Sony Standalone Blu-ray Player Delayed Again
By Shane C. Buettner October 22, 2006 — If things keep going the way they have been Toshiba's HD DVD format just might win the format war by forfeit. Reports began circulating around the web Friday that Sony's BDP-S1 standalone Blu-ray player would not only miss its scheduled debut on October 25th, but wouldn't appear until early December. Sure enough, the SonyStyle web site that is taking pre-orders for the players now shows its targeted availability as "on or about December 4, 2006."

While Blu-ray software began shipping in June and new software titles are being cranked out week in and week out, Samsung's much maligned and defective BD-P1000 remains the the most visible Blu-ray disc player in the market. Pioneer Elite's BDP-HD1 and Pansonic's player were both scheduled for September once upon a time. The Panasonic has apparently been selling for a short time and we haven't yet been given any information on an updated release date for the Pioneer.

Sony's next milestone is, of course, the November 17 scheduled launch of the Blu-ray based PlayStation3 gaming console. If that date gets pushed back yet again it could be a plain old blue Christmas instead of a Blu Christmas for Sony.