The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread

[aqupunk]

Ok I have looked all over the net and it seems that there is no straight answer as if the 300 is 1.3 hdmi. Crutchfield says yes but reviews I have checked are crossed out where it says 1.3 hdmi, or they just don't say. So does anyone know officially?

[ericede]

If you'd like to read more about 1080 here is a good link.

http://www.hometheatermag.com/gearworks/1106gear/

[THE STUD]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I don't care about your side by side comparison.

Anyone who says any upconverting player is as good as Blu-ray quality is spouting nonsense and should be disregarded. That goes for you, Chapek, Graffeo, Jesus, Reznor, Dylan, Queen Elizabeth II, The Pope, Dubya; anyone.

check my first post, i didn't say it was as good, i said it wasn't that big a difference, end of story, and if it isn't much better, then it isn't, nothing else to it, words mean nothing, experience means everything. U ever had a marantz and can back up your claim, or are u just spouting your own unjustified opinion?

[mike79]

Originally Posted by Jeramief

I just got the Sony S300 last weekend so far I only have watched 2 hd movies on it click not impressed and blackhawk down looked better than click I had been using our ps3 for a dvd player but my wife found it to diffucult for her to use. Overall i am quite happy with the player I have a sharp aquos 42" 1080P compatible tv i am very happy with the results I have not hooked up my sound system yet but will be doing so soon. The main gripe as others have mentioned is the start time for this machine when you turn on the switch the main reason I purchased this player was the price tag. I was holding off waiting to see which format was going to prevail I have little doubt now as most of the studios are going to support blu-ray i believe the other format is going to fade with time.

ummmm. You do know that the PS3 is a blu-ray player right?

[didihala]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

The reviewer failed to mention that when you power the unit off, and then on the BD discs starts up again from the begining, menus and all. To me, this is a huge issue since most of the time I don't finish watching movies in one sit, and I think it's a big hassle to be searching for the point where you left off.

Samsung and Panasonic first generation players have this option to resume playback even if the unit was powered off. Here we are with a supposely 2nd gen Sony player, and It doesn't have this option. Sony invented the format but other companies are putting out better player??? I don't know but I think Sony needs to get his act together and soon.

I had the Samsung BD-P1200 and it was much faster than this new Sony. It also had the resume playback option I mentioned above. I returned the Samsung because the new Sony player was cheaper, and I thought It would be also better. Sadly it is not, and now I'm thinking about returning this Sony and get my Samsung back!

I agree, this is basic feature that all Blu-ray players should have. There is one way to resume from where the movie left off and that is: stop the movie but do not turn the unit off - let the unit power off automatically. When you turn the power on afterwards, the movie starts automatically from where it left off. However, if you take the DVD out of the tray and let it power off on its own, all bets are off!

[HDTV1080P]

http://www.tvpredictions.com/sonyblu071307.htm

[KenThompson]

Was there ever any doubt this player would perform. Still a looker, and at half the price I paid for the BDP-S1.

[monkyman]

It's a winner in my home, the PQ is excellent. I'm one of the few that the load times don't bother, it's worth the wait!

[bluflu]

It's only going to get better. Blu-ray is just beginning to tap its potential.

[HDTV1080P]

Here is the Home Theater review link
http://www.hometheatermag.com/discplayers/707sonybdp300/


Interesting this Sony BDP-S300 only has HDMI 1.2 and not HDMI 1.3? Earlier reports said it was HDMI 1.3. They must have changed the specs before releasing the player at a lower price. The PS3 is looking more attractive every day.

Quote
“According to Sony the player will pass x.v.Color from its HDMI 1.2 output, but will not automatically switch an x.v.Color-compatible display to the correct color space. You will have to do this manually; auto-switching apparently requires HDMI 1.3. I lacked both x.v.Color source material and an x.v.Color display, so did not test this feature (at present x.v.Color source material is limited to discs recorded on a few camcorders). “

[aqupunk]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

Here is the Home Theater review link
http://www.hometheatermag.com/discplayers/707sonybdp300/


Interesting this Sony BDP-S300 only has HDMI 1.2 and not HDMI 1.3? Earlier reports said it was HDMI 1.3. They must have changed the specs before releasing the player at a lower price. The PS3 is looking more attractive every day.

Quote
“According to Sony the player will pass x.v.Color from its HDMI 1.2 output, but will not automatically switch an x.v.Color-compatible display to the correct color space. You will have to do this manually; auto-switching apparently requires HDMI 1.3. I lacked both x.v.Color source material and an x.v.Color display, so did not test this feature (at present x.v.Color source material is limited to discs recorded on a few camcorders). “

Thats lame crutchfield told me it was hdmi 1.3! Talk about misleading people!!!!

[Zero7159]

Just got the BDP-S300. Bought it at Wal Mart for $488 and hooked it up, via an HDMI cable, to my new Vizio 37" LCD. Very nice. Black Hawk Down looked amazing. We also watched a couple of DVDs and they looked much better than before using a regular DVD player and SDTV. I am glad that I bought mostly wide screen versions of DVDs over the years. I tried watching one of my few full screen DVDs, Lord of the Rings The Two Towers, and it did not look very good. I am going to give that DVD to my in laws and I bought the wide screen version for my DVD library.

[Jeramief]

Originally Posted by mike79

ummmm. You do know that the PS3 is a blu-ray player right?

Mike maybe I should clarify my comment I had been using the PS3 as a blu-ray player worked very well in my opinion. My wife did not like using it for playing movies for our youngest child as she found it to diffucult to wade through the menus each time. I have the remote for the PS3 my older son also was always wanting to only play games and I have found it necesary to put the PS3 up into hiding place and severly limiting game time for him.

[AT-AT Luvah]

Okay, I went through the firmware check steps and my players says version 2.0 - does that mean it will decode Dolby TrueHD and next-gen codecs? Will it be able to do BD-Java and play POTC2 okay?

Hector

[monkyman]

Other than about a two minute load time, it will play the pirates movies flawlessly. No, unfortunately no truehd yet with the current firmware, but there is always hope they will release a firmware version that will alow it to.

[JonasK]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

Here is the Home Theater review link
http://www.hometheatermag.com/discplayers/707sonybdp300/


Interesting this Sony BDP-S300 only has HDMI 1.2 and not HDMI 1.3? Earlier reports said it was HDMI 1.3. They must have changed the specs before releasing the player at a lower price. The PS3 is looking more attractive every day.

Quote
“According to Sony the player will pass x.v.Color from its HDMI 1.2 output, but will not automatically switch an x.v.Color-compatible display to the correct color space. You will have to do this manually; auto-switching apparently requires HDMI 1.3. I lacked both x.v.Color source material and an x.v.Color display, so did not test this feature (at present x.v.Color source material is limited to discs recorded on a few camcorders). “

x.v.Color (or xvYCC) is part of the HDMI 1.3 specification. I doubt very much that the information that Home Theater received was correct. If you output x.v.Color by HDMI 1.2 you are hardly fulfilling the HDMI 1.2 specification!?

Anyway, the HDMI version doesn't really matter. It's what HDMI features that are supported that matters.

[jdsanko]

Originally Posted by monkyman

Other than about a two minute load time, it will play the pirates movies flawlessly. No, unfortunately no truehd yet with the current firmware, but there is always hope they will release a firmware version that will alow it to.

I believe Sony really blew it here. The PS3 had Dolby TruHD why not the BDP-S300? Samsung and Panasonic have it. Toshiba has it and the HD-DVD folks always point this out. I am not sure what it would of cost, but Sony always seems to leave something out of what would otherwise be a killer product/deal.

By the way, I am fairly tech literate and find all this business about the various audio codecs confusing and enough to just say "lets wait till it all settles down". One more reason for sitting on the fence.

[monkyman]

Originally Posted by jdsanko

[/I]

I believe Sony really blew it here. The PS3 had Dolby TruHD why not the BDP-S300?

I don't think they blew it, It has the same chip as BDP-S1, which after a firmware upgrade got TruHD. TruHD is pretty much the only selling point for the BDP-S1 over the S300, once it becomes obsolite and the next gen of sonys comes out in the fall, you will see the S300 get it's upgrade to give it a better selling point unitl it becomes obsolite.
The circle of life, the circle of life.

[MikeRadio]

SEE EDIT BELOW....

I just picked one of these up from Best Buy.. There were two on the floor and it seemed none in the overstock area in the rafters...

I almost picked up a LG dual format.. but it does not have SVIDEO output which I need.

A quick synopsis here... my system is old and new school

Good Yamaha Receiver for about 3 years ago with proLogic, Dolby Digital etc... However my TV is a 4:3 Sony large 40 something inch Tv.. and my speakers are real wood speakers that are like almost 30 years old.. but sound great!

Well, this machine works great. You HAVE to set up the Audio properly, as it defaults to the minimal audio setup... The EASY SETUP does basics.. Press Setup menu and go through the choices especially audio.

Fifty 1st dates which came with my computer looks fantastic. and has great sound.

Now, I also have a LOT or DVDs recorded with my Sony record able from Tivo or Tivo burner itself.

The sound and picture on these DVDS is 1000 times better than my Sony DVD/VCR and 10000 times player than my Samsung 4700 DVD player that this replaced.

I am not one to go into technical stuff about up-convert and all that... but if you are looking to buy one of these things under 500 bucks (the price of my 1st DVD player from Circuit City (Home of "divx!!") this is so worth it... So it takes a half min or so when you power it up... no big deal for me.. my TV takes a few secs also....

Anything that can improve nastily recorded DVDs is alright in my book!

(I bought this over the Samsung BD-1200 because Samsung does not support DVD+ formats which I have used).

**** EDIT:


I am UNHAPPY that this does not support BD-R and BD-RE (Recordable discs).... I have a Blu Ray on my computer and what good is it if I cant play the discs on this machine????

It seems PHILIPS is the only machine that does it all DVD+R and -RW and has SVIDEO and plays BD-R and BD-RE

I *** WAS *** Going to return this because of this issue, however after looming at sonystyle.com for alternatives, it seems the older BDP1 is listed as NOT being able to read these formats as well... AND it says in the specs (this will be enabaled later by a firmware upgrade).

I would ASSUME.. even though there is no mention of this on the site for the S300, that they will ALSO have an update allowing the machine to read the BD-R and BD-RE discs as well. I am hoping so!

I was about to return this for a more expensive and older Philips because of this, however I think they will address this issue.

I am not as unhappy as I wa sbefore seeing at least they seem to be working on a firmware update for this.. at least for the one I DONT have

[pug]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

The BDP-S300 is a cheap player. The PS3 is the best deal. It is much faster than any stand alone player.

Having gone throught the BDP S-300 (returned~ will be outmoded in 90 days) and the PS3 the other day (granier picture, annoying menu and white on screen triangle to the left), I am waiting for something better and cheaper.