Sony officially announces new ES A/V receivers

John Falcone Senior Editorial Director, Shopping

John P. Falcone is the senior director of commerce content at CNET, where he coordinates coverage of the site's buying recommendations alongside the CNET Advice team (where he previously headed the consumer electronics reviews section). He's been a CNET editor since 2003.

Expertise Over 20 years experience in electronics and gadget reviews and analysis, and consumer shopping advice Credentials

Self-taught tinkerer, informal IT and gadget consultant to friends and family (with several self-built gaming PCs under his belt)

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John Falcone

Sept. 13, 2006 4:00 p.m. PT

Sony has officially unveiled the two new A/V receivers in its high-end ES (Elevated Standard) product line, the STR-DA3200ES and the STR-DA5200ES. The latter model offers the first-of-its-kind graphical user interface based on the Cross Media Bar GUI found on Sony's PSP and PlayStation 3, as previewed by CNET earlier this month.

Both receivers are specifically designed to dovetail with Sony's forthcoming Blu-ray standard bearers, the BDP-S1 and the PlayStation 3. As such, their HDMI inputs and outputs support HD resolution as high as 1080p, as well as uncompressed (linear PCM) 7.1-channel audio. In addition to its unique onscreen interface, the DA5200ES also boasts Faroudja's DCDi video-processing chip, which enables such abilities as scaling incoming analog video sources (for instance, composite and S-Video) to HD resolutions including 1080p, as well as offering picture-in-picture modes (a standard-definition source windowed over an HD one).

Both receivers will be available in October. The Sony STR-DA5200ES will cost $1,500 and the Sony STR-DA3200ES will retail for $900.

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