Sony lowers price on Blu-ray HTIBs

David Katzmaier | Mar 03, 2009

The BDV-E500W features wireless rear speakers.
(Credit: Sony)

As Blu-ray continues its meteoric progression toward commodity-hood, Sony is doing its part to speed the process by building BD players into increasingly affordable home-theater-in-a-box systems, or HTIBs.

The company announced two new systems with built-in Blu-ray players, the BDV-E300 (US$600 street) and BDV-E500W (US$800), at its 2009 Las Vegas line show. Both models incorporate full-featured Profile 2.0 Blu-ray players that can send the latest BD soundtracks, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio, out over the included speakers (or out an HDMI port via LPCM or bitstream). Sony's press release didn't include wattage specs for either system.

The US$600 BDV-E300 seems like a pretty good deal for a Blu-ray HTIB.
(Credit: Sony)

The main step-up feature of the more-expensive BDV-E500V is the wireless rear speakers. In a cool twist, Sony's S-AIR wireless system has a range of 50m, so in addition to not having to run speaker wires to the rear speakers, the system gives you the option to purchase "up to 10 individual S-AIR AirStation audio devices [for use] throughout the home", according to the company's press release. The step-down BDV-E300 is also S-AIR-compatible, although it ships with only wired speakers. The E500V also comes with a pair of tall-boy speakers for the front left and right channels, while the E300's front and surround speakers are equal in size.

Additional features on both units include a Digital Media Port that allows you to connect one of four proprietary accessories, which range in price from US$80 to US$200: The TDM-NC1 (a Wi-Fi music streamer); the TDM-BT1 (a Bluetooth adapter); the TDM-NW1 (a dock for certain Sony Walkman MP3 models); and the TDM-IP50 (an iPod dock). They also offer Sony's XMB onscreen interface; a USB port for flash drives for use with BD-Live content, and an instructional DVD to ease the pain of setup.

If you're doing the math, the BDV-E300 does seem like a pretty good bargain at US$600. For example, you'll need to pay US$650 to get the company's new BDP-S360 Blu-ray player (US$300) and HT-SS350 component system (US$350) separately.

Via CNET.com

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