The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread

[Foghorn]

Thanks for taking the time to provide the info. This will give me something to think about in terms of expansion. I'm already looking at a replacement for the S301 but just haven't done enough homework yet to make a decision. I like the suggestion of an entry level A/V receiver to handle the switching and processing in HDMI. I'll look into the units you suggested.

Thanks again

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by krisjan

I think you are still confused. After the FW is downloaded in the player and the update process is finished, the OSD will show DL OK and then the unit will power itself off. It will not automatically power itself back on - you have to turn it back on. That is where the "90 seconds" comes in - because the player takes that long to start up after you press the power button. Again - there is absolutely no need for anyone to do any manual reset of the 300 after updating. If it makes you feel better to reset your player after updating then have at it. It will have no bearing on the update success.

It's no big deal. I was just quoting what Sony's esupport web site said ifor the 4.30 fw update and I quote:

Q: All my personal settings are gone after updating the firmware. A: This is normal, updating the firmware returns all settings to their factory defaults.

This is contrary to your statement that Sony made no mention of resetting the player. After a firmware update, Sony says the player's settings should go back to factory defaults. Perhaps my player has a glitch and yours doesn't. But, after I do a firmware update, my player retains my personal settings instead of doing the automatic reset that should be done when I turn the power back after geting DL OK. That's why I do the manual reset. If your player automatically resets itself, then that's good.

[leom_h]

Originally Posted by tek101

Don't worry....Its coming.

4.30 for the UK & Europe is out now...

http://support.sony-europe.com/hav/d...0&f=FW_BDPS300

[tron3]

Crap, wish I checked it Friday. Would have all weekend to test it. Anyone have any numbers to report or do you all wait for me to do that?

Sure came sooner than usual. Sony must want to maximize it to improve sales for Christmas.

[J.Cornelius]

Originally Posted by rwojtalewicz

It's no big deal. I was just quoting what Sony's esupport web site said ifor the 4.30 fw update and I quote:

Q: All my personal settings are gone after updating the firmware. A: This is normal, updating the firmware returns all settings to their factory defaults.

This is contrary to your statement that Sony made no mention of resetting the player. After a firmware update, Sony says the player's settings should go back to factory defaults. Perhaps my player has a glitch and yours doesn't. But, after I do a firmware update, my player retains my personal settings instead of doing the automatic reset that should be done when I turn the power back after geting DL OK. That's why I do the manual reset. If your player automatically resets itself, then that's good.

I am not sure why this annoys me but........You are quoting from the FAQ section of the website which appears to have not been updated, while I was quoting from the updated Sony page. No where on that page does it say anything about the setting reverting back to factory after a Firmware update. See below, IMO, I think you are posting incorrect information.


"7.The firmware update is complete when "DL OK" appears on the player front panel display.

WARNING!! Do not operate or power off the player until this message is displayed. Doing so may result in your player being unresponsive and requiring repair.
8.Remove the update disc from the player.
9.Power on the BDP-S300 player.
NOTE: It takes about 90 seconds for the player to display pictures on the television when the player is powered on for the first time after installing the update.
10.Check the firmware version (See "Check Current Firmware Version").
NOTE: If the version number is 4.30, the firmware update was successful"


Please tell me where it says one thing about factory reset on the updated page?

[Octavio]

I just updated my beloved "tank". I haven't noticed a major difference. But perhaps this update is aimed to improve playback with some titles recently released or about to be released.

BTW If there is not another firmware before christmas, this might have been my last firmware update for the S-300 because I am planning to upgrade buying a player with bistreaming capabilities and ethernet port.

First I thought on buying a Sony S-550 but since the S-350 it's upgradable to profile 2.0 with a firmware update (already released) and using a flash memory. Then IMO it's a better deal.
I mean I have invested a good amount of money on my Onkyo A/V receiver and Klipsch speakers. So now I want to take full advantage of that. I've heard that a good receiver like the Onkyos makes a great job processing the HD audio codecs.

Anyway I am gonna miss my S-300. It's a great machine, however with the money earned from selling it, I am planning to buy several BD titles.

BTW If you are planning to upgrade, or if you have already done it, and you DON'T want a PS3. Which player do u recommend me?

Sony S-350 seems is the best deal overall, but I'd like to know ur opinion.

[krisjan]

Originally Posted by Octavio

I just updated my beloved "tank". I haven't noticed a major difference. But perhaps this update is aimed to improve playback with some titles recently released or about to be released.

BTW If there is not another firmware before christmas, this might have been my last firmware update for the S-300 because I am planning to upgrade buying a player with bistreaming capabilities and ethernet port.

First I thought on buying a Sony S-550 but since the S-350 it's upgradable to profile 2.0 with a firmware update (already released) and using a flash memory. Then IMO it's a better deal.
I mean I have invested a good amount of money on my Onkyo A/V receiver and Klipsch speakers. So now I want to take full advantage of that. I've heard that a good receiver like the Onkyos makes a great job processing the HD audio codecs.

Anyway I am gonna miss my S-300. It's a great machine, however with the money earned from selling it, I am planning to buy several BD titles.

BTW If you are planning to upgrade, or if you have already done it, and you DON'T want a PS3. Which player do u recommend me?

Sony S-350 seems is the best deal overall, but I'd like to know ur opinion.

I own 3 BD players: the S300, a Samsung 1200 and a Panny BD30. The BD30 is what has been in our home theater system since I got it a year ago. It is a terrific player that has actrually been made better through FW updates from Panasonic. However, the BD30 is now replaced by the BD35 which provides full hi-rez audio decoding capabilities and it is supposed to have an improved Uniphier chip set for picture quality. BD30's are still available in the market and, assuming your AVR can decode the hi-rez audio formats, then it is an excellent bargain right now.

I would avoid Samsung at all costs due mainly to their very poor technical support.

Lastly, while I don't have experience with the newest Sony players (S350/S550) I would be willing to bet that they are quite capable players.

EDIT: I should add that the latest batch of BD players are currently or are capable of becoming BD Live capable. The BD30 is only profile 1.1 (which is perfect for me since I could care less about BD Live)

[Octavio]

Originally Posted by krisjan

I own 3 BD players: the S300, a Samsung 1200 and a Panny BD30. The BD30 is what has been in our home theater system since I got it a year ago. It is a terrific player that has actrually been made better through FW updates from Panasonic. However, the BD30 is now replaced by the BD35 which provides full hi-rez audio decoding capabilities and it is supposed to have an improved Uniphier chip set for picture quality. BD30's are still available in the market and, assuming your AVR can decode the hi-rez audio formats, then it is an excellent bargain right now.

I would avoid Samsung at all costs due mainly to their very poor technical support.

Lastly, while I don't have experience with the newest Sony players (S350/S550) I would be willing to bet that they are quite capable players.

EDIT: I should add that the latest batch of BD players are currently or are capable of becoming BD Live capable. The BD30 is only profile 1.1 (which is perfect for me since I could care less about BD Live)

Thanx for your reply. I have been reading about the Panasonic BD30 and seems it's a good player but as far as I know it's not BD-Live upgradeable unlike Sony 350.
Panasonic BD35 sounds tempting, but haven't been released yet (at least not in my neck of the woods). If before christmas it's already on the stores, it would all depend on the price.

by the moment Sony S-350 still has the winning card to me.

BTW I am not planning on buying a Samsung. I have heard enough "horror" stories about Samsung players!

thanx again for your comments.

[krisjan]

Originally Posted by Octavio

Thanx for your reply. I have been reading about the Panasonic BD30 and seems it's a good player but as far as I know it's not BD-Live upgradeable unlike Sony 350.
Panasonic BD35 sounds tempting, but haven't been released yet (at least not in my neck of the woods). If before christmas it's already on the stores, it would all depend on the price.

by the moment Sony S-350 still has the winning card to me.

BTW I am not planning on buying a Samsung. I have heard enough "horror" stories about Samsung players!

thanx again for your comments.

The BD35 has been in the market for several weeks now.

[Octavio]

Originally Posted by krisjan

The BD35 has been in the market for several weeks now.

I live south of the border, down Mexico way, krisjan.

Probably it's already available in some stores but not on the ones I've asked.
You know, amazon doesn't ship BD players out of USA borders.

[krisjan]

Originally Posted by Octavio

I live south of the border, down Mexico way, krisjan.

That explains it then.

[Blu Ray McHone]

I'll hold on to my tank for now. I've had for about a year, and it's been a nice player. I'm pleased with it.

[tron3]

Well, I ran a few of my timing tests on the tank. Results are inconclusive at best. Madasgascar remains the longest loading movie in my collection at 2.23. That is 3 seconds LONGER than usual. I noticed a few movies seem to load longer and some shorter.

The problem is, if I load one BD-J movie, the next movie could load faster because some of the code appears to remain in memory from the last disc. So I reset the player and try again - now the movie loads slow again. This makes all of my prior disc loading tests inconclusive because I did not cold start the machine each time. The 45 second warm up time is ok for the first test, but I won't do it for each one.

Is this a better firmware? Since Madasgascar did not improve at cold start but became worse, I conclude this was NOT a good tweak. Stick with 4.20 unless you need 4.30 for playback issues on new movies.

[Teabaggins]

I have 3.95 and iron man, hulk, indiana jones, beetlejuice....all loaded and played easily. just sayin...

[huichol70]

Pardon my ignorance guys, but, can someone please let me know how to upgrade my SONY-300? Thanks.

[J.Cornelius]

No worries.......This link will take you to the Sony website, just be sure to follow the instructions provided. Good luck.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...d=3976&os_id=7

[tek101]

Originally Posted by huichol70

Pardon my ignorance guys, but, can someone please let me know how to upgrade my SONY-300? Thanks.

In case, You want to download rather than order cd.
You need an ISO imgae burner,Use this.: http://www.imgburn.com/

[huichol70]

Thank you J. Cornelius, and tek101

[Teabaggins]

hey I just got Bender's Game and it loaded up to the menu and then I can't move the cursor around. I have a s301.

I had firmware 3.95 so I'm loading 4.2 right now. i guess that should fix it?


edit: it worked perfectly with 4.2

[jc1975]

Just a reminder to those mac users out there regarding firmware updates.

You should be able to use stuffit expander to unpack the self extracting .exe of the .iso that Sony posts, and then burn the corresponding .iso with either Disk Utility or Toast.

This works because Sony's .exe file really isnt a windows executable, but rather just a self extracting archive.

I wish sony wouldve just used .zip instead. This would've saved a lot of confusion regarding firmware download/upgrade for some mac users.

Unfortunately this no longer works with versions of Stuffit Expander past version 10.