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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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-ray Player
Customer Review: Awesome Unit!
Summary: 5 Stars
Got this BD yesterday and just hooked it up with the home theatre components. I have to say - it fully met my expectations, it is really awesome unit! While I got already used on picture quality form the HD TV broadcast, I was looking forward to sound in TrueHD and DTS MA standards over 7.1 speaker system. In few words, it is fantastic!! I did buy this unit as future proof even though my Onkyo AVR can decode both standards internally. I wanted to test the unit, so I rented BD that was mastered in DTS Master Audio 7.1. After I connected it to the receiver via HDMI cable and without doing any settings, the receiver showed PCM Multichannel at its display. After bit of reading, I realized that S550 was doing sound decoding internally. Than I read footnote in the manual (pg 66, fn 5) on how to get the bitstream to the receiver. After making that change, viola , DTS MasterAudio flag lit on my receiver!! The sound got much more rich and powerful with full 7.1 deployment.Customer Review: Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-ray Player
Summary: 5 Stars
My processor (Outlaw 990) is approximately a year old and thus replacing it makes no sense. It will not accept a HDMI input but will it will accept seven channels of analog input. The Sony 550 will output seven channels of analog and was made for processors like mine. As I had hoped, the new HD audios are a noticeable improvement. The DTS-HD Master Audio is terrific.
The Blu-Ray PQ even at 1080i is also a noticeable improvement. As my previous DVD player was a high quality Sony, I did not expect much of an improvement in DVD PQ. The up-converted picture from the Sony 550 is better.
The increased time for the player to boot up takes some adjustment but it is a minor problem. The remote contains the most non-ergonomic design I have ever encountered. Two concentric rings form the most used functions. There is no light on the remote. A miscue can a significant delay in the movie enjoyment. This is the only problem I have with the Sony 550.
Customer Review: -S350 / -S550 Owner Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Just a quick review here, I have set up many Blu-ray players for friends, and these are my favorites. They work great, are full featured and have excellent remotes. Firmware updates are also very easy to apply. Unless you really want the backlit remote (not important if you use Harmony remotes like I do) or need the analog outputs you might as well save a bit and buy the BDP-S350. It's also smaller and a bit more sleek looking. Either choice is excellent, just don't overbuy if you don't need to. Firmware support and the interfaces are essentially identical.
Samsung are a common alternative, but they seem to have a less appealing visual interface, more firmware issues (and the process is not as simple) and my biggest beef is that they have an unrefined, noisy mechanism and sluggish responding remote. Either of those final characteristics are either unacceptable or too frustrating to endure in my books.
Customer Review: Sony BDP-S550 is a Great Diverse Player!
Summary: 5 Stars
The only main reason to buy this is over the 350 model is the 8 channel direct analog inputs. This means you can connect to your old receiver that does not have HDMI, but is still impressive, 7.1 capable & most importantly has the 8 channel direct analog inputs as well. Optical and Coaxial cannot carry the full bandwidth of the modern formats as you will read in other reviews. I do not call this a great do it all player because its not practical to have to wait through the boot-up menus for standard DVDs and this will not play SACDs.. That would have been a nice touch for Sony to include being that the player has the Multi-Channel Direct inputs necessary for the format. The BOTTOM line is that for Blu-Ray viewing with an older still great receiver you cant get better bang for your buck, and while tedious for Standard DVD the load time is not bad at all in comparison with older models and other top brands..Customer Review: Great player bang for the buck.
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently upgraded to HD (1080P). I stuck with all Sony brand name equipment so I could take advantage of the Bravia Sync. This player was a great deal on amazon for $320.00 when I purchased it.
I can open the player, insert a movie and go sit on the couch. The receiver and the telivision will automatically switch to the proper inputs and outputs for the movie to play and have surround sound from the receiver.
Most people I've talked to don't understand that the only 1080P source available is a Blu-Ray player and this one is the best bang for the buck. The older player is much slower and has to be upgraded and have memory added to be capable of doing what this unit can. The higher priced units cost more than twice what I paid and don't offer any features that I could tell the difference in the movie experience.
It was a no brainer for me.