Sony BDP-S300/SM Blu-ray Disc Player Spiderman 3 Limited Edition
From the Manufacturer
See and hear a whole new world of high definition with the incredible BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player. The crystalline clarity of 1080p Blu-ray Disc movies1 and DVD upscaling2 has to be seen to be believed. Amazing 24p True Cinema3 2 output and cinema-tuned picture presets allow you to see movies exactly how the director intended. And with BRAVIA Theatre Sync, you can now you can control your compatible BRAVIA TV and AV systems3 from just one remote. x.v.Color Thanks to the adoption of a newly approved international color standard called xvYCC (an option in the HDMI v1.3 spec and which Sony participated in helping to create), the color space has been greatly expanded. 1.8 times as many natural colors as existing HDTV signals will now be faithfully reproduced. (x.v.Color capability is available on select BRAVIA televisions, Blu-ray Disc players and the PlayStation3 computer entertainment system.) 24p True Cinema Video Output Many movies are filmed at 2
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Turn it on before you make popcorn.
I’ve got one major beef with this machine, and that is I T I S S O S L O W. Takes forever to power up or to load a disk.
I received the BDP-S300 for Christmas and my college aged son received a PS3. After a long time watching and researching, I had decided that I would go with a PS3 as my blu-ray player, so getting a standalone player was a bit of a surprise. I’ve now had plenty of time to compare the S300 and PS3 side by side (I have a 720p projector with no HDMI/DVI…only component, so all of my comments are based on using component cables on PS3 and on S300).
Out of the box, the S300 locked up on the first disk I played (Blu-ray Ratatouille), went through the impossibly esoteric update using CD (worked first time) and have had no lockup or strange issues since.
The startup time on the S300 is just plain silly. PS3 boots up faster and is ready to go quicker than S300. PS3 loads disks just like lightning and is ready to play movie right away. The issue here appears to be processor power and Java. Discs with Java just plain choke the S300. As an example, on “Surf’s Up” Disc, the PS3 immediately shows a surfboard that progressively turns from blue to brown while disc “loads”…takes about 5 to 10 seconds and then the movie is ready to play. On s300 when you insert the disk, you get an S300 “loading” message for about 30 seconds, then the surfboard appears and changes from blue to brown, as on the PS3, then another delay, and then ready to play. Seems like discs are designed to play on a powerful java engine…shows a cute moving java icon, while movie loads in the background and then movie starts. Unfortunately, it takes forever on the S300 to “load” the cute moving icon and then the moving icon gets displayed in a “herky, jerky” fashion and then the movie loads. You don’t realize how it is supposed to work until you see it on a PS3.
Disks with little or no Java load very quickly on the S300 and are ready to play. Java definitely seems to be the root of the long load times on the S300.
OK, so the S300 it terrible for turning on and then terrible again for loading if disc has Java content. How about movies? In my setup (720p over component), the S300 has absolutely stunning picture quality. The PS3 picture quality is stunning as well (both WAY better than any 720p broadcast) and the audio on both is exceptional, but somehow the picture always “seemed” a bit better on the S300. I’m almost positive this is a component output issue on the PS3, I’ve read tons of reviews and am convinced that using HDMI, you’d probably see no difference at all in video quality.
I have played many blu-rays on the S300 with no problem and continue to be amazed on the well transferred movies (yes there do seem to be some poorly transferred blu-ray movies)at just how good the picture is.
I only have a receiver that can decode DTS and Dobly Digital, so the lack of HDMI 1.3 and inability of both the PS3 and the S300 to either decode or put out the bitstream for TrueHD is not a big deal to me, but that’s just me.
So, what’s the bottom line for me? The PS3 heads back to school next week with my son and I’m going to keep my S300. I just like the simple user interface (yes I know I could get a $25 DVD remote for the PS3) and the idea that I won’t have a bunch of new controllers (already have 4 XBOX360 controllers laying around in the theater) and a bunch of new games (wait, is this a PS3 game or a 360 game). I personally like the picture a hair better on the S300 in my particular setup (your setup will be different).
One final argument FOR the PS3 as a blu-ray player is that the PS3 has had some amazing funtional updates since it was introduced, it has both built-in ethernet and wifi and updates are simple and easy. The S300 will be gone (discontinued in 6 months) and who knows how long updates will be available. The PS3 will be around for at least a couple of years and updates come often. It’s not an easy choice, but if I didn’t already have a 360 I would definitely go with a PS3 over an S300. you get a ton more horsepower for the money. If you think you will EVER want to play a PS3 game, don’t even think about it…get the PS3. If you want simple and familiar user interface the S300 might be for you.
Last thought, since I don’t have HDMI, I can’t receive the benefit of upconverting, Blu-rays are sent out on component at 720p, but standard DVDs are limited (by movie studio copy protection) to 480p over component. I’ve read that on both S300 and PS3, non-copy protected movies would be output at 720p or 1080i over component
1.0 out of 5 stars
Underwhelming performance overall….
I received this as a gift last Christmas, and am using it with a 50″ Panasonic LCD TV (can’t remember model number at the moment).
I purchased the BDP S300 back in July and with the firmware upgrades (currently up to version 3.3 ) provided by Sony the player has successfully played all the Blu-ray disk that I have acquired without any problems. I have never had an event when I placed a Blu-ray disk in the player and it did not play. I have over 60 Blu-ray disks and all have played without a problem. The video on my 60″ LCoS Sony HD is excellent. The only issue I have with some of the Blu-ray disks is when they are produced by a neutral HD producers they are generated for the lower bit-rate of the HDDVD disk whereas if produced exclusively for for the Blu-ray disk action or highly detailed scenes can be done at a higher bit rate. Yes startup is a bit slow sometimes but that is usually between 1 and 1.5 minutes. The only issue I have with the player is that Sony did not provide the audio bitstream over the HDMI port for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD so my Onkyo TX-SR705 can process these new audio CODECs. The audio however is still very good. I also have not had any problems playing the standard DVD that I have in my collection, they all where upgraded to 1080 without any problem and look very good on the 60″ Sony HD.
I have had the BDP-S300 product for about 6 months now. While it produces a great picture, I am very disappointed with the whole “user experience” associated with this device. It takes FOREVER to turn on — press the power button, wait 30 seconds for the “title screen” to appear on the screen — and another 15 seconds for any buttons (including open/close) to work. Once you put in a disc, it takes another 40 seconds until anything from the disc can be played. And heaven help you if you try to play Pirates of the Caribbean — about half the time I put in this disc, the player freezes up during the loading process (at least I stopped waiting after 5 minutes).
I have been a big Sony fan (almost all my A/V equipment is Sony) — but this is the worst product I have ever seen them try to sell.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Read The Small Print
A very big disappointment. On the box, you see 1080 Full HD printed all over it. There is one small line which says, “HDMI capable HDTV with 1080p display required, Image…
1.0 out of 5 stars
Nice player…..A LOT OF PROBLEMS!!!!!!
I purchased the BDP S300 after buying a 52″ XBR4. It does have some minor issues, but nothing I could not live with. Overall I was happy with the player.
4.0 out of 5 stars
1080p is awesome
Very happy with it. Makes my 52″ Aquos LCD look awesome. VERY slow loading times though. Perhaps this will improve with time. Haven’t compared to any other units though.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blu Ray
Very good arrival time. Product arrived as expected and is exactly what I wanted. Thanks, dave
1.0 out of 5 stars
Player stopped working after 6-weeks
My Sony Blu-ray broke after 6-weeks (it just would no longer read discs) and I contacted Sony because it was under warranty.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fine High-End Player
The setup manual is a bit complicated because the player accommodates so many inputs, but it works great when you get it going.
1.0 out of 5 stars
A BIG Disappointment!
After owning a Tosihba A3 for about two weeks I returned it and purchased the Sony BDP-S300 becuase of the wider range of movies. My first disappointmnet was the load time.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blu-ray time
The war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is over and Blu-ray is the winner. It appears fairly likely that Blu-ray will not be the BetaMax of the early twenty-first century…