SONY BDP-S1E, FIRST STAND ALONE BLU RAY PLAYER SET FOR EUROPE

Responding to a rapidly growing market demand throughout Europe, Sony has announced the latest addition to a Blu-ray Disc family including High Definition gaming, editing and now, the ultimate home theatre experience. The BDP-S1E represents one of the company’s most powerful and intelligent consumer equipment models ever developed: the player sets new standards in High Definition audiovisual playback of movies. The superbly stylish BDP-S1E integrates seamlessly within Sony’s ‘BRAVIA’ Theatre concept to produce one of the most stunning and engaging entertainment experiences ever developed. Film lovers will relish 24p True Cinema incorporated into this Blu-ray Disc player. Cine cameras actually film at 24 frames per second, but televisions operate at a higher frame rate, so conversion has traditionally been necessary. The result is a 4% discrepancy from the original – the film on TV actually runs 4% faster than the original, and the soundtrack rises by 4% in pitch. When the BDP-S1E is connected to a TV with 24p capabilities such as the ‘BRAVIA’ D3000 series, the original 24 frames per second are displayed just as the camera first recorded them. You see – and hear – exactly what you should, exactly as the director intended.

The BDP-S1E, Sony has positioned it as the ultimate cinema experience and with over 250 movies available on Blu-ray Disc in Europe*, customers can be confident that they tastes are catered for. Whether it’s the action of Bond in Casino Royale, the intrigue of the Da Vinci Code or the romantic fun of Hitch, film fans can trust Blu-ray Disc to offer them much more choice with seven of the eight major Hollywood studios offering this format.
The BDP-S1E player provides full 1920 x 1080p (progressive) High Definition video for Blu-ray Disc titles. So don’t worry about that impressive home movie collection you’re so proud of… When playing your existing DVD library on the BDP-S1E, a 1080p video upscaling facility takes your old movies out of the DVD-Video domain and represents them with a new lustre and character that is closer to HD resolution.

Just as Blu-ray Disc is revolutionising the home entertainment market, this new player sets a fresh aspirational benchmark in the European market,” comment Hiro Shinohara - Director Home Video Europe at Sony Europe. “It has the punching power of a super heavyweight, the looks of a super model and truly simple and intuitive operation for the serious AV enthusiasts. Such is our confidence in the Blu-ray format, we plan to announce a larger family of products in the coming months. Watch this space!”

Intuitive design behind the slimline aluminium and genuine glass finished exterior lies a level of intelligent operation seldom seen in the consumer equipment market. Developed as an integral part of the Sony ‘BRAVIA’ Theatre concept, synchronisation of the BDP-S1E player alongside Sony ‘BRAVIA’ TVs, HiFi systems and receivers is as simple as pressing one button and the ‘BRAVIA’ Theatre Sync function does away with the need for confusing navigation of multiple hardware controls. Within minutes of taking the player from its box, it will lie at the heart of a HD home theatre system while complementing the interior design around it. This extraordinary attention to design detail is reflected by the choice of genuine materials like the specially coated glass front and the elegant aluminium body. The glass front shimmers in deep blue, which disappears once the light in the home theatre is turned down, leaving the audience’s attention to the picture it creates.

Recognising the importance of the audio component within the HD world, the BDP-S1E provides up to 8 channels of uncompressed linear PCM digital audio output via HDMI as well as Dolby Digital Plus. Highest audio performance is assured through separate audio circuitary, the use of finely tuned high-performance audio components, a rigid beam chassis construction, drive brackets and off-centre insulator feet.

The adoption of “x.v.Colour” (Sony’s implementation of the xvYCC video signal standard) is another illustration of the company’s determination to raise the bar in European HD home entertainment. Consumers can now enjoy up to approximately twice the colour of sRGB when playing back discs recorded with AVC-HD camcorders.

The player supports a diversity of high quality video codecs, including MPEG2, MPEG4-AVC and VC1. HDMI interfaces ensure the broadest level of device interoperability, whilst for owners of HDTVs without HDMI, an analogue component output for 1080i (interlace) is included as a standard feature. The player supports BD-ROM, AVC-HD, CD and DVD playback from DVD/DVD±R/±RW encoded discs as well as MP3 audio files and JPEG images stored on DVD±R/±RW discs.

The BDP-S1E will be available throughout Europe from summer 2007.

Source: Sony-Europe Press Release