BDP-S350 and S550: Sony’s First Full 2.0 Spec Blu-ray Players

PS3 aside, the Blu-ray players Sony sold up until now are worthy of only your garbage can. Now that HD DVD is dead like a doornail, the 300kg gorilla is getting serious. The US$400 BDP-S350 will feature an Ethernet port, USB port for connecting external storage and “BonusView” picture-in-picture capability (from the leapfrogged profile 1.1). Even better, it will be “BD-Live ready,” meaning an over-the-network software update will make the player compatible with net-friendly titles when they hit the market. Later on, the US$500 BDP-S550 will arrive with nearly identical features. The differences: