A Blu-ray player [Sony BDP-S550] that will do EVERYTHING! (Verified) (1 Viewer)

[Paul Hillenbrand]

Per Sony Pictures Entertainment insider "paidgeek":
Post 741 @ Blu-ray.com



"The S550 will run about $500 this fall." Engadget


Paul

 

[Stephen_J_H]

And it's good-looking, too.

 

[PaulDA]

This now makes it the player to beat--it does everything (except play HD DVDs :frowning: ) that I originally wanted in a hi-def player. But that's okay, I have two HD DVD players already.

I was going to go with a PS3 and live without the advanced audio, but I can wait.

 

[Carlo_M]

Sweet! Does anyone know if it will provide DVD-Audio playback? (yes I bought both DVD-A and SACD)

If so, then it really will do everything for me. If not, I may have to wait until Oppo joins the BD player fray. Hopefully my PS3 can hold me over until then.

 

[Camper]

That's the one I'm waiting for too!!

Does anybody know if Amazon when they first get an item just released like this, provide any discount at all or will likely just go with $499???


I'd probably buy it first day if it was $449.

 

[Robert George]

That is the price the player will sell for. The $499 price being published in various places is from an incomplete press release. My dealer sheet lists high SPPG as $499 and low SPPG as $449. This is Sony's equivalent of MSRP and MAP.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Does it beat the BD-50? If not then I'm going to buy that one since it comes out first.

 

[PaulDA]

I won't be getting it until next Christmas (it's been promised to me--a Blu-ray player--for then by my wife) so that point should be moot for me. I will, of course, investigate each one and go with the one that seems better at the time but at this moment, I KNOW the Sony does all I want it to do while I'm not entirely certain of the Panny.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm not sure this information is correct or not, but from I've heard Panny makes the players for Sony at least as far as the insides of them.

 

[Robert George]

The exact nature of the design and internal components of the new Sony players is still uncertain. I have seen a preproduction working model of the S350 and a mock-up of the S550. Both look virtually identical to my Panasonic BD30, however, it is being reported that the latest version of the Sigma Designs video decoder chip is being used in the new Sony Players. Panasonic uses an exclusive design in their players (Unipher).

I am only speculating, but I would not doubt that Panasonic does not want to share their video decoder with others (the Unipher is the best I have seen on BD performance) but is going to OEM their chassis and drive. If that turns out to be the case, then it would remain to be seen how much improvement Sigma has made with their chip set. Based on current iterations of Sigma and Unipher, I'd take the Panasonic design. Sigma's current offerings are distinguishing themselves in players with load times of over two full minutes on some discs.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I haven't seen a disclosure about the manufacturer of this upcoming Sony Blu-ray player. I do know my Sony BDP-S1 was manufactured by Pioneer as were at least a couple of the other Sony standalone players, possibly all of the players released to date.

Chris

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just like me, something tells me that Obi will be buying the BD-50 too.






Crawdaddy

 

[RickER]

Damn, looks almost as good as a woman. Well...not really. But the geek in me had to say something. It will make my wife roll her eyes at me.

I am in. I own the Sony 300, and want to add another machine to our living room.

 

[Robert George]

Possibly, maybe. More likely that I will wait for the Sony to see how it performs. I am not expecting performance gains in the BD50. Internal audio decoding and Ethernet port for BD Live. In my case, internal audio decoding is a non issue. I prefer to send native bitstream to my Denon 4308. BD Live isn't an issue either as I also have a PS3 in my rig.

 

[PaulDA]

For me, internal decoding of ALL the audio formats AND analogue output of ALL of them once decoded is vital--I love my current receiver and do not want to upgrade it (it lacks HDMI). So between the Sony and the Panny, it will come down to the audio features as while there may be a PQ difference, it will likely be too small for me to notice on my display (and audio, generally, is more important to me than video).

 

[MielR]

I'm curious as to how good the upconversion of SD-DVDs will be. If it's good, I may go for one of these new models. I have a few Sony points to use up before the end of the year.

 

[PaulDA]

That is an important consideration for some, I'll grant, but it won't be a factor for me. My HD A2 is very good and my projector is also very good for upscaling SD DVD. So as long as the Sony (or Panny) is good with Blu-ray, that's all I care about.

 

[Peter Jessee]

Quote:
"Sweet! Does anyone know if it will provide DVD-Audio playback? (yes I bought both DVD-A and SACD)

If so, then it really will do everything for me. If not, I may have to wait until Oppo joins the BD player fray. Hopefully my PS3 can hold me over until then."

I wasn't expecting Sony to support DVD-A (or HD-DVD for that matter) but what about SACD? Does ANY BD player except the PS3 support SACD?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Apparently Philips makes a BD player that is also SACD compatible, but I don't see anyone jumping at the opportunity to create a "kitchen sink" player (BD HD DVD, DVD, DVD-A, SACD, VCD, SVCD, DivX.... is there anything I've missed that is already on the market?).

 

[Carlo_M]

The only one who has done it (DVD-A + SACD support seems to be the most contentious, as in very few players do both formats) is Oppo. It's rumored that since BD has emerged as the victor, that Oppo will consider releasing a BD player. Given their track record, I'd expect it to be the closest thing to a "kitchen sink" player on the market.