Sony BDP-S360 and BDP-S560

Today Sony announced the two new stand-alone blu-ray players BDP-S360 and BDP-S560. Both models support 7.1 HD sound (Dolby® TrueHD, Dolby® Digital Plus, DTS®-HD High Resolution Audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding), deep color video output, USB flash storage device. The big difference between the two players is that the BDP-S560 also features a front USB port, and built-in WiFi for BD-live material and automatic firmware updates. The players will be shipping this summer and will retail for about $300 (BDP-S360) and $350 (BDP-S560).

LAS VEGAS, March 2, 2009 – Sony is adding four new Blu-ray Disc™ devices to its lineup today, including a stand-alone player with Wi-Fi® capability for easy BD-Live™ access and Blu-ray Disc home theater systems with S-AIR™ wireless audio.

The BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 stand-alone players and BDV-E300 and BDV-E500W BD home theater systems deliver full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema™ output, decode the latest advanced audio codecs, and are BD-Live capable with your broadband internet connection and purchase of external memory.

“The demands of today’s home theater go beyond pristine picture quality and our new Blu-ray Disc product line offers a breadth of technologies that deliver an amazing entertainment experience,” said Chris Fawcett, vice president of marketing for Sony Electronics’ Home Product Division. “Consumers don’t want a living room cluttered with wires and the new Blu-ray Disc product lineup breaks down the wired barriers of the past.”

Offering built-in Wi-Fi wireless network capabilities (802.11N/G/B/A), the BDP-S560 can easily connect to the Internet through your existing wireless home network to download and stream BD-Live content 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-S560 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 share digital photos.

Since many consumers own extensive DVD movie libraries, the BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 incorporate Sony’s Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology that converts standard-definition signals (480i) to near HD quality.

Additionally, the models add Sony’s Precision Drive™ technology?, which helps to detect and correct wobbling discs from three directions, supporting stabilization of the playback of bent or scratched Blu-ray Discs and DVDs.

The BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 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.

Both players support Deep Color video output and AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology. They also feature compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on BD/DVD/CD recordable media.

The models also offer an external port for local storage so users can add their USB flash storage device. The BDP-S560 features a front USB port for viewing photos from your USB flash memory device or directly from a digital camera.

Shipping this summer, the BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 will retail for about $300 and $350, respectively.

Styled to match the BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 with a black gloss exterior design, the HT-SS360 component home theater system is an integrated A/V receiver supporting full HD 1080p video and high resolution audio. Added to either of the new players, the theater system completes the package with 5.1 surround sound for a true cinematic experience.

The model will be available this May for about $350.