The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread

[fighthefutureofhd]

what's so funny? my fly open or sumthin' sumthin'? i don't get what's funny.

[grumblingrungeman]

Well, what could be more frustrating than watching The Dark Knight up to track 23 and having it freeze?
Thought it was a faulty copy, so I quickly got a new copy, sat down with refreshments on hand and... the commissioner froze on screen at @ track 24! There was an improvement, though...the BPD301 went black then grey, then black (my Onkyo 806 display was indicating that at each screen the signal was dropping in and out) and finally, the disk jumped to the copyright screens at the end of the film. Then I proceeded to eject and reload: CANT READ DISK. Hmmmmm...I downloaded the latest firmware... installed...got the download ok message...but, track 23 is definitely the spot where I get a picture perfect "frozen image".
Well, after reading these posts, I opted for discussing the situation with my son and his techie buds...I was advised to scrap the BDP301 and buy either a PS3 (Hmmmm? Is this a plot by the techiehood to control the media room?) or a Denon Blu-ray.

Any advice? I have had the BDP301 for more than a year..so no warranty coverage. Like many have suggested on the post: Should I just go and buy, ensuring that the latest purchase incorporates Profile 2.0? If so which? Any recommendations?--PS3? Denon? Sony350? Even though the techiehood criticizes the Sony standalones when the PS3 offers so many additional features.
BTW...I began experiencing the problem just weeks ago with the purchase of Wall*E. Originally thought it was a dirty lens. After the firmware update 4.30--the BDP301 is buggier than before.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by grumblingrungeman

...

Any advice? I have had the BDP301 for more than a year..so no warranty coverage. Like many have suggested on the post: Should I just go and buy, ensuring that the latest purchase incorporates Profile 2.0?
BTW...I began experiencing the problem just weeks ago with the purchase of Wall*E. Originally thought it was a dirty lens. After the firmware update 4.30--the BDP301 is buggier than before.

YEAH, Sony gave us something great with 4.20 and slammed us again with 4.30. You have two options, in my humble opinion. Wait for the next firmware release. Shouldn't be much longer, and should fix the problem.

Otherwise, skip the Sony brand and go with the Panasonic BD35 / 55. In reading the reviews I am increasingly convinced this is better than the Sony 350. I've always been a Panasonic man, so this makes me happy. I plan on getting one. Hopefully soon.

[Old Geezer]

I own the Sony BDP-S300 and and am using the latest 4.3 update. I watched "The Dark Knight" last night. It had the longest loading time I have ever experienced (2 minutes, 45 seconds) but played flawlessly from start to finish. I'm just about ready to spring for one of the newer players for faster loading times, but my ole 300 has been good to me.

[grumblingrungeman]

Just got home from work and decided to contemplate what course of action to follow. Tron3 - your advice is sound and greatly appreciated, but, how long do you think it will take Sony to provide another upgrade? I am watching at this moment the DVD version of Coppola's Apocolypse Now. Although the BDP 301 Blu-Ray video experience is very very good, You can't beat the quality of its upconversion capabilities. The image is beautiful and relatively sharp. This is important to me and I'm sure to a lot of other folks who have large DVD collections. Just for the upconversion quality i wouldn't mind keeping the 301 for a while and waiting for the firmware upgrade.
The Panni IS definitely a viable option, much cheaper than Denon or Onkyo. It has received excellent reviews from some respectable websites too. Has anyone on the forum had actual hands on experience with the Panni that can vouch for the quality of upconversion?
I guess the PS3 with all its options doesn't attract you either.
Old Geezer: Are you thinking about moving up in the Sony line or are you considering switching brands?

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by grumblingrungeman

Just got home from work and decided to contemplate what course of action to follow. Tron3 - your advice is sound and greatly appreciated, but, how long do you think it will take Sony to provide another upgrade? I am watching at this moment the DVD version of Coppola's Apocolypse Now. Although the BDP 301 Blu-Ray video experience is very very good, You can't beat the quality of its upconversion capabilities. The image is beautiful and relatively sharp. This is important to me and I'm sure to a lot of other folks who have large DVD collections. Just for the upconversion quality i wouldn't mind keeping the 301 for a while and waiting for the firmware upgrade.
The Panni IS definitely a viable option, much cheaper than Denon or Onkyo. It has received excellent reviews from some respectable websites too. Has anyone on the forum had actual hands on experience with the Panni that can vouch for the quality of upconversion?
I guess the PS3 with all its options doesn't attract you either.
Old Geezer: Are you thinking about moving up in the Sony line or are you considering switching brands?

I have the 301. Zero problems including every "glitchy" disc, Wall:E, TDK, V for Vendetta etc. Flawless operation so far. Replacing mine would scare me after reading about other manufacturers being so negligent with their firmware updates. See if 4.4 (?) doesnt solve it before shelling out more coin. And I have read that the PS3 has the weakest upscaling of all Blu-ray players. DONT FLAME ME GUYS.....I read it, I didnt say it.

[Old Geezer]

Originally Posted by grumblingrungeman

Old Geezer: Are you thinking about moving up in the Sony line or are you considering switching brands?

Origionally thought about the Sony 350 but if I pulled the trigger now it would probably be the Panasonic 35 or 55. As long as my Sony S300 continues to perform flawlessly I'll probably keep it. The load time is my only complaint.

[easycure299]

Originally Posted by grumblingrungeman

Just got home from work and decided to contemplate what course of action to follow. Tron3 - your advice is sound and greatly appreciated, but, how long do you think it will take Sony to provide another upgrade? I am watching at this moment the DVD version of Coppola's Apocolypse Now. Although the BDP 301 Blu-Ray video experience is very very good, You can't beat the quality of its upconversion capabilities. The image is beautiful and relatively sharp. This is important to me and I'm sure to a lot of other folks who have large DVD collections. Just for the upconversion quality i wouldn't mind keeping the 301 for a while and waiting for the firmware upgrade.
The Panni IS definitely a viable option, much cheaper than Denon or Onkyo. It has received excellent reviews from some respectable websites too. Has anyone on the forum had actual hands on experience with the Panni that can vouch for the quality of upconversion?
I guess the PS3 with all its options doesn't attract you either.
Old Geezer: Are you thinking about moving up in the Sony line or are you considering switching brands?

I have my trusty old Sony bdp-s300 which still plays flawlessly. However, I also wanted to decode dolby true-hd and dts master hd on my Denon 3808ci. I had read three different reviews on the panny 35 saying its the best out there for the price range, so I picked one up. I can tell you from playing around for 3 weeks now that the upconversion to my sony bravia lcd tv with the sony s300 blows away the upconversion on the panny 35. Its much nicer on the s300, but the 35 definitely has better hd audio capabilities. So, my solution was to let my Denon receiver do the upconversion and set the video preference on the 35 to soft and that works best for me on the panny35. Now, the blu-ray playback on the panny35 is excellent and maybe a tad better than the sony s300. Thankfully, I can let the denon receiver do the scaling and upconversion for me ;o). If you don't care about hd audio formats and looking for good sd upconversion, I would stick with the sony bdp s300. You know what they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[Shoko]

The thing about the 300 and 301 is that it tends to freeze periodically. Always did when I first purchased it almost a year ago. Always thought that it was just certain BD's or just tempermental. One thing I have noticed is that when I updated the firmware recently, the resume function doesn't seem to work when I only hit the stop button once. I'm unsure about which firmware release may have caused this. There is a similar post regarding this problem in a different thread from another poster. Anyone else have this problem?

[krisjan]

Originally Posted by Shoko

The thing about the 300 and 301 is that it tends to freeze periodically. Always did when I first purchased it almost a year ago. Always thought that it was just certain BD's or just tempermental. One thing I have noticed is that when I updated the firmware recently, the resume function doesn't seem to work when I only hit the stop button once. I'm unsure about which firmware release may have caused this. There is a similar post regarding this problem in a different thread from another poster. Anyone else have this problem?

Resume only works on BD's without Java content. Many (most?) BD's being released now have Java content and thus will not resume play on any BD player. Some of these BD-J's provide a bookmark feature. The S300/301 has always behaved this way - you just happened upon some BD-J's that will not by design resume.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by krisjan

Resume only works on BD's without Java content. Many (most?) BD's being released now have Java content and thus will not resume play on any BD player. Some of these BD-J's provide a bookmark feature. The S300/301 has always behaved this way - you just happened upon some BD-J's that will not by design resume.

Yes, I notice that...but how do you bookmark it while watching the movie..?
I can't find a bookmark button on the remote control.

[krisjan]

Originally Posted by tek101

Yes, I notice that...but how do you bookmark it while watching the movie..?
I can't find a bookmark button on the remote control.

The BD's with bookmark usually locate it in the Chapter Selection part of the menu. Pause the BD, go to the Pop-up menu, then select the Chapter Selection option. If the BD has a bookmark, it will be displayed there (it will tell you to press one of the colored buttons on the remote to create the bookmark). Then, when you reload the BD at a later time, you go to Chapter Selection and find your bookmark point.

[tek101]

Originally Posted by krisjan

The BD's with bookmark usually locate it in the Chapter Selection part of the menu. Pause the BD, go to the Pop-up menu, then select the Chapter Selection option. If the BD has a bookmark, it will be displayed there (it will tell you to press one of the colored buttons on the remote to create the bookmark). Then, when you reload the BD at a later time, you go to Chapter Selection and find your bookmark point.

Cool...Thanks.
But why did Sony make us go through so many steps just to bookmark it..?
It'd be nice to just add it to STOP button..Right..?

[jomari]

so, i was able to find this on sale at a sony outlet for $109 refurb, and was wondering if its a good find.

no stranger to blu-rays, i just needed a secondary one for my pj system.

sale ends tomorrow tho, so for those interested, visit your sony outlets (ours is in gilroy)...

should i end up finding another one? or should this be comparable to my current ps3?

biggest reason why id like to keep this is because of its multichannel analog outputs. i was hoping to get the panny 55, but hey, at a hundred plus clams, its a great catch... or not.

let me know as i plan to return this by tomorrow if ever...

[tron3]

Originally Posted by grumblingrungeman

...Tron3 - your advice is sound and greatly appreciated, but, how long do you think it will take Sony to provide another upgrade? ...

If history is an indicator, perhaps by Christmas time. If not, some time in early in 2009. With the last of the S300's being sold off this season, we would be lucky to see any firmware updates past the end of 2009.

Not even Sony is going to update the firmware indefinately. The Tank S300 already has battle scars. While I am confident that up to several more firmware updates will revitalize the player, it won't last forever.

My original prediction of waiting until 2010 for a replacement is holding up pretty well. I only plan on the Panny S35 sooner because my friend works for the company and can get me a good deal. (Don't ask for group buys, or how much I will have to pay.)

[krisjan]

My prediction is that Blu-ray will reach technology stability in second half of 2009 and after that FW updates will become a thing of the past for BD players. If Sony continues to support the S300 until that point (which I am confident they will do) then it should continue to play all BD's without problem for the life of the product (which probably means the Blu laser life). The S300 will never challenge the fast loading speeds of the recent BD players but if all you care about is watching BD's with excellent PQ, then the S300 will continue to fit the bill for some time to come.

[drago3451]

I have kept up with every firmware update to date and have never had a problem playing any discs. I would assume they will continue to provide updates until they are no longer needed. They still support firmware on the S1 dont they? And that one has been off the shelf for a while now.

[Rolo71]

There are new fimwares out on the European Sony Ftp server:

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/HAV/BDP/FW/

[tek101]

Originally Posted by Rolo71

There are new fimwares out on the European Sony Ftp server:

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/HAV/BDP/FW/

Thank you Rolo.

Hello. Has anyone installed this V 4.40 for US models yet....?

[jomari]

Originally Posted by jomari

so, i was able to find this on sale at a sony outlet for $109 refurb, and was wondering if its a good find.

no stranger to blu-rays, i just needed a secondary one for my pj system.

sale ends tomorrow tho, so for those interested, visit your sony outlets (ours is in gilroy)...

should i end up finding another one? or should this be comparable to my current ps3?

biggest reason why id like to keep this is because of its multichannel analog outputs. i was hoping to get the panny 55, but hey, at a hundred plus clams, its a great catch... or not.

let me know as i plan to return this by tomorrow if ever...

sorry folks, just bumping this question once again. i still have it, and have about 29 days to return it. for what its worth, i do want to end up getting the panny 55, but dont think there'd be any good deals on it anytime soon.

so this MIGHT be a keeper at this point, and hoping that i dont get a lemon. plan on opening it up by tomorrow.