Sony BDP s390

[Tornado Red]

Wondering if anyone has one of these yet and could offer a review, I believe they came out last month as a replacement for the 380. I'm looking for a good entry level player, the 370 is now passe but had what I wanted including an optical output which the 380 does not have.

[Chakadog]

I just ordered the BDPS390 last night March 6th and should receive it early next week. It looks like a pretty loaded unit for just $130 at Best Buy. So I am hopeful the built-in wireless works well. And it should load discs faster than my old BDPS 350. Stay tuned.

[Tornado Red]

Originally Posted by Chakadog

I just ordered the BDPS390 last night March 6th and should receive it early next week. It looks like a pretty loaded unit for just $130 at Best Buy. So I am hopeful the built-in wireless works well. And it should load discs faster than my old BDPS 350. Stay tuned.

Thanks Chak. I did pick up the Samsung d5700 last night, so far so good except I can't get my Harmony remote to respond in the same way it did to the Sony BX-1 I had. The Samsung has wifi and the optical audio I needed. I think the newer players are going away from optical, for obvious reasons (HDMI). But for now, I can't afford to replace my Yamaha receiver that won't except HDMI, only optical. Anyway, still quite interested in how you find the BDPS390...

[DKage]

I recently returned the Samsung BD-E5700 and replaced it with the Sony s390. So far, it is the best decision I have made.

I bought a Blu-ray player primarily so my fiancee could stream Netflix into our bedroom in HD. The Samsung was ridiculously slow to start up the Netflix app (over 2 minutes at times), slow to connect to the Netflix account (2 minutes), and slow to resume streaming a program that I had started watching (1.5 minutes). The Wii we were using was faster than that! Additionally, through an error on the part of Samsung, the E5700 is erroneously listed as coming with a "fully optimized web browser;" several calls to Samsung later, the E5700 does NOT come with a browser. The next model up (E5900) reportedly does.

The Sony is compact, relatively easy to set up, and loads much faster. I also paid $30 less for it than the Samsung. I do feel that the wifi on the Samsung was better as far as receiving a stable signal; the Sony wifi has a tendency to fluctuate quite a bit. It took 4 tries to update the software because it kept saying that connection to the server was getting interrupted.

I also wanted to be able to watch media files off of a 320GB USB 3.0 HDD. On the Samsung, the video would stutter. It was never severe enough to stop watching, but it got very annoying very quickly. Using the same HDD and same video files, the Sony plays them flawlessly. And, while not directly advertised, the Sony actually does come with a web browser. It is admittedly the same crappy browser as the PS3; supposedly a basic USB keyboard can be used with the s390. I have not tested that, but using the remote to type something lengthy is soul numbingly awful.

All in all, I am very much liking the Sony. I love the Samsung LCD TV I just purchased, but their Blu-ray players, in my experience, leave a lot to be desired.

[Tornado Red]

Originally Posted by DKage

I recently returned the Samsung BD-E5700 and replaced it with the Sony s390. So far, it is the best decision I have made.

I bought a Blu-ray player primarily so my fiancee could stream Netflix into our bedroom in HD. The Samsung was ridiculously slow to start up the Netflix app (over 2 minutes at times), slow to connect to the Netflix account (2 minutes), and slow to resume streaming a program that I had started watching (1.5 minutes). The Wii we were using was faster than that! Additionally, through an error on the part of Samsung, the E5700 is erroneously listed as coming with a "fully optimized web browser;" several calls to Samsung later, the E5700 does NOT come with a browser. The next model up (E5900) reportedly does.

The Sony is compact, relatively easy to set up, and loads much faster. I also paid $30 less for it than the Samsung. I do feel that the wifi on the Samsung was better as far as receiving a stable signal; the Sony wifi has a tendency to fluctuate quite a bit. It took 4 tries to update the software because it kept saying that connection to the server was getting interrupted.

I also wanted to be able to watch media files off of a 320GB USB 3.0 HDD. On the Samsung, the video would stutter. It was never severe enough to stop watching, but it got very annoying very quickly. Using the same HDD and same video files, the Sony plays them flawlessly. And, while not directly advertised, the Sony actually does come with a web browser. It is admittedly the same crappy browser as the PS3; supposedly a basic USB keyboard can be used with the s390. I have not tested that, but using the remote to type something lengthy is soul numbingly awful.

All in all, I am very much liking the Sony. I love the Samsung LCD TV I just purchased, but their Blu-ray players, in my experience, leave a lot to be desired.

Thanks for the info, sounds like you're enjoying the Sony. I'm not streaming or using the USB at this point on the Samsung, but that may change. I found that loading blu-rays was slow at best, but did a new firmware update last week that seems to have sped things up. A lot of the different brands I looked at seemed "cheap" in regards to weight, build quality, etc., and the Samsung is no exception. When the drawer opens, it sounds like someone just sat down on a bag of walnuts.

Does your new Sony have an optical audio output?

[QCarl]

Originally Posted by Tornado Red

Does your new Sony have an optical audio output?

The BDP-S390 does not have optical audio output.

[QCarl]

Originally Posted by DKage

supposedly a basic USB keyboard can be used with the s390. I have not tested that, but using the remote to type something lengthy is soul numbingly awful.

The bad keyboard interface was the reason that I almost brought my S390 back to the store. Then I installed Sony's Media Remote app to my Android device. Now I use the Android keyboard to type text into the browser or any search window. You can switch seamlessly between the provided remote and the Android remote app. It's really nice.