The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread

[Smc77]

It sounds like you are trying to listen to your PCM soundtrack through either an Optical or Coaxial Digital connection. These connections are only capable of carrying 2 PCM channels. To get 5.1 (or 7.1) PCM channels, audio needs to be output through HDMI. The older digital connections just dont have the bandwidth to cope with uncompressed surround sound.
Try going into the audio settings, and selecting Bitstream, or disable the PCM output on the S300. (sorry if my instructions are inaccurate, I no longer have this player and I cant quite remember the setup menus) Alternatively, just use the Discs setup menus to select the Dolbly Digital or DTS soundtrack rather than the LPCM track.
Any of the higher definition encoded soundtracks (DD TrueHD, DTS-MA etc...) will be downscaled to regular DD or DTS 5.1 tracks, giving you the best surround sound possible through Optical connections.
Hope this helps!

[musicman1999]

You can also get multichannel pcm using the 5.1 analog output.

bill

[rlindabury]

Originally Posted by DisneyKrayzie

Amazon just dropped the price to $379.98, not much of a drop buy nice to see the price going down. I used site called Price Protectr through Bzzagent that will send you an email when an item drops in price. Its supposed to be use to see if a price drops so you can get a refund withyin 30 days, but I am using it to monitor the prices of Blu-Ray players to see if they are going down or not. I was kind of expecting a bigger drop on the BDP-S300 with the new ones getting released soon.

Maybe you should look around the net more as I picked up my Sony BDP-S300 for $279.00 from butterflyphoto.com in Dec 2007!

Hmm.. I just checked their site and it's now up to $384.00!

I'm thinking now that HD-DVD is dead and blu-ray is the format of choice, retailers realize they don't have to drop the price as drastically as they had during December. In December we were still going through some heavy format wars and HD-DVD players were being sold very cheaply. That caused retailers to also reduce the price of blu-ray players. They don't have to do that anymore.

Glad I got mine when I did! :-)

Found it cheaper here:

http://www.fotoconnection.com/p70466...vd-player.html

$20.00 shipping. I don't know anything about this place but it's the lowest price I could find.

[blurayisking]

As you probably have noticed, there are several blu-ray discs that offer PCM as a sound option (namely Disney and Sony titles). If you want to take advantage of the much improved sound from these blu-ray discs, then you will need to connect the BDP-S300 via the 5.1 analog outputs also (unless of course you have a HDMI equipped receiver). Your receiver must have 5.1 analog capability.

This is exactly how I have my BDP-S300 hooked up (eg: Digital coax to handle Dolby Digital and DTS via bitstream / Analog 5.1 outputs to handle uncompressed PCM)

Alternatively; is to connect the BDP-S300 using ONLY the analog 5.1 outputs and set your player to output only PCM.

Personally, I prefer to have my Sony Non-HDMI receiver decode the Dolby Digital and DTS sound as intended. It's not a big deal to switch your receiver accordingly depending on the blu-ray disc your playing.

[Blu@me]

Originally Posted by martigen

Quick question, since it seems that the BDP300 will never be able to be updated to a DTS-HD, is there any major and noticeable difference when you play back a DTS and DTS-HD movie? I was playing The Fifth Element last night and my receiver (which is capable of reproducing DTS-HD) played the movie in reg. DTS, it sounded awesome, so if the BDP300 would've had the DTS-HD decoder, would it had made any major difference?

And, I also see people claiming that PCM its still better than DTS / DTS-HD, how is so?

It depends on how you set up , (You need 7 speakers & a Sub & a movie that comes with DD-HD/DTS-HD recorded) I'll be AWSOME..

[Blu@me]

Originally Posted by rlindabury

Maybe you should look around the net more as I picked up my Sony BDP-S300 for $279.00 from butterflyphoto.com in Dec 2007!

Hmm.. I just checked their site and it's now up to $384.00!

I'm thinking now that HD-DVD is dead and blu-ray is the format of choice, retailers realize they don't have to drop the price as drastically as they had during December. In December we were still going through some heavy format wars and HD-DVD players were being sold very cheaply. That caused retailers to also reduce the price of blu-ray players. They don't have to do that anymore.

Glad I got mine when I did! :-)

Found it cheaper here:

http://www.fotoconnection.com/p70466...vd-player.html

$20.00 shipping. I don't know anything about this place but it's the lowest price I could find.

I got mine $254.00 that was onsale and a coupon of 10% off. (AtCC)

[hitechiowa]

Originally Posted by blurayisking

As you probably have noticed, there are several blu-ray discs that offer PCM as a sound option (namely Disney and Sony titles). If you want to take advantage of the much improved sound from these blu-ray discs, then you will need to connect the BDP-S300 via the 5.1 analog outputs also (unless of course you have a HDMI equipped receiver). Your receiver must have 5.1 analog capability.

This is exactly how I have my BDP-S300 hooked up (eg: Digital coax to handle Dolby Digital and DTS via bitstream / Analog 5.1 outputs to handle uncompressed PCM)

Alternatively; is to connect the BDP-S300 using ONLY the analog 5.1 outputs and set your player to output only PCM.

Personally, I prefer to have my Sony Non-HDMI receiver decode the Dolby Digital and DTS sound as intended. It's not a big deal to switch your receiver accordingly depending on the blu-ray disc your playing.

this was very helpful but i still have a question, will hooking my s300 to my receiver with 5.1 analog for pcm sound better than using optical for 5.1 dolby digital?

[montezuma]

Hi, Does anyone know if an inexpensive 3-way HDMI switch would negatively impact upscaling or firmware updates from the BDP-S300?

I know it is sensitive about what it will upscale based on the type of connection. The firmware part may be a foolish question, I'm just going by the instructions that always say to make sure the Blu-Ray player is connected to the correct device/TV before updating. I wonder if an HDMI switch might cause problems by getting in between a direct connection.

--Thanks

[musicman1999]

Originally Posted by hitechiowa

this was very helpful but i still have a question, will hooking my s300 to my receiver with 5.1 analog for pcm sound better than using optical for 5.1 dolby digital?

Far better.

bill

[musicman1999]

Originally Posted by montezuma

Hi, Does anyone know if an inexpensive 3-way HDMI switch would negatively impact upscaling or firmware updates from the BDP-S300?

I know it is sensitive about what it will upscale based on the type of connection. The firmware part may be a foolish question, I'm just going by the instructions that always say to make sure the Blu-Ray player is connected to the correct device/TV before updating. I wonder if an HDMI switch might cause problems by getting in between a direct connection.

--Thanks

Cheap switches, and many expensive ones will degrade video quality.Why would you spend all that money on a HDTV and Bluray player and then put a $25.00 switch in between.

bill

[hitechiowa]

lol ok and this is an even dumber question cuz im super new to home theater and receivers and such, what cables do i buy to use for analog 5.1 pcm from my player to my receiver?

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by hitechiowa

lol ok and this is an even dumber question cuz im super new to home theater and receivers and such, what cables do i buy to use for analog 5.1 pcm from my player to my receiver?

Standard RCA cables

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

[montezuma]

Originally Posted by musicman1999

Why would you spend all that money on a HDTV and Bluray player and then put a $25.00 switch in between.

bill

Because I have more than one device that I would like to connect to my television using HDMI and my TV only has one HDMI input. I own an AV Receiver with video switching, but it doesn't have any HDMI inputs. Am I that far off the reservation on this?

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by montezuma

Because I have more than one device that I would like to connect to my television using HDMI and my TV only has one HDMI input. I own an AV Receiver with video switching, but it doesn't have any HDMI inputs. Am I that far off the reservation on this?

Me, I don't think the switch will effect your overall picture quality.

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

[montezuma]

Originally Posted by JasonR

Me, I don't think the switch will effect your overall picture quality.

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

Thanks for the link. I'm also considering this one:
http://www.firefold.com/Products/3X1...I-3SWITCH.aspx

PQ aside, do you think the Blu-Ray player knows that it is connected to a switch instead of a television? I wonder if it will freak out the HDCP and cause a downshift in resolution. I tried to ask the Sony online chat help people this question, but the results were pretty limited. I can't imagine an HDMI switch would be a problem since many people are using AV Receivers with HDMI switching.

If anyone has any other HDMI switches to recommend, please let me know.

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by hitechiowa

this was very helpful but i still have a question, will hooking my s300 to my receiver with 5.1 analog for pcm sound better than using optical for 5.1 dolby digital?

There will be a significant improvement in AQ.

Keep in mind that when you do this, your AVR's analog input will likely bypass the DPS and you will be left without bass management unless your AVR is one of the few that converts the analog signal back to digital for DSP. The BDP-S300/1 doesn't do an adequet job of bass management. To obtain at least a modicum of bass mangement, I highly recommend setting the speakers to 'small' in the BDP 300's 5.1 speaker setup menu.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the subwoofer output level needs to be boosted +10 db or else you'll likely be very disappointed by the lack of bass. This is done automatically by DD / DTS decoders like those found in most AVRs. However the Sony 300 player's decoder doesn't provide this bass boost. You can set the SW channel level +10 db by using a calibration DVD and an SPL. My subwoofer amp's gain control is tick marked in 1 db intervals from -10 db to +10 db which makes it quite easy to set the correct SW level.

A bass mangement processing unit can be connected between the BD player and AVR. It would allow setting each speaker channel properly including the SW channel. These devices are not cheap though.

You will do much better in the long run to upgrade to a HDMI ready receiver and let it handle the bass management. Also, a single HDMI cable replaces the 6 audio cables required for the 5.1 analog connection. Using the 5.1 analog output from your BDP player should at best be regarded as a temporary solution until you do decide to upgrade. The HDMI connection is the best way to go to get optimal AQ and PQ.

[montezuma]

Anyone have any experience with the BDP-S300 and the Xtremehd 4-PORT HDMI Switcher? Looks nice.

The OPPO HM-31 also looks good, and seems like a slight increase in quality.

[blurayisking]

One of the noticeable improvements in the 5.1 analog hookup for the PCM soundtracks is the increase in bass. Frankly, I was quite surprised as to how good the PCM playback sounded. More bass and more clarity.

The BDP-S300 has a setup for speaker size and be sure to set the BDP-S300 menu to indicate 5.1 channels (rather than 2 channels).

I agree that the ultimate solution is to replace your receiver with one that supports HDMI connection and a blu-ray player that supports the new codecs; however, in the meantime the analog 5.1 connection offers great sounding playback for those blu-ray discs that provide PCM soundtrack option.

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by blurayisking

One of the noticeable improvements in the 5.1 analog hookup for the PCM soundtracks is the increase in bass. Frankly, I was quite surprised as to how good the PCM playback sounded. More bass and more clarity.

How did you manage to get yours properly calibrated? Does your AVR do bass management with multi channel in (or 5.1 analog in)? Just curious.

The BDP-S300 has no provision for setting the speaker channels with their respective distances from the listening position to their proper levels. If the AVR doesn't provide this, then the 5.1 analog connection is compromised, and you are far better off using the SPDIF (optical or coaxial) connection.

My Pioneer AVR allows setting the speaker levels and distances but the built in MCACC (auto calibration) only works with the DSP, digital not analog signals. I had to use a SPL and a DVD with calibrated audio signals playing in my BD player.

[dlshelt]

i have never did a firmware update,and never had any trouble getting movies to play,so do i need to?