Panny or Sony...Need to make a decision

[rickeames]

I have the original Sony S300 and I hate it. I hate that it crashes on new titles. I hate that it's slow. I hate that Wall-E crashed on it. So, it's going.

Now I need to replace it. I have an Integra 7.8 receiver. So I'm thinking either something in the DMP-BD35K/S350 range or the higher end of either of those.

Problem for me is that I feel burned by Sony with the S300. Or maybe I just hate the blu-ray format with all of the updates all of the time, but in any case, I'm HD addicted so I have to put up with it.

One important thing I would like is a player that will upconvert as well as my Toshiba XA2 that now just serves as an SD player because it's so good at it. I'd love to replace two pieces of equipment with one. Do any of the newer players upconvert as well as the XA2?

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by rickeames

I have the original Sony S300 and I hate it. I hate that it crashes on new titles. I hate that it's slow. I hate that Wall-E crashed on it. So, it's going.

Now I need to replace it. I have an Integra 7.8 receiver. So I'm thinking either something in the DMP-BD35K/S350 range or the higher end of either of those.

Problem for me is that I feel burned by Sony with the S300. Or maybe I just hate the blu-ray format with all of the updates all of the time, but in any case, I'm HD addicted so I have to put up with it.

One important thing I would like is a player that will upconvert as well as my Toshiba XA2 that now just serves as an SD player because it's so good at it. I'd love to replace two pieces of equipment with one. Do any of the newer players upconvert as well as the XA2?

I had the opportunity to test both player at home, and to me, it's a toss up. The new Sony is light years ahead of the S300. It boots very quickly, around 20 seconds in normal startup mode, and around 6 seconds quick start mode (uses more power and the fan may start on this mode). Load times are vastly improved as well, and the PQ is breathtaking. SD DVD upconversion is very good as well, I think you will be pleased.

The Panny is very similar to the Sony operational wise and I did not see any differences in PQ. To my eyes, they both look the same. SD DVD Upconversion is also very good.

The only differences on these players are:

S350 doesn't have the option for slow motion or frame by frame. The panny has this option.

The S350 doesn't internally decode HD Master Audio, only does bitstream. The Panny Internally decodes HD Master.

These are the only differences I noticed. If someone else out there knows about any other differences, please let us know.

Hope this helps.

[mr peepers]

im in the same boat here with deciding between the s550 and bd55.

i know the sony 550 comes with an included usb flash drive for the bd live stuff, the panny does not. so you'll have to buy or use an sd card you already have for the panny to be bd live.

also, the usb port on the back of the s350/550 can ONLY be used for bd-live functionality. you will not be able to play any mp3's or view jpgs or anything off a usb drive you stick in there. the sd card slot on the panny's are used for bd live of course, but can also be used to view pictures or play mp3s on that same sd card.

one other thing that i like about the sony, is that it uses sony's XMB GUI which i think is pretty bad ass. but the big thing about it, is that you can access the menu system during a movie. you dont have to stop the movie just to access the blu-ray player's menu to change a couple things or whatever like the panny or just about any other player out there.

with all that said, i still dont know which one to pick. i think both look great, aesthetically, but havent decided which has the edge.

f this. ha

[callas01]

I just got the bd35 and I have watched 2 upconverted movies, one Brotherhood of the Wolves and Miami Vice, Wolves was a little soft, but that dvd has to be 10 years old?? Vice looked nice, a very good picture.

Other then that I really like the pq that comes out of bd's and it was easy to set up. I would def. recommend this BDP.

[mmunro2003]

Originally Posted by rickeames

I have the original Sony S300 and I hate it. I hate that it crashes on new titles. I hate that it's slow. I hate that Wall-E crashed on it. So, it's going.

Do you have the latest firmware update? It should help.

[drago3451]

Originally Posted by mmunro2003

Do you have the latest firmware update? It should help.

+1 if you do not keep up with the firmware you will have problems with any player. Does not matter if you spend $3000 on a player the firmware will dictate compatability. I have always installed the latest firmware on the S300 and have never had a disc that did not play. I upgraded to a PS3 and then a Sony BDP-S550 for the HD audio but the S300 has always been solid.

On a side note I love my new S550 but have heard great things about the new Pannys. Either way you should be happy. Just keep up with the Firmware.

[Ataneruo]

Originally Posted by mr peepers

one other thing that i like about the sony, is that it uses sony's XMB GUI which i think is pretty bad ass. but the big thing about it, is that you can access the menu system during a movie. you dont have to stop the movie just to access the blu-ray player's menu to change a couple things or whatever like the panny or just about any other player out there.

with all that said, i still dont know which one to pick. i think both look great, aesthetically, but havent decided which has the edge.

The two players are very similar in all the big things but in all the little things the Panny seems to have the slight edge. I think what you mentioned above is the ONLY advantage that the Sony has (I believe Bravia TV owners have the additional benefit of an integrated remote for the TV and BD).

I was facing this decision two weeks ago during the Amazon $100 off deal with 4 BD and I ultimately went with the Panny. No complaints

I think the Panny looks more slick than the Sony based on my in-store viewings, although I wish they all looked like the Samsungs --those have the most beautiful casings in my opinion.

[mr.hidef]

One more nice thing about the SONY 350/550 is when you are connected to the internet (providing you leave a ethernet cable lugged in all the time) is.............it will notify you instantly when you turn it on that there is a firmware update ready to download...

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by Ataneruo

The two players are very similar in all the big things but in all the little things the Panny seems to have the slight edge. I think what you mentioned above is the ONLY advantage that the Sony has (I believe Bravia TV owners have the additional benefit of an integrated remote for the TV and BD).

I was facing this decision two weeks ago during the Amazon $100 off deal with 4 BD and I ultimately went with the Panny. No complaints

I think the Panny looks more slick than the Sony based on my in-store viewings, although I wish they all looked like the Samsungs --those have the most beautiful casings in my opinion.

I have the S301 aka S300 since September, 2007. I never had a problem with it freezing up during movies. I've always kept it updated with the latest firmware. Guess I was one of the lucky ones.

I too am replacing this slow beast with one of the newer breeds and have had my sights set on the DMP BD 35. In a couple of days I will be getting one on Black Friday hopefully for under $200 with all the rumors flying around about prices going to be really slashed.

The DMP BD 35 is my first choice any. Price might be the deal breaker if the S350 is say $100 less.

And your last statement about chassis styles and looks is right on. The S350 looks cheap compared to the DMP BD35. The S350 doesn't look as cool and solidly built as the S301 either. Being a member of the avsforum too and reading comments from users in both, I've decided that the DMP BD 35 is the better of the two both performance wise and looks.

[Midnightsailor]

Panasonic BD35K.

[fatediesel]

I'm kind of in the same boat as I am trying to decide what new player to buy. I bought the Sony S350 a couple months ago and am happy with that and will be moving it to my bedroom. I'm probably going to buy either the Panny 35/55 or the Sony S550, with an outside possibility the Samsung 2500. I want something that will decode all the audio in the player so my receiver flashes the pretty TrueHD/DTS HD-MA lights so I know for certain I'm getting HD audio.
I don't think any of these players will upconvert as well as the X2. It's got the Reon chip which is supposed to be superior for upconverting. You're not going to find a player in the <$1000 range with that. I'd just stick with that for upconverting.

[jstute55]

Originally Posted by rickeames

Problem for me is that I feel burned by Sony with the S300. Or maybe I just hate the blu-ray format with all of the updates all of the time, but in any case, I'm HD addicted so I have to put up with it.

I am in the same position but feel burned by Panasonic and not Sony. I had a panasonic DVD recorder for recording movies from my DirecTV HD DVR. I also used the recorder to transfer my high school basketball games (i am a coach) to DVD to put multiple games on one disc. After only 2 years the thing died on me and will not work. Of course the warranty is long gone and i could probably buy a new one for less money instead of repairing this one.

I guess my question is: Is the BD 35 built better than the panny dvd recorders?

I am assuming so, but you know what happens when you assume. Has anyone had trouble with the durability factor in their panasonic blu-ray players? Thanks.

[gekke henkie]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

I want something that will decode all the audio in the player so my receiver flashes the pretty TrueHD/DTS HD-MA lights

I probably misunderstand you here, but if the (THD/DTS-MA) audio is decoded in the player itself, it will output it as LPCM (5.1/7.1), so your receiver lights will NOT flash THD/DTS-MA, but LPCM instead, or not?

[ADRiiAN`]

Originally Posted by gekke henkie

I probably misunderstand you here, but if the (THD/DTS-MA) audio is decoded in the player itself, it will output it as LPCM (5.1/7.1), so your receiver lights will NOT flash THD/DTS-MA, but LPCM instead, or not?

I thought only the PS3 decoded and outputted as LPCM?

[gekke henkie]

Originally Posted by ADRiiAN`

I thought only the PS3 decoded and outputted as LPCM?

No, every BD-player decodes (most) audio-codecs. Not all of them decode the Lossless codecs from Dolby (TrueHD) or DTS (DTS-HD MA), but about all other codecs can be decoded in the player itself and they can therefore output analog, LPCM (over HDMI) or use other outputs (like S/PDIF).

Of course, with most BD-players you can also choose not to decode in the player and bitstream the undecoded audio-signal to a receiver that does the decoding job, but for profile 1.1 or 2.0 (BD-Live) discs, this is not preferred.

Makes any sense what I tried to explain?

[Midnightsailor]

I think you must bitstream the audio to see your receiver light up with the lossless codecs.

[ADRiiAN`]

Originally Posted by gekke henkie

No, every BD-player decodes (most) audio-codecs. Not all of them decode the Lossless codecs from Dolby (TrueHD) or DTS (DTS-HD MA), but about all other codecs can be decoded in the player itself and they can therefore output analog, LPCM (over HDMI) or use other outputs (like S/PDIF).

Of course, with most BD-players you can also choose not to decode in the player and bitstream the undecoded audio-signal to a receiver that does the decoding job, but for profile 1.1 or 2.0 (BD-Live) discs, this is not preferred.

Makes any sense what I tried to explain?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=40872

The PS3 has HDMI 1.3a capabilities which means that although it can transmit the benefits of deep color, it is unable to bitstream HD audio codecs. This is a hardware issue an could only be fixed with future models, not firmware. However, the PS3 can decode DTS HD-MA and Dolby TrueHD internally and send out to the receiver as PCM. In order to fully realize HD audio (PCM, DTSHD-MA, & Dolby TrueHD) you should set your PS3 to Linear PCM through HDMI.

Isn't that saying that the PS3 decodes DTS HD-MA and TrueHD and sends it out as PCM?

I know that most blu-players bitstream HD audio through HDMI, not send it as PCM.

Edit - I think we are mixed up here. Most blu ray players bitstream HD audio over HDMI, whereas the PS3, does HD audio over HDMI but PCM's it. Now for multichannel, HD audio is sent as PCM, not bitstream. Correct?

[callas01]

the PS3 can only send out a PCM signal for the HD codecs, meaning the audio conversion has to happen in the PS3 then sent out as multi-channel PCM to a receiver capable of decoding LPCM. With the Sony 350 it will internally decode DD THD and send it out via LPCM or send it out via bitstream through HDMI and it will bitstream out DTS HD MA only for decoding by a receiver capable of decoding the HD audio codecs.

Panasonics BD35K/55K and Sony's 550 can both internally decode all HD audio codecs and send it out via LPCM or bitstream out each of the HD audios so the decoding happens in the receiver.

The Panny 55K and Sony 550 have 7.1 analog outs so that if you have a high end reciever or an older receiver that doesn't have an HDMI input, you can have the reciever decode the audio and send it via analogs.

As far as which one is better for conversion, it doesn't really matter cause you will get lossless audio either way. I would think that if you hvae a receiver with good Digital to Analog Converters (DAC's) it would be best to let the receiver do the decoding.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by mr.hidef

One more nice thing about the SONY 350/550 is when you are connected to the internet (providing you leave a ethernet cable lugged in all the time) is.............it will notify you instantly when you turn it on that there is a firmware update ready to download...

Panasonics BD35/55 can do this as well, you can set it up for auto update notification or you can turn it off and do it manually.

[gekke henkie]

Originally Posted by ADRiiAN`

Correct?

Uh, partially. Let's make it simple here (considering the codecs you refer to):

If a Blu-ray disc holds coded Lossless audio (like TrueHD or DTS-HD MA), a player can basically do 2 things: either it just outputs this coded signal (called bitstreaming) without doing anything with it, or it decodes the signal internally and outputs it as the standard LPCM.

Now concerning the 2 players you mention:
- The PS3 can only do 1 thing (decode the signal and output as LPCM)
- Most newer stand-alone BD-players can do 2 things (or decode like the PS3 does, or if you wish, output the undecoded signal as a bitstream)

(I intentionally left out some info to keep it simple)