The Sony BDP-S1 Review Thread

[TurboNutter]

Hey...so I decided to keep Aeon Flux and watch it tonight. I put in the disc, and I get a message saying "cannot play this disc"....f*****g wonderful. I open the drawer, move the disc around a bit and it plays. In fact, I tried it a couple of times with no more problems. Thanx PF and BBY for telling me to keep it. Picture is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!

[theknub]

prob just was seated weird in there.

glad the picture was as bad as you heard

[daveyg]

Originally Posted by Hakai

I bought a Monster HDMI Cable at Best Buy ($150). The guy showed me a few cables. he said and showed me how some don't do 1080p. Only one cable Monster makes does 1080p. My question is, is this true? Aren't all HDMI cables he same and can do 1080p?

Every HDMI Cable will do 1080p. No worries there. if anyone wants to checkout some very good cables, RAM Electronics has awesome DVI and HDMI cables. Nicest ive seen. Ive compared Cardas, RAM, Monster, and a bunch of others. I come from an audio background, so cables are very important to me. Im a Cardas fan, but RAM takes it.

[Scorxpion]

Hello to everyone,

there is an interesting article about SONY BDP-S1 On DVDFILE.COM

He already there tested two blu-ray discs one is fith element and the other one is fantastic four and more to come.These are the first batches of blu-ray testing upon there website.

I found that he is taking it as fair as it is,especially when future blu-ray discs is going to be reviewed and tested.

[thebry]

I absolutely LOVE this player. My only complaint is that it does take a little long to power-up and read the disc. I'm used to the old DVD models that are almost instantly "on" and read discs quickly. I have to remnd myself that there's a hell of a lot MORE data on Blu-ray discs which is probably why they take a tad longer to load.

Other than that, my player has been producing phenomenal results. I still can't believe how much better my standard def DVD's look when played throught his thing to my Sony LCD TV. The player up-converts to 1080i and it looks fantastic. However, that up-conversion doesn't hold a candle to the full 1080p experience. Blu-ray movies look out of this world. I've never watched this much TV before in my life, but am glued to the thing now :-)

[Bobpaule]

Originally Posted by daveyg

Every HDMI Cable will do 1080p. No worries there. if anyone wants to checkout some very good cables, RAM Electronics has awesome DVI and HDMI cables. Nicest ive seen. Ive compared Cardas, RAM, Monster, and a bunch of others. I come from an audio background, so cables are very important to me. Im a Cardas fan, but RAM takes it.

You betya boy! I bought a cable from ramelectronics 5 years ago, and since then i only get cables from them. Awesome jobs, like the 25 ft. component and HDMI cables with triple insulation, pristine quality. My latest purchase was a coaxial digital audio cable with gold plated pressure locks. With these guys i always expect a little less because of the lower price, but end up getting way more. Keep it coming ramelectronics.

[dvdirv]

My small gripe with the Sony is its inability to display remaining time on the disc.

Yes, it displays elapsed time on both the chapter and disc as well as total time on the disc, but I can't find any way to display remaining time.

Since most of Sony's other low-end DVD players have this feature, I would have expected this display would be on the BDP-S1 as well.

[Jim L]

I've only had the opportunity to do this with jpeg files on a DVD+RW disc, but it does work very well. Not only are the digital photos beautiful on a 1080p 60" display, but they display very fast! Some pictures that are rotated from landscape to portrait take a second or two to rescale, but this is way better than my old DVD player. (My Denon DVD player does this as well, but displaying pictures is very slow.)

Accordiing to the user manual, you can do this MP3's and video files. It lets you create playlists or sort the media files by date, title, size, etc.

You can really store a ton of MP3's on a DVD+RW.

Give it a try. This is a nice feature.

[sparkybluray]

Hey guys,
Just got the BDP-S1. Initial thoughts - not super impressed. The Sony replaced a Panny S97 upscaling DVD player and I think the Panny looks pretty darn good compared to the Sony. Question; I noticed when playing movies on the Sony it displays the dredded black bars (top and bottom) and my Panny did not have any black bars and presented movies in full screen. Does the Sony have a setting to allow full screen viewing?

[Deciazulado]

errr... if your Panasonic DVD player showed your movies Fullscreen, you either had:

A) DVDs with only movies and TV programs "1.33" wide , and a 4:3 TV, or
B) DVDs with only movies and TV programs "1.78" wide , and a 16:9 TV, or
C) Either your display or player had a permanent zoom-in turned on.

For more info abourt this, look at this couple of threads which all interbreed about the same subject (the Search function is your friend):

How Do I Get the Full Screen??

? regarding hdmi and a 1080i tv (black bars on widescreen)

16:9 FullFrame or 2.39:1 letterbox formatting for Scope films on Blu-ray Discs?

Aspect Ratio List?



In summary: It's normal for 2.39 wide and 1.37 wide movies to have black bars when you play them on your 1.78 wide (16:9) widescreen TV

(Or it is normal for 2.39 wide and 1.85 wide movies to have black bars when you play them on your 1.33 wide (4:3) standard TV)

To get rid of the black bars for all kinds of movies you'd need to have a zoom function, either on your player or your display that works in HDTV, and you'll be cropping out parts of the original image in some movies to make your screen full.

[GTP]

After a few weeks with the Sony....I have to say that mine will not play back at least a couple sd dvd's...including playing them half way through...and then stopping and saying can not play this disc.

I also hate that it will not resume play after power down...and its reaction time to skip chapter ect.
Yes its a better functioning player as compared to my former HD-A1 and RCA hd dvd players...buts its not even close to the quality of the original Sony ES sd dvd player I bought in 97.
I may be bringing mine back and keep the Philips for now.

[KC-Technerd]

I've found that there is an apparent variance in black level through the HDMI output, as connected to my Sony KDF-70XBR950 (DVI input), when playing different discs. My suspicion is that the difference is related to the codec used to encode the Blu-ray disc.

So far the black level appears completely consistent when playing DVD's (correct black level on AVIA and Digital Video Essentials), and MPEG-2 encoded Blu-ray discs (The Fifth Element-using the test pattern accessed by 7669). However when playing some Warner Brother's Blu-Ray discs (Superman The Movie, The Searchers) encoded in VC-1, the image appears to lose considerable detail below black level. I've been able to offset this by raising the black level on the custom video settings. Of course I have no test patterns encoded in VC-1 available to get an accurate black level.

Also the MPEG-2 black levels appear consistent with other digital sources (DSS and D-Theater). Prior to using VC-1 encoded material, all digital inputs on the KDF-70XBR950 have been 100% consistent as far as color, black level, etc., unlike analog inputs where each one may be different.

[Deciazulado]

So that would seem to be an issue on the WB discs, or on the VC-1 decoding. You should check with another studio's VC-1 discs (Flightplan maybe?) and see if it's the VC-1 decoding or the discs. You say "some Warner Brother's Blu-Ray discs". Are some other Warner Brother's VC-1 discs NOT doing this?

[KC-Technerd]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

So that would seem to be an issue on the WB discs, or on the VC-1 decoding. You should check with another studio's VC-1 discs (Flightplan maybe?) and see if it's the VC-1 decoding or the discs. You say "some Warner Brother's Blu-Ray discs". Are some other Warner Brother's VC-1 discs NOT doing this?

I only have the three discs I mentioned so far. I'm hoping to rent some AVC and VC-1 titles for comparison soon. However as the BDP-S1 does not appear to pass anything below black, but the black level is lower on the VC-1 material, I'm more suspect that it's an issue of how the player is handling the VC-1 decoding. I do have some more experimentation to do.

[mickmmd]

I agree totally. I compared both extensively and found similar differences. I actually like the fact that all $1000 are devoted to creating a beautiful picture and sound. I have a turntable for my music.

[tyler10]

The Descent won't play on my Sony. It loads but then it sort of locks up and there is no picture or sound. Other discs play fine. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Smallville206]

I'm a little nervous reading through this thread, I just picked up this player last week but haven't set it up yet. It seems for the people that are not experiencing problems it's great, but many seem to have issues with discs not being read etc. It seems like a fairly healthy mix of both good and bad which concerns me.

[jgaepi]

I realize this question launches back into the 1080i v. 1080p debate but I live overseas with the military and cannot seem to get my hands on a 1080p TV. The overseas exchanges will not get 1080p televisions anytime soon. What they are selling is a well-priced Sony Bravia KLV-V40A10 multisystem (110V/220V) television. The tv was released in 2005 and the CNET Europe/Asia sites give it a 9.4 Spectacular. Has some different technology that makes it brighter and clearer. Seen it in action and it is beautiful. But it is $2500. Already have the Sony BDP-S1 on order. This would match up a 1080i TV with a 1080p player. Realize the clarity may not be noticeable on a 40 inch TV but need someone who is actively using a 1080i TV with a Blu-ray player to give me the dirty truth regardless of which way it goes.

[roninvii]

Ditto for me Tyler10. Very frustrating that the DESCENT does not play on my $1,000 BDP-S1. This looks like a firmware (or lack thereof) issue which would allow BD-J discs to play. Oddly enough it plays on my $600.00 PS3... oh well I guess the BDP-S1 is going back.

[Kierre]

[QUOTE=jgaepi;36764]I realize this question launches back into the 1080i v. 1080p debate but I live overseas with the military and cannot seem to get my hands on a 1080p TV. The overseas exchanges will not get 1080p televisions anytime soon. What they are selling is a well-priced Sony Bravia KLV-V40A10 multisystem (110V/220V) television. The tv was released in 2005 and the CNET Europe/Asia sites give it a 9.4 Spectacular. Has some different technology that makes it brighter and clearer. Seen it in action and it is beautiful. But it is $2500. QUOTE]

Hello and welcome to the forum! I am also overseas, in Germany, and as of about a month ago, they started selling 1080p TVs. In particular KDL-46XBR2 and KDL-40XBR2. They both look fabulous and the display they had set up was utilizing the Panasonic with MI3 to display 1080p. Ordinarily, once the TVs are offered anywhere within AAFES system, you should be able to at least order the TV. I suppose it depends on where you are though.

As for me, my setup has the BDP-S1 paired with the VPL-HS20 Projector, on a Da-Lite glass beaded, high gloss 106" screen. The capability of this setup is 1080i, and I have no plans on upgrading anytime soon. The picture is great, and my purpose in life recently was to ascertain if there was a substantial enough difference between Sony up scaling to 1080i and native 1080i via Blu-Ray... and the answer is... Hell Yes!! I have Plasma, LCDs and a projector in my home and when I do upgrade, I'll just be changing out my projector for another one somewhere around the time that my current and spare bulb die out.

Also, the TV you mentioned is here for 1999. You should see a price adjustment soon!

And btw, I am very pleased with my BDP-S1!