 Sony BDP-S350 vs. Panasonic DMP-BD30K: DVD Upconversion, etc. |
| Review Date: August 29, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Hugh, New York, NY USA |
I went to Circuit City yesterday to purchase the Panasonic DMP-BD30K Blu-Ray Player. As the salesman showed me where the Blu-Ray players were located in the store I told him I was interested in the DMP-BD30K. His response was that I should consider the new Sony BDP-S350 instead. He claimed that the BDP-S350 had received great reviews and is a better player than the Panasonic DMP-BD30K. Usually I don't listen to anything the sales people at Circuit City say, but this time I decided to see if he knew what he was talking about. I did some quick research online, while in the store, and discovered that he was correct about the Sony receiving decent reviews. I had my mind set on the Panasonic DMP-BD30K after months of research and waiting until the price dropped below $300, so the prospect of the Sony BDP-S350 through me for a loop. I decided to purchase both players, try then both out, and then return the looser.
I have to admit that the results surprised me. As I said before I had my heart set on the Panasonic DMP-BD30K, but after installing the 2 players and carefully comparing their image quality and features the Sony BDP-S350 is the clear winner in my opinion.
Panasonic DMP-BD30K: (Profile 1.1)
The start up time was respectable (as the reviews I had read indicated) and the menu interface was straight forward and relatively easy to navigate. After setting up the player, my first test was to compare its ability to upconvert standard definition DVDs with my now obsolete Toshiba HD-A20 HD-DVD player. I had read online that the DMP-BD30K's upscaling abilities had something to be desired and my tests confirmed this. To be honest the results were a little disappointing. Next, I decided to move through the players setup menu and change a few settings. At this point I made another disappointing discovery. If for any reason you need to access the players setup menu while you are watching DVD or Blu-Ray disc the player will not remember where you left off. When you exit the menu and resume play, the disc will start playing from the beginning of the disc. Although accessing the setup menu looses your place on the disc the Panasonic does remember where you left off if the DVD is stopped or the the player is shut down and then turned on again. Other than these criticisms the DMP-BD30K is a very nice player that yields excellent results using Blu-Ray discs, but doesn't do a great job with SD DVDs.
Sony BDP-S350: (Profile 1.1, but soon to be updated via firmware to 2.0)
The Sony player was a pleasant surprise. The start up time was very respectable, and was comparable to the Panasonic DMP-BD30K. After setting up the player I proceeded to run the same tests that I ran on the Panasonic. I had read online that people were impressed with the BDP-S350's upconvertion abilities, but having owned multiple Oppo DVD players (in my opinion, some of the best out there) I was skeptical. I put in a SD DVD and could immediately see the improvement over the Panasonic. Although the image is a little softer compared to my obsolete Toshiba HD-A20 HD-DVD player, and my other Oppo DVD players, it was still excellent. It made the Panasonic's upscaling abilities seem unrefined and outdated. Next, I then jumped into the players setup menu and changed the players output resolution. What really amazed me was that when I exited the menu the player began playing my disc where I had left off. Finally, I tried powering the BDP-S350 down while in the middle of a DVD. When I powered the player back on it remembered where I had left off and began to play the disc. The Sony BDP-S350 seems the winner in my opinion due to its superior upconversion and disc playback memory.
Finally, I wanted to add that I read a review comparing the Sony BDP-S350 to the new Panasonic DMP-BD50K that declares the DMP-BD50K the winner (http://hdguru.com/first-review-of-sonys-latest-blu-ray-player-exclusive-sony-bdp-s350-vspanasonic-dmp-bd50/256/). This may be true, but the almost $300 price difference makes me feel that this is an unfair comparison. In my opinion, the Sony BDP-S350 is currently one of the best deals out there. |
FORMER HD DVD SUPPORTER
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| Review Date: August 30, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Gerald Schoenburg, MOORPARK, CA USA |
Ok,my HD player of choice was HD DVD. I own about 100 HD DVD disks. These players were far less expensive than Sony Blu Ray. The movies were generally less expensive than Blu Ray. HD DVD had more features, easy to update on line, less expensive...easy choice. The dreaded evil Sony corporation was not going to get my business.
When Toshiba pulled their product after the major studios dropped them, I was shocked and annoyed. What did evil Sony do to get the others to drop them?
After the demise, Sony showed no signs of putting out a good player at a reasonable cost. I didn't want a bulky Playstation. There was plenty of HD DVD movies out there, and at bargain prices.
Then last month a crazy thing happened. Sony released the BDP-S350 to rave reviews. I held out no longer and bought mine from Amazon for 344, no tax, free shipping. I got it within a week.
I just set it up. Took about 15 minutes. It would have taken less but the audio set up confused me a bit. God forbid I read the instructions.
Anyway, I bought a single BluRay disk and played it.
The picture and sound were nothing short of wonderful. I'll buy a few disks as they are still way too expensive, and rent from Netflix or Blockbuster. I am very impressed with the quality of this unit, and consider me a convert.
I recommend this machine highly, and congratulations to Sony for finally waking up!
Update: I bought a Yamaha RX663 so I can enjoy the Tru HD and Master HD sound. Yamaha only recognizes Bitstream signals. The S-350 audio choices are PCM or Direct, no Bitstream. The solution is to choose direct, and Voila, it works! You will not get the uncompressed sound unless you do this! I hope this helps.
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BDP-BX1 is basically the same as BDP-S350...
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| Review Date: October 29, 2008 |
| Reviewer: BobLaBlaw, Kirkland, WA USA |
If you're looking for reviews on the Sony BDP-BX1, check out the reviews for the Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player. The BX1 is basically the S350 repackaged with a unique part number for Costco (so other retailers don't have to match their low prices). You'll find more than 100 reviews there that should apply to the BX1.
I've had the BDP-BX1 for a couple of months now, and I really like it. The player's crossbar menu system is very straightforward and easy to configure. Blu-Ray discs take longer to load than standard DVDs, so be patient.
I don't have a 1080p TV, so the quality for me is the same as watching a 1080i HD program on TV. You should read the reviews for the S350 to find out how well it works for 1080p.
It does a great job of upscaling standard DVDs - I have Batman Begins on both DVD and Blu-Ray, and after watching/pausing the same scenes, I've noticed the quality in 1080i of the upscaled DVD is amazingly close to the Blu-Ray.
It supports BD-Live, as long as you get the latest firmware. Go to Network Update in its menu. If you look at the System Information, the last 3 digits of the version should be 010 - that indicates BD-Live is enabled. You can confirm this by going to Sony's support site for BDP-BX1. But note - you need to insert a USB flash drive in the back and reboot the player before the BD-Live content begins working.
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Your best option for Blu-Ray
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| Review Date: October 2, 2008 |
| Reviewer: C. Wynes, Dyersburg, TN |
Until very recently, the conventional wisdom was that the Sony Playstation 3 -- primarily a video game console -- was universally the best option for those looking to get into Blu-Ray discs. Now with the release of the S350, and its late-September price drop, that is no longer the case. Which option is right for you?
As of this review (Oct. '08), the PS3, plus the remote which is sold separately, comes to about $420. The S350's suggested retail price of $299 undercuts that by $120. Both machines feature an ethernet port which allows it to be updated all the way to Profile 2.0, although the S350 will require a flash memory card to do this whereas the PS3 presumably uses the attached 40GB hard drive. Up to this point, Profile 2.0 features have not been very appealing, and you may have no desire to update at all. Both machines are capable of outputting 1080p at 24fps, to more accurately represent the frame-rate associated with American cinema, but you will only be able to make any use of this if you have a 120hz set. And of course both machines will function as upconverting DVD players.
The S350 seems to have eliminated the problems most reviewers were associating with the S300, Sony's previous entry-level model. There were reports indicating a higher than usual failure rate on the S300, but with the S350 on the market for a few months now it seems that this has been remedied. The load times, once a 2-3 minute inconvenience on the earliest Blu-Ray players, are barely noticeable on this player and are not much worse than the load time on a DVD. I have NOT noticed the drive being unusually loud, which another review mentions -- in fact, if I have A/C or a fan running, I can't hear the disc drive over that and the movie.
The S350 is a solid entry-level Blu-Ray player, with all of the Blu-Ray playback functionality of the PS3, but for more than $100 less. If you're interested in a Blu-Ray player, and you prefer the reliability of the Sony brand, but you have no interest in video games, the S350 should be your first choice. |
An excellent, easy-to-use player!
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| Review Date: July 31, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Nils Tikkanen, Santa Cruz, CA |
I was apprehensive about replacing my region-free Oppo Digital DV981HD with the Sony BDP-S350, but this player has surpassed all of my expectations. Video and audio quality is excellent, and the user interface is quite intuitive (more than I can say about many players!).
Instead of ranting about general quality, though, I'd like to point out a few things that truly made this Blu-Ray player worth it:
* You can turn off the LCD display entirely. For someone who watches movies in a dark room, this is a must.
* You can set the player to output 1080p/24 BD video, which is handy if you have a TV that supports 1080p/24 but not 1080p/60.
* The BDP-S350 can downmix to stereo (which is useful when you have a 2.1ch system).
I held out for a mature product, and the Sony unit is exactly that! |
Best buy for " Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player ", Lowest Price Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player + Free shipping. Get Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player Now! |
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