The Sony BDP-S360 Review Thread

[stick99]

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

Yeah that was a fun experiment, however it should be set to "DIRECT" not "MIX" for regular Blu-ray play. My hat's off to the peeps who patiently responded to my rants. Uhm I'm not always that arrogant, I only was because I really thought I was right...

[Jimbo976]

Yeah I was certainly confused for a while right before and right after I bought it. The documentation is awful and the config settings in the device menus are not very clear. I was seriously considering returning it until I figured it out. I am still very happy with this player and have not had any issues with any of the Blu-rays in my collection. Even all the new releases I have tried have played no problem.

[AcePunK]

Wally world has the Sony BDP-S360 for a low price of 148.00

[eiker_ir]

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.

do you know if this applies for the s560 too?

my receiver can receive linear pcm to output lossless audio, but i have the player set to 'mix' currently.

[Brad1963]

FRY'S has the 360 for $138.00 plus 2 free Sony Blu ray discs. Choices of movies are Casino Royale, Underworld Rise of the Lycans, The International, Seven Pounds, Da Vinci Code.

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by eiker_ir

do you know if this applies for the s560 too?

my receiver can receive linear pcm to output lossless audio, but i have the player set to 'mix' currently.

It should be the same. Try setting it to Direct.

[callas01]

I just got off an internet chat with a Sony Tech and he told me emphatically that the S360 does not upscale/upconvert standard DVDs to 1080p. That only if you play a dvd mastered in HD then you will get near HD quality.

I was looking at this player as a possible new player, and I don't watch too many DVDs anymore, but I have 50-60 dvds that I like and will watch from time to time. Cnet said that upconverting wasn't as good as other BDPs like the Panny bd60 and the Samsung 1600.

Another interesting thing was on newegg, they say that the upconversion is only to 720p/1080i.Then likewise the Panasonic BD60 and Samsung 1600 both had 1080p listed as the upconversion specs.


Do any of you know if the player upconverts to 1080p or not? And what do you think of its performance.

Thanks

[Kryptonic]

Yes, the player upconverts DVD's to 1080p. It's a solid upconverter. My Pioneer does a much better job, for instance, but you should be pleased with the Sony's DVD playback. But to be honest, you won't really notice any difference between the DVD upconverted to 1080p by the S360 or the DVD playing at 480i/p over HDMI or component. It depends on if your television or player as the better scaler.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Yes, the player upconverts DVD's to 1080p. It's a solid upconverter. My Pioneer does a much better job, for instance, but you should be pleased with the Sony's DVD playback. But to be honest, you won't really notice any difference between the DVD upconverted to 1080p by the S360 or the DVD playing at 480i/p over HDMI or component. It depends on if your television or player as the better scaler.

interesting, why do you say that.

Also, why would the Sony Tech say that it doesn't upconvert? He has to be retarded then. I wish I would have copied the convo for you to read. I mean verbatim, Sorry, this player does not have that feature, it is one you are looking for, its not available on this player. ????????????????

On my Panasonic BD35, I can see a difference. For instance, if I take my Sony upconverter and set it to output at 480p or 720p and my panny bdp at 1080p and play star wars empire strikes back, i notice the added detail of the picture, is it super significant? No. But is it noticable? Yes. And they are both connected via HDMI.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by callas01

interesting, why do you say that.

Also, why would the Sony Tech say that it doesn't upconvert? He has to be retarded then. I wish I would have copied the convo for you to read. I mean verbatim, Sorry, this player does not have that feature, it is one you are looking for, its not available on this player. ????????????????

On my Panasonic BD35, I can see a difference. For instance, if I take my Sony upconverter and set it to output at 480p or 720p and my panny bdp at 1080p and play star wars empire strikes back, i notice the added detail of the picture, is it super significant? No. But is it noticable? Yes. And they are both connected via HDMI.

I don't know what that Sony tech is smoking, but he's off his rocker.

A lot of it depends on the scaler in your television and player. It sounds like your Panasonic has a better scaler than your television, so go with the Panasonic to handle the upscaling to the resolution of the television. For instance, my Panasonic has an exceptional scaler on 480i material, so there's little difference between DVD's at 480i/p and upscaled to 1080p and most of the time, 480i looks better showing the DVD at it's natural resolution and letting the television scale it to 768p.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by callas01

why would the Sony Tech say that it doesn't upconvert?

customer service are not the most knowledgeable people around.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

customer service are not the most knowledgeable people around.

check.

[DKHK]

Just got the BDP-S360 two weeks ago and watched Star Trek - PQ is awesome. Great player. The only bad thing is no eject button in the remote.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by DKHK

Just got the BDP-S360 two weeks ago and watched Star Trek - PQ is awesome. Great player. The only bad thing is no eject button in the remote.

You still have to get up to insert/remove the disc.

[Jimbo976]

I don't think i've ever used the remote that came with it since the day I bought it. It works great with my Harmony 880.

[Harry88]

Has anyone here had any problems with this player and crank 2? It seems to freeze while loading on mine.

[Harry88]

I have both the newest firmware and a 2gb flash drive in the back

[Harry88]

Just tried it again and its working. No idea what happened.

[bighouse]

Does the 360 have any compatibility issues after the latest firmware or any kind of history of malfunctioning. Also how is the picture quality compared to some of the reference blu ray players. That is my main concern is picture quality. All the extra features are just that (extra) to me.

I have a samsung BD-P1500 and it won't even play blu rays anymore and I am tired of always having issues with it. So I am looking for something new that won't break the bank but offers excellent picture quality.

[icyteddy]

Originally Posted by bighouse

Does the 360 have any compatibility issues after the latest firmware or any kind of history of malfunctioning. Also how is the picture quality compared to some of the reference blu ray players. That is my main concern is picture quality. All the extra features are just that (extra) to me.

I have a samsung BD-P1500 and it won't even play blu rays anymore and I am tired of always having issues with it. So I am looking for something new that won't break the bank but offers excellent picture quality.

I have the S360 for 6 months now and have no issues with compatibility or any kind of malfunction whatsoever. Never had any freezing with any of the newer firmware. The S360 is one of the most well rounded player out now for the price. Picture and Audio quality is superb. It is a much more reliable player then the Samsung P1500.