Customer Reviews

Sony BDP-S500 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

It lacks support for streaming DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI. It downgrades that signal to regular DTS.

It supports BD-ROM Profile 1 only, although the player started selling after October 31st, so it should support Profile 1.1. I don't think that can be upgradeable by changing the firmware.

Load time is very slow. Around 1.5 minute from pressing standby button to the moment you see an image on the screen.

Remote is not backlit. If you don't memorize where the buttons are on the remote you have to turn on the lights to operate it when watching a movie in a dark room.

The Display function only shows time elapsed of the title, but not time left.

Cover is not as blue as the picture suggests, but almost black.

As I have noticed in different audio/video stores, picture quality is the same than cheaper model Sony BDP-S300 and Samsung or Panasonic players.

BRAVIA Theatre Sync (HDMI-CEC) is very useful, very nice feature, but I don't know if it works with TV and receivers that aren't from Sony.

Picture quality from regular DVD's is about the same compared to a DVD player with the ability to upgrade signal to 1080p. Picture quality from a Blu-ray disc is 10% to 25% better than regular DVD (upgraded to 1080p via HDMI) but noticeably worse than HDTV at 1080i coming from a terrestrial antenna (over the air).

If cost is important, I would recommend that you wait a little bit longer for a new model to be released, since it will cost less and will come with some of the things this BDP-S500 lacks.

My TV: Sony KDL-40XBR5. My receiver: Sony STR-DA5300 ES.

I decided to acquire a BD player that was able to decode HD Audio like Dolby True-HD. I therefore traded in my BDP S300 and exchanged it for the higher end model - the BDP S500.
Despite preferring HD DVD formatwise, I really wanted to be able to experience the best of all films in Hi Def and that meant going purple and getting both formats.

The drawbacks of the BDP S500 are primarily that it is a Profile 1.0 BD standalone player. Blu-ray is an incomplete format, rushed onto the market so as not to be left behind by HD DVD which is a completely finished Hi Def format.
There are two further Profiles that are forthcoming for Blu-ray players:
Profile 1.1 sees the introduction of extras such as picture in picture etc that are available on HD DVD players but are not available on Blu-ray until very recently, with the introduction of a few players like the Panasonic DMP BDK30.
The other is Profile 2.0 which has not yet been introduced and at this time there is no sign of any players appearing enjoying that profile.
This profile features full internet connectivity via an ethernet connection, another function enjoyed on HD DVD players but completely missing on BD Players.
Obviously being Profile 1.0, the BDP S500 enjoys none of the features that will be available in Profiles 1.1 or 2.0 nor is it possible to upgrade this player to incorporate these features. As a result the arrival of Blu-ray discs that have these features will simply be a case of playing the film only for the BDP S500 and its fellow Profile 1.0 players.
- Another drawback to the BDP S500 is that it does not decode DTS-HD Master Audio. Therefore, any discs in that format will be decoded as normal DTS.
It is rumoured though that Sony are going to provide a firmware update which will allow DTS-HD Master to be decoded via this and other Blu-ray players. The sooner the better frankly.
- Like all BD machines, the BDP S500 is limited as to what CDs and DVDs it can play. Anything outside of a conventional CD or DVD eg a CD-R or DVD-R etc will not be able to play.
My last criticism of this BD player is the clunkiness of the Java menus and the time that they take to load, particularly when playing a 50GB Blu-ray disc chock full of extras eg Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.
This loading time and overall Java interactivity has been helped though by Sony's recent firmware update 3.50 for this player. Loading times have improved since I applied this firmware to my player.

So what is good about the BDP S500?
It decodes Dolby True-HD superbly, giving a deep and very rich sound indeed when played back via my Onkyo HDMI Amp. Films like Close Encounters and The Fifth Element are simply superb, sound is beautifully clear across all channels with no distortion whatsoever. Surround sound is amazing and is never intrusive.
Despite not(yet)being able to play back DTS-HD Master, the BDP S500 can play back DTS-HD and conventional DTS sound. Both are superb and give an incredible audio experience.
Ditto for its ability to playback Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus.
- Visually the BDP S500 plays back a stunning 1080p Hi Def picture and this fantastic picture is really what the Hi Def experience is all about.
- Lastly the build of this machine is very good and I just love the the robotic fascia that lifts up and down prior or after the disc tray opening and closing.

So there you have it, a mixed bag. I bought the player for its strengths and was fully aware of its aforementioned limitations. It has not disappointed me in my expectations of it but just be aware of the Profile 1.0 concerns and others that I have outlined. If like me, you can do without those features, then go ahead and pick one up because this is a fine Hi Def player which will be even better if it gets its rumoured firmware update to be able to decode DTS-HD Master Audio.

First off, I like Sony products. I have a Bravia TV. All my video cameras are Sony bla bla bla.
OK I Bought my BDP-S500 on Jan 11, 2008. I took it home, put in Spiderman III. It went into load mode for 5 min, 10 min, 45 min. So I reread the instruction. Reset the machine, unpluged it etc. Same thing...
That night I went to best buy and bought Blade Runner. It Works, Cool great show, except don't hit chapter fwd or back. The machine shuts down and resets itself. The next morning I called Sony product support. They said, "Oh Yea, you need to do a firm ware upgrade.... We will send you a disk by return mail". Two days later a disk from Sony is in my mail box. I installed it per the instructions. It took thirty Min, and the end it gave the code that everything was OK. Happily I reloaded Spiderman. Nope didn't work, Bladerunner stills plays, and DOES NOT shut down on fwd or reverse. But now trying to go to System Menu shuts everything down. When I returned it to the store (Fry's) they said this is the third one that has acted up. The Sony rep was there at the same time and she took down all sorts of notes, then called her boss. He said you need to do a firmware upgrade.... sigh. I think Sony knows about this problem and the are keeping it under the radar. I returned it today, and I'm looking for something to replace it. I like the 24p aspect of the S500, and I'm not a gamer so the PSIII is not really an option. Any thoughts out there? Picture and sound were great while it worked.

Update, I bought the PS III (and then returned it) It worked but took for ever to play a BluRAY disc.

Then I went to Samsong, It was great except would not play Blu-Rays that I had "cooked" myself. (Yes, you can make your own using Toast 10 and a DVD Burner).
Now I have the Sony BX-1. It's fast to load, great picture, and plays my Blu-Ray disc

I purchased this machine to replace a Samsung BD-P1200 and am quite impressed with the features and quality of its playback capabilities. I did have to update the firmware from 3.0 to 3.1, which took about 20 minutes to complete, but I am very pleased with its performance. The only thing about this machine is that it was manufactured in China and not Japan.

Just returned my BDP-S500 after 2 weeks of trying it out. I upgraded firmware to latest at time of this writing, 3.5 during trial, but did not help.

Painfully slow loading on every disk. When you sit down to watch a video, this can be a seemingly long time. I don't understand this, as the PS3 loads in no time at all.

Often saw weird incompatible region error. Only cure for this was eject and try again, and yes it still would take a long time to load. I could never get "Meet the Robinsons" to load at all, and saw same behavior on the S300 at Sony Style store; works like a champ on PS3.

When you get the S500 to work correctly, the picture is great. But the pains out weigh the pleasure, especially due to price of player.

How can the PS3 come out 2 years prior to BDP-S500, PS3 cost less than BDP-S500, and play BD's better than BDP-S500?

My recommendation: Buy a PS3 or try something else.

Purchased this unit to replace my Samsung unit. This Sony unit is heads and shoulders above the Samsung unit. The picture is much better, with sharper images and the colors are noticabily more vibrant. Most importantly, the Sony does not FREEZE up like the samsung unit. Firmware update for this unit is a breeze, and takes about ten minutes tops to download and then upload to the Sony unit. Load times are also considerably faster once you update the firmware to 3.5. Overall, this is a great unit, but wish that Sony would include the free BD movies in the box, instead of the inconvient mail in route. The Sony BDP-s500's only short comings are that it lacks profile 2.0; streaming DTS master audio, and an ethernet connection for online interactions, which is why i did not give it five stars. So if you really use those features, then I would wait for the next generation of blu ray players, but if you are like me, and only use it to watch high quality movies, then it is highly recommended.

How does the company that invented (in effect) BluRay put out a player that not only refuses to play a brand new BluRay disc, but trying to do so
causes the player to shut down!!

If this is that that BD-Java code, then it is truly pathetic that it isn't backward compatible. I've now got to wait nigh on 2 weeks to try a firmware upgrade since I don't have the inclination to follow a 20 step program full of warnings to burn one myself.

What a PoC.

I purchased this disk player because I wanted a mid priced Sony BluRay player to match my Sony HD LCD and A/V receiver to insure compatibility. It worked great right out of the box. I did review the Sony support site prior to the purchase and did the firmware upgrade prior to using it for the first time. I have had ZERO problems with reading BluRay, DVD and CD's. The wife makes home DVD videos of vacation pictures using Roxio Easy DVD creator and the Sony has played each without any problems. I am very satisfied with the player's performance. The only down side is that it takes a few minutes to boot-up after turn on and takes a minute to read a disk after insertion. So it's kinda slow on those two issues.

I purchased this player along with a KDL-46XBR Sony tv. The combination is quite wonderful. My initial review was shortly after purchase, and now I've had the unit about four months. I'm still very pleased with the unit's performance. I have upgraded firmware once in that time period and found the instructions from Sony were reasonably complete and the process was pretty painless. It took about half an hour so it's best to do it when you don't want to be watching anything. The instructions are required, so do not attempt to just run the disk.

Picture quality is exceptional. I'm very happy with the upscaling performance of this unit. I have a 6.1 setup as opposed to 7.1 (the center rear speakers are bridged onto one speaker) so I get the general 7.1 experience in my listening area. The imaging and placement are excellent in my viewing area and probably worth the price differential from a BDP-S300. If you're looking for a good midline player I have no problem recommending this unit.

Areas where the overall experience is somewhat lacking are the long boot time for the system to come up. I now have the habit of hitting the open button, going off and doing something and then coming back to drop the disk in. This is most annoying thing about the unit. The documentation is not as good as I'd like either. This is a general problem with consumer electronics, and this documentation compares as about average for mid-line audio/video equipment.

After living with the unit for four months I think that most users will be pleased with the unit. I do think that the long boot time and difficulties during set up caused by less than complete documentation are detractors. A big plus is the ability to upgrade firmware, as this has been useful already. Overall, I might reconsider and pick up a PS3 instead if I were more of a gamer, but the better audio of the BDP-500 is noticable when comparing systems. If audio and video quality are primary concerns, then this may be the right player for you.

Pros: Excellent player with all the right features that I required (Hi-Def,backwards compatibility, up-convert standard DVDs to near HD quality,MP-3 play-back-not available on HD-DVD players!, beautifull drop-down door and great remote). Picture and sound quality are excellent as well.

Cons: This pertains to SONY directly....why no freakin sampler Disc! How can anyone set this up properly without a Blu-ray disc on hand! Free 5 disc offer: mail it in , 8 to 10 week delivery, tear-off proof of purchase, you know the drill. Hopefully i'll see them sometime in 2008!
If I bought the HD-DVD player, 5 disc are in the box already...c'mon sony,
get your act together. You have a great product here so please put disc in the box for crying out loud!!!!