my son.
The Sony Style website shows this in stock and shipping 7/27/09.