The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread

[DoctorQ9]

Originally Posted by aus1ander

Anyone able to play Vantage Point on this player? I've had the BDP-S300 for over 6 months and haven't had a Blu fail to play on it... until now. I get a "Can't Play" error everytime I try to play it. I updated the firmware to 3.95 but still no dice. The disc is brand new from Netflix, so unless its defective, I guess I'm out of luck.

I suspect that there are Trolls out there saying disparaging things about the S300. I, too, was unable to play Vantage Point. The problem was the disc and not the player. If the laser is failing you will get read errors on ALL blu-ray discs.

You did the right thing by letting Netflix know that the disc is defective. Remember the problems with the CDs when they first came out in the 1980s? It took some time for the manufacturers to get their Quality Control processes ironed out and lots of buggy CDs were released. Nowadays you rarely get a bad CD. Blu-Ray has to go through the same maturation period. In the meantime, it is VITAL to give feedback to the Retailer/Blockbuster/Netflix so that they can be returned to the manufacturer.

[john_1958]

Originally Posted by Stephan.klose

I have the Samsung Bd-P 1400 (Area Code B) and the disc worked fine.

wondering if a samsung bd-p 1400 thats been refurbished is a great deal at

$269.99

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by john_1958

wondering if a samsung bd-p 1400 thats been refurbished is a great deal at

$269.99

why are you asking this in the BDP-S300 review thread?

[badassdjbynight]

First off.. several PC dudes in this forum say "oh just download the update and use IMGBURN to make the disc." None of these people on this forum have done it. None of them have a clue what they are talking about. Idiots one and all.

Sony's .EXE update files are windows only. They don't give a rats-you-know-what about mac users. Stuffit Expander DOES NOT extract those files into an ISO. WHY NOT JUST ALLOW US TO DOWNLOAD THE IMG FILE DIRECTLY? No.. You'll have to go to a buddy's house where there is a PC and make the disc there.

So I won't be watching Batman Begins this evening. I've already wasted a hour researching this online and trying to figure it out. I'll watch a regular DVD. Those just work.

[SNAP]

If I use the 5.1 analog outs on the 300 what am I getting??.......Sorry if I sound ignorant.

[krisjan]

Originally Posted by SNAP

If I use the 5.1 analog outs on the 300 what am I getting??.......Sorry if I sound ignorant.

The only lossless audio in that configuration will be LPCM.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by krisjan

The only lossless audio in that configuration will be LPCM.

I didnt think the analog outs could handle lossless.............Should I set the HDMI out to Auto or PCM?

[Scorxpion]

Originally Posted by SNAP

I didnt think the analog outs could handle lossless.............Should I set the HDMI out to Auto or PCM?

If you use 5.1 analog outputs you will get PCM surround track from BD recorded in lossless PCM uncompressed sound 5.1 like for example, Casino Royale .Here i have only the European version which does have only Uncompressed 5.1 surround.YES by setting it to PCM or Auto you will get the same result.

If you set your player to HDMI PCM and not AUTO you will get Dolby TRUEHD through HDMI capable receiver.What i mean here you will get LPCM uncompressed audio because Dolby TrueHD is decoded inside the player.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by Scorxpion

If you use 5.1 analog outputs you will get PCM surround track from BD recorded in lossless PCM uncompressed sound 5.1 like for example, Casino Royale .

If you set your player to HDMI PCM and not AUTO you will get Dolby TRUEHD through HDMI capable receiver.

I have Casino and it's uncompressed audio........I have the player set on auto and the Onkyo 705 displays Multch on it's screen.....when I set it to PCM it displays the same thing. So, is Casino TrueHD when I set it to Auto and is it Lossless PCM when I set it PCM??

[SS316SRV]

The S300 can decode TrueHD. So why can it not send it through the analogue outs?

[Scorxpion]

Originally Posted by SNAP

I have Casino and it's uncompressed audio........I have the player set on auto and the Onkyo 705 displays Multch on it's screen.....when I set it to PCM it displays the same thing. So, is Casino TrueHD when I set it to Auto and is it Lossless PCM when I set it PCM??

You are getting here PCM surround sound ,once your receiver is showing multi channel.Try to choose Dolby Digital and you will notice the difference.As the for the american version of Casino Royale do not think so it does include a Dolby TrueHD lossless sound.

As you notice i have a PS3 but i experience this player capability by joining a friend not far away from my home.

[Scorxpion]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

The S300 can decode TrueHD. So why can it not send it through the analogue outs?

You should ask this question directly to Sony engineers ,may have an answer.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

The S300 can decode TrueHD. So why can it not send it through the analogue outs?

I thought there's too much info(bandwidth) in TrueHD where it can only be sent via HDMI and not thru regular RCA cables.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by Scorxpion

You are getting here PCM surround sound ,once your receiver is showing multi channel.Try to choose Dolby Digital and you will notice the difference.As the for the american version of Casino Royale do not think so it does include a Dolby TrueHD lossless sound.

As you notice i have a PS3 but i experience this player capability by joining a friend not far away from my home.

You're correct........My version does not say TrueHD.......only PCM lossless audio.......Thanks for all the info

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by badassdjbynight

First off.. several PC dudes in this forum say "oh just download the update and use IMGBURN to make the disc." None of these people on this forum have done it. None of them have a clue what they are talking about. Idiots one and all.

Sony's .EXE update files are windows only. They don't give a rats-you-know-what about mac users. Stuffit Expander DOES NOT extract those files into an ISO. WHY NOT JUST ALLOW US TO DOWNLOAD THE IMG FILE DIRECTLY? No.. You'll have to go to a buddy's house where there is a PC and make the disc there.

So I won't be watching Batman Begins this evening. I've already wasted a hour researching this online and trying to figure it out. I'll watch a regular DVD. Those just work.

You don't have to flip out man....

Here is your .iso Mac users, I zipped it up first. I can update this everytime there is an update if you would like.

http://www.mediafire.com/?rxpzy21vdm0

Chill.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by JasonR

You don't have to flip out man....

Here is your .iso Mac users, I zipped it up first. I can update this everytime there is an update if you would like.

http://www.mediafire.com/?rxpzy21vdm0

Chill.

LOL.....I dont even bother w/this stuff.........I just have them send me the disc.

[badassdjbynight]

Originally Posted by JasonR

You don't have to flip out man....

Here is your .iso Mac users, I zipped it up first. I can update this everytime there is an update if you would like.

http://www.mediafire.com/?rxpzy21vdm0

Chill.

Was I flipping out? Didn't notice. You have to admit that every post in here about mac before yours was totally off. Why can't Sony just post the ISO file? In reality in order for you to post it you have to break copyright laws. But thanks for breaking the law. I downloaded it and we'll see if that fixes anything.

I just wanted to watch Batman Begins.

[Krand]

Okay, I'm about to give up. Here's my problem. S300 at 3.95. PCM is set. HDMI connected to SONY STR-DA5200ES. When I play a disc that contains the TrueHD codec, the AVR shows Linear PCM on the display but only shows L/R and sub active. Why shouldn't the display show the 5.1 array of L/R/Sub and surrounds active?? What am I missing? Thanks for any help....

[montezuma]

Originally Posted by badassdjbynight

You have to admit that every post in here about mac before yours was totally off.

Not all of them, you just didn't go back far enough. The instructions below are the real deal for burning firmware discs using a Mac.

Originally Posted by davidflas

It is possible to update the firmware using a Mac, I use my Macbook to update the firmware in my BDP-S300, here is how you do it:

1. download the firmware .exe file
2. download a copy of stuffit expander 10.0, (this is an older version the newer versions don't work...)
3. use stuffit to expand the .exe file, you will now have an .iso file
4. open disk utility which is in the utilities folder in your applications folder
5. click on the convert icon at the top of the disk utility window
6. select the .iso file and click the convert botton
7. in the drop down window that opens select dvd/cd master in image format
8. click save, and then click use .cdr when the next dialog box opens
9. the .cdr file will appear in the window on the left side of the disk utility window, select it, after inserting a blank cdr disc, click the burn icon at the top of the disk utility window.
10. follow the directions on Sony's site for updating firmware


All this sounds complicated, but its actually quick and easy once you've done it the first time. The directions above describe the process using Mac OS 10.5, the positions of buttons are slightly different in older versions of the OS.

Stuffit Expander 10.0.2 can be downloaded here after registering (free):
http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit...r/updates.html

Enter your name and email to register, Stuffit will then email you the link to the download page for older versions of Stuffit Expander including 10.0.2.

I have followed the steps provided by davidflas twice now using an old G4 running OSX 10.4.11. The discs I have burned using my Mac updated the firmware on my BDP-S300 successfully each time.

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by SNAP

I thought there's too much info(bandwidth) in TrueHD where it can only be sent via HDMI and not thru regular RCA cables.

True, HDMI has the bandwidth to pass 5.1 - 7.1 LPCM to your AVR once DD TrueHD is decoded by the player to LPCM. There still seems to be in theory at least no reason why a player which has 5.1 analog outputs is unable to convert 5.1 LPCM from DD True HD to analog audio with the DACs (digital to analog convert chips) on board. My guess is that it has something to do with how the S300 is wired internally. Something like the LPCM decoded from DD True HD never for some reason gets sent to the DACs. If you want a definitive answer to this from the horse's mouth, go to the insider forum. Ask PaidGeek why it doesn't work on the 5.1 analog outputs.