Yamaha expands its Blu-ray line with the sleek new BD-S477

By Alex Tretbar Published August 27, 2014

yamaha adds s477 bd player line 1 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Yamaha today unveiled the latest addition to its 2014 lineup of Blu-ray Disc players, the $230 BD-S477. The announcement follows last month’s release of the premium Aventage BD-A1040, which weighed in with a much heftier $450 price tag.

Related: Yamaha unwraps new Atmos-enabled Aventage AVRs

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The new BD-S477 curiously doesn’t get the 3D video treatment we see in lower priced models such as Samsung’s H6500, or Panasonic’s BDT-360, but the new player does ship with support for the Yamaha AV Controller app for iOS and Android, and can also utilize Miracast linking with compatible devices to stream video, music, game content, and images from mobile devices, via built-in Wi-Fi. And at this price point, we’re hoping the service works better than we’ve experienced on lower-tier devices. Users will also be able to view digital images with Picasa Web Albums.

yamaha.bd.s477-app — The Yamaha AV Controller app for Apple iOS. The app is also available on Android devices. Image used with permission by copyright holder

Specs-wise, the player supports 1080p/24 Hz compatible HDMI video output and high-resolution audio in the form of 192 kHz/24-bit with support for both FLAC and ALAC files. The BD-S477 also features x.v.Color and Deep Color compatibility, video noise reduction, and offers support for a plethora of video and audio files, as well as playback of JPEG slideshows with MP3 audio sound tracks.

Consumers will be able to connect media storage devices through the front panel’s direct USB connection, and the S477 model is DLNA Certified, meaning it can wirelessly play content from PCs and Network-Attached Storage (NAS) devices.

The player will begin shipping next month for $230.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Alex Tretbar, audio/video intern, is a writer, editor, musician, gamer and sci-fi nerd raised on EverQuest and Magic: The…

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