Sony launches first Blu-ray player for Europe

Sony has announced its first consumer Blu-ray player for Europe. The BDP-S1E, available this summer, will provide “the ultimate cinema experience for HD enthusiasts,” according to Hodaka Irikuchi, business manager for Sony’s home video division.

The player packs 24 frames-per-second Progressive (24p) true cinema, allowing European viewers to see films at the same speed as those in the US. A side effect of authoring DVDs for the European market, using the 50Hz PAL TV standard, is that they run four percent faster than the 60Hz NTSC versions used in US; one result is that the pitch of actors’ voices go up a notch.

The player can outputs content progressively at 1920x1080 (1080p). It also provides eight channel audio output, HDMI and Dolby Digital Plus.

X.v.Colour is also a feature and Sony claims using this technology means consumers can perceive twice the range of colours compared to sRGB colour. The player can also play back AVC-HD content from camcorders, but not Super Audio CDs (SACD).

Pricing is yet to be announced and the player will have stiff competition from Toshiba’s consumer HD DVD players, which will have a six month lead in Europe by the time Sony launches its model.

Irikuchi said the player is fully Blu-ray Java compatible with picture-in-picture support, unlike some older models on sale in Japan and America.

It won’t record but Irikuchi said that Blu-ray recorders are going from strength to strength and now account for over 95 per cent of the high definition disc recorder market in Japan, leaving rival format HD-DVD with almost nothing.