Sony has announced its upcoming Blu-ray player for the European market, the BDP-S1E, which will launch in the summer.  Sony describes this as one of the most powerful and intelligent AV consumer players it has ever developed, which includes 24p True Cinema frame rate support.  At the cinama, films are projected at 24 frames per secodn, however as the PAL system in Europe operates at 50 fields per second interlaced, which works out at 25 full frames per second, films released in Europe are sped up by 4% to make up for the frame rate difference, which in-turn raises the pitch of the sound track a little.  When this player is used with a TV that supports 24p, playback will occur at the original film speed as originally shown at the cinema.

Like existing Blu-ray players, this player will feature 1080p support.  Unfortunately for Sony, the player's launch comes at a bad time with the Blu-ray Disc Association's recent announcement that players released after the 31st October will feature significantly improved functionality, including mandatory full support for Blu-ray Java interactive technology.  While current Blu-ray disc players feature Java interactive technology, most lack full support for it and firmware updates may not be able to provide full support either.