Blu-ray Players - Product Reviews

dvdirv - (October 24, 2008) If you're looking for a Blu-ray player that can do it all, check out the Sony BDP-S550 player. It's got a ton of improvements over Sony's (and the competition's) previous models. It can internally decode all 7.1 next-gen audio formats. This is the player that will easily let you play Dolby TrueHD as well as dtsHD Master Audio soundtracks. It is Profile 2.0 capable right out of the box. No upgrades required (at least not right now!). With the built-in network port, upgrades are a snap. Sony's previous players (except the 350) had slow loading times. The 550 is much quicker. You even have the option of a quick start-up mode, even faster than the default standard one which is fast enou

dvdirv - (June 21, 2007) Sony has finally come out their second generation Blu-ray player at half the original price of the original! The BDP-S300 is priced at $499.00 which looks like a bargain compared to their previous BDP-S1 model. Besides the cost benefit, what else do you get with this player? Unlike the previous model the S300 can play CDs in addition to DVDs. This player has Dolby TrueHD capability installed. In addition, it seems to load slightly faster than the previous model. Most of the weaknesses are shared by the previous model and Sony has not made any effort to improve on them. Specifically, when you turn the unit off, all memory has disappeared so that when to turn it on next time, you h

Anonymous - (March 28, 2007) I connected my unit to my Denon AVR 4306 and tested it with both HD DVD and Blu-ray. The player was flawless. It made me run out to the store to buy as many different titles as possible. I am happy I waited for a combo hit the market. Now I have the best of both worlds!

keld - (08/24/2009) This player is amazing it has so many options, the menu are well designed, it has a fast startup when you insert a disc, very easy to install, netflix starts in seconds, youtube is pretty cool too. Best of all it reads divx files from a usb key, I was expecting trouble but no, everything went smoothly. I inserted my usb keu full of files, and directories, and the player found all my videos and photos right away and divx plays amazingly in fullscreen. So far no problem except with the movie Watchmen where 4 times during the movie the sound got out of sync so pausing it and click play again would fix it. I think it was the movie as other blueray played fine. Regular dvds look amazing too. Don't forget to buy an hdmi cable with it as composites are the only ones provided (I bought a 10ft cable for $3 on amazon and it works perfect). The remote control is the only bad point, it's very light and the sliding door is really hard to open, you need both hands to open it.

mandown432005 - (08/13/2009) So far since I got this player from ups I've been enjoying bluray movies left and right. Of course I had to update it to the latest firmware out of the box from pioneer's website. The picture and sound quality from this player are just amazing to say the least.

dvdirv - (08/01/2009) The Sony BDP-S560 is a capable Blu-ray player. This is basically an updated 360 with wireless connectivity for BD Live functions. Sony finally got it right by building wireless connectivity into the player itself. Previously, you needed to have a PS3 or buy a wireless add-on to have this feature. My viewing room is too far away from a wired connection, so wireless was the only way to go. The 560 loads quickly and has most of the standard features you would expect from Sony. Setup was very fast and simple including the wireless feature. You just needed to search for your network and then manually input your password--that was it! The only negative feature I could find was in the 560's remote. Sony took a step backward by offering less features than its predecessor, the BDP-S550. The last remote offered a lighted display. In addition, you had an open/close button which this new player does not offer. Buttons are not clustered logically around the center button . Even the BDP-S350, the former lower end player offered a better remote. Of course for $63 you can buy the 550's remote from Sony and use it with the 560. The Sony BDP-S560 is a good player with the added wireless feature. It could have been an even better player with a decent remote.