Sony intros 8 new Blu-ray players and recorders

At its press conference in Japan recently, Sony showed off two new Blu-ray disc players and six Blu-ray players with built-in hard drives, which act as high-definition DVRs. The products make up four new lines in Sony's lineup, and all feature a new CREAS engine with new upscaling technology that promises to bring 14-bit HD processing and what Sony calls its Super Bit Mapping engine for video. The most expensive of the new products are found in the X-series, which is made up of the 500GB BDZ-X95 and 1TB BDZ-X100. Apart from the difference in the hard drive capacities, the two X-series products are nearly identical. They are alone in the new releases to include Digital Reality Creation - Multi Function software, DRC-MFv3, that is already supported by Sony's high-end BRAVIA LCD TVs. They share a digital TV tuner and an unspecified counts of HDMI, component, S-video and VGA connections, in addition to a USB port. Users will interact with the two through Sony's Cross Media Bar interface.

The second-highest rung in Sony's BD recorder range is occupied by the L-series, the 320GB BDZ-L55 and 500GB BDZ-L95. Both use a pair of USB ports, an HDV 1080i / DV input, and the usual assortment of HDMI and lesser video inputs and outputs. The BDZ-T75 alone comes with a multi card readers and is DLNA certified to work in conjunction with other home electronics on a local network.

The entry-level BD recorders from Sony comprise of the BDZ-T55 and BDZ-T75, both of which use the same 320GB HDD. Shared among them is BD Live support, 24p native frame rate support and a digital TV tuner. The BDZ-T75 contrasts against the T55 with DLNA hooks.

The two S-series devices, BDP-S350 and BDP-S500ES, are Blu-ray players only, and include BD Live support as well as the new CREAS Engine processor and Sony's Super Bit Mapping.

The BDZ-X95 is to be priced at an equivalent of about $1820 for the BDZ-X95 and $2,600 for the BDZ-X100. The BDZ-L55 should be priced at about $1,150, while the BDZ-L95 should cost nearly $1,550. The previous four devices are expected to hit the Japanese market by the end of September. The BDZ-T55 and BDZ-T75 are due for a mid October release in Japan, priced at about $1,000 and $1,275, respectively. No prices were revealed for the S-series Blu-ray players, although they will hit the market early in December

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