In an aggressive move in the high-definition recorded entertainment space in India, Sony has launched a Blu-ray DVD player priced below the mass consumer lakshman rekha ( or affordability threshold) of ten thousand rupees, throwing in an Internet umbilical – and two movie titles and for free.
The BDP-S370, first unveiled earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is the most affordable Blu-ray player in the Sony catalogue, a full HD 1080p machine, which supports both internal decoding and bit stream output of enhanced audio codecs, including Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio. These HD audio formats deliver lossless surround sound with up to 7.1 channels of discrete audio, while the player is downward compatible – it can play standard non HD DVDs -- it also up-converts Standard-Definition signals (480i) to 1080p.
Interestingly the Blu-ray Disc player is Wireless LAN ready and allows you to directly connect to your home's wireless broadband network without a PC and wirelessly stream content from a large selection of Internet entertainment resources from YouTube, Blip.tv, Concierge.com, STYLE.com, Golf link, LIVESTRONG.com etc. However to access these Internet sites , one must purchase a special USB wireless WiFi dongle from Sony.
The price in India ( without the dongle) is Rs. 9,990 and Sony is currently offering buyers two free Blu-ray discs of “Legion” & Michael Jackson’s “This Is It”… a Rs 2000 value..
Sony’s Blu-ray enabled products which provide High Definition picture and audio quality ( and Internet connectivity) comprise Blu-ray Disc players, Home Theatre systems, PlayStation3 & VAIO, explained Kenichi Kawamoto, Head, Audio & Video Categories, Sony India. The entertainment electronics leader is looking at a ten-fold volume growth in India and while the Blu-ray market is expected to grow up to 5 lakh units by 2012, Sony India aims to capture 60% share of this and sell more than 3 lakh units by increasing the number of its outlets to 4000, he added.
Anupam Sengupta, Commercial Director, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment said the company already had a repertoire of some 118 Blu-Ray movie titles on sale in India – almost all of them flowing from the company’s US-based Columbia/Sony Pictures releases.
May 14 2010