Sony BDP-S1

Summary: The video quality is simply outstanding. For those of you wondering if 1080p video is really better than DVD, the answer is very simple: YES! Especially on a good display. ...

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Summary: The video quality is simply outstanding. For those of you wondering if 1080p video is really better than DVD, the answer is very simple: YES! Especially on a good display. You will never understand how much better it is, though, if you watch it on a non-HD tv, or even on an HDTV without an HDMI connection; though, you will see an improvement in picture quality even through component video. Everything is clearly sharper, with greater contrast, black level saturation, and three-dimensionality. The image has much greater depth, and detail, with much less compression artifacts.

The audio quality, when heard on a good system, is just unbelievable. I really never expected to hear my movies at home sound this good. It is better than most theaters! Again, a definite step up from DVD.

Blu-ray players and HD-DVD players offer essentially the same quality video and audio, but more studios are supporting blu-ray which will mean many more titles will be available for it, than for HD-DVD in the future.

As for the other aspects of this machine's performance, I found it to be very similar to other blu-ray players on the market. The operation of it is a bit slow in the ON/OFF and disc loading, and sometimes the unit seems sluggish to respond to a remote control command, such as "fast-forward". The machines menu, and remote control, are superb, and are typical of Sony, which has had a tradition of having the most well thought out menus, and well layed out remote controls historically. I should also say that I found the machine to be very attractive in it's fit and finish cosmetically, but it's bluish face does not match my mostly black components, which is no big deal to me, but may be to others of you.

This machine has excellent build quality, and is a great addition for anyone who already has a great home-theater set-up. But, this unit's price, and lack of compatibility with CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, MP3, WMA, JPEG, SACD, DVD-AUDIO, and every other disc format except Blu-ray and DVD, means that it is not ready to be your ONLY player, and is truly only for the enthusiast at this point. Still, if you have the money, and right equipment, then you will enjoy this machine.


A FEW THOUGHTS ON BLU-RAY VS. HD-DVD:

1)Blu-ray is a better format than HD-DVD. Not because it has better picture, or sound quality, but because it has more storage potential. Currently, HD-DVD has about 32gb of space per disc compared to Blu-ray's 50gb. Blu-ray also has the potential to do as many as eight 25gb layers, for a whopping 200gb of storage per disc. HD-DVD cannot touch this!

2)Blu-ray has many, MANY more studios supporting it. Last I checked there were something like seven major hollywood studios exclusively supporting blu-ray compared with one for HD-DVD. WB is supporting both formats, giving HD-DVD two studios, and Blu-ray eight. Oh, and the eight studios supporting blu-ray sold approximately 89% of all DVD's last year 2005. Blu-ray has been out now about half as long as HD-DVD, and has already surpassed it in the amount of titles available.

3)The massive storage capacity of blu-ray gives it the ability to do things that HD-DVD can only dream of like next generation interactive menus. You can actually jump around to different scenes of a movie while it's playing, without having to leave the movie to access a "scenes" menu like with DVD. You can even adjust audio settings, languages, and turn on or off special features while the movie is running, and never interrupt the movie. VERY COOL!!!

4)Many more manufacturers are making blu-ray players than HD-DVD. In fact, the only manufacturer not making blu-ray players in favor of HD-DVD is Toshiba, and that is because HD-DVD is their baby. If this "format war" between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is the Beta/VHS war all over again, then Toshiba is the new Sony, because they are making many of the same mistakes that Sony made in the last format battle.

5)Blu-ray is more expensive, for now. However, that will soon change. HD-DVD had the advantage of being based on virtually identical technology to DVD and therefore was cheaper to manufacture. Blu-ray, though, is a very new technology, and therefore is more expensive to build, and to buy. Give it a year and the prices will be much closer to HD-DVD, and the movie titles available for blu-ray will probably be double to triple that of HD-DVD.

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Summary: Well so far I am impressed with Blu-ray. Don't judge the player by the free "The Fifth Element". This movie did not have a good transfer to Blu-ray. Watch ...

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Summary: Well so far I am impressed with Blu-ray. Don't judge the player by the free "The Fifth Element". This movie did not have a good transfer to Blu-ray. Watch Kingdom of Heaven or Ice Age The Meltdown instead, if you want to be blown away.

Another thing to be cautious of is high def film is not as crisp as high def video, i.e. football games on cable. If the film has any grain on it, you will see it on Blu-ray also. This player is only as good as the content you put in it. There are some sites that have a rating system for the quality of the movies. Xmen 3 has good but Kingdom of Heaven had 3D effects jumping out at you.

The player has a 2 second lag when you press something on the remote. I had to learn to be a little patient when using the remote. The player is a little on the tall side and barely fit in the spacce under my TV.

If you are interested in the 24 FPS (frames per second) feature, be aware that not all or many TV's can accept this feature. The setup is fast and painless which is always nice.

I almost forgot that this player makes regular DVD's look so much better by upconverting them. I was pleasantly surprised by this feature and am happy since I already have an elaborate DVD collection.

If you are looking for a better picture for your high def TV by jumping into high def movies or want to upconvert regular DVD's then this is the player for you.

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Summary: After owning this player for a couple of months now, Ive pretty much decided that I totally got my moneys worth for a spectacular BD player. $790 I paid for ...

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Summary: After owning this player for a couple of months now, Ive pretty much decided that I totally got my moneys worth for a spectacular BD player. $790 I paid for mine throught OneCall.com and compared to the others that are offered as of now (including the Phillips, the LG combo, Samsung, Pioneer Elite and the new Panasonic) it is by far the superior machine, though the Elite BD player isnt far behind. The Sony has the least amount of Digital noise that gets throught to the picture. It EASILY has the largest and best power supply. The Burr Brown 1791 LPCM audio boards inside of it make the sound EXTREMELY dynamic. Face it, this machine is built to reference standards...yeah, I said it...REFERENCE standards. In a couple of months Sony is to release their BDPS300 for about $600 and as you may see when you Google it...its significantly smaller. Sony says its no different, but I dont trust that. Get your mits on this Reference machine now before theyre gone.

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Summary: I WAS LUCKY, ALMOST TWO MONTHS AGO I BOUGHT THIS UNIT NEW IN THE BOX @$799.00 FROM A LOCAL DEALER...I HOOKED IT DIRECT TO A NEW SONY 60" ...

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Summary: I WAS LUCKY, ALMOST TWO MONTHS AGO I BOUGHT THIS UNIT NEW IN THE BOX @$799.00 FROM A LOCAL DEALER...I HOOKED IT DIRECT TO A NEW SONY 60" XBR2 AND WAS AMAZED..BEAUTIFUL PICTURE...I USED A NEW PLAY STATION HTMI CABLE AS IT WILL HANDLE UP TO 64 BIT $99.00..THE TV SHOWS 1080P...COMING THRU.

LAST NITE..I ACCIDENTALLY PUT IN A NEW HD DVD THINKING IT WAS A BLU RAY....MY BLU RAY HAS NOT WORKED SINCE..WILL NOT PLAY OR READ ANY DVD OR BLU RAY...SO BEWARE..IT WENT TODAY TO THE SONY SERVICE CENTER IN HONOLULU..I WILL UPDATE ALL WHEN THE REPAIR REPORT COMES BACK...

OF INEREST TO ALL OF US..I SAW A PROTO TYPE BLU - RAY IN THE SHOW ROOM...IT HAD RECORD BUTTONS ON IT AND PLAY BACK...PICS. ON REQUEST..

TO DO OVER GIVEN THE HD AND BLU - RAY CONTEST...I WOULD BUY THE NEW UNIT OUT THAT PLAYS BOTH AS WELL AS CD'S...A HINT...IT'S NOT MADE BY SONY..

WHEN IT'S WORKING...I WOULD RATE MY BLU - RAY...A 10 FOR PICTURE QUALITY AND UPCONVERSION OF OLD DVD'S..
A 8 FOR SIZE/WEIGHT AND LOOKS.
A 6 FOR RECYCLE TIME...
THNX FOR THE EAR..

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Summary: HD output was my reason to buy but I was pleasantly surprised by how it dramatically changed the sound quality of my large MP3 files. For years I played my ...

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Summary: HD output was my reason to buy but I was pleasantly surprised by how it dramatically changed the sound quality of my large MP3 files. For years I played my MP3 files (I-tunes and misc. MP3) through my computer and I was pleased. I didn't know what I was missing till I converted all of my MP3 files to a DVD data disc (BDP-s1 won't play CDs). The sound especially the bass response "punches" and I hear fine/detailed sounds I never heard before. In summation, the BDP-s1 is a excellent/superb HD player but, in my opinon, it shines better as player for MP3 files on a DVD data file---my home theater/audio system never sounded better!

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Summary: The Sony Blu-ray Player provides excellent picture and sound quality with a 1080P television. All the complaints are coming from people that don't have a 1080P television. If you ...

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Summary: The Sony Blu-ray Player provides excellent picture and sound quality with a 1080P television. All the complaints are coming from people that don't have a 1080P television. If you have a 1080P television the Sony Blu-ray produces excellent picture and sound qulaity. I have purchased 5 Blu-ray DVD's and they work great and this player will take non-Blu-ray DVD's and play them at 1080P level but only with a 1080P Television.While expensive, you ge what you pay for. I'm not a fan pf Sony, but this one delivers. Buy the Dony 1080P 60" television and you won't want to turn either device off.

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Summary: If you're looking for state-of-the-art high definition player, check out the BDP-S1 from Sony. This player produces great video and outstanding audio due to the lack of compression as ...

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Summary: If you're looking for state-of-the-art high definition player, check out the BDP-S1 from Sony. This player produces great video and outstanding audio due to the lack of compression as DVD players have. It is a solidly built unit.

Setup is extremely simple--just plug in the correct cables, usually HDMI or component and go to the setup menu when you turn on the machine for the first time. Just answer a few questions such as the resolution you have available and you're ready to go!

All of this comes at a price--$1000, although you can find it for somewhat less. You might want to wait for the second generation which should be a considerably less if you follow technology trends.

A few negatives include a remote that does not light which is disappointing in such a high-end player. Try and find the menu button in a dark room in the middle of a movie!

One pesky feature that is omitted is that the display cannot provide you the remainder time on a disc. Yes, you get elapsed time on the disc and the current chapter as well as total time. But if you want to know the remainder time, you need to do the math to find out.

All in all, a great high definition player if you can get along without a few features that you would expect in a player at this price point.

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Summary: I was very excited to purchase this next generation high-def DVD player. At first, I was disappointed that the remote was not backlit and there is no option to view ...

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Summary: I was very excited to purchase this next generation high-def DVD player. At first, I was disappointed that the remote was not backlit and there is no option to view the time remaining on a disc/chapter. But, I was willing to let that go due to the awesome picture quality and 1080i upconversion for my regular DVDs. But, I started to notice a pattern that every time I played a regular DVD (and I played several), somewhere in the movie (usually within the first 30 minutes) the movie would pause briefly and then skip ahead a few seconds. When I would rewind over the problem area (to hear all the dialog, etc.) it would play back just fine. This became very annoying -- especially for such an expensive player. This problem did not appear when playing blu-ray discs, however. So, I contacted Sony's technical support and after hours of being on the phone and being transferred from one person to another, the best they could tell me is that the unit "appears to have a problem." They recommended that I ship it to a Sony authorized service center -- at my expense! Before trying that, I exchanged the player for another one. It too produced the same problem. Again, I tried to convince Sony that there must be a design problem (perhaps firmware), but they wouldn't even log this as a known problem. They kept repeating "this player has a good review."

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Summary: Why persue the clarity of Blue Ray or any other vidio gismo for DVDs,when the important topic concerning DVDs, is the aspect ratio the DVD is in?In my ...

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Summary: Why persue the clarity of Blue Ray or any other vidio gismo for DVDs,when the important topic concerning DVDs, is the aspect ratio the DVD is in?In my newly acquired Pannasonic plasma 42 inch Hi Def tv,the 1.85 annamorphic aspect ratio far surpasses any ratio for clarity.Lets get after the movie makers to burn their movies to this aspect ratio.We all know that is where they make most of their money.

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Summary: I just installed the latest firmware update from sony, 3.6. Still the Chris Botti b-ray jazz disc, another sony product will not play. Incompatible region. What the hell does ...

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Summary: I just installed the latest firmware update from sony, 3.6. Still the Chris Botti b-ray jazz disc, another sony product will not play. Incompatible region. What the hell does that mean? You wouldn't believe all the lame excuses the sony on-line techs game me. Who trains these people? You can tell they are just reading off a notecard. But the player set up correctly on a large HD flat screen using great speakers etc. is now better than going to the movies. Never thought I'd say that. But true. Blu-ray and all that goes with it may be the final blow to the movies as we know them.

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