Sony adds $700 Blu-ray player its ES line
Sony adds the $700 BDP-S1000ES Blu-ray player to its premium ES line, with the player offering 802.11N Wi-Fi, 7.1 analog outputs and Sony's HD Reality Enhancer video processing.
Sony's Blu-ray megachangers may be the big news today, but the company also announced a single-disc high-end Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1000ES ($700, August release date).
It's the least expensive Blu-ray player in the Sony ES ("Elevated Standard") line and comes with a few premium features like integrated 802.11N Wi-Fi, better build quality, and 7.1 analog outputs, along with now-standard features like Profile 2.0 compatibility and onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Like the step-down Sony BDP-S560, the BDP-S1000ES is DLNA-compliant and is capable of streaming photos off a connected DLNA-friendly device.
The BDP-S1000ES also features Sony's HD Reality Enhancer, which Sony claims "continually analyzes the original source bit by bit, sharpening edges and reproducing detail, while reducing the effects of film grain." We'll wait until hands-on testing to see how well it works, but generally we prefer the original video source without sharpening "enhancements."
While the BDP-S1000ES's $700 price tag seems steep, its worth pointing out that the step-down Sony BDP-S560 ($350) is also coming out next month and includes nearly all the same features, except the 7.1 analog outputs and Sony HD Reality Enhancer.