Customer Reviews

Sony BDP-S300/SM Blu-ray Disc Player Spiderman 3 Limited Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Bought the newer S301. Works great, picture is spectacular. One word of caution the 1080p resolution is available only with the newer HDMI cables. Check your set before you buy. It will output 720i with the component setup. This picture still looks very very good. The unit will automatically upgrade the signal depending what your TV will allow. It definitely improves regular DVD's as well. There are firmware upgrades that may be necessary. The download instructions were confusing from Sony. You need to burn a DVD with the file that is downloaded. Alteratively the disc can be ordered directly from Sony's website and ships free of charge in 24 hours. There is a 5 disc promotion until Feb.'08 with 5 free Blu-Ray movies, but the selection is limited. Overall very satisfied with the machine.

I purchased this player to get ready for HD, gambling on Blu-ray as the winner in the HD disc race.

Construction is solid and the video performance is excellent as is to be expected from a higher end Sony product. But they had to skimp somewhere to get the cost down.

The main problem is that it is horribly slow. Slow in everything it does. It takes almost 45 seconds to wake up. Opening the disc drawer takes almost 20 seconds. Fast forwarding, stepping, and all menu operations are sluggish. Normally I could live with this... but if you have small children who use the player they will have attention span issues when trying to operate this player. In addition, the Play button on the front of the unit will not start a disc that is sitting at the menu, which also frustrates the little ones who have not yet figured out the billions of buttons on your all in one remote yet.

I have not used any other Blu-ray players to find out if this is endemic of the format... but given my technical experience i think it is just a cheap CPU and unrefined firmware.

Road test before you buy!!!

Sony BDP-S300 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

It's a great player. I got Spiderman free along with the player. Played it after updating the firmware provided free from the Sony website (they mailed in 3 days). The picture was very clear, the startup was slow initially but not that slow (perhaps it was an update).

The sound quality using a HDMI cable is great, clear.

We have owned this product for about a month and have been very pleased with the video performance. Audio is great with PCM lossless (but read further for the problem with audio).

Like most HD players, it is slower than the cheapest DVD player, but that is okay, we have come to expect it and that no longer bothers us.

The problem with this player is that it does not output Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA in any way, shape or form. The closest it comes is transcoding the audio to plain old Dolby Digital or a somewhat better DTS. Wow, classic DVD audio performance at a Blu-ray price. The real problem comes from some studios moving away from PCM lossless audio to TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. These include Sony Pictures whose latest release announcements have TrueHD only and FOX who is releasing only in DTS-HD MA, which very few players can play properly at all.

If you care anything about audio, I cannot recommend this player. If you don't have the whole home theater setup, but a nice TV, I guess you can get it if the price is cheap enough.

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. This player has serious issues with how long it takes to load. My second issue was the sound which could not compete with the A-3. Finally, after two days it began freezing after about an hour of use and would not work unless you pulled the plug from the outlet for 24 hours. I do not reccomend this player. (Note, it had the lastest firmware update.)

I now own a Panasonic DMP-BD30 with which I am happy.

As for the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray war, HD-DVD has a strong edge in features, Internet access and sound. With HD dics, I could not really see much of a difference in picture quality even with a 1080P HDTV.

The picture is great but is it worth the wait time? It takes forever to load up. Frankly, it's unbearable! And also, some of the BD movies do not have the resume function so when you stop the movie and turn off the machine, you basically lose your place when you turn it back on to "resume" where you left off.

To sum up the whole thing, maybe this Blu-Ray technology needs to be investigated and tested further before releasing more machines and movies.

Dispite the negatives, the picture is great with newer movies and a very good television.

It's an expensive investment, so do your research before you purchase.

Love BluRay movies.... sounds and reception are awesome. However, this system loads up really slow. I bought this system because it's AFFORDABLE. Save your $$$$money, search for a better one.