Panasonic DMP-BD55 VS. Sony S550 - Blu-ray Forum

lpfan71 · 11-30-2008, 06:08 AM

I've read both threads and same issue has come up in both threads so I figured I'd make one thread for the topic(I didn't see one so direct me to it if there is one) instead of continuously going back and forth between the two threads.

For those of you who have the the Panasonic 55 or the Sony 550, why did you choose the one you have or if you were deciding between one of these why did you choose one over the over? They seem to be near mirror images of on another so is it a coin toss or is one truly better than the other? Anything you think matters from dvd upscaling to price is appreciated.

BIslander · 11-30-2008, 06:45 AM

All other things being equal, and these players are pretty much equal, I chose the BD55 because of two features.

1. On the BD55, the digital and analog outputs operate simultaneously and independently. I use analog for lossless BDs and digital bitstream for DVDs. The Sony can't do that.

2. I can leave Secondary Audio on all of the time and lossless is still decoded in the player. With the Sony, turning on secondary audio means a lossy track is used even if there's no secondary audio present. So, you have to switch player settings to listen to commentaries.

lpfan71 · 12-01-2008, 05:38 AM

Anyone else?

ixlegitballinxl · 12-01-2008, 05:48 AM

im a fan of Sony products... the 550 looks like a bd player... panasonic looks like a normal dvd player LOL

I couldn't tell you spec wise why I choose the 550 over any other player on the market.. other then the bravia sync i use with my tv.

HDTV1080P · 12-01-2008, 05:51 AM

If you use BD-LIVE a lot and download a lot of HD video clips the Panasonic has a front loading SD card slot where as the Sony USB slot is harder to access since it is in the back. Also the Panasonic has better DVD upconversion. The Sony will upconvert 480I DVD's to 1080P/60 where the Panasonic has a option to do a reverse 3:2 pulldown for 480I DVD's and upconvert to 1080P/24. Load times are little faster on the Panasonic compared to the Sony.

fdm · 12-01-2008, 06:00 AM

Seems like it's the Sony machines that have firmware issues that take a while to get resolved. Panasonic is pretty quick, or typically ahead of the game; blu-rays just about always play on day one with the Panasonics; on the rare occasion when not the case, Panasonic gets the firmware updated within a few days. Rarely hear about a disk that does not play on a Panasonic; check this website for all the various Sony issues that have cropped up.

phansson · 12-01-2008, 02:22 PM

I had Sony Rewards points and picked up the 550 for "free".

So far the player has been very dependable. It loads fast, I have not had any issues with discs and seems to have an easy user interface.

I haven't used the DMP55 (I am sure it is a great piece of equipment) but I don't think you would be disappointed with the 550.

ejk01 · 12-01-2008, 09:10 PM

I am going with one of these two models as well...so far all of the technical/operational differences mentioned here favor the Panasonic.

Are there any areas where the Sony is superior??

BigMel · 12-02-2008, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejk01

I am going with one of these two models as well...so far all of the technical/operational differences mentioned here favor the Panasonic.

Are there any areas where the Sony is superior??

I just purchased the panny 55k and I currently own the Sony 500 and decided against the BDP 550 due to all the confusion about the DTHD-MA. I do think the panny has better picture quality than the 500 and 550. Nevertheless, I am awaiting a 200-300 price drop on the 5000ES. The panny is easy to set up, great PQ and AQ and seems to be more intuitive but in the end I would not have squabbled with the 550. It is also a great machine.....I just get sick and tired of Sony cutting corners and being ambiguous.

lpfan71 · 12-02-2008, 03:32 AM

It seems to me that the Panasonic is more agreeable and user friendly than the Sony despite how similar they may be.

Theo Cupier · 12-02-2008, 10:13 AM

Does this all mean that the actual performance of the two players is basically identical?

I'd read a few comments which suggested that the Panny:
- gave better picture quality when upscaling SD DVDs
- have better audio quality when internally processing audio and sending via analog.

How valid are those criticisms? If they are borne out by your collective experiences, would anyone take a punt as to whether they actually worth the extra price of the Panny?

Personally, I have an elderly SD DVD player (doesn't upscale, does do prog scan) so I'm figuring that EITHER player will have better SD DVD picture quality than I currently experience and the HD audio quality will be much better than regular DD5.1 or DTS in either case.

I'm not seeing an awful lot that is telling me I must buy the Panasonic from a performance point of view. Have I overlooked anything?

Cortiz · 12-02-2008, 12:13 PM

I went back and forth between The Panny 35 and the Sony S350, and I ended up keeping the Panny because of this:

Better sound on the Panny through my LCD Speakers. I don't have any audio equipments and the Sony just sounded too low and the dialog sometimes was hard to make out. With the Panny I don't have that issue.

The Panny has the slow motion option while the Sony Does not.

Other than that, I think both players puts out great PQ and boot up and loading time it's just about the same. They are both very quick.

I also think that the Sony looks nicer than the Panny.

lpfan71 · 12-03-2008, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cortiz

I went back and forth between The Panny 35 and the Sony S350, and I ended up keeping the Panny because of this:

So theoretically it should be the same for the 55 and 550. But still sounds like people are leaning towards the Panasonic.

LittleBear · 12-03-2008, 01:39 AM

It appears that the Panasonic costs about $20 more than the Sony, on average.

I am also torn between the two brands. I think it comes down to which one is the most reliable. It appears the Panasonic has a slight advantage in reliability.

lpfan71 · 12-03-2008, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleBear

It appears that the Panasonic costs about $20 more than the Sony, on average.

I am also torn between the two brands. I think it comes down to which one is the most reliable. It appears the Panasonic has a slight advantage in reliability.

Yea. It sounds like the Panasonic is worth the extra money.

Jmobie · 12-03-2008, 05:36 AM

We own a lot of Sony equipment, and after reading the manual for the S550, our next 1080p set might be a Sony, too. That Bravia Sync looks pretty neat. I think we only owned 2 Panasonic products before, a VCR and a TV. As far as I can remember, we have had 3 Sony receivers, 4 Sony DVD players, and a TV. So that's one reason we went with the S550. Another was that the S550 was $305 when we bought it, and the BD55K was $325ish. I knew they were about equal in features. Lastly, but likely the least, is that the S550 just looked cooler with its blue front. It looks even better than the picture.

LittleBear · 12-03-2008, 06:52 AM

Is there any factual data showing the Panasonic to be more reliable than the Sony, in regards to the Blu-Ray players?

ejk01 · 12-03-2008, 07:01 AM

It seems that all the + features line up with panny...at least from this thread.

+ Panny

1. On the BD55, the digital and analog outputs operate simultaneously and independently. I use analog for lossless BDs and digital bitstream for DVDs. The Sony can't do that.

2. I can leave Secondary Audio on all of the time and lossless is still decoded in the player. With the Sony, turning on secondary audio means a lossy track is used even if there's no secondary audio present. So, you have to switch player settings to listen to commentaries.

3. If you use BD-LIVE a lot and download a lot of HD video clips the Panasonic has a front loading SD card slot where as the Sony USB slot is harder to access since it is in the back.

4. Also the Panasonic has better DVD upconversion. The Sony will upconvert 480I DVD's to 1080P/60 where the Panasonic has a option to do a reverse 3:2 pulldown for 480I DVD's and upconvert to 1080P/24.

5. Load times are little faster on the Panasonic compared to the Sony.

6. Seems like it's the Sony machines that have firmware issues that take a while to get resolved. Panasonic is pretty quick, or typically ahead of the game; blu-rays just about always play on day one with the Panasonics; on the rare occasion when not the case, Panasonic gets the firmware updated within a few days. Rarely hear about a disk that does not play on a Panasonic; check this website for all the various Sony issues that have cropped up.

7. The Panny has the slow motion option while the Sony Does not.

+ Sony

$20 cheaper, looks better

LittleBear · 12-03-2008, 07:33 AM

It looks like I will go with the Panasonic BD55K. It's $20 more than the Sony but it looks it does have a slight advantage over the Sony.

LittleBear · 12-03-2008, 08:41 AM

Well, I went with the Panasonic DMP-BD55K

Plus I got the $100 off and 4 Blu-Ray DVD's (Blood Diamond, GoodFellas, The Perfect Storm, Batman Begins) with the deal.

All the above plus delivery for $304.00!

11-30-2008, 06:08 AM	#1
lpfan71 Member Member since:Nov 2008	Panasonic DMP-BD55 VS. Sony S550 I've read both threads and same issue has come up in both threads so I figured I'd make one thread for the topic(I didn't see one so direct me to it if there is one) instead of continuously going back and forth between the two threads. For those of you who have the the Panasonic 55 or the Sony 550, why did you choose the one you have or if you were deciding between one of these why did you choose one over the over? They seem to be near mirror images of on another so is it a coin toss or is one truly better than the other? Anything you think matters from dvd upscaling to price is appreciated.

12-03-2008, 05:36 AM	#16
Jmobie Active Member Member since:Nov 2008 Location:Chicago, IL 4K collection:27 Blu-ray collection:91	Price, Brand, and Color (maybe) We own a lot of Sony equipment, and after reading the manual for the S550, our next 1080p set might be a Sony, too. That Bravia Sync looks pretty neat. I think we only owned 2 Panasonic products before, a VCR and a TV. As far as I can remember, we have had 3 Sony receivers, 4 Sony DVD players, and a TV. So that's one reason we went with the S550. Another was that the S550 was $305 when we bought it, and the BD55K was $325ish. I knew they were about equal in features. Lastly, but likely the least, is that the S550 just looked cooler with its blue front. It looks even better than the picture.

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11-30-2008, 06:45 AM	#2
BIslander Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Sep 2008 Location:Bainbridge Island, WA	All other things being equal, and these players are pretty much equal, I chose the BD55 because of two features. 1. On the BD55, the digital and analog outputs operate simultaneously and independently. I use analog for lossless BDs and digital bitstream for DVDs. The Sony can't do that. 2. I can leave Secondary Audio on all of the time and lossless is still decoded in the player. With the Sony, turning on secondary audio means a lossy track is used even if there's no secondary audio present. So, you have to switch player settings to listen to commentaries.

12-01-2008, 05:38 AM	#3
lpfan71 Member Member since:Nov 2008	Anyone else?

12-01-2008, 05:48 AM	#4
ixlegitballinxl Banned Member since:Feb 2008 Location:Magic Kingdom, FL Home Theater Gallery:7 Blu-ray collection:631 Trading Score:22	im a fan of Sony products... the 550 looks like a bd player... panasonic looks like a normal dvd player LOL I couldn't tell you spec wise why I choose the 550 over any other player on the market.. other then the bravia sync i use with my tv.

12-01-2008, 05:51 AM	#5
HDTV1080P Blu-ray Champion Top contributor Member since:Jan 2007 Blu-ray reviews: 205	If you use BD-LIVE a lot and download a lot of HD video clips the Panasonic has a front loading SD card slot where as the Sony USB slot is harder to access since it is in the back. Also the Panasonic has better DVD upconversion. The Sony will upconvert 480I DVD's to 1080P/60 where the Panasonic has a option to do a reverse 3:2 pulldown for 480I DVD's and upconvert to 1080P/24. Load times are little faster on the Panasonic compared to the Sony.

12-01-2008, 06:00 AM	#6
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Prime collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	Seems like it's the Sony machines that have firmware issues that take a while to get resolved. Panasonic is pretty quick, or typically ahead of the game; blu-rays just about always play on day one with the Panasonics; on the rare occasion when not the case, Panasonic gets the firmware updated within a few days. Rarely hear about a disk that does not play on a Panasonic; check this website for all the various Sony issues that have cropped up.

12-01-2008, 02:22 PM	#7
phansson Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Arkansas Home Theater Gallery:22 Blu-ray collection:643 Blu-ray reviews:1	I had Sony Rewards points and picked up the 550 for "free". So far the player has been very dependable. It loads fast, I have not had any issues with discs and seems to have an easy user interface. I haven't used the DMP55 (I am sure it is a great piece of equipment) but I don't think you would be disappointed with the 550.

12-01-2008, 09:10 PM	#8
ejk01 Junior Member Member since:Nov 2008	I am going with one of these two models as well...so far all of the technical/operational differences mentioned here favor the Panasonic. Are there any areas where the Sony is superior??

12-02-2008, 03:32 AM	#10
lpfan71 Member Member since:Nov 2008	It seems to me that the Panasonic is more agreeable and user friendly than the Sony despite how similar they may be.

12-02-2008, 10:13 AM	#11
Theo Cupier Member Member since:Jan 2008	Does this all mean that the actual performance of the two players is basically identical? I'd read a few comments which suggested that the Panny: - gave better picture quality when upscaling SD DVDs - have better audio quality when internally processing audio and sending via analog. How valid are those criticisms? If they are borne out by your collective experiences, would anyone take a punt as to whether they actually worth the extra price of the Panny? Personally, I have an elderly SD DVD player (doesn't upscale, does do prog scan) so I'm figuring that EITHER player will have better SD DVD picture quality than I currently experience and the HD audio quality will be much better than regular DD5.1 or DTS in either case. I'm not seeing an awful lot that is telling me I must buy the Panasonic from a performance point of view. Have I overlooked anything?

12-02-2008, 12:13 PM	#12
Cortiz Blu-ray Guru Member since:Jun 2007 Location:Out there, past them trees Trading Score:489	I went back and forth between The Panny 35 and the Sony S350, and I ended up keeping the Panny because of this: Better sound on the Panny through my LCD Speakers. I don't have any audio equipments and the Sony just sounded too low and the dialog sometimes was hard to make out. With the Panny I don't have that issue. The Panny has the slow motion option while the Sony Does not. Other than that, I think both players puts out great PQ and boot up and loading time it's just about the same. They are both very quick. I also think that the Sony looks nicer than the Panny.

12-03-2008, 01:39 AM	#14
LittleBear Member Member since:Dec 2008	It appears that the Panasonic costs about $20 more than the Sony, on average. I am also torn between the two brands. I think it comes down to which one is the most reliable. It appears the Panasonic has a slight advantage in reliability.

12-03-2008, 06:52 AM	#17
LittleBear Member Member since:Dec 2008	Is there any factual data showing the Panasonic to be more reliable than the Sony, in regards to the Blu-Ray players?

12-03-2008, 07:01 AM	#18
ejk01 Junior Member Member since:Nov 2008	It seems that all the + features line up with panny...at least from this thread. + Panny 1. On the BD55, the digital and analog outputs operate simultaneously and independently. I use analog for lossless BDs and digital bitstream for DVDs. The Sony can't do that. 2. I can leave Secondary Audio on all of the time and lossless is still decoded in the player. With the Sony, turning on secondary audio means a lossy track is used even if there's no secondary audio present. So, you have to switch player settings to listen to commentaries. 3. If you use BD-LIVE a lot and download a lot of HD video clips the Panasonic has a front loading SD card slot where as the Sony USB slot is harder to access since it is in the back. 4. Also the Panasonic has better DVD upconversion. The Sony will upconvert 480I DVD's to 1080P/60 where the Panasonic has a option to do a reverse 3:2 pulldown for 480I DVD's and upconvert to 1080P/24. 5. Load times are little faster on the Panasonic compared to the Sony. 6. Seems like it's the Sony machines that have firmware issues that take a while to get resolved. Panasonic is pretty quick, or typically ahead of the game; blu-rays just about always play on day one with the Panasonics; on the rare occasion when not the case, Panasonic gets the firmware updated within a few days. Rarely hear about a disk that does not play on a Panasonic; check this website for all the various Sony issues that have cropped up. 7. The Panny has the slow motion option while the Sony Does not. + Sony $20 cheaper, looks better

12-03-2008, 07:33 AM	#19
LittleBear Member Member since:Dec 2008	It looks like I will go with the Panasonic BD55K. It's $20 more than the Sony but it looks it does have a slight advantage over the Sony.

12-03-2008, 08:41 AM	#20
LittleBear Member Member since:Dec 2008	Well, I went with the Panasonic DMP-BD55K Plus I got the $100 off and 4 Blu-Ray DVD's (Blood Diamond, GoodFellas, The Perfect Storm, Batman Begins) with the deal. All the above plus delivery for $304.00!

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