The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread

[ahearst]

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

I just installed the 4.3 update from Sony. I played;

Wanted - it loaded in 2 min before the update; 1 min 50 sec after; playback was perfect.

Kung Fu Panda. - it loaded and played perfect. Took a little less than 2 min to load.

Indiana Jones; Kingdom of Crystal Skull - loaded and played flawlessly in about 1 min 45 secs.

So far I have encountered absolutely no problems with the firmware update.. I have no Bond movies to try out but I did want to keep up with the latest updates. I have an Onkyo 606 receiver and Polk surround speakers if that makes a difference.

If you have the WALL-E blu ray, try it and post your results here. I own a S-300 updated to 4.30 and WALL-E freezes during playback. Also I experienced freezing during the playback of Hancock. Those instinces finally pushed me to purchase an S-350 during the Black Friday sales. The S-350 has proven to be a superior, flawless product thus far and I'm very happy with it. No freezing issues of any kind. As for the 300, I won't get rid of it; I plan to use it as a DVD upscaler connected to my bedroom TV.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

I just installed the 4.3 update from Sony. I played;

Wanted - it loaded in 2 min before the update; 1 min 50 sec after; playback was perfect.

Kung Fu Panda. - it loaded and played perfect. Took a little less than 2 min to load.

Indiana Jones; Kingdom of Crystal Skull - loaded and played flawlessly in about 1 min 45 secs.

So far I have encountered absolutely no problems with the firmware update.. I have no Bond movies to try out but I did want to keep up with the latest updates. I have an Onkyo 606 receiver and Polk surround speakers if that makes a difference.

Hi. You mean...Sony sent you a Cd firmware. Not download by yourself.
I wonder that makes any difference..?
Mine works fine without a hitckup...Then again I don't have Wall-E yet...
But I tried every Blu-ray DVDs that I got....No ploblem so far.

[lpfan71]

Originally Posted by tek101

Hi. You mean...Sony sent you a Cd firmware. Not download by yourself.
I wonder that makes any difference..?
Mine works fine without a hitckup...Then again I don't have Wall-E yet...
But I tried every Blu-ray DVDs that I got....No ploblem so far.

It doesn't make a difference if you download yourself or not. If you have trouble burning CDs, which could be the case if you forget to burn it as an image rather than a data CD, just ordering it from Sony is simple enough. I've done it both ways. With ordering it from Sony, you're giving them your address for them to do with as they please and you have to wait a few days. To download it yourself, you get it instantaneously, but you use your own CD that you can never use again since you have to do a non rewritable one.

[Old Geezer]

Originally Posted by tek101

Hi. You mean...Sony sent you a Cd firmware. Not download by yourself.
I wonder that makes any difference..?
Mine works fine without a hitckup...Then again I don't have Wall-E yet...
But I tried every Blu-ray DVDs that I got....No ploblem so far.

Yes, I have Sony send me the update. It takes less than a week to receive it and they've all worked perfect so far. I tried to download the information once before and I couldn't get it to work - undoubtably something I'm doing wrong and not Sony's fault but I'll just keep on getting my updates from Sony.

I'll try Wall-E probably tomorrow and report back on that.

[Old Geezer]

Update. Just played WALL-E from start to finish; absolutely no problems. It took 1 minute from insertion of disc to start of playback of commercials. After the commercials it took 1 minute 5 seconds to load the movie to the start menu. Played without incident through the entire movie.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by lpfan71

It doesn't make a difference if you download yourself or not. If you have trouble burning CDs, which could be the case if you forget to burn it as an image rather than a data CD, just ordering it from Sony is simple enough. I've done it both ways. With ordering it from Sony, you're giving them your address for them to do with as they please and you have to wait a few days. To download it yourself, you get it instantaneously, but you use your own CD that you can never use again since you have to do a non rewritable one.

I always download directly from Sony site and haven't had any problems.
Just curious ,If there might be a broken link somewhere in this particular V4.30 file itself.
The CDs that sony sends out to the customers are made with the original
source...Just my opion.
WE need more feed back from people who download and burn by themselves.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

Yes, I have Sony send me the update. It takes less than a week to receive it and they've all worked perfect so far. I tried to download the information once before and I couldn't get it to work - undoubtably something I'm doing wrong and not Sony's fault but I'll just keep on getting my updates from Sony.

I'll try Wall-E probably tomorrow and report back on that.

So for now, It only effects some players , not all.

Just in case you need to burn, Use this Imgburn .
http://www.imgburn.com/

[Old Geezer]

Originally Posted by tek101

So for now, It only effects some players , not all.

Just in case you need to burn, Use this Imgburn .
http://www.imgburn.com/

Thanks. I just might try that next time.

[lpfan71]

So do you think people, myself included, should just hold off on loading firmware 4.3 for now? It sounds like enough people are having issues, although the ones who aren't are doing just fine.

[CJS]

Originally Posted by lpfan71

So do you think people, myself included, should just hold off on loading firmware 4.3 for now? It sounds like enough people are having issues, although the ones who aren't are doing just fine.

I downloaded and applied many updates for the bdp-s300 prior to 4.3. I used the proper proecedure (burn as image to CD-R) and all updates were successful. I've been using the same discs and software for burning the update CDs as well. Right after installing the 4.3 update, discs that loaded fine the night before required one automatic restart before the movies loaded successfully. My player has been in Mt. Pleasent, PA for service since 11-21-08 (not including four days shipping to get there) and I have not received it back yet. Once I find out exactly what the problem was I will post the info here.

If you're not having problems with your player you might want to hold off on the 4.3 update. The update has been somewhat unreliabe based on info from other posts to this forum and in conversations that I've had with Sony tech support. It seems some players do not completely install the update successfully even though they report that it as successful.

[lpfan71]

Originally Posted by CJS

It seems some players do not completely install the update successfully even though they report that it as successful.

I guess that's the risk you take when doing firmware installations. When I loaded v4.2 to my player I noticed significant differences because I only had 3.7 before that. Hopefully, they get your player back to you. Maybe you should consider getting a new player (possibly non Sony since they seem to be giving you horrible service) if you haven't already. There is so much the Sony 300 can't do and probably may never be able to do in comparison to some of the newer players.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by lpfan71

I guess that's the risk you take when doing firmware installations. When I loaded v4.2 to my player I noticed significant differences because I only had 3.7 before that. Hopefully, they get your player back to you. Maybe you should consider getting a new player (possibly non Sony since they seem to be giving you horrible service) if you haven't already. There is so much the Sony 300 can't do and probably may never be able to do in comparison to some of the newer players.

Well...You don't have to hold up....If you don't want to...
Just go to Sony site and request for the Firmware Cd.
BTW..Since Nothing wrong with yours....Why take a risk.
I don't see any big improvement with FW4.30 anyway....So WAIT.

[lpfan71]

Originally Posted by tek101

Well...You don't have to hold up....If you don't want to...
Just go to Sony site and request for the Firmware Cd.
BTW..Since Nothing wrong with yours....Why take a risk.
I don't see any big improvement with FW4.30 anyway....So WAIT.

I ordered it this time because I didn't have time to burn the CD. Got it in the mail yesterday I think with a couple of these people having issues with the 4.3 I wanted to make sure it didn't make it worse.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by lpfan71

I ordered it this time because I didn't have time to burn the CD. Got it in the mail yesterday I think with a couple of these people having issues with the 4.3 I wanted to make sure it didn't make it worse.

I just had a chat with Sony tech/support....He said that If i have problem after install FW 4.30 , just do a hard reset....( Unplug the power cord....
2ms or so) and I don't have to reverse it back to V4.20 either,but never toll me how to do it.
Anyway,...so far I'm OK.
Good luck. (If you decide to update)

[Bluballs31]

Can anyone provide me with a link for the firmware to use on a mac. Also, a link to get a disc from sony would help too just in case.

I am trying to watch Fearless and cannot get past the loading screen. The Dark Knight and other newer titles such as Wall-E have worked for me on firmware 3.9. I own a bdp s300

[lpfan71]

Originally Posted by Bluballs31

Can anyone provide me with a link for the firmware to use on a mac. Also, a link to get a disc from sony would help too just in case.

You could just try Sony's website and type in the player into the search bar and they should have the firmware ready to download and burn. Although I don't see anything for Mac so you might want to call or email them yourself.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by lpfan71

You could just try Sony's website and type in the player into the search bar and they should have the firmware ready to download and burn. Although I don't see anything for Mac so you might want to call or email them yourself.

You can have a chat with Sony Tech/suport..:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/sup...pl?mdl=BDPS300

[Rob1956]

Ipfan:
I've been able to burn an update from Sony using Dynex DVD-RW's
from Office Max with no problem!

[CJS]

Originally Posted by CJS

I downloaded and applied many updates for the bdp-s300 prior to 4.3. I used the proper proecedure (burn as image to CD-R) and all updates were successful. I've been using the same discs and software for burning the update CDs as well. Right after installing the 4.3 update, discs that loaded fine the night before required one automatic restart before the movies loaded successfully. My player has been in Mt. Pleasent, PA for service since 11-21-08 (not including four days shipping to get there) and I have not received it back yet. Once I find out exactly what the problem was I will post the info here.

If you're not having problems with your player you might want to hold off on the 4.3 update. The update has been somewhat unreliabe based on info from other posts to this forum and in conversations that I've had with Sony tech support. It seems some players do not completely install the update successfully even though they report that it as successful.

I received my player back from Sony today. They replaced it with a refurbished one (same model) and did not elaborate on what the problem was with my original unit. I have not tested the replacement yet. Once I do I will post that information and I will try to get more info from Sony on what exactly the problem was with my original player.

I'll be selling the refurbished BDP-S300 since I've already replaced it with a Panasonic DPM-BD35 player (which I am very happy with).

[fighthefutureofhd]

is this a good player to get or is it a junker of a blu-ray player?