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In Reply to: RE: Please help me choose between Sony BDP-s500 and BDP-s350 posted by Dafve B. W. on January 05, 2009 at 14:42:38
Thanks for the replys, let me correct a typo.
I need BD (blu-ray disc) capability but I don't need BD-LIVE interactive capability.
I want to stay with Sony because it's one-touch to turn on the LCD and player, easy for the wife and kids when I'm away on business.
All I really want to know is if the chipset in the newer Sony players has a better picture than the older, but upgraded, BDP-s500 player. I was told the 500 had a bigger power supply, seperate audio and video boards and other tweaks that look/sound better than basic units.
Historically most second generation mass-market DVD electronics are built to a cheaper standard and lower prices to attract late adopters. First generation units often feature "brute engineering" build quality that is superior to later generations (think 1st gen Sony DVD and Sacd players, quality quickly went down on later units).
Just my 2 cents, what do you think?
Follow Ups:
And I agree with cfraser (valid points): get the BDP-s350 or pay a bit more for the BDP-s550.
However, are you sure the rest of the family can't learn your system? My wife and two kids (8 and 5) know how to operate the livingroom system: a plasma monitor, the PS3 and a separate tuner.
The BD player I use in my main system is a PS3. I much prefer it to the S350, both for playing BD and for all the other stuff it can do (I do not play any games however, I mean all the other "other" stuff). The PS3 wasn't one of the OP's choices though. And it costs a lot more than the S350/S500.
If you have a reasonably current AVR with HDMI etc., it's hard to go wrong with the S350 if you must have Sony. If you don't have HDMI on your AVR, or your AVR is otherwise a bit dated, then the better Sony choice would be the S550. Presuming you want to get all the BD lossless audio capabilities.
I really don't think the first-gen Sony BDPs and their hefty build should be equated with performance as the OP suggested; they have quite the widespread reputation for underwhelming performance in just about every way. Not really models you should be considering to buy at this stage of BDP evolution.
I'd go for the S350 between those two models. The first gen S500 and S300 were disasters as BD players. Besides their very slow loading speed, and I mean *really* slow, you will have problems playing many of the current BDs. Even with the newer S350 and S550 you may have to do a few firmware updates (I did with a S350). It is true first-gen Sony disc players are built like tanks, but their reliability has typically been much worse than second-gen...it's a trade-off which I understand how you feel making as I like well-built stuff too.
I realise the S500 and S350 are available for about the same price, but if you really need some of the capabilities of the S500 you probably should be considering the S550 instead. The S350 is fine for most people with very current AVRs (as far as the audio connection/decoding stuff).
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