Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-ray Player
by Sony
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List Price: Our Price: $125.00 You Save: $274.99 (69%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-ray Player
Customer Review: I only have eyes for Blu-
Summary: 5 Stars
With the world of High Def reaching beyond the fringe of pop culture you may be wondering should I buy a Blu-Ray player? And if yes, which one should I buy? I can't answer the first question. But I can say that if you own an HD TV under 2 years old and not a Blu-Ray player then you are not getting the most out of your TV. I was weary at first, wondering is it all hype. I can honestly say it is not just hype. Blu-Ray is amazing.
If you do want a Blu-Ray then I can answer the question of which one you should buy. The Answer, the Sony BDP S550 or S350. The technology and software are nearly identical between the two. Meaning picture quality and sound decoding are the same. The main difference between the two is the S550 boasts a faster load time on BR and it has full 7.1 surround sound outputs for those who want or need the connections for their receivers.
That being said They are both outstanding players. I own the S550 and it met and exceeded all my expectations. The most critical feature to consider for any BR player is picture quality and this delivers. Blu-Ray via HDMI looks incredible, I am going to re-buy at least a dozen movies on BR. For those of us with massive DVD collections up-conversion is critical as well and again this baby delivers. The only hitch is you get variable results, which relates to the individual DVD rather than the player. Star Wars has looked the best while Oceans 13 looked a little grainy. Some DVD's just don't up convert that well. With this player you can set the output from 480i all the way up to 1080p. On some DVD's 1080i works better. Overall the up-conversion is great. This player also has outstanding audio capabilities which may be important to some people. To those who care it has 7.1 audio output, optical audio and HDMI also supports audio. Each is capable of delivering Dolby True HD surround. The only complaint I have with this player is the remote. The toggle switch is surrounded by the menu buttons and I find myself hitting a menu button when I want to press up or down, but I got use to it and the picture quality makes up for that one little fault.
Blu-Ray is a great new medium for movies. The picture and sound quality is better than the theater and with all new titles and more and more movies coming out on Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray should be around for awhile. There is a lot of buzz about everything going to pure streaming (content straight over the net), but the infrastructure and speeds of the average home are not near there and as far as I am concerned people will always like a tactile experience with media of any kind. It's why records are still popular. People want to feel connected to the art they consume. If you are in the market for Blu-Ray the S550 or the S350 is what you want, especially if the price is under $300. Enjoy the best.
Customer Review: I'm a stranger to blu ray, and this is my story...
Summary: 5 Stars
For a long time, I have been contemplating on getting a blu ray player. I've been watching the Sony line for the last month or so and I've taken in interest in the S350, and the S550. The reason why I got the S550 was because of the analog audio inputs, so that I could get TrueHD and other digital sounds through my older reciever, which can decode Dolby Digital and DTS. Other reasons were because it is future proof, and it comes with the latest upgrade already installed... plus the 1GB flash card is pretty cool. This player is suppose to decode TrueHD and DTS-Master internally and then send it over, but I haven't been able to test that yet so I won't be writing about that. I have a Samsung HPT4254 Plasma 42" screen. It is only capable of projecting 720p, but after reading all the glammer of 1080p, I heard no one can really notice the difference until you move up into the 50" screens. The receiver I own is the Sony STR-DE595. The picture looks amazing! I did a test with Mission Impossible on DVD and then Mission Impossible on Blu-Ray... what a difference! The DVD version is very weak looking. The colors are faded, and it's in widescreen letterbox for 4:3, so it is only displayed at a little more than half the size of the screen. The blu ray version takes advantage of the whole screen, and colors pop off the screen (compared to the original dvd version). I'm very happy with my purchase. In the future I'm going to upgrade to the Sony 820 Receiever so I can take advantage of HDMI. Less Cables! Plus, i'll be able to get Dolby TrueHD and DTS-Master digitally. Having a player hooked up through the Multi-Channel analog is something new to me as well. For the last 5 years or so, i've been using Coaxle and Optical cables. I'm getting really good sound through the Multi-Channel analog feature. I just had to make a few adjustments on the blu ray player since it was compressing the loud parts, which I love to be loud. So I set the Audio DRC to "Wide Range", and then suddenly all the loud parts were loud! I felt the impact and everything, just as if I was using an opticle cable. If I'm not going to be able to get TrueHD this way, then you can bet I will switch back to the opticle cable until I get my new receiver. I would recommend this player to anyone that wants to make a good final purchase. Wal-Mart was selling the S350 for $299 plus tax, and the S550 was $329 (at the time), with free shipping, and a $10 discount if you used Bill Me Later. That was pretty much a no brainer. I got my player in two days, and I've been in awe ever since.Customer Review: Great Blu-ray player....Consider this player if you have a non-HDMI receiver...
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a Christmas gift for the family. A GREAT Christmas gift. We already had a Samsung 37 inch 720p LCD, and Blu-ray looks tremendous on it. The colors pop off the screen unlike any up-converting DVD player. After watching 4 BDs so far, I really hope Blu-ray comes through. It is just like having your own theater in your home. Picture and sound are phenomenal.
As for the player... fast loading times, nice menu and easy setup process. IMPORTANT... If you have an old 5.1/7.1 receiver with no HDMI ports, this or the Panasonic DMP-BD55K are the players you should consider. The S550 has 7.1 analog out, so the player will both decode and output all the latest HD audio codecs (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio) through the all-familiar red and white RCA cables to your receiver. You cannot listen to the HD codecs with just a fiber optical/digital coaxial cable...you will be stuck with just lossy Dolby Digital/DTS. Believe me... the HD audio is as impressive as the HD picture, if not more so. I highly highly recommend this player for anyone already with an HDTV but with an old 5.1 receiver. If you purchase this player, which at the moment is $60 more than the Sony BDP-S350, you do not have to go out and purchase a $200 HDMI receiver or a $400 HDMI receiver with HD-decoding capabilities. This is the main reason our family bought this player over the less expensive S350 or BD35K. With a non-HDMI receiver, you just hook up your player to the HDTV via HDMI and to the receiver via analog (and optical if desired...read ahead).
One negative... This only applies to those who would use 5.1/7.1 analog out for HD audio. If you choose to watch DVDs using fiber optical/digital coaxial, you can still hook up the player to the receiver with both analog and the optical/coaxial cable. Unfortunately, the player doesn't treat the two outputs independently. Therefore you have to make changes in the S550 menu under Audio Output Priority (Multi-out vs. Optical). You can always play the DVDs using analog out and therefore not need to make these setting changes, but some people prefer the digital cables for their DVDs.
This problem is nonexistent in the Panasonic DMP-BD55K. However, the Sony apparently has better picture quality, especially for up-converting DVDs. Our family had a preference for the Sony brand and the attractive blue front.
If you already have an HDMI receiver, I would recommend the less expensive Sony BDP-S350 or Panasonic DMP-BD35K.
Customer Review: Oustanding performance
Summary: 5 Stars
Here is my review. When it comes to detail and audio performance on a technical level, I'm very picky. After owning 5 dvd players and continuing to upscale throughout the years, I give Sony hats off to this dvd player. When the dvd player is connected using a mid range HDMI cable to a high end 1080p flat panel tv, and also a high end DLP projector, the picture quality is outstanding (Full,rich, crisp lines & vibrant color). However, I do recommend that you hook up the audio separately to get that true Digital Dolby/THX sound on a really good mid/high end receiver and using mid/high end surround speakers. There is also a MAJOR difference when playing regular dvds as well. The picture quality is far more superior than playing regular dvds on a regular dvd player that has progressive scan. You will get a nice, smooth and sharp image, but not as crisp as with a blue-ray dvd.
One reveiwer said that it doesn't have frame advance. Yes it does have it. It has a 10sec frame advance and backward advance that works just fine.
Pros:
-Outstanding image quality using just regular dvds as compared to using a regular dvd player with progressive scan. When using Blue Ray dvd disc, The image quality is SUPERIOR! Nice and crisp in detail.
Cons:
-No slow motion frame advance like some of my other dvd players have.
-Slow loading
Other than those two minor notes, I haven't come across anything more as of yet.
My hook ups are the following:
Video: HDMI to a Samsung LN37A550 37" LCD HDTV (HDMI cables are Velocity, not Monster)
Audio: Optical (Monster) to a Onkyo TX-SR876
Speakers: Flat cables to all Polk Audio speakers - 7 total - 2 side surround speakers are Bipole/Dipole speakers.
Optional hook up:
Video: NEC HT-1000 DLP projector (hook up requires a HDMI cable converter to a DVI input) Still outstanding image quality..just like going to the the movies.
Customer Review: Impressive !
Summary: 5 Stars
So far so good. I have held off purchasing a Blu-Ray player for about a year simply because of the marginal reviews and substandard performance. The reviews of the 550 seemed to be consistent and has held up well under a significant amount of research. Hook-up and set-up was effortless. The unit has a small footprint. If you stack your components this will most likely need to go on top. I used the 7.1 analog connection for audio and the HDMI connected directly to the TV. The set-up allows you to configure the speaker settings to large or small. I set all speakers to small since this seemed to force better performance from the sub. The on-screen set-up is nice and easy to understand. If you are using the 7.1 analogue, set the audio to "multi". It stated that in the manual but can easily be missed. If you are using fiber optic or coax the set-up is fairly basic.
The picture quality is outstanding and the surround sound was excellent. I was hopeful the unit could properly de-code a SACD formated CD, but no such luck so far. It recognizes it as a music CD and outputs the signal in stereo. At this point I am not sure if there is a work-around. Not a big deal but would have been a nice bonus. It was somewhat of a trade-off because I had to use my analogue inputs for the BluRay so I can no longer listen to my SACD's on my Denon DVD player. Its a disappointment, but worth the trade. I was also pleasantly surprised of the quality of standard DVD. Not as good as my DENON DVD player but acceptable. That really wasn't important to me since I love my DENON and have no intention if using the SONY as an all in one player. That may be important to some. If so, I don't think you will be disappointed. Nice job SONY. This is an excellent player and a fantastic value at these prices. Expect another price drop the closer we get to XMAS. Thank you all for some comprehensive reviews.