First impression of my Sony BDP-S550 (1 Viewer)

[don monteith]

All I can say at this point is WOW!!!!! I just got it set up. It took all of 10 minutes to do. Hooked it up via 7.1 analog because my receiver does not have HDMI. And then I put in Iron Man. After that was Transformers. I have always been critical of the sound in Transformers but not any more. These movies blew me away. In Iron Man you could actually hear the crackling from his hand thrusters. And the explosions were just awesome. I really like the fact that the Sony will decode and send the Audio via 7.1 and not just HDMI. This saved me from having to buy a new receiver.

I highly recommend this player!!!! It is truly like seeing and hearing the movies for the first time. I had a Sony BDP-S1. It still works great but man what a difference with the new player.
Don

 

[Steven Simon]

How's the boot up and load time???

 

[Grant H]

Got any DTS HD MA 7.1 discs to test the decoding on?

Preferably a newer one without the problematic New Line flags. Some AVS posters are only getting 5.1 from Hairspray and Shoot Em Up (same as the PS3 did before a firmware upgrade).

Golden Compass might be a good title to try. That always gave me 7.1 on the PS3.

In addition to feedback on the audio, I'd love to see a video comparison between this and the new Panny BD-55K. I'm on the fence as to which of these two players I'm picking up.

 

[RobertR]

In addition to Grant's excellent questions, I'd like to know what display Don has (size, connections), and the DVD upscaling quality.

 

[don monteith]

OK. I am running a Denon 5800 receiver. A Sony VPL VW100 SXRD 1080P Projector on to a 120 inch screen. My speakers are M&K. The sound is via 7.1 analog using Monster cable and the video is HDMI with Monster cable as well.

The boot up time is less than a minute. And the load time for a movie is maybe 2 minutes. I haven't put a stop watch to any of this but I can tell you that the load times on my S1 was so long that I could pop a bag of popcorn and not miss a thing.

I have only tested this player on the 2 films mentioned earlier. I do not even know if I have a movie with DTS HD MA. I will look later today. I am going to Frys today so I will see about getting something there.

I have to say that this player has really gotten me excited about watching movies again. Transformers was always a let down on my old player but after seeing it so clearly and finally getting to hear everything it is like I am watching it for the first time.

Another thing that struck me about this player was the size. My old S1 was quite large. This S550 is rather small. About the size of a laptop.

I hope this info helps.

Don

 

[RobertR]

Thanks for the quick response, Don. How do DVDs look?

 

[don monteith]

I will load a DVD tonight and let you know. I have been wanting to see what Star Wars III looks and sounds like.

Don