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Sony BDP-S1

80

Very Good

Avg User Rating
5 User Reviews | add yours »

Pros
Amazing picture and sound quality
Cons
Poor on-unit button design
Poky response time

Sony BDP-S1 Blu-Ray Disc Player Review

by Lincoln Spector

- Sony's BDP-S1 ($1000 as of 2/20/07) excelled on our performance tests. It scored in the top two for image detail, color quality, and brightness and contrast across both our high-definition and our standard-definition tests. In scenes from the Blu-ray Disc version of the movie Rumor Has It, our test jury could virtually count the hairs in the stubble on Kevin Costner's face. The high-definition advantage was also evident in the background's depth and detail--in chapter 3 of The Phantom of the Opera, for example, when we were looking at the background of the stage; and in chapter 10 of Rumor, where we could see the depth in the crowd. In Mission: Impossible III, when the camera pulled back in the Vatican, hallways and staircases looked three-dimensional, and the cobblestones in front of the Vatican rendered clearly. Shadow detail in the black-and-white Good Night and Good Luck was so sharp, we could see the costume details on background characters who were located in the shadows.

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User Reviews for Sony BDP-S1

Reviewed by: joanr

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Sleek and slim and modern lookingEasy to use and connect

Weaknesses: Haven't found too many yet!

Overall Evaluation: We purchased this to go with the Sony Bravia 1080 tv.We are very satisfied with both items. Response time in start up of DVD's is a little slower than regular DVD players.
Reviewed by: jsev22

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: HD quality DVD....finally!

Weaknesses: Expensive!Changed IR code set from nearly every other Sony DVD.HDMI did not want to work with some tv's.Large footprint.

Overall Evaluation: Waited a long time after the supposed release date to get one of these DVD players. Picture is phenomenal, even on a non-1080P HD set. Couldn't get it to display 1080P on a Fujitsu monitor I have, had to switch to a component connection. In it's final resting place (my big Sony LCD) it connected with no fanfare. I had to reconfigure other items as the footprint on this player was much larger than the one it replaced. I have a Universal MX-350 remote that was already set for a Sony DVD player and thought it was going to be almost a direct setup for this player. I quickly found out that BD has it's own unique codeset and I had to do some searching for discreet on and off commands for it. Can't wait for the price to drop 75% so I can buy for other TVs in the house!

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