Amazon.com has dropped the price of the 1080p Sony BDP-S300 to $199.98 (while supplies last). The initial list price is $399.99.

CNET rated this player 6.5 out of 10. They liked the player’s “excellent picture quality” for Blu-ray discs and upconverted DVDs. Their cons included the extremely slow load times for newer Blu-ray java discs like Pirates of the Carribean, and the fact that there is no Ethernet port for firmware upgrades.

Some more drawbacks are that the Sony BDP -S300 lacks some advanced surround sound decoding abilities like the Dolby TrueHD and it doesn’t handle 1080i deinterlacing as well as other Blu-ray players.

Still, for those just looking for a solid 1080p picture to pump into their HDTV, the Sony BDP-S300 seems like a good choice. Check out CNET’s video review below:

Sony BDP-S300 specifications:

•  1080p upscaling
• 1 HDMI output
• 1 S-video output
• 1 composite video out out
• 1 TOS Link
• 5.1 surround sound analog audio out
• Standard stereo audio out
• 1-year warranty

Link:

CNET’s review of the Sony BDP-S300.

Sony BDP-S300 at Amazon.com.