Dr Gadget - Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-ray Player

	List Price: $399.99 Our Price: Too low to display Your Save: $ ( % ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Sony
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Batteries Included: 1 Binding: Electronics Brand: Sony Color: Black EAN: 0027242737518 Feature: Bonus View & BD-Live (Profile 2.0) w/1GB flash memory for local storage Label: Sony Manufacturer: Sony Model: BDPS550 Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Sony Studio: Sony
Features Bonus View & BD-Live (Profile 2.0) w/1GB flash memory for local storage Full HD 1080/60p & 24p True Cinema Video Output Dolby¿ True HD/DTS¿-HD decoder built-in with 7.1ch out. Quick start up mode. Dolby¿ TrueHD & DTS-HD bitstream out over HDMI¿ (V1.3) x.v.Color¿ for AVC-HD
Accessories Premium HDMI v1.3 Cable (2M/6ft.) MONSTER MC 400DFO-2M Fiber Optic 400 Advanced Performance Audio Cables MONSTER MC 200I-2M Stereo Audio 200 Advanced Performance Cables MONSTER MC 200R-2M 6.56 Feet Composite Video 200 High Performance Cables MONSTER MC 400CV-2M 6.56 Feet Component Video 400 Advanced Performance Video Cables
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Player does not deliver as advertised Comment: I paid the extra $100 over the BDP-S350 because the specs on these reviews said that the BDP-S550 decodes DTS-HD Master Audio internally. I don't believe this player actually decodes DTS-HD Master Audio. Try it for yourself. You are supposed to set the BD Audio Setting to "Direct" when you want it to pass the track through bitstream to have it decoded at the player. This feature does work with the BDP-S550. However, you are supposed to set the BD Audio Setting to "Mix" when you want the player to decode the track, but when you do this, it passes through standard DTS (not Master Audio) to the player. The reason I know this is true is when you try to do this with Dolby TrueHD, you get Dolby TrueHD out on the other end regardless of whether the BD Audio Setting is set to "Direct" or "Mix". My suspicions are further confirmed by the fact that their website doesn't actually say you can decode Master Audio (it says DTS-HD - not Master Audio) nor does the box mention Master Audio. I've also heard on other forums that Sony went back and forth on the specs on whether they were going to include native Master Audio decoding functionality - I guess they decided against it. Other than that, the player works great. I should have gone with the BDP-S350 since the only apparent difference is that the 550 has 7.1 audio connections (which I don't need) and is shipped BD Live 2.0 ready (which you can upgrade the 350 to through a firmware update) Customer Rating: Summary: sony bdp-s550 1080p blu-ray player Comment: this 550 blu-ray player is well worth its weight in gold. i have this player on my surround sound system and it really decodes all the dolby formats. plus its a 2.0 movies are very detailed explosions etc. im glad i purchased this from amazon Customer Rating: Summary: Maybe Apple Needs to Make a Blu-Ray Player? Comment: I bought this player to complete my new $8000 Sony/Denon/Definitive Technology/Harmony One dream system. It performs as reviewed by the most-helpful reviews on this site, although of course the analog audio issues are moot for HDMI 1.3 users like me. I am using it in 5.1 mode and have watched Dark Knight, Spiderman III, Transformers, and Hellboy II on it - as well as player-upscaled DVDs. My only negative conclusions are: 1. The 45-90 second Blu-Ray start up time (to the root menu) is marginally acceptable in a consumer device. Each Blu-Ray title behaves a little differently and requires a different amount of time to load, depending on what BD-Live features it has, apparently. DVD titles load and play quickly. 2. All of the Internet-related BD-Live features and updates work fine, although I don't really have time to routinely use them. The only feature I really use that my Sony DVD player did not have is the Bookmark feature. 3. The remote control (and overall user interface) could really use refinement to make it faster and easier to use. It's probably no worse than any other player, but I would like the unit to automatically come up to the title root menu, rather than come up to the BD-ROM icon and wait for me to click okay before grinding away for up to another minute before getting to the root menu. I also would like to be able to jump between scenes and bookmarks much easier and faster, although this is more of an issue when benchmarking a system than it is when normally watching a movie. 4. On a 52" XBR6 LCD TV, the improvement from upscaled DVD to Blu-Ray did not overly impress me. It is significant, but not earth-shaking. Larger sets would probably benefit more. I did NOT notice the drop-off in subwoofer loudness relative to the DVD that some other reviewers noted when comparing Blu-Ray to DVD. I performed this comparison using chapter 19 of Transformers, which I recommend as one benchmark, at least for subwoofers. The other would be Russell Crowe's "Master and Commander" (the cannon battles). Customer Rating: Summary: Sony BDP-S550 Great Deal Comment: I am thoroughly enjoying my Sony Blu-ray and saved $$ when I purchased it from Amazon. I will continue utilizing Amazon. Customer Rating: Summary: Best player for the money Comment: I purchased the sony BDP-S550 back in november and it has preformed flawless with both blu-ray dvd and regular dvd formats this player is made in japan with quality inside and out i use a hdmi cable from player to my sony kdl-40xbr7 lcd tv from the tv to my preamp/power amp with a good analog cable(left/right) and the sound upgrade is just amazing i give this player 5 stars all the way it has not locked up or froze once since i've been using it and i use it a lot. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: The BDP-S550 model supports BonusView (Picture-in-Picture) featured on some of the new Blu-ray Disc theatrical releases. This model also features an external port for local storage, so users can add optional flash-based memory. The BDP-S550 ships with a 1GB storage device.The player features 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output. It is compatible with most standard DVDs and features 1080p upscaling through an HDMI connection to capable HDTV sets, improving the picture performance of existing DVD libraries.The model offers 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus decoding and bit-stream output, as well as dts -HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio bit-stream output. The BDP-S550 adds dts-HD High Resolution Audio and dts-HD Master Audio decoding as well as 7.1 channel analog audio output.The player supports AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color (xvYCC) technology, an international standard for wide color space reproduction. The standard expands the current data range of video by about 1.8 times, allowing the players to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye can actually see. The player also features compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW (Video Mode), CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD/CD recordable media.The new model features a slim design with reduced depth and height compared to previous models matching Sony's new home-theater-in-a-box systems, the HT-SS2300 and HT-CT100 T-SS2300, also announced today. Optimized for Blu-ray Disc, the new component systems feature three 1080p compatible HDMI inputs making them the perfect match for a Full high-definition home theater when connected to a new Sony BRAVIA 1080p HDTV.