Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray Player (1 Viewer)

[Adam Sanchez]

What's a good flash drive that will fit in the recessed hole? My player is coming tomorrow Via FedEx and I figure I should get the drive and be ready, though I don't know how much I am going to use BD-Live, it's still nice to be "up to date."

I figure 1GB will be plenty. I don't know if speed a huge factor, or if the player can even take advantage of speedier USB drives anyway. But what are you all using?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think I'm about to take the plunge and order this player -- I don't have a true hi-def display yet, but as Blu-Rays are starting to come out with bonus features I want that the DVDs are lacking, might as well future-proof myself. Just have a couple dumb questions that I want to be totally sure on before I spend my hard earned:

- The player will be used primarily through my projector; although it's only 480p, it has component inputs and can downscale. I watch HD programming through my cable box and it looks fantastic and I've had no problems. Is it safe to assume that I'll be able to connect and use this player much the same way? (I understand I won't be getting the full resolution, but as long as I can watch it, I'm happy.)

- For audio, all I have right now is a simple, two speaker, stereo setup. Can't afford to upgrade just yet, hopefully sometime early next year. But in the meantime, does this player have a regular, RCA-type cable stereo out (you know, the red and white cables?) Again, know I'm not getting anywhere near the full impact of what it's capable of, but it's more about future-proofing myself now.

- Does the player have a standard def output, either composite video or S-video? I use the projectors for movies, but I'm more inclined to watch bonus features on my regular, old fashioned 4x3 SD set.

Thanks in advance for indulging me and my not-so-bright questions!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Josh,

The BDP-S350 has component, svideo and composite video outputs, so you should be set there. It also has stereo analog audio outputs.

You can set the video output resolution to 1080i, 720p, 480p or 480i if you select component as your video output (1080p and Auto are also available when HDMI output is selected).

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Thanks, Scott!

(Hello, new toy...!)

 

[Mark-P]

Let me get this straight, you've got 480P display and two-channel stereo set-up. Heck you don't need Blu-ray at all. Why not buy the Sony and send it to me! I'm dying to see real high definition on my system instead of upconverted DVDs. I'm just kidding with you. I hope you enjoy it. When I do get a Blu-ray player, this one is the one I'm going for too.

 

[Adam Sanchez]

I don't know if I have something set wrong, but my player likes to always goto the XMB Menu everytime I power it on. I wish that would only come up when I want it to, or otherwise just have a Blu-Ray logo and I can put a disc in and press play.

Makes it seems more like a video game system that I have to go through the Media Bar and actually select a BD-ROM. Wish I could stop the setup menu from appearing unless I want it to!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Adam,

I get that same menu when there is no disc in the player. However, once a disc is inserted, it will automatically load. I do not need to select the BD-ROM.

 

[Adam Sanchez]

It's been doing it for me with a disc already in the player, and I power it on after it being off (with the disc left in.) Maybe it's just that disc doing it. Player is so new to me, I haven't had a chance to use it much!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Hehe

As far as picture/audio quality goes for the equipment I do have, you're absolutely right, and honestly, if you would have asked me a month ago when I'd be going Blu, I would have said "Can't imagine any earlier than end of '09". But at this point, it's more about future-proofing myself than anything else as well as wanting to enjoy some of the content that's not making it out onto the regular DVD releases. It was literally three Blu-Ray releases (combined with the low price of the player) that made me think it was worth investing today, for three different reasons:

- Sleeping Beauty. I have the 2003 DVD which looked great at the time, but I really wanted to see the new restoration. I was just going to buy the DVD, which triggered the thought, "Why am I buying the same movie on the same format again when I know that it's going to be something I'd buy on Blu-Ray as soon as I upgrade?"

- How the West Was Won. Always been interested in large-format films, really wanted to see the smilebox presentation using my projector.

- The Dark Knight. Loved it in IMAX in theaters, and I wanted to be able to watch it with those IMAX-framed shots when it came out.

So just the idea that there were Blu-Ray discs coming out that had special features I wanted now, or were re-releases of DVDs I already had that I'd otherwise want to rebuy on DVD, pushed me over the edge. It's how I got into DVD in the first place... I have a DVD player long before I had a TV that could take advantage of the full resolution of the format, because I was so into the content that was out there, and then when I was able to spend a little money on a better display, I already had everything in place and it was almost like having a brand new library of DVDs. I definitely have to be disciplined in choosing what Blu-Rays to buy, since there's no reason for me to buy a Blu-Ray of something I already have on SD if my display can't show me the extra resolution. For sentimental reasons, I wanted to make "2001" my first Blu-Ray disc but the truth is, on a 480p display, it's not going to look much different from the regular DVD, so I held off. But in a year or two when I can afford a new HDTV and a new surround system, it'll be great to have a library of titles already built up. In the meantime, I'll still get to enjoy the content which at the end of the day is the most important thing for me.

In the end, it just seemed cheaper to buy a Blu-Ray player now and start buying Blu-Ray discs and viewing them on a 480p system than it did to continue to buy regular DVDs for the next year or two and double-dip on things.

 

[Adam Sanchez]

I may of misunderstood this, but I was wondering why you can't ALWAYS just keep it on Mix to keep things simple? Maybe this was answered and I missed it. But I mainly bought this player for BonusView stuff, especially Sleeping Beauty's...which I haven't even got to sit down and watch yet!

Also while I'm writing, if you have a Reciever that does not have newer HD audio decoding, I need to set Dolby and DTS to "Downmix PCM" right? That term downmix just scares me. My Reciever is a Onyxo TX-604 which wont decode next gen audio, but will play it uncomressed if the player does all the work. Everything reads as "Uncompressed Audio" on the front screen.

Just wanted to make sure my audio is set right. It only has DTS and Dolby to set, 1 for each. My old player had specific sections for each KIND of Dolby/DTS.

 

[Mike<> C]

Great research in this thread but I wanted to be clear is the externall memory used only for BDLive features or does this memory serve another purpose?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

It's for BD Live only. Since I really do not care about that feature, I have not bothered to install any external memory or connect the player to my home network, and everything works fine.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

You can, ... if your older AVR/Amp cannot decode Dolby TrueHD & dts-HD Master Audio 5.1/7.1!

Since my Onkyo TX-SR606 can decode the Sony BDP-S350 Dolby TrueHD & dts-HD Master Audio 5.1/7.1 bitstream, ... I leave the ...

SETUP / AUDIO SETTINGS / BD Audio Setting = Direct

As far as your other question , ... maybe someone else can chime.

Phil

 

[Adam Sanchez]

That will be a minor pain for when I get my Next Gen Reciever; having to change the audio to Mix whenever I watch BonusView features. Which is probably my favorite feature of BD, so I will probably use it whenever I get a new movie with it.

In the meantime though yes I am using an old reciever so Mix works fine for me weather I'm watching BonusView or just normally watching a movie.

 

[DaveM4964]

This player is $224 at Amazon right now. Looks like i'm turning blu

 

[Rhoq]

I've got a 2GB Kensington Data Traveler USB Flash Drive inserted into my BDP-S350.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

I have a question about Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA decoding and the PiP track. According to the Master List of BluRay players, the S350 cannot decode TrueHD or DTS-MA (can only be output direct bitstream) so the only way for it to mix the movie track and PiP track is to use a lower quality movie mix it can decode. Is that true? I am looking at players but I want one that is absolutely 100% 2.0 compliant and being able to mix PiP with the main track is a requirement.

 

[DavidEC]

If you have a 'S350' can you confirm for me that the "BD-LIVE" feature is being seen on the disc "Kung Fu Panda".... I have a "BX1" which everybody claims to be the same machine but packaged for the "CLUBS" and this is the only disc out of seven "BD-LIVE" discs that will not see the drive is connected to the internet.
--David

 

[Ensign Eddie]

I tried this for you last night. I was able to download the BD-Live content on my 350. However, I had to try it twice. The first time I tried it, the machine locked up when I selected BD-Live (but the onscreen animation was still running). After reloading the disk, it worked fine. I am assuming it was a Java issue (but I'm not a big fan of the Java so I tend to blame it for everything )

 

[DavidEC]

Thanks for your reply..!! I am starting to think that it is a firmware issue as I loaned my disc to a co-worker that has a PS3 and he stated the BD-LIVE loaded right up for him.
--David