Sony introduced eight Blu-ray video-disc recorders and players for the Japanese market that will go on sale in time for the holiday shopping season.
Six recorders priced from 110,000 yen ($1,009) to 280,000 yen will be available from Sept. 27, while two players will be sold from Dec. 6, Tokyo-based Sony said in a statement today.
All new recorders come with Built-in HDD and feature Sony's CREAS engine. The can also able to store content on BD-R/RE (6x for BD-R) and DVD±R/RW discs.
The first series includes the BDZ-T55 and BDZ-T75. Both feature 320GB of HDD, as well as the BD Live, 24p True Cinema, DLNA (BDZ-T75) and Digital Tuner TV. Connectivity options include HDMI/Component/S-Video/D Interface. The wil lbe available in Oct 10th and will cost around 110,000 Yen ($1,014) and 140,000 Yen ($1,291)
The L-series includes the BDZ-L55 and the BDZ-L95 models, with 320GB and 500GB of hard disks, Digital Tuner TV, and HDMI/Component/S-Video/D Interface. This series also features a HDV 1080i /DV input, and two USB Ports. The BDZ-L95 comes with a SD/SDHC/Memory Stick/Multimedia cards reader and it is DLNA certified. The devices will retail in Japan for 130,000 Yen (1 $1,199) and 170,000 yen ($1,568), respectively.
Sony's X Series of high-end recorders include the BDZ-X95 and the BDZ-X100. Available with 500GB (BDZ-X95) and 1TB (BDZ-X100) of HDDs, they also include Digital Tuner TV, the Cross Media bar GUI from Sony and HDMI/Component/S-Video/D Interface and USB port. Both feature the latest version of the DRC-MF (Digital Reality Creation - Multi Function), the DRC-MFv3. Estimated prices are 200,000 yen ($2,052) for BDZ-X95 and 280,000 Yen ($2,582) for the BDZ-X100.
Additional information for all the new BD recorders is available at Sony's
press release (Japanese).
And finally Sony intriduced the S-Series of BD players which include the BDP-S350 and the BDP-S5000ES. These devices will be available in Decembe. The players are also powered by Sony's CREAS Engine and feature Super Bit Mapping, the BD Live, as well as HDMI/Component/S-Video/D Interface. The price for the BDP-S5000ES is expected to be around 294,000 Yen ($2,742), while the BDP-S350 will cost aproximately 45,000 Yen ($420). More information is available at
http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200809/08-0903B/.
Sony forecasts industry sales of 7 million Blu-ray recorders and players worldwide in the 12 months ending March 31, more than tripling from 2.1 million a year earlier, Shoji Nemoto, the head of the company's audio and video business, said at a briefing in Tokyo.
Sony's larger rival, Panasonic, introduced four Blu-ray recorders last month to be sold from Sept. 1.
Sony projects it will sell 3.1 million Blu-ray players and recorders globally this fiscal year.