The Sony BDP-S1 Review Thread

[kroorda]

Originally Posted by vick vega

Well I hooked my bdp-s1 up to my brothers hdila 1080p tv and watched mission impossible 3. I must say I was throughly dissapointed. Sending it back to amazon for a refund not worth 1,000 dollars IMO.

You should be ashamed of yourself for rating the quality of the player on a single movie. As you can see by all the other postings, the Sony unit is the best around and others' are enjoying incredible pictures and sound. I would be ashamed of wasting Amazon's money. You took advantage of their good-heartedness. Shame.

[TurboNutter]

OK...I just hooked up my BDP-S1 and its beautiful. Only watched 1 movie so far, Ultraviolet, which looked great. I know this was a digital to digital transfer, but its great. I also picked up Aeon Flux, but most of the reviews I've read (after I bought it) say that the HD DVD version was cleaner and sharper, so I'll exchange that when I pick up my HD-XA2 when that comes out. I'll keep updating on my Sony as soon as I watch more flicks.......

[ProvenFlipper]

Originally Posted by TurboNutter

OK...I just hooked up my BDP-S1 and its beautiful. Only watched 1 movie so far, Ultraviolet, which looked great. I know this was a digital to digital transfer, but its great. I also picked up Aeon Flux, but most of the reviews I've read (after I bought it) say that the HD DVD version was cleaner and sharper, so I'll exchange that when I pick up my HD-XA2 when that comes out. I'll keep updating on my Sony as soon as I watch more flicks.......

The BD version of Aeon Flux is perfectly fine, in fact one of the best looking BDs that I own. I highly doubt you would notice a difference in the two. Now crack that baby open and enjoy!

[BTBuck1]

Originally Posted by TurboNutter

. I also picked up Aeon Flux, but most of the reviews I've read (after I bought it) say that the HD DVD version was cleaner and sharper, so I'll exchange that when I pick up my HD-XA2 when that comes out. I'll keep updating on my Sony as soon as I watch more flicks.......

From someone who owns both formats, unless you ABSOLUTELY LOVE UNIVERSAL, or are just crazy enthusiast (like me) save your $1000 on the XA2 and just put it toward something else. It's just not worth having two formats if you can live without 1 studio.

And don't buy into the mpeg2 inferior FUD from the reviewer, the AEONFLUX BD looks fab, as does the HDDVD. (I own the HDDVD, a friend the BD).

Brian

[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

[GP1]

About a week ago, I got my BDP-S1 that I ordered last May. Works great, except that I can not get it to work through any switch for connecting multiple HDMI sources to my Sharp projector (DVI input). I purchased the first three switches locally (including Geffen). None of them worked. Either no signal or extensive video noise. I thought it might be the electronics in these remote control switches. So I ordered a fully mechanical HDMI/DVI switch. Unbelievable!! More video noise than any of the other switches. I am baffled. Mostly, I am frustrated. Any suggestions before I give up on the whole Blu-Ray thing and return the BDP-S1?

[theknub]

well, it wouldn't be the bdp-s1 causing this. yes, it is the only one having problems according to you, but introducing anothing link in the chain isn't the best solution.

how is it directly connected?

[bferr1]

Originally Posted by GP1

About a week ago, I got my BDP-S1 that I ordered last May. Works great, except that I can not get it to work through any switch for connecting multiple HDMI sources to my Sharp projector (DVI input). I purchased the first three switches locally (including Geffen). None of them worked. Either no signal or extensive video noise. I thought it might be the electronics in these remote control switches. So I ordered a fully mechanical HDMI/DVI switch. Unbelievable!! More video noise than any of the other switches. I am baffled. Mostly, I am frustrated. Any suggestions before I give up on the whole Blu-Ray thing and return the BDP-S1?

I had no video signal when playing a movie over HDMI through my Pioneer Elite receiver. I saw the player setup menus, the disc's startup FBI warnings, but no main menus and no movie. Just a black screen. When I directly connected to the TV, bypassing the receiver entirely, I suddenly had video. Returned the player the next day.

[Kierre]

Originally Posted by GP1

connecting multiple HDMI sources to my Sharp projector (DVI input). I purchased the first three switches locally (including Geffen). None of them worked. Either no signal or extensive video noise. I thought it might be the electronics in these remote control switches. So I ordered a fully mechanical HDMI/DVI switch. Unbelievable!! More video noise than any of the other switches. I am baffled. Mostly, I am frustrated. Any suggestions before I give up on the whole Blu-Ray thing and return the BDP-S1?

It most likely boils down to HDCP being the culprit in your case. Via HDMI, the interface is asking for authentication from the end device; in this case your projector. If the end device is not HDCP compliant, the authentication cannot be resolved, thus your problem. I personnally am not aware of a way around this yet, however I recommend to vist the Gefen Forum as it is quite informative, and if there is a way around it, they certainly know it or are working on it. So basically the Sony is asking for something, the switch box is simply passing the question along, but the end device can't answer the question because it doesn't speek the language. One question though... have you connected the Sony directly to the projector to see if that worked? It should not work, but if it does we are troubleshooting the wrong part. I just tried a HDMI to DVI direct connection to my projector and it worked, but I'm pretty sure the projector is HDCP compliant as is also has a HDMI input.

[KC-Technerd]

I figured out what was causing the black level changes on my BDP-S1. This may be of interest to those who are using a connection similar to mine. I am using a HDMI-DVI cable to connect to the DVI input on my Sony KDF-70XBR950 HDTV.

According to the manual (pg 45) the correct setup for connecting to a device with a DVI input is in the video setup menu, item "YCbCr/RGBPC" should be set to RGB (16-256). I've found that sometimes despite still showing "RGB (16-256)" under item "YCbCr/RGBPC", that sometimes the unit will be set for "RGB (0-256)" which is the setup for an RGB device rather than a DVI input. This drops the reference black level several steps below video black (DVI level), and causes darker details of the picture to disappear below black level on a properly cailibrated display.

I recommend that those using this unit with a DVI input be observant for changes in picture quality, particularly a loss of near black picture detail. If this happens, stop the disc, go to the video setup menu, and reselect RGB (16-256) although it already appears to be selected. If you notice a slight increase in brightness or any disruption in the video as you make the selection the unit was not set to RGB (16-256). If there is no change at all when making the selection, RGB (16-256) was already set.

At present I have to occasionally "remind" the unit that I've previously selected RGB (16-256). The occurances of this resetting I've noticed seem to correlate with turning on the unit.

[Greggles]

Hi, (First Post)
I've recently imported a BDP-S1 into the UK and have been blown away by the player. The one problem I have is, due to my location, I am unable to register it for firmware upgrades on the Sony US website. Unfortunately I do not know anyone in the States whose address I could use for this purpose. I therefore will be unable to play the advanced BD-J discs. Anyone have any ideas?

[tomellmes]

im looking to import this to the UK, anyone know if that is possible and if i will need a converter for the mains??

[Greggles]

Yes on both counts. I bought mine from this guy on Ebay (he's actually selling it cheaper now). You will have to allow for import duty/ vat on top of this, but you may be lucky like me and HMC&E may miss it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SONY-BDP-S1-Bl...QQcmdZViewItem

Alternatively, if you want a bit more security (limited warranty) try MovieTyme (a lot more expensive though):

http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/pro...ucts_id=32089&

Re: step down voltage converter, I have always used Tacima toroidal ones. These are very high quality, although they look a bit odd and (despite the name) are made in Ilford. They are actually unofficially recommended by Russ Andrews. Available through TLC Electrical:

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SC5328.html

[tomellmes]

thanks very much, can i mix uk and us equipment ( for example amp from uk etc and BD player from US???

[Greggles]

Yes, as you can see form my sigature, i do! just make sure you don't plug the BDP directly into the 240v mains!

[aas5]

I am debating whether I should be this or PS3? Did anyone buy PS3 and later regretted not going with a stand alone player?

[minchtree]

Could the speed in which the BDP-S1 loads and plays a BR be improved via a firmware update. It takes a long time to get the movie going.

[rbuzz]

I posted here about 2 weeks ago about a problem I was having with a brand new bdp-s1. While trying it out for the first time it played the blu-ray disc and the prerecorded dvd fine, but when I put in a dvd r- backup of a movie that I own it locked up. It will power on and off but will do nothing else. It will not eject the disc nor will the blue screen on the tv come on. It is totally dead except for showing "power on" on the front panel. I contacted sony support and they tried a few things such as having me unplug it or holding in the power button for 10 seconds, but nothing worked. In the end he suggested that I exchange it for another unit. I did exchange it for a brand new player and tried it out this past Saturday. It did exactly the same thing. I contacted sony again and after about 2 1/2 hrs on the phone they could come up with nothing. It went to a level 2 technician. He said that as he understood it I am not the only one with this problem and the engineers are working on a fix. Has anyone else had this problem? It seems that at the very least if it is a disc that the unit is having a problem playing, it should show a disc error or say that it cannot play this disc, or anything but totally locking up the player. Sony support and the owners manual both state that a DVD r- should play in this unit. I was just curious if anyone else has had this problem. Right now I am waiting to see if the electronics company will exchange this unit for another one. I guess that if they do I'll just have to restrict its use to either blu-ray or regular dvds.

[timb2112]

I made a music disc (mp3) on DVD-R that played fine.