While Sony had a booth loaded with new products at CES, the company saved the best for its annual dealer Open House this week in Las Vegas. The company showed new products in all categories, from Blu-ray to digital imaging.
In digital cameras, Sony unveiled the Cyber Shot DSC-W300 palm-sized point-and-shoot camera with a 13.6 MP sensor and a 3x zoom lens. A highlight of the camera is the 6,400 ISO sensitivity for low light shooting, as well as face and smile detection. The camera is housed in a titanium body for extra protection.
With the high definition disc format war over, Sony showed off its two newest Blu-ray players. Both the BDP-S350 ($399) and the BDP-S550 ($499) will be Profile 1.1 and firmware upgradable to BD-Live, which allows Internet-based content features with compatible discs. Both players will include USB ports for storing downloaded content, but the higher-priced model will also ship with a USB flash drive. The BDP-550 also includes 7.1 analog audio outputs and DTS-HD Master onboard decoding.
In 2007 Sony came out with the Bravia Internet Link, a Wi-Fi module that connected to a port in the back of select Bravia TVs. For 2008, that module is now compatible with more TV models and is being relaunched with an expanded roster of content partners (about 15) including CBS, FearNet, Sports Illustrated and the Epicurean.
In the home theater-in-a-box category Sony introduced a series of Bravia Theater Systems that work with the new Air Station wirelesses multi-room module. The Air Station (AIR-SA10) connects wirelessly to select Sony receivers via 2.4GHz to allow music streaming from the CD, DVD or connected MP3 player. The top of the line DAV-HDX576WF ($500) is a 5-disc standard upscaling DVD player with 5.1 speaker system, wireless rear speakers, iPod cradle and one Air Station. Up to three additional Air Stations can be added.
In portable music, Sony added a few new products to the Walkman line. The NWZ-S710F players, in 4 and 8 GB models ($150 and $199), include built-in noise cancellation. The noise cancellation control is embedded in the player but is dependent on the headphones, which include a microphone for the NC feature and a proprietary power connection to the player. The line features a 1.8-inch color screen and plays music, videos and FM radio.
The NWZ-A829/828 features built-in Bluetooth and 2.4-inch display. The 8GB model ($280) comes with wireless Bluetooth headphones, while the 16GB version does not.
