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Posted by Lloyd Parsons on 01/08/08 00:52
In article <13o5h7asrf40b23@corp.supernews.com>,
"Mark Jones" <noemail@mindspring.com> wrote:
> Lloyd Parsons wrote:
> > That price was before the big announcement. We'll see what happens.
> > But if HDDVD disappears, BD will not drop in price much if any this
> > year.
>
> What is your opinion of the Sony BDP-S300 at $399.99 versus
> the BDP-S500 at $699.99. These are the MSRP numbers from
> a Sony insert in the newspaper.
>
> The BDP-S500 is shown as supporting TrueHD and DTS-HD sound.
> What about the availabilty of an amplifier that can actually handle
> these two sound formats without costing more than the Blu-Ray
> player.
In the Sony line, the only BD player worth getting is the PS3. The
S300/S500 are both extremely slow loading. The S300 doesn't actually
support either TrueHD nor DTS-HDMA and I'm guessing that they won't
update it. Frankly, the S300 should be the $200 or less model right now.
I would really think long and hard about anything other than PS3. It
works, is really upgradeable and it is networkable so those upgrades are
a snap. It also loads discs quick.
Now to the audio issues, and there are plenty to bitch about.
I don't think the S500 does DTS-HDMA right now, I think it is what they
think they are going to get. The only thing I can say to that is that
Sony led (or lied) us to believe that the S300 would be upgraded to
support TrueHD, and it didn't happen.
The PS3 doesn't do DTS-HDMA now, but it does do TrueHD. We owners all
think that DTS-HDMA update is in the offing, but you really can't count
on anything until it is in your hands. The PS3 MUST decode inside the
player to LPCM (multi-channel PCM) and send that to the receiver. And
really that is just fine, and may help in the audio sync problem that
occurs occasionally.
The other model that is worth considering is the Panasonic BD-30.
Almost as quick as the PS3, does both the new audio codecs as bitstream
out the HDMI to the receiver, and is profile 1.1. Reports are very good
on this model.
As to receivers, well the problem is that if you use the BD-30 which
passes the bitstream, receivers with decoder for those codecs tend to be
around the $500 mark.
But, receivers that can do 5.1/7.1 LPCM are all over the place at all
kinds of prices. The Sony DG810 AVR is usually under $275 and is a 6.1
receiver, the DG910 is under $400. One of the favorites out there is
the Yamaha RX-V661 because it does 7.1 LPCM via HDMI and can layer Dolby
IIx over 7.1LPCM to give you the back channels if you have a 7.1 setup.
Most receivers don't do that. They can be found under $400 at Amazon
now and then.
That's just a few examples.
All of that said, if you want a Sony S300, I just happen to know where
there is a low-mileage one that could be bought for the right price.
Email me if interested.
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