Sony has announced a new enhanced and considerably cheaper Blu-ray player to be released later in the year.

The BDP-S300 will feature 1080p resolution via HDMI as well as a 1080i output. The devicces plays DVDs and can play offbeat formats including MPEG2, MPEG4-AVC and VC1. . Also AVC-HD discs encoded with xvYCC will be supported which Sony claims expands the data range of data 1.8 times. BD-ROM, BD-Java, AVC-HD and discs burned from DVD+R/+RW discs including MP3 files and JPEGs wlll play. The HDMI connection suppotes PCM digital output along with standard Dolby Digital Plus. Optical and coaxial digital audio out connectors are also available.

No specific date has been set, but it’s coming soon with a suggested retail price of $599. The same price as the enhanced PS3.