Audio Video News

Two new Blu-ray players were among the highlights of a major Sony product introduction yesterday in Las Vegas.

One key difference between the BDP-S350, due over the summer for $400, and the BDP-S550, due in the fall for $500: Though both models will pass DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio bitstream output, only the step-up model will internally decode DTS-HD. Both will decode Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus. While this is odd, it isn't much of a shock--next-gen surround has always been optional, not mandatory, in Blu-ray. In the dearly departed HD DVD format, the new Dolbys were mandatory and the new DTSes were optional.

Another difference between the two models: While both will support BD Live, which will enable the player to access content from the internet, only the BDP-S550 will support it out of the box. The BDP-S350 will require a software upgrade. Both are 1080/24p capable. See press release.

Sony also introduced 21 new Bravia LCD TVs, new surround receivers, a USB turntable, and other products. See full list of press releases and more complete coverage on our site by Tom Norton.

In other Sony news, the company will team up with Sharp for a new $3.5 billion LCD manufacturing plant in Japan. Sony will own a 33 percent stake in the factory, due for completion in 2010.