The Sony BDP-S360 Review Thread

[tommyboy81]

I have a PS3 so I'm not sure about Stand Alone players so I have to ask. Can you switch between 1080i and 1080p? I don't think my parents will be able to watch anything on there's. When I hooked my PS3 up to there tv I couldn't get anything up when the PS3 was set to 1080p. They have a Hitachi 1080i.

[HRC]

I just picked up the S360 tonight and so far I am quite pleased with the unit. I do have to get the update as mine is version XX.XX.02. Best Buy price matched walmart for $197.98. I may upgrade to the S460 later. I have 45 days to decide(Best Buy Platinum member) and maybe the S460 or S560 will go on sale before then.

[Ashamed Pegasus]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

Can you switch between 1080i and 1080p? I don't think my parents will be able to watch anything on there's. When I hooked my PS3 up to there tv I couldn't get anything up when the PS3 was set to 1080p. They have a Hitachi 1080i.

If your PS3 was set to 1080p they will probably get a blank picture on theirs because it can't pull in the 1080p signal... You need to set the resolution lower before hooking it up to theirs... Either that or manually reset the console by holding down power to turn it on and release the button after the 2nd beep...

Originally Posted by HRC

Best Buy price matched walmart for $197.98.

You do know these are $152 shipped from Amazon right?... And they'll probably be $100-$120 on Black Friday...

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Received my disc today, unfortunately it wasn't the Version 007, but the 006 disc I already had. Had to order another one.

You don't have a USB thumb drive?... It only takes 5 minutes to download and install it yourself... If you don't have one you should because without it your player is not BD-Live capable...

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by Ashamed Pegasus

You don't have a USB thumb drive?... It only takes 5 minutes to download and install it yourself... If you don't have one you should because without it your player is not BD-Live capable...

My player's not BD-LIVE capable anyway given my lack of high speed internet connection.

It's not a big deal. I'm patient. Don't mind waiting a few days.

[Ashamed Pegasus]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

My player's not BD-LIVE capable anyway given my lack of high speed internet connection.

It's not a big deal. I'm patient. Don't mind waiting a few days.

Yes that was dumb of me to even ask... If you were running BD-Live it would have automatically downloaded the update for you...

[Tarheel72]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Thanks for the update. Just ordered a disc.

Where did you find the link to order the disc?

[HRC]

Originally Posted by Ashamed Pegasus

You do know these are $152 shipped from Amazon right?... And they'll probably be $100-$120 on Black Friday...

I have 45 days from now to return it or be refunded the difference of the new sale price. So, I will still get that black friday price. Thanks for reminding me about that sale though.

I did consider Amazon but this was an issue of wanting it... right now. Plus, I have a stack of movies waiting to be watched because my old S300 malfunctioned and I wanted to get back to enjoying movies right away.

[Delorean2006]

i just got the 007 firmware on my s360 and i noticed a big difference in how much quicker you can go thru the main menu and how much quicker that movies load. This update i think is very important because it gives the s360 a nice speed boosy

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by Delorean2006

i just got the 007 firmware on my s360 and i noticed a big difference in how much quicker you can go thru the main menu and how much quicker that movies load. This update i think is very important because it gives the s360 a nice speed boosy

I noticed this as well yesterday on Wall-E. Going to the pop-up menu was much quicker. It used to have a lag for a couple of seconds going to a full screen menu, but now it's right away.

[stick99]

Originally Posted by Jmobie

The S550 does decode DTS MA internally. The S350 does not.

Man with all the players Sony makes and all the posts there is still confusion, The BDP-S350, 360, 550, 560 do not internally decode DTS MA!!!
They can bitstream all audios, but only can decode True HD. I have had everyone of these and tested with current firmware, they only internally decode DTS CORE!

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by stick99

Man with all the players Sony makes and all the posts there is still confusion, The BDP-S350, 360, 550, 560 do not internally decode DTS MA!!!
They can bitstream all audios, but only can decode True HD. I have had everyone of these and tested with current firmware, they only internally decode DTS CORE!

Speaking of confusion - you are confused.

The BDP-S360 DOES INTERNALLY DECODE DTS HD MA and TRUE HD. I have one and can verify this 100%. It will internally decode DTS HD MA if the receiver it is connected to cannot decode DTS HD MA. If the receiver is capable of decoding then the DTS HD MA is bitstreamed and then the receiver is made to do the decoding. This is handled in the handshaking between the receiver and the BDP-S360. I don't think there is a way to force it to decode internally though if the receiver can also decode it.

I have no idea on the other Sony models you list since I don't have those but my understanding is that at least the BDP-S350 does not internally decode DTS HD MA.

[Doodley]

Hello There

Can you tell me how to set up bd live to netgear router as I am having problems.

Thanks


Gareth

[stick99]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

Speaking of confusion - you are confused.

The BDP-S360 DOES INTERNALLY DECODE DTS HD MA and TRUE HD. I have one and can verify this 100%. It will internally decode DTS HD MA if the receiver it is connected to cannot decode DTS HD MA. If the receiver is capable of decoding then the DTS HD MA is bitstreamed and then the receiver is made to do the decoding. This is handled in the handshaking between the receiver and the BDP-S360. I don't think there is a way to force it to decode internally though if the receiver can also decode it.

I have no idea on the other Sony models you list since I don't have those but my understanding is that at least the BDP-S350 does not internally decode DTS HD MA.

Holy smoke, Dude, I'm not trying to piss anyone owners off here, I'm just frustrated with Sony. I also have a Sony 360, and it doesn't decode DTS MA. Allow me to try to convince you. Please, try this experiment. I assume from your comments that you are not bitstreaming. On the Sony Player please go to "BD Audio Setting" on the cross-bar menu, it should be set to "Mix", to use Sony's decoders. For this test you'll need a disc with Dolby True HD Blu-ray, and a Blu-ray with a DTS-Master Audio. For this experiment, I'm using "the Dark Knight" for True HD and "Force 10 from Navarone" for DTS-MA. First I popped in "Dark Knight" s went to the disc menu and selected True HD audio. Once the movie started, using my Sony BDP-S360 remote hit display. With the display on it says it's Audio #2 English Dolby TrueHD 3/2/.1. So clearly the player knows what audio codec it is and is sending through the HDMI as PCM. Now the next disc with DTS-MA, again I'm using "Force 10 From Navarone". OK do the same thing once your DTS-MA Feature title is running select "display" on the Sony player and it will display DTS 3/2.1, that is what the player is decoding, DTS 5.1, not DTS MA. Now if your player was set to "Direct" under the 'BD Audio Settings" and you do the same experiment, it would Display 'DTS MASTER AUDIO" but that means you are not decoding through the player but bitstreaming.
If you are using the player to decode your audio DTS-MA it will be sent as DTS Core. I urge you to try the above, you'll be as disapointed as me that a player purchased by Sony in late 2009, still doesn't internally decode what's becoming the most popular audio Codec by Studios

[Apophis906]

Originally Posted by stick99

Holy smoke, Dude, I'm not trying to piss anyone owners off here, I'm just frustrated with Sony. I also have a Sony 360, and it doesn't decode DTS MA. Allow me to try to convince you. Please, try this experiment. I assume from your comments that you are not bitstreaming. On the Sony Player please go to "BD Audio Setting" on the cross-bar menu, it should be set to "Mix", to use Sony's decoders. For this test you'll need a disc with Dolby True HD Blu-ray, and a Blu-ray with a DTS-Master Audio. For this experiment, I'm using "the Dark Knight" for True HD and "Force 10 from Navarone" for DTS-MA. First I popped in "Dark Knight" s went to the disc menu and selected True HD audio. Once the movie started, using my Sony BDP-S360 remote hit display. With the display on it says it's Audio #2 English Dolby TrueHD 3/2/.1. So clearly the player knows what audio codec it is and is sending through the HDMI as PCM. Now the next disc with DTS-MA, again I'm using "Force 10 From Navarone". OK do the same thing once your DTS-MA Feature title is running select "display" on the Sony player and it will display DTS 3/2.1, that is what the player is decoding, DTS 5.1, not DTS MA. Now if your player was set to "Direct" under the 'BD Audio Settings" and you do the same experiment, it would Display 'DTS MASTER AUDIO" but that means you are not decoding through the player but bitstreaming.
If you are using the player to decode your audio DTS-MA it will be sent as DTS Core. I urge you to try the above, you'll be as disapointed as me that a player purchased by Sony in late 2009, still doesn't internally decode what's becoming the most popular audio Codec by Studios

It does decode DTS-MA internally. It just does not decode it when set to mix, only decodes the core. I know it seems silly but thats what it does. If the player is set to direct and the receiver can not decode DTS-MA or is set to only accept PCM, then it will decode the full DTS-MA track and not just the core. I have tested this myself by setting my receiver to decode priority of PCM and left the player on direct and it sent out 7.1PCM for a 7.1 DTS-MA track.

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by Apophis906

It does decode DTS-MA internally. It just does not decode it when set to mix, only decodes the core. I know it seems silly but thats what it does. If the player is set to direct and the receiver can not decode DTS-MA or is set to only accept PCM, then it will decode the full DTS-MA track and not just the core. I have tested this myself by setting my receiver to decode priority of PCM and left the player on direct and it sent out 7.1PCM for a 7.1 DTS-MA track.

Exactly. Using Direct and not Mix will get you internal DTS HD MA decoding on the BDP-S360 when using an HDMI receiver which cannot decode DTS HD MA itself.

Originally Posted by stick99

I urge you to try the above, you'll be as disapointed as me that a player purchased by Sony in late 2009, still doesn't internally decode what's becoming the most popular audio Codec by Studios

Why would I be disappointed when the player I bought a couple of months ago actually decodes DTS HD MA just as it is advertised to do?

[stick99]

Originally Posted by Apophis906

It does decode DTS-MA internally. It just does not decode it when set to mix, only decodes the core. I know it seems silly but thats what it does. If the player is set to direct and the receiver can not decode DTS-MA or is set to only accept PCM, then it will decode the full DTS-MA track and not just the core. I have tested this myself by setting my receiver to decode priority of PCM and left the player on direct and it sent out 7.1PCM for a 7.1 DTS-MA track.

I see what you are saying but the Sony Instruction manual doesn't jive with that. Further, why does it sucesfully decode True HD in the "mix" format? I think if you contact any SONY rep, you'll find they, at this time haven't equipped these players with DTS MA, or DTS High Res decoding. "Direct" settings for BD Audio means the Blu-Ray player is bitstreaming.

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by stick99

"Direct" settings for BD Audio means the Blu-Ray player is bitstreaming.

No it does not. It means that the HDMI handshake between the player and receiver decides whether it's decoded internally in the player or bitstreamed. This was posted a long time ago in this very thread...

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=138

[stick99]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

No it does not. It means that the HDMI handshake between the player and receiver decides whether it's decoded internally in the player or bitstreamed. This was posted a long time ago in this very thread...

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=138

Thanks for that link, I'll look into it. I have never heard that before, and the chaps at the Sony Dealer, told me it didn't have said decoding.
You've given me a glimpse of hope, here.

Thanks

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by stick99

Hey if you don't care to look into it, fine, but I would have thought someone with your Blu-Ray collection would care to investigate, I hope you don't believe you can pull 1080p from Component connections

Cheers

I did do a lot on investigation a couple of months ago and already found the answers. There is nothing else to investigate. With the BDP-S360 specifically - on "Mix" mode only the DTS Core is decoded. On "Direct" mode the full DTS HD MA is decoded either internally (if your receiver is not capable of decoding) or bitstreamed (if your receiver is capable of decoding). This was posted a long time ago in this thread.

[stick99]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

I did do a lot on investigation a couple of months ago and already found the answers. There is nothing else to investigate. With the BDP-S360 specifically - on "Mix" mode only the DTS Core is decoded. On "Direct" mode the full DTS HD MA is decoded either internally (if your receiver is not capable of decoding) or bitstreamed (if your receiver is capable of decoding). This was posted a long time ago in this thread.

Before I go and lie across the railroad tracks, I must admit I was wrong, you are correct sir. Now I was going to write a whole whack of stuff to explain my rationale but I've dug a deep enough hole.

Thanks for schooling me on this player, and for the comfort that I can access my DTS MA in Theatre B (Or what my wife calls the living room).

Cheers,