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.

Digg.com and Revision3 founder Kevin Rose has been putting together a new home theater system and filming live-streaming videos of himself doing it. So is he going plasma or LCD?

Neither, he’s anchoring his system with an HD projector, the Panasonic PT-AE2000U. The projector delivers a 1080p HD picture at 1500 lumens and a 16,000:1 contrast ratio and is currently going for $2700 on Amazon.com (review of projector). To complement it, he’s mounting a large motorized projector screen on the wall. There seems to be a large window right next to the screen–is he concerned about light washing out the picture?

For a receiver, he’s going with a high-end Denon (model unknown). Connected to it are a Series 3 HD TiVO and an Apple TV.

He didn’t stint on the speakers. He’s got a pair of Klipsch XF-48 floor-standing speakers ($1249 each) along with a Klipsch subwoofer and center channel. His rear speakers were not shown, but with his good friend Jack Buser from Dolby there to help him set things up, I’m sure he’s got things covered. Or is that center speaker doubling for the surround sound duties?

Rough estimated cost of Kevin’s current setup?

Projector: $2700.
Projector screen: $700.
Denon receiver: $1200.
Series 3 HD TiVO: $660.
Klipsch right and left floor standing speaker: $2500 ($1249 each).
Klipsch subwoofer: $500.
Klipsch center speaker: $450.
Apple TV: $330.
Professional installation: free

Total: $9040

Kevin’s Qik videos: 1, 2.

*Update from Kevin* Mr. Rose says he does have the surround sound system, the XF-48 Home Theater System. Also, his Denon Receiver is the AVR-4308CI.

Digg this post.

“But for one or two people sitting directly in front of their TV a center isn’t necessary, and almost always sounds less good than the left and right speakers. Center speakers tend to sound boxy, so Denzel Washington sounds like he’s in a box. Ditch the center and your A/V receiver will redirect the center channel sound over to the left and right speakers.”

I’m just starting to research surround sound systems for my Vizio GV47LF. I’ve been looking for a budget system ($300-$400). It’s looking like you have to spend that much on speakers alone. I’ll report on my research and progress here.