The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread

[rlindabury]

Yeah it does. Because you will most probably get more than just the Sony S300. For other components you'll want to plug-in, it makes sense to get v1.3 cables so you're all set.

[LimpBagel]

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

[kraig1]

I have the S300 and it wont stop during the playback of 3:10 to Yuma. The audio stops, but video wont. I have to pause, then stop, but then when I hit play again I get sent back to loading. I updated to 3.70 before this movie, so lets hope this is either my player or another update will take care of.

[tgatzke]

Why does my sony freeze when powering off? It gets stuck on powering off and the only way to unlock it is to unplug it from the power source. Have also had issues with freezing on the main menu after pushing play on the remote. Anyone have similar problems? The sony tech guy on live chat suggested the firmware update to fix the problem Not sure if THAT will work!

[QwikSand]

I don't know if it will fix it but you should have the version 3.70 firmware no matter what. It will fix some issues, maybe that will be one of them. It's very easy to do, there are a few threads in here about it.

[JasonR]

It should correct most if not all of your issues...

[ckappler]

I purchased a BDP-S300 right after Christmas, and have used it successfully till two days ago. After I got the player I did that electronic order for a firmware disc from Sony. This laptop will only do CD-RW's, so I had to wait for Sony to send the disc. Anyway...the disc arrived Tuesday and I immediately updated it. Thats when the problem started. The audio is now cutting in and out, randomly, on several new movies. So far Man on Fire, 3:10 to Yuma, and Con Air all experience this. The video is fine, but all of the sudden the audio completely drops away.. If I eject the movie and go back to the scene it works fine...then 10 minutes later...it happens again. With 3:10 it did not drop the audio till the last 20 minutes of the movie. With Con Air it lost audio in the first 5 minutes.

Now at first I thought this was a disc problem, ie defective 3:10 copy. But with three different movies doing this...it has to be the player. More precisely the firmware update. I put these same movies in my PS3...NO problems at all. I did not have much time tonight, but tomorrow I will try some older movies that I know worked properly in the player before the update.

My setup is simple as the S300 plugs directly into the tv (a 26 inch S series Sony). Like I said the player has worked fine for the past 2 weeks up until I did the firmware update. The update itself was uneventful. I put the disc in and left it alone (as the instruction said it may take up to 30 minutes to complete) The player display showed all the correct messages. and finally the disc ejected.

I thought I would post here for some ideas before trying to call Sony and getting another firmware disc to try. I have changed all the audio settings back and forth on the player, plugged and unplugged the wires...nothing helps. I have tried putting the firmware disc back in the redoing the install, but that does not work either. I switched the HDMI cables (4 months old) between the dvd player and S300 thinking it might be a cable problem. Nope, switching the cables changed nothing.

I am at a loss...any help would be appreciated.

Cory

[JeffGott]

Originally Posted by ckappler

I purchased a BDP-S300 right after Christmas, and have used it successfully till two days ago. After I got the player I did that electronic order for a firmware disc from Sony. This laptop will only do CD-RW's, so I had to wait for Sony to send the disc. Anyway...the disc arrived Tuesday and I immediately updated it. Thats when the problem started. The audio is now cutting in and out, randomly, on several new movies. So far Man on Fire, 3:10 to Yuma, and Con Air all experience this. The video is fine, but all of the sudden the audio completely drops away.. If I eject the movie and go back to the scene it works fine...then 10 minutes later...it happens again. With 3:10 it did not drop the audio till the last 20 minutes of the movie. With Con Air it lost audio in the first 5 minutes.

Now at first I thought this was a disc problem, ie defective 3:10 copy. But with three different movies doing this...it has to be the player. More precisely the firmware update. I put these same movies in my PS3...NO problems at all. I did not have much time tonight, but tomorrow I will try some older movies that I know worked properly in the player before the update.

My setup is simple as the S300 plugs directly into the tv (a 26 inch S series Sony). Like I said the player has worked fine for the past 2 weeks up until I did the firmware update. The update itself was uneventful. I put the disc in and left it alone (as the instruction said it may take up to 30 minutes to complete) The player display showed all the correct messages. and finally the disc ejected.

I thought I would post here for some ideas before trying to call Sony and getting another firmware disc to try. I have changed all the audio settings back and forth on the player, plugged and unplugged the wires...nothing helps. I have tried putting the firmware disc back in the redoing the install, but that does not work either. I switched the HDMI cables (4 months old) between the dvd player and S300 thinking it might be a cable problem. Nope, switching the cables changed nothing.

I am at a loss...any help would be appreciated.

Cory

I had the EXACT same problem. I tried everything - cables, settings etc. I finally took it back where I bought it and exchanged it. Brought it home and it had v2.6 of the firmware. I decided to watch a movie I was having problems with before I changed anything or upgraded firmware. All was fine. I then upgraded to 3.7 and I haven't had a single drop out yet.

[QwikSand]

Someone posted that Sony told him that unplugging it from the wall for a few minutes does something to clear it or refrwsh or something. He said it worked great, so give that a try. Btw, you can do the firmware yourself on a cd, I did. You don't need a dvd.

[rlindabury]

Yeah, it's just another computer. Sometimes it get's hosed and needs a hard reboot. lol

Unplug it, plug it back in and see what's up. :-)

[ckappler]

Thanks for the tips. I did unplug it, but only about 5 or 10 seconds when I switched the HDMI cables. I will leave it unplugged for a few minutes and see what happens. The next step will be a hammer. Hammer's usually solve the problem quite nicely

I know you can download the file and make a disc yourself, but this laptop can't do CD-R's. It does RW's fine, but not R's for some reason. Thats why I got the disc from Sony. Can't wait for the final profile players with ethernet ports.

I will keep you posted.

Cory

[Mayor Quimby]

I'm having problems myself now. Bought the S300 in early November and everything was fine until last night. It started skipping ahead 2 seconds when playing regular dvd's. It happened every 10 min. or so. So I updated the firmware today via cd-r and then halfway through the film (LOTR - Two Towers), the player just froze. I had to hold the power button down for about 3 seconds and turn it off. Anyone else have any ideas? It seems it's too late to return this thing now so I'm kind of stuck here. Ugh.

[lee08]

hi!
this is my first time so please help me out. I have an hd tv (LG 42pc1r plasma)
that I bought last year. after that I bought toshiba hde1 and it worked fine picture and sound via hdmi also had a regular dvd player with hdmi. I sold toshiba and went for blue ray so bought sony s300 but, I had no sound just picture I returned it and bought samsung 1400 same thing picture but no sound I dont know what is wrong called evrey were LG, sony but no help.
I have no bd player now. any help will be appreciated. thank you so much.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by lee08

hi!
this is my first time so please help me out. I have an hd tv (LG 42pc1r plasma)
that I bought last year. after that I bought toshiba hde1 and it worked fine picture and sound via hdmi also had a regular dvd player with hdmi. I sold toshiba and went for blue ray so bought sony s300 but, I had no sound just picture I returned it and bought samsung 1400 same thing picture but no sound I dont know what is wrong called evrey were LG, sony but no help.
I have no bd player now. any help will be appreciated. thank you so much.

2 things I can think of.....could be a bad HDMI cable..or check your settings on the Audio set up for the s300.
If you hook up by HDMI the s300 will set everything to that tv spec.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by Mayor Quimby

I'm having problems myself now. Bought the S300 in early November and everything was fine until last night. It started skipping ahead 2 seconds when playing regular dvd's. It happened every 10 min. or so. So I updated the firmware today via cd-r and then halfway through the film (LOTR - Two Towers), the player just froze. I had to hold the power button down for about 3 seconds and turn it off. Anyone else have any ideas? It seems it's too late to return this thing now so I'm kind of stuck here. Ugh.

I had the s300 a couple week after it came out never had a problem until its skipped while watch a DVD.Most of the problem when they skipped on dvd is du to the disc being scratch or has dirt on them.

[lee08]

thank you Moefiz, actually I tried 2 hdmi cables but, neither worked. I uesd the same cable with a regular dvd player it went fine. The salesman also told me that you have to try different cables. now I guess I have to try more cables.
I did have sound from analog though hooked to my stereo but want from tv with hdmi. I guess I go for s500 now. thank you again

[lee08]

kan anybody tell me the difference between sony s300 & s500 I mean picture quality and upscaling of dvd's? speacially s500 PQ and upscaling dvd's. thanks

[monkyman]

Originally Posted by lee08

kan anybody tell me the difference between sony s300 & s500 I mean picture quality and upscaling of dvd's? speacially s500 PQ and upscaling dvd's. thanks

I'm not sure you will see any difference in PQ between the 2, I think most of the difference would be in the audio.

[lee08]

thanks!

[720pHD]

I'm trying to get information on the BDPS300. I got it last week with the SP3 disk. Is this 1.0? Should I take the player back if it is. Will I have trouble with new movies?

It says "Region A" Blu-ray Discs only"... what does that mean?