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Here’s the dilemma: I need to purchase another blu-ray player. My choices are the Sony BDP-S500 which has built-in Dolby HD decoding and excellent build quality. Second choice is BDP-S350 which has the same basic functionality but lesser build quality. I don’t care at all about BD capability, I just want the best picture and sound. Not interested in Pioneer, Panasonic or other brands, just Sony.
Question - would you pick the 500 with better build quality, heavier chassis, gold jacks etc. or the (IMO) much more cheaply built 350 which has the newer chipset?
I was told the new players were built as cheap and light as possible whereas the older player was built with performance more in mind.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated.
Follow Ups:
The Sony 350 comes with 5 free Blu-Ray discs at Play.com and I'm half tempted myself.
Best Regards,
Chris redmond.
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?
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).
Your query is a little confusing:
"I need to purchase another blu-ray player..." BUT "...I don’t care at all about BD capability, I just want the best picture and sound."
and this...
"My choices are the Sony BDP-S500 which has built-in Dolby HD decoding and excellent build quality. Second choice is BDP-S350 which has the same basic functionality but lesser build quality."
Why buy a new Blu-ray player if you aren't concerned about BD capability (whatever you meant by that), and why are these your only choices? Is someone at SONY holding a cathode ray-gun to your head?
If you want the best standard definition picture (upscaled to 1080P) then your best option is the Oppo DV-983H (not Bly-ray), that is also region free so that you can enjoy standard definition DVD from all over the world with the best picture possible.
If you're on a budget and it's Blu-ray that you 'need' for whatever reason then just about any currently available player will do if BD capability isn't important. Nearly everything will look better in 1080P if it's mastered to that standard (as opposed to 480 scaled up to 1080P), but not always; picture quality is just as dependent upon the mastering of the discs as it is the hardware.
Keep in mind that SONY isn't necessarily going to perform better than Panasonic, Pioneer, et al., and the differences will be pretty much limited to load times, audio decoding and miscellaneous 'capabilities' that you apparently don't care too much about.
BTW, gold jacks probably won't make the picture or sound any richer! ;O)
AuPh
the best sound is from the 550 7.1 analog out dts hd master.the 350 dont have that.quote from crutchfield mag.I also says the 350 dont have multi channel out.550 is $100.00 more.
As in "Why do you need to purchase from these two players?".
Need a Sony, then get a PS3.
Need to not get a PS3 and it has to be now, then get a Panasonic BD35 or BD55 (the latter only if you must have multi-channel analog output).
Need a non-PS3 Blu-ray player and can wait, then hold out for the official release of the oppo BDP-83 in a few months.
"I don’t care at all about BD capability,"
BD = Blu-ray disc, so... why do you need a Blu-ray player?
"I just want the best picture and sound."
Not if you need a Sony BDP-s500 or BDP-s350.
If that really was what you wanted and not just a line, then you'd get an oppo DV-983H DVD player (ie, DVD playback will be the real purpose of this player since, per the above, you're not looking for BD playback) or, in case you changed your mind about Blu-ray playback, then you'd get a PS3 or wait for the oppo BDP-83.
Otherwise, what you need is a coin.
I would pick the Panasonic DMP-BD35 or DMP-BD55. Both do an excellent job with video, both Blue-ray and DVD (including upscaling) and both have onboard Dolby HD audio decoding as well as DTS HD audio decoding. The DMP-BD35 is also 25% cheaper in price than the BDP-S350. The Sonys do not do onboard DTS decoding other than the core DTS. The Sony BDP-S350 with the newer NEC chip does video better than the BDP-S500 (it has problems with 2:2 pulldown but so does the BDP-S500). Sounds like you already made your choice but between the two Sonys I'd go with better video processing over weight unless of course you play football with your disc player.
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