Now that the high-definition DVD war is over, the real innovation can begin. On Tuesday, Sony updated its Blu-ray Disc player line with two new models that will offer advanced interactive features, including trailers and games from the Internet. The new players will debut this summer.

The BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 models both support BonusView — Picture-in-Picture — featured on some of the new Blu-ray Disc theatrical releases. The BDP-S350 is BD-Live ready and features an Ethernet port for an easy firmware update and access to Internet-based interactive content. The BDP-S550 will be BonusView and BD-Live capable when it ships.

A New Realm of Entertainment

“Building on the exceptional picture and sound quality of previous players, Sony’s next-generation Blu-ray Disc models bring exciting interactive features to life and offer consumers a groundbreaking experience,” said Chris Fawcett, vice president of marketing for the Sony Electronics Home Product Division. “These new devices bring home movie experience beyond the cinema and into a whole new realm of entertainment.”

The new players are compatible with most standard DVDs and feature quality upscaling through an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) connection to capable HDTV sets. The upscaling automatically improves the picture performance of existing DVD libraries. Both models also feature an external port for local storage, so users can add an optional storage device. The BDP-S550 will include a 1GB storage device.

The BDP-S350 ships this summer for about $400 and the BDP-S550 will be available this fall for about $500. But some consumers are taking issue with the price, especially since Toshiba deep-discounted its HD DVD players to $99 during the holiday season.

Pricing Versus Innovation

“You can’t equate the discounting that occurred for HD DVD and Blu-ray over the holidays with what these players cost to make,” said Richard Doherty, a senior analyst at Envisioneering Group. “Toshiba’s pricing was unreal. They were…