Sony announced at the CEDIA Expo this week its intention to show the new upgrade of the previously announced XBR7 line, and a 9.9mm-thick 40-inch model that uses LED backlighting. Bravia LCD TVs’ line also comes with a 52-inch 1080p model with 240Hz frame rate technology, and a step-up Blu-ray Disc player with BD-Live capability.

The first to arrive, on October 8, is the BDP-LX71 that will cost something between $1299 and $1399. It can support BonusView, which is a picture-in-picture mode.                  

The BDP-S5000ES that will be available in November, comes with: onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, as well as bit stream output, quick start mode loads discs in 6 seconds, Blu-ray Profile 2.0, Ethernet port for firmware and content, Deep Color and x.v.Color support, HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping, XrossMediaBar graphical user interface, 7.1 analog outputs and RS-232 and IR inputs. It was announced to cost about $2,000.

The "Elevated Standard" ES series of products represents the highest levels of technology that Sony has developed. The complete Blu-Ray home theater setups will be a first for Sony. The BDV-IT1000ES and BDV-IS1000 both support 5.1 channel surround, with S-Air wireless technology to communicate with the rear speakers or across rooms. The BD-IS1000 also includes five small speakers. Both theater systems are also BD Live compatible, with "Precision Drive HD" technology to reduce wobble of damaged discs.

In the meantime, Sony ought to give a solid explanation for the $1,600 difference between its new releases and the company's other excellent Blu-ray player, the multitalented PlayStation 3.