The Sony BDP-S300/301 Review Thread - Page 41 - Blu-ray Forum

tbui57 · 05-08-2008, 05:21 PM

avsforum reported new S300 firmware 3.90. Any one tried the new firmware yet ? Thanks a bunch.

JasonR · 05-08-2008, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbui57

avsforum reported new S300 firmware 3.90. Any one tried the new firmware yet ? Thanks a bunch.

Sony's site still says 3.80.

JasonR · 05-08-2008, 05:28 PM

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post13820238

Found it. Downloading it now.

JasonR · 05-08-2008, 05:46 PM

Download keeps bombing out.

tbui57 · 05-08-2008, 05:51 PM

I wonder if this report from avsforum is valid or not. My apology if it is not valid.

JasonR · 05-08-2008, 05:59 PM

My firewall, sorry. Watchguard.....

Downloading again.

carbuff · 05-08-2008, 06:10 PM

Is the 3.90 a firmware file? The website you reference titles it an application file.

JasonR · 05-08-2008, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carbuff

Is the 3.90 a firmware file? The website you reference titles it an application file.

You run the .exe and it should extract an iso to be burnt as an image to a disc.

JasonR · 05-08-2008, 09:11 PM

I will let you know of any changes.

nycomet · 05-08-2008, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonR

I will let you know of any changes.

Jason, someone posted on this thread that they expected Dolby True HD decoding in this firmware upgrade. What, no DTS Master Audio???

I doubt that will happen, but if it does and you are the first to detect this to be true, I will buy you a Happy Meal at Mickey D's next week -- after I get paid.

JasonR · 05-08-2008, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nycomet

Jason, someone posted on this thread that they expected Dolby True HD decoding in this firmware upgrade. What, no DTS Master Audio???

I doubt that will happen, but if it does and you are the first to detect this to be true, I will buy you a Happy Meal at Mickey D's next week -- after I get paid.

Not true at all. The only way for TrueHD is the Paidgeek method for now. No DTS-HDMA ever....

montezuma · 05-09-2008, 12:00 AM

Why would anyone even think they would add TrueHD or any other improvements when that is pretty much the entire reason to buy a newer model?

I suspected there would be a firmware upgrade coming soon when AVPR started freezing up on me a few weeks ago. Walk Hard did the same thing last weekend, but at least I was able to play the entire movie. Aren't both movies the first discs to contain BDLive? Obviously the newer discs are causing problems ... again.

Acquiesce · 05-09-2008, 12:33 AM

I am new to blu-ray and I just got this player (discount). What can you guys tell me about it? It is worth it or should I sell it? I want it mostly for movies but I also want to it be somewhat future-friendly...

montezuma · 05-09-2008, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acquiesce

I am new to blu-ray and I just got this player (discount). What can you guys tell me about it? It is worth it or should I sell it? I want it mostly for movies but I also want to it be somewhat future-friendly...

Well, if you want future friendly then you should probably sell it. However, this is a good player and the movies look great. It has some nice features like video resolution shifting on the fly and 5.1 analog audio outputs that some cheaper players don't have. If you have an old surround sound receiver like I do that only decodes DTS and Dolby Digital but also has 5.1 analog inputs, the analog audio outputs on the S300 are great for uncompressed audio tracks on the discs. Without those outputs you wouldn't ever get to hear that uncompressed sound track. Unfortunately it won't do Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA which seem to be the future trend in great surround sound audio. Looks like most new discs are choosing one of those two audio formats.

JasonR · 05-09-2008, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montezuma

Why would anyone even think they would add TrueHD or any other improvements when that is pretty much the entire reason to buy a newer model?

I suspected there would be a firmware upgrade coming soon when AVPR started freezing up on me a few weeks ago. Walk Hard did the same thing last weekend, but at least I was able to play the entire movie. Aren't both movies the first discs to contain BDLive? Obviously the newer discs are causing problems ... again.

Well, actually if you search in this thread you will see that this player is capable of TrueHD. This is not an advertised feature, but has been confirmed by the Sony insider here. DTS-HDMA is not available and never will be because of the extra power needed to process it.

Octavio · 05-09-2008, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonR

Well, actually if you search in this thread you will see that this player is capable of TrueHD. This is not an advertised feature, but has been confirmed by the Sony insider here. DTS-HDMA is not available and never will be because of the extra power needed to process it.

I can confirm that my A/V receiver is an old one but has 5.1 inputs so I can enjoy PCM 5.1 uncompressed and Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Both formats sounds great but IMO PCM is a bit better.

Anyway no hopes for DTS HDMA so far, or maybe never.

montezuma · 05-09-2008, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonR

Well, actually if you search in this thread you will see that this player is capable of TrueHD. This is not an advertised feature, but has been confirmed by the Sony insider here. DTS-HDMA is not available and never will be because of the extra power needed to process it.

Oh, my total bad on this one. I agree that it does play TrueHD. I watched I Am Legend recently and it did seem to play that track through the multi-channel outputs but it is up to the listener to decide if you are really hearing it. I believe I did hear it. Whether or not this is an accident on Sony's part and the ability will be removed in future firmware updates is a question that remains. It isn't a supported feature in the spec sheet for the S300.

Who is the insider that confirmed this or which thread was that on? THANKS!

P.S. It is starting to look like DTS-HDMA is winning out with the studios, isn't it? Didn't Paramount or Universal just announce it would be their audio format of choice for their catalog? Long live DTS, I wish DTS had beat Dolby Digital in the old DVD world, but it didn't seem to work out that way. I love the discrete. So much more fun for surround sound.

JasonR · 05-09-2008, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montezuma

Oh, my total bad on this one. I agree that it does play TrueHD. I watched I Am Legend recently and it did seem to play that track through the multi-channel outputs but it is up to the listener to decide if you are really hearing it. I believe I did hear it. Whether or not this is an accident on Sony's part and the ability will be removed in future firmware updates is a question that remains. It isn't a supported feature in the spec sheet for the S300.

Who is the insider that confirmed this or which thread was that on? THANKS!

Paidgeek's insider thread.

Quote:

I finally took some time this evening to reconfirm what is going on with the 300.

A couple of points to know first:

I checked this with firmware 3.7, but it applies to several earlier releases going back to when the feature first appeared on the S1.

It is not an advertised feature of the S300, It could be removed at any time in a future firmware release.

DO NOT call Sony customer service and hassle them about why this does not show up in the information display or in the manual. As mentioned before, this is an unadvertised feature. Consider it a gift.

The only setting that matters is the HDMI audio setting. It MUST be set to LPCM, or Dolby THD will only come out of the HDMI connection as DD. The downmix setting does not matter.

Dolby THD will only be decoded and passed as LPCM on the HDMI connector. If you want to confirm if you are really getting THD versus DD, try the following: Connect your receiver analog inputs to the analog outputs of the S300, set the HDMI audio output to LPCM and connect the HDMI output to your receiver as well, playback a THD audio stream and use your receiver to toggle between the analog input or the HDMI input, better yet, have someone else do the switching for you. If these do not sound the same to you, you have learned something. Now try the same thing with a normal DD stream and see if you hear the same difference, if not....

For those of you who will continue to question this until the sun burns out, someone makes a test disc to confirm it, or someone dedicated does an invert/add of the analog out vs. the HDMI THD out, keep in mind that I don't do this for a hobby and I don't have anything to gain by misleading you.
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Acquiesce · 05-09-2008, 01:13 AM

How long until this player becomes obsolete?

Octavio · 05-09-2008, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montezuma

Oh, my total bad on this one. I agree that it does play TrueHD. It isn't a supported feature in the spec sheet for the S300.

Who is the insider that confirmed this or which thread was that on? THANKS!

Actually if you look at the BDP-S300 manual it says that supports True HD thru LPCM multichannel

05-08-2008, 05:21 PM	#801
tbui57 Member Member since:Feb 2008	new S300 f/w ? avsforum reported new S300 firmware 3.90. Any one tried the new firmware yet ? Thanks a bunch.

05-08-2008, 09:11 PM	#809
JasonR Super Moderator Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Trading Score:12	Update Okay I will let you know of any changes.

05-09-2008, 12:00 AM	#812
montezuma Junior Member Member since:Mar 2008	Why would anyone even think they would add TrueHD or any other improvements when that is pretty much the entire reason to buy a newer model? I suspected there would be a firmware upgrade coming soon when AVPR started freezing up on me a few weeks ago. Walk Hard did the same thing last weekend, but at least I was able to play the entire movie. Aren't both movies the first discs to contain BDLive? Obviously the newer discs are causing problems ... again. Last edited by montezuma; 05-09-2008 at 12:20 AM.

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05-08-2008, 05:28 PM	#803
JasonR Super Moderator Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Trading Score:12	http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post13820238 Found it. Downloading it now.

05-08-2008, 05:46 PM	#804
JasonR Super Moderator Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Trading Score:12	Download keeps bombing out.

05-08-2008, 05:51 PM	#805
tbui57 Member Member since:Feb 2008	I wonder if this report from avsforum is valid or not. My apology if it is not valid.

05-08-2008, 05:59 PM	#806
JasonR Super Moderator Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Trading Score:12	My firewall, sorry. Watchguard..... Downloading again.

05-08-2008, 06:10 PM	#807
carbuff Member Member since:Mar 2008	Is the 3.90 a firmware file? The website you reference titles it an application file.

05-09-2008, 12:33 AM	#813
Acquiesce Active Member Member since:Apr 2008 Location:Ontario, Canada Blu-ray collection:1 Trading Score:2	I am new to blu-ray and I just got this player (discount). What can you guys tell me about it? It is worth it or should I sell it? I want it mostly for movies but I also want to it be somewhat future-friendly...

05-09-2008, 01:13 AM	#819
Acquiesce Active Member Member since:Apr 2008 Location:Ontario, Canada Blu-ray collection:1 Trading Score:2	How long until this player becomes obsolete?

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