Official Sony BDP-S1 Blu-Ray player thread (1 Viewer)

[Steven Simon]

Guys,
I am currently using a PS3 and the new Sony Unit for BD players.... I was offered a deal on the Sony I couldn't pass up... Price was right...

My first thoughts on Sony... Load times are decent... On boot, about 30 seconds until you have access to drive. Movie load time is about 10-15 seconds... Much better then our dreaded Toshiba's for HD-DVD. This is one dept. that the PS3 has shown to do better. The PS3 loads faster for sure...

As far as Blu Ray Playback, I would say the Sony Stand alone has an edge... Picture looks sharper to me. I am watching both sources 1080i. Colors look to be around the same otherwise. I need to make a decision with this because I am loving my Nintendo Wii for gaming, and can't see having much time for the PS3, so I may stick with the stand alone, and sell the PS3..... As far as playing CD's, I have a 6 CD changer for that, doesn't bother me one bit that the Sony BD doesn't play CD's....

Audio wise via HDMI I can't hear a difference... Sonically both units sound the same....

Overall I very happy with the Sony unit. This will be a keeper...

It really is a shame what happened with the Blu Ray Launch. The Samsung turned out to be a good player after firmware upgardes, as we also found out there were bad encodes from the start. It was just to risky back in June at launch to keep the Samsung.....

If you can secure this unit for around 750 to 800 it's a buy....

 

[TripC]

The only problem is I have with it is that it takes bloody ages to load. Must have taken a page out of Toshiba's A1 playbook

 

[ValerieBrook]

That doesn't work but we got it taken care of. There is an unlock code that's needed.

 

[RobertSiegel]

I thought that Disney's Dinosaur looks fantastic, not poor. Now to my views on the player, which I happily and proudly picked up a few days ago.

I own a playstation 3 as well, but I really bought that more for my nephew's game use (quick a nice present huh?). But this player beats the picture quality of the Playstation with blu-ray (my opinion of course). When I watched discs like Ice Age 2 and The Wild, Monster House, Blazing Saddles, Phantom of the Opera and The Searchers...I was in awe that video has finally taken the final step in quality, both picture and sound.

The workings of the player are excellent, though it is quite large, but aren't all players for a new format? I remember the heavy first VHS players and the first dvd players, they will be scaled down. Easy menus, settings, ect. I knew Sony would be worth the wait, although I hear some great things about the Pioneer as well.

My ONLY complaint is...where are the classics? Considering the number of films available so far, there is an extremely low percentage of classic films. I know there are HD transfers of many, as they are shown on HDnet movies and INHD on cable all the time. One would think the studios would also target the classic lovers, but I can only find Blazing Saddles, The Searchers and only one or two more (or are there 2 more)? Now if Fox would put out the great Rodgers and Hammerstein movies , and Sony Lawrence of Arabia or Close Encounters or Bridge on the Rivew Kwai, and Disney something like Mary Poppins or one of their animated titles, and maybe some of the great UA titles from MGM....I would be a very happy camper.

I can't wait to have enough saved to get a Sony Pearl projector. The time is near, but I can say this...the Sony BDP-S1 is simply the best signal my Sony VPL11HT projector has ever seen, and my eyes as well. Worth the wait! I'd rather have a good player than one released too early due to a format war, so I respect Sony for not releasing this until they thought it was ready.

Someone said they felt the player was slow, I think it's very fast compared to the Toshiba's I have encountered. In answer to the forum question, I am VERY happy.

 

[Tim Vickroy]

I picked this player up last week at Best Buy to go with my new 50PH9UK plasma. I have it set to 1080i/60 via HDMI, since that is what my display accepts. I am using the optical audio output, since I have an older receiver (Denon AVR-5700)

Overall, it's a pretty good player. The image and sound quality are both pleasing. So far I've watched a handful of Blu-Rays and both my wife and I were fairly impressed.

On the downside, though, the player has frozen up on me a few times. There is also significant lag when trying to search or scan through a disc. The real disappointment, though, is the lack of features (no HDMI 1.3, advanced audio support, etc).

All in all, I would say that this player is a stretch at $1K. The quality is mostly there, but with the lack of features it isn't very future resistant. It will be going back to BB once my HD-A2 comes in next week.

Hopefully within a year, a fully featured (1080p/24, HDMI 1.3, Advanced Audio, 7.1 analog out) Blu-Ray player will be out at a more reasonable price point (~$800). I'm hoping that the successor to the Panasonic DMP-BD10 will fit the bill.

For now, I'll stick with HD DVD. The player is cheaper and there are enough titles to hold my interest.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Which is the reason why I'll wait for the second generation players to come out this spring. I won't be upgrading my Samsung until that time. I see no reason to buy another first generation player from the same format.




Crawdaddy

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Makes sense. Crawdaddy, I assume you've updated the firmware of your Sammy to reflect the fix for the DNR filter? If I was in your shoes I'd wait too. Next year will bring a player with twice the features at half the cost!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yes, it's upgraded and I'm very pleased with the picture quality so I'll just be patient and wait to see what does the Spring season brings about, besides May flowers.




Crawdaddy

 

[Tim Vickroy]

That's what I plan to do as well. I may only keep the HD-A2 for 6 months to 1 year. I'll decide whether or not to sell it at that time.

Since I won't be buying any HD DVD discs (except for the five I'll be getting for free), I really won't be losing too much.

 

[Chris Dugger]

Has anyone installed the new firmware for this unit?

Just was wondering if it solved the Descent disc issue...

Dugger

 

[CARVERSM]

I have a

BDP-S1
HDMI
DVDO-VP30
HDMI
R70XBR2

I updated the firmware to 1.5 this morning.
It appeared to go approximately correctly except
the drawer never went in again. Oh well. DL OK
came up after I hesitated and said I might as well
power it up.

Through the DVDO-VP30 I get the Blu-ray logo on the tv
and then the screen goes blue. Nothing on tv.
Press MENU on BDP-S1 and it shows menu but nothing on tv.
Spoke with Sony and we unplugged for three minutes.
Same thing. BD disc Stargate counts up but nothing shows.

Moved HDMI cable straight to second input on XBR2 and I got the movie.

I suspect there is a problem in the hand shaking between VP30 and BD.

HDMI and HD light come on on BDP-S1 so I think they see each other.

Fired off an email to DVDO with details.

Will see what happens next week
(Posted in DBSTALK too)

 

[Chris Dugger]

I also have updated.....

I am very surprised at how slow the menu's operate on the BR java discs are...

For example on LXG, the menu when coming up should move fluid..... as they do on HD-DVD titles.... these move slowly like there isnt enough memory in the thing to make it smooth...

Anyone else have this issue?

Dugger

 

[phllyntv]

Yes, I downloaded the new software and yes the Descent on Blu-ray finally works. The picture looks great and I compared it to the standard dvd I had to purchase because of the software problem and there is a huge improvement.

 

[SherardP]

Waited and waited on a PS3 to arrive in stores on the military bases in Japan. Took forever and what seemed to be no such luck. I didnt really want to buy into another game system, I have the 360 already, and pretty much wanted a stand alone player. Went into the base stores today and saw the Panny Blu ray player priced at 1100 bucks even, still a tad too pricey. Walked down the aisle a bit and spotted the Sony BDPS1(only 1 that came in), at what I thought was a good price of 899.00. I get up to the register to pay for it and it comes up to 730.00 new in the box.

Setup was a breeze, I grabbed the update online before reviewing any software. Put in Iceage 2 and was like no way. I was like wow, very nicely done. The Sq and Pq definitely shined on the 7100es. LFE was outstanding on the SVS. Load times seem to be about the same as my A1. I have a few more movies to watch, Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, Fifth Element came in the box. So the war came to an end for me today, finally Im freaking happy and for some time done with buying HT products. Game Over, I win.

 

[dvdirv]

My only complaint is that the BDP-S1 does not display the remaining time on a disc, only the elapsed time.

Anyone have a fix for that?

 

[Tim Glover]

Got a question for you Sony BDP-S1 owners. Might be a dumb question so brace yourself.

I've seen some HT setup pics and in some shots, this player has a black faceplate instead of the blue. I saw this is several pics. Some blu, some black. What gives? Am I hallucinating?

 

[RickER]

Its blue, but depends on how the light hits the glass.

 

[Tim Glover]

Ok, thanks. I feel like an idiot I swear in some of those pics, it looked black. Thanks Rick.

 

[Tim Glover]

Here's a few pics of the Sony that had me puzzled on the faceplate color:





Looks black to me.

 

[runnersdialzero]

I might have a chance to pick up this unit for around $175. Should I go for it or shell out $400 for the PS3?

Saxon