- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 15 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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10 out of 11 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Wonderful machine, but expensive."
Pros: Biggest Pro: It's Blu-ray, and not HD-DVD.
Cons: Pricey, and it only supports blu-ray and dvd formats, and does not support anything else.
Summary: The video quality is simply outstanding. For those of you wondering if 1080p video is really better than DVD, the answer is very simple: YES! Especially on a good display. You will never understand how much better it is, though, if you watch it on a non-HD tv, or even on an HDTV without an HDMI connection; though, you will see an improvement in picture quality even through component video. Everything is clearly sharper, with greater contrast, black level saturation, and three-dimensionality. The image has much greater depth, and detail, with much less compression artifacts.
The audio quality, when heard on a good system, is just unbelievable. I really never expected to hear my movies at home sound this good. It is better than most theaters! Again, a definite step up from DVD.
Blu-ray players and HD-DVD players offer essentially the same quality video and audio, but more studios are supporting blu-ray which will mean many more titles will be available for it, than for HD-DVD in the future.
As for the other aspects of this machine's performance, I found it to be very similar to other blu-ray players on the market. The operation of it is a bit slow in the ON/OFF and disc loading, and sometimes the unit seems sluggish to respond to a remote control command, such as "fast-forward". The machines menu, and remote control, are superb, and are typical of Sony, which has had a tradition of having the most well thought out menus, and well layed out remote controls historically. I should also say that I found the machine to be very attractive in it's fit and finish cosmetically, but it's bluish face does not match my mostly black components, which is no big deal to me, but may be to others of you.
This machine has excellent build quality, and is a great addition for anyone who already has a great home-theater set-up. But, this unit's price, and lack of compatibility with CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, MP3, WMA, JPEG, SACD, DVD-AUDIO, and every other disc format except Blu-ray and DVD, means that it is not ready to be your ONLY player, and is truly only for the enthusiast at this point. Still, if you have the money, and right equipment, then you will enjoy this machine.
A FEW THOUGHTS ON BLU-RAY VS. HD-DVD:
1)Blu-ray is a better format than HD-DVD. Not because it has better picture, or sound quality, but because it has more storage potential. Currently, HD-DVD has about 32gb of space per disc compared to Blu-ray's 50gb. Blu-ray also has the potential to do as many as eight 25gb layers, for a whopping 200gb of storage per disc. HD-DVD cannot touch this!
2)Blu-ray has many, MANY more studios supporting it. Last I checked there were something like seven major hollywood studios exclusively supporting blu-ray compared with one for HD-DVD. WB is supporting both formats, giving HD-DVD two studios, and Blu-ray eight. Oh, and the eight studios supporting blu-ray sold approximately 89% of all DVD's last year 2005. Blu-ray has been out now about half as long as HD-DVD, and has already surpassed it in the amount of titles available.
3)The massive storage capacity of blu-ray gives it the ability to do things that HD-DVD can only dream of like next generation interactive menus. You can actually jump around to different scenes of a movie while it's playing, without having to leave the movie to access a "scenes" menu like with DVD. You can even adjust audio settings, languages, and turn on or off special features while the movie is running, and never interrupt the movie. VERY COOL!!!
4)Many more manufacturers are making blu-ray players than HD-DVD. In fact, the only manufacturer not making blu-ray players in favor of HD-DVD is Toshiba, and that is because HD-DVD is their baby. If this "format war" between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is the Beta/VHS war all over again, then Toshiba is the new Sony, because they are making many of the same mistakes that Sony made in the last format battle.
5)Blu-ray is more expensive, for now. However, that will soon change. HD-DVD had the advantage of being based on virtually identical technology to DVD and therefore was cheaper to manufacture. Blu-ray, though, is a very new technology, and therefore is more expensive to build, and to buy. Give it a year and the prices will be much closer to HD-DVD, and the movie titles available for blu-ray will probably be double to triple that of HD-DVD.Updated
Just wanted to correct some bad information that I gave about this unit. I mistakingly said that this unit was not able to play any disc format other than Blu-ray or DVD; however, after referring to the specs, here is what Sony says:
"[The BDP-S1] plays discs with following formats BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD +R/RW, DVD ?R/RW, AVC-HD, and MP3/JPEG from DVD formats. Planned firmware upgrade in 2007 will allow for compatibility with most BD R/RE discs.
Sometime in 2007 a firmware upgrade will be available which will allow the BDP-S1 to play most BD-R/RE discs. Please sign up at www.sony.com/blurayupdate or call 866-909-7669 to receive your upgrade disc at no charge."
So, this player's main compatibility limitation is that it will not play CD, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM discs.
Also:
To correct a statement that I made about Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD, and the studios that are supporting each, here is a quote from www.blu-ray.com:
"Blu-ray Disc is supported by seven of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Sony and Warner), which have announced that they will release movies in the Blu-ray Disc format. Universal Studios is the only movie studio which has chosen to support the competing HD-DVD format exclusively for now. That means that if you want to watch movies in high definition from Universal Studios, you have to buy a HD-DVD player. However, if you choose to buy a HD-DVD player instead of a Blu-ray player, you won't be able to play high definition movies from Disney (Buena Vista), Fox, Lionsgate, MGM and Sony, which has decided to support Blu-ray exclusively. Warner and Paramount has decided to support both Blu-ray and HD-DVD. With the majority of the movie studios supporting Blu-ray, a massive support from consumer electronics companies, the fact that PlayStation 3 features a Blu-ray Disc drive that you can play Blu-ray movies with and that Blu-ray is the superior technology over HD-DVD, we believe that Blu-ray is the best choice."Updated
I made a mistake in saying the Sony BDP-S1 is only compatible with Blu-ray discs and DVDs. I am delighted to report the following from www.sonystyle.com:
"Plays discs with following formats BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD +R/RW, DVD ?R/RW, AVC-HD, and MP3/JPEG from DVD formats. Planned firmware upgrade in 2007 will allow for compatibility with most BD R/RE discs.
Sometime in 2007 a firmware upgrade will be available which will allow the BDP-S1 to play most BD-R/RE discs. Please sign up at www.sony.com/blurayupdate or call 866-909-7669 to receive your upgrade disc at no charge."Updated
I mistakingly said that the BDP-S1 was only compatible with Blu-ray discs, and DVDs. Here is what Sony says on the BDP-S1 specs page at www.sonystyle.com:
"[The BDP-S1] plays discs with following formats BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD +R/RW, DVD ?R/RW, AVC-HD, and MP3/JPEG from DVD formats. Planned firmware upgrade in 2007 will allow for compatibility with most BD R/RE discs.
Sometime in 2007 a firmware upgrade will be available which will allow the BDP-S1 to play most BD-R/RE discs. Please sign up at www.sony.com/blurayupdate or call 866-909-7669 to receive your upgrade disc at no charge."
Also:
I mistakingly reported incorrect information about the actual studio support for Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD. Here is a quote from www.blu-ray.com that clears it up:
"Blu-ray Disc is supported by seven of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Sony and Warner), which have announced that they will release movies in the Blu-ray Disc format. Universal Studios is the only movie studio which has chosen to support the competing HD-DVD format exclusively for now. That means that if you want to watch movies in high definition from Universal Studios, you have to buy a HD-DVD player. However, if you choose to buy a HD-DVD player instead of a Blu-ray player, you won't be able to play high definition movies from Disney (Buena Vista), Fox, Lionsgate, MGM and Sony, which has decided to support Blu-ray exclusively. Warner and Paramount has decided to support both Blu-ray and HD-DVD. With the majority of the movie studios supporting Blu-ray, a massive support from consumer electronics companies, the fact that PlayStation 3 features a Blu-ray Disc drive that you can play Blu-ray movies with and that Blu-ray is the superior technology over HD-DVD, we believe that Blu-ray is the best choice."
- 2 replies to this review
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You said that the HDMI connection is a much better picture than compnent video connection, is this really true? Everything and everyone I have read or talked to said they put out the same picture. The only difference is that HDMI only transfers video and not sound.
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Yes...I agree with your perspective on the BDP-s1. I love the player for the way it makes my movies sound but, for me, mostly for the way it makes my large collection of MP3 files sound. I love music and I have about 6000 MP3 files and they never sounded better. So as a audio component it is superb.
