My foray into BLUE RAY

[C.A.P]

Well after watching the whole BD vs. HD dwindle to a halt and BD winning the format war. I have watched on the AVS forums what players and such are getting good reviews. I finally snatched up a SONY S-350 from Sam's Club.
I have heard many a horror story of slow loading mis tracking color issues. Hard set up . This I can tell you . If you have the ability to run a true HD player with a 1080 TV,... DO IT! The set up was a breeze and within 15 min I was watching Hi-Def movies. Its remarkable how much better the picture is. The sound depending on what format you can run is outstanding. No more wandering sound and volume fade. Even if you have a older receiver that only does Dolby Digital and DTS you still will benefit from the sound as it is not compressed. I have watched a few HD movies with the Dolby True HD or DTS Master HD 7.1. It s identical to the movies as its a lossless transfer.

Over all I am ecstatic and the kids loved the 3-D version of Journey to the Center of the Earth .

 

[RichTeer]

I have been enjoying movies on Blu-ray since September last year, when I got a PS3 for my birthday. Even on my crappy 32" 1080p TV (Sharp Aquos), the difference between a movie on Blu-ray and the same one on upscaled DVD is huge. I can't wait until I can finally hook up a player and add surround sound to my system downstairs!

 

[VanDaRo]

Yep... Blu-Ray is the cat's a$$. Glad you're enjoying it.

~VDR

 

[TomD]

I also picked up the Sony BDP-S350, and was very disappointed. So disappointed that i give it away.

Not for lack of its video performance, but because of its lack of quality sound. It was absolutely lifeless, lacking detail and separation while creating an unnatural quality. What also struck me was the dialogue, which was boomy. The voice had an unnatural base quality that sounded as if the player was adding lower frequencies, which i found annoying.

The player was compared side-by-side with an older Sony DVD player and a Harman-Kardon CD player (FL 8380). Both a friend and myself thought there was no discernable difference between the three when playing CDs. BTW, i do not care much for the HK, which is my next targeted upgrade.

It was also compared to the Samsung 1400 blue ray, but not side by side. The Samsung was outstanding. It was detailed and created a full soundstage, natural sounding, and very impressive. You heard everything. The dialogue sounded as if they were in the room without artificial embellishment. The Samsung was extremely impressive although in the same price range of the Sony 350.

The Samsung was purchased first and returned for reasons not related to its performance. I thought the Sony would outperform the Samsung but was amazed at how poorly the Sony performed. Even my older Sony sounded better.

(This comparison was made with Aeon i bi-amped using a Sunfire 5200, Cinema I, Lexicon MC-12B, and Tara speaker cables.)

BTW, it was given to someone who will not hook it to a HT system, so no guilt.

 

[C.A.P]

Im amazed as Mine is a BX-1 model that Sam's caries to stop price matching. Its a S350 Badged for Sam's. I have excellent sound and detailed vocals. Did you see if you had the latest Firmware upgrade from Sony Style. Some of them need it right out of the box as early models that shipped did not have it. Im no HT expert but I know when sound is bad and MINE sounds great. Dialog is dead center with no fade or volume issues. Over at AVS the S350 has good reviews and no real issues with sound.

Good thing there are other manufactures of BD players as this one may not be for you. Some players just don't mate well with ancillary equipment.

 

[TomD]

Im amazed as Mine is a BX-1 model that Sam's caries to stop price matching. Its a S350 Badged for Sam's. I have excellent sound and detailed vocals. Did you see if you had the latest Firmware upgrade from Sony Style. Some of them need it right out of the box as early models that shipped did not have it. Im no HT expert but I know when sound is bad and MINE sounds great. Dialog is dead center with no fade or volume issues. Over at AVS the S350 has good reviews and no real issues with sound.

Good thing there are other manufactures of BD players as this one may not be for you. Some players just don't mate well with ancillary equipment.

i was certainly surprised as i did not expect such a sound difference between the Samsung and Sony. the Samsung blew away the HK CD player while the Sony about matched it.

You may have hit on a reason with the newer firmware. I was using what was supplied out-of-the-box. Mabey that is the reason. Clearly, you are not having the same complaint.

This experience did teach me that i need to be careful in deciding on which BR to purchase, and auditioning is very important.

 

[RichTeer]

This experience did teach me that i need to be careful in deciding on which BR to purchase, and auditioning is very important.

The latter is really only important if you're doing the decoding in the player. If you're bitstreaming to your preamp, then the player shouldn't make much difference to the sound quality (beyond what one would expect from a transport).

If you intend to have the player decode the audio, the top Pioneer Elite one is apparently very good.

 

[Craig]

If you intend to have the player decode the audio, the top Pioneer Elite one is apparently very good.

I'm using the 80gb version of the Playstation 3. This is supposedly the same Blu-Ray electronics as the Sony S-500 BD player and the video is great. I bought primarily as BD player than for a gamer.

You mentioned the Pioneer Elite will decode the audio but will it decode in the HD audio formats and output through analog rca jacks so I can use my 5.1 analog inputs on my prepro just like I would with a 5.1 channel SACD player?

I'd like to find a blu-ray player that takes care of the HD audio format decoding with analog outs. I'll check into the Elite but are there any other recommended models? Otherwise I would need to invest in a current DTS-HD capable prepro or receiver to utilize the new high rez audio formats.

 

[Statman]

I'm using the 80gb version of the Playstation 3. This is supposedly the same Blu-Ray electronics as the Sony S-500 BD player and the video is great. I bought primarily as BD player than for a gamer.

You mentioned the Pioneer Elite will decode the audio but will it decode in the HD audio formats and output through analog rca jacks so I can use my 5.1 analog inputs on my prepro just like I would with a 5.1 channel SACD player?

I'd like to find a blu-ray player that takes care of the HD audio format decoding with analog outs. I'll check into the Elite but are there any other recommended models? Otherwise I would need to invest in a current DTS-HD capable prepro or receiver to utilize the new high rez audio formats.

I did that exact thing. I dumped my B&K Ref 20 for the Denon 3808CI. The new high rez formats of Dolby Tru HD and DTS Master audio sound great. The movie soundtracks I've tested so far,Kung fu panda, Master and commander, Cloverfield all sound fantastic. I can definitely say it's worth it. I can say without any doubt that even before I bought the Denon the standard Dolby and DTS mixes sounded better bitstreamed thru the B&K. I am presently using the Panasonic BD30 which went thru several firmware updates online to correct small issues that has made a good BD player even better. The newer Panasonic BD50 I believe has analogue out connections. Start reading AVS forum for a lot of good information.

 

[RUR]

You mentioned the Pioneer Elite will decode the audio but will it decode in the HD audio formats and output through analog rca jacks so I can use my 5.1 analog inputs on my prepro just like I would with a 5.1 channel SACD player?

I'd like to find a blu-ray player that takes care of the HD audio format decoding with analog outs. I'll check into the Elite but are there any other recommended models? Otherwise I would need to invest in a current DTS-HD capable prepro or receiver to utilize the new high rez audio formats.

At this point, there are a number of players which will decode both lossless codecs (and PCM) and send them via analog 7.1, including Pioneer, Denon, Marantz, Sony, Panasonic and others. A good listing of all players and their specifications may be found here: http://www.blu-ray.com/players/

 

[TomD]

Thanks for the link. Its bookmarked and should prove very useful in the search.

 

[Craig]

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/09/03/sony-introduces-2-000-bd-live-capable-bdp-s5000es-blu-ray-playe/

Here's new release by Sony of a BD player in their ES line up. Not sure if its on the streets yet but should be soon. I wonder which of the 7.1 DTS-HD self decoding players are built for high quality analog sound output?

Jeff, almost time for some multichannel analog audio output capable BD player reviews. I'm sure there a lot of folks out there who would like to match their quality pre/pros or receiver with a 5.1 or 7.1 decoding Blu-Ray player like me.