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

[Sanjay Gupta]

It's just not just the slower load times, but rather the overall sluggishness in respomding to any commands that is quite frustrating.

For a more detailed answer please check out this thread --> http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...eatures-2.html

Also, you might want to read my posts:
here --> http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/3458079-post54.html and here --> http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/3461036-post74.html

 

[AmusingistheDawn]

I'm in the market to replace my current DVD player with an "all in one". I listen to a lot of music via CD, a little more than watch movies, but still... Are there major differences between a high end CD player and this unit? I just bought a Denon 2808CI and this player is becoming quite interesting to me. The price tag seems low compared to a Denon DVD-2500BTCI or something similar. What gives??

 

[Nelson Au]

Anyone know if there will be any good deals on this blu ray player over the Thanksgiving holiday? Thanks!

 

[Paul.S]

I know this isn't responsive to your query, but I have seen a lot more aggressive Sony promotion of the 350 than the 550. Lots of the former at Best Buy; $179 at Target.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the reply Paul. I have found that you're right, they seem to be pushing the 350 over the 550. I guess at the price point the 350 is, the big box stores can sell it at a much more attractive price for Joe Six Pack.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Is it possible to connect this with component video and HDMI only for audio? Or if you're using component do you have to use analog connections for audio?

 

[Floyd]

If you are using compnent for the video, use optical for the sound. You will have almost as perfect as HDMI, with less interface problems. Good luck.

 

[Paul.S]

Mark is high rez aud important to you? Using optical for aud of course means you won't get it.

Page 44 of the manual has this blurb: "When connecting the HDMI OUT jack and other video output jacks at the same time, select "Component Video" [as your video output choice]."

I did an admittedly cursory search for an answer out of curiosity and I do not own this player, but that intimates that the HDMI and component vid connections are not mutually exclusive, and that use of the latter does not compel use of analog or optical for audio.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Thanks, Paul. That's what I was looking for. I'd like to get the high-rez audio, and it seems as if it is happier passing that through HDMI than through the analog channels.

 

[Yumbo]

I've found optical to sound better than analog.
So it's HDMI time, rather than waste of more time fiddling with analog.

Sham if you ask me (after all these years).

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Finally bit the bullet and got the S550; upgraded my receiver while I was at it too. Got it all set up and calibrated last night. So far tried out Iron Man and am very pleased with the picture and sound. Not the most user-friendly interface ever, is the main drawback so far that I've found.

 

[Nathan Eddy]

I picked up this player on Black Friday. H.H.Gregg had it for $319, so I got in line. But after standing there for 10 minutes and they were still taking down personal information into their computer for the first person in line, I quickly got fed up and went to Circuit City. They had it at full price, but I told them about HHG's deal, and it was no problem to get the same discount. The manager even rang me up on the spot--no waiting.

Ok, the player. It's hooked up to a Panasonic 50" 768p plasma (PX80U) via HDMI, and RCA cables to my mid-range Kenwood receiver's 5.1 analog inputs. For comparison purposes, I hooked up my Pioneer 563a DVD player (non-upconverting) via component, and switched between the two inputs to view my Rambo DVD vs my Rambo BD, cued up to the same exact scene. I even switched back and forth on my receiver between the DTS-HD MA track and the DD 5.1 from the DVD.

Conclusions: I was a little disappointed in the difference as far as the PQ goes. Don't get me wrong, there was a noticeable difference, but I'd equate it to getting a new glasses prescription after your old one has just started becoming noticeably fuzzy. Things look a little sharper, and that's it. I expected a lot more color depth in the BD vs the DVD. Could it be this particular movie? The colors are a bit muted in this film.

As far as the sound goes, this was more impressive. I'm really glad I sprung for the 550 to get the analog outputs. An early scene where the lady tries to talk Rambo into helping the missionaries has a very immersive rain effect. I've never heard my surrounds sound this good (Paradigm Atoms). The highs just *shimmer* with lossless glory. The channel separation for all the speakers was much more noticeable, and yet (paradoxically) more seamless and natural. I'm very, very pleased with the upgrade in audio quality. And my speakers aren't great at all. I've got a low-range Paradigm center channel speaker, and (embarrassingly) non-matching ancient mains that were given to me.

I also watched Hellboy II, the second Hulk movie, and the Rush Snakes and Arrows concert BD. All looked stunning and sounded nice. The Rush BD was especially pleasing, considering how the band has been plagued with sound problems over the past 6 years. The audio isn't perfect (bass is a little weak and the voice is a little "boomy"), but the increase in quality is obvious on things like cymbals in the surround speakers. Very clean and shimmering. The surround mix sounds expansive and full. As far as the video goes on the Rush BD, I could tell which individual strings were vibrating and which were still as Al strummed and muted different strings. I could see his freakin' knuckle hair! I could pick out the individual gray hairs on Geddy's head! Unbelievable. (However, I don't have the DVD to make a comparison.)

Watching Hellboy and Hulk, there were times when I was impressed with the PQ, and times when I was underwhelmed and forgot I was watching HD. After spending over $300, I don't want the quality difference to be so slight that I forget it's there! I want it to jump out me with every scene. I want to be constantly amazed. Maybe I'm expecting too much.

When researching my TV purchase, everything I read said that your eyes can't physically resolve the difference between 1080p and 720p for a 50" at 11-12 feet (my viewing distance). However, I'm left wondering if a 1080p TV would have brought out the quality of this player better. If anyone and allay my 1080p fears, that would be great.

Overall, I'm pleased. But I wish I could crank out a better picture. I've never had my TV professionally calibrated--however while this might make the picture look better for *both* DVD and BD, I don't see how this would make a difference in an A/B comparison between the two for the same exact movie, as described above. Besides, I've seen OTA HD on my TV (NBC in particular) that looks better than many scenes on the discs I've viewed so far. Nightly news, Jay Leno, Conan, etc. all look absolutely stunning on this TV (I watch in Cinema mode always). Since NBC broadcasts in 1080i--which looks better than ABC's 720p--I tried switching the output of my player to 1080i in order to let the Pany do the down-converting. However, I couldn't tell any difference from outputting 720p.

Any suggestions? Does anyone else have this player connected to a 50" PX8OU? Are there some settings I can tweak? Something I'm missing?

 

[Carlo_M]

Nathan, you're using a 768p set? So what's the total pixel count, 1366x768 right? It's no wonder you're not blown away by the picture quality. The player or the set is downscaling 1920x1080 (2,073,000 pixels) to 1366x768 (1,049,088). You're losing just about half of the available pixels.

 

[Carlo_M]

Nathan, you're using a 768p set? So what's the total pixel count, 1366x768 right? It's no wonder you're not blown away by the picture quality. The player or the set is downscaling 1920x1080 (2,073,000 pixels) to 1366x768 (1,049,088). You're losing just about half of the available pixels.

 

[mylan]

Man, I hate to thread crap, but this is exactly why I am not exactly in a hurry to upgrade to blue. I knew I needed to buy a BD player and a new receiver but to have to upgrade a four year old Sony RP LCD that I paid $3,300 too?! Its just too much...

 

[Nathan Eddy]

I realize that. But if the human eye can't resolve those pixels anyway (from 11-12 feet), then what's the difference?

Either my research from dozens of sources (including here) was wrong, or you're right that a 1080p TV would make a difference in picture quality for my set-up.

I don't have the links handy, but according to how much detail the human eye can physically resolve--according to the laws of optics--the difference cannot be discerned for my screen size and my viewing distance. Apparently, it only matters if I sit closer or had a larger screen.

That's another argument for another thread. Perhaps others can chime in to correct me or point out where my research went wrong. Other than that, I was hoping for input on these specific models (both TV and BD player) to see if there was anything else I could tweak.

I bought a cheap Walmart HDMI cable for $15 on Black Friday, too. It was HDMI 1.3 and said that it was high speed. But maybe that was a bad purchase? I've always read not to fall for the expensive cable hype.

 

[mylan]

Sorry, that was kinda a knee-jerk reaction but I think that the progression to BD over DVD is a subtle but there improvement just like HD is to upconverted DVD. I can began to see a slight improvement in overall video quality in HD over upconverted DVD and from my limited exposure, can see a slight improvement in BD over HD but the improvement over HD is just that, subtle.

You are correct in that over a certain distance BD becomes less a factor than it would be closer in, for me the reason to upgrade to BD would be the audio portion. I have lived with an older dolby digital only receiver for ages and to even hear DTS would be nice, to hear DTS-MA or lossless would be even sweeter.

Edit: the cheap HDMI cable is not the issue here, it will be fine.

 

[Nathan Eddy]

I'm getting audio out of sync problems when selecting uncompressed PCM 5.1 on the Lost Blu-ray. The problem just started. Everything was fine until today. Is this happening to anyone else?

 

[Nelson Au]

Guys- I see this week's weekly Circuit City ad has the Sony S550 for $349.00. They will also include a free Hancock Blu Ray disc. That's about $40 full retail, so that's pretty good. But I'd rather have another movie, though I've not seen Hancock.

This sounds like a good deal, does it? Considering some of you guys got this machine on-line for $319.00? Maybe they'd agree to substituting the movie for another. Best Buy has the same price, but no movie included. Maybe they'd agree to match the ad deal?

Might be time to finally pull the trigger, or wait for after holiday sales.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I am using a 720p display with Blu-ray and other HD sources and Blu-ray does look better than DVD and worth the premium to me. In a few years, I will get a 1080p display and that will be an improvement but until then, I am happy to use Blu-ray with what I have. I wouldn't upgrade display now but I would get a Blu-ray player now.

Chris