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  • Overall Rating
    4 stars 4 Star Review
    Reviewed by: fryinpan1

    Updated:07-01-07

    Duration of ownership:1 Weeks

    Strengths: Blu-ray picture quality, easy setup, well built machine

    Weaknesses: slow load time on Blu-ray Java titles, remote is not back lit, no HDMI cable included

    Overall Evaluation: I received this player last week and hooked it up to my 40V2500 Sony Bravia LCD via HDMI. Setup was very quick and easy. Load times are similar to other HD players. Power up takes about thirty seconds and loading Blu-ray discs and DVDs takes about another thirty seconds. The load times on the two Pirates of the Caribbean Blu-ray discs took almost two minutes each and navigating through their menus was a little slow. I watched Pirates 1 & 2 Blu-ray discs without any problems and the picture and sound quality was great. The picture quality on Pirates 1 & 2 is in the top tier of any HD disc released so far. I tested a few other Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and CDs and they all played fine. I could not tell any real difference in the DVD upconversion between the BDP-S300 and the HD-A2. Sound quality was also good although I am not using a receiver or surround sound speakers.This player is not really a great value at $500, but overall, I am happy with the purchase. The player is very solid and Blu-ray discs look great. The player came with firmware 2.0 already installed, but hopefully a future firmware update can fix any slow load times with the advanced Java titles. I suspect many Blu-ray promotions, discounts, and new players are on the way so you may be better waiting until the fall to buy a player; however, if you are impatient like me, this seems to be a very good player.

  • Overall Rating
    4 stars 4 Star Review
    Reviewed by: dvdirv

    Updated:06-21-07

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Better price point, plays CDs, Dolby TrueHD

    Weaknesses: No memory for resume when unit turned off, slow loading, no remaining time display

    Overall Evaluation: Sony has finally come out their second generation Blu-ray player at half the original price of the original! The BDP-S300 is priced at $499.00 which looks like a bargain compared to their previous BDP-S1 model. Besides the cost benefit, what else do you get with this player? Unlike the previous model the S300 can play CDs in addition to DVDs. This player has Dolby TrueHD capability installed. In addition, it seems to load slightly faster than the previous model.Most of the weaknesses are shared by the previous model and Sony has not made any effort to improve on them. Specifically, when you turn the unit off, all memory has disappeared so that when to turn it on next time, you have to find where you left off. Very time consuming! A high-end product such as this should have memory for at least 6 discs.The other complaint is that I would expect Sony to have a remaining time display in addition to elapsed time and total time displays. Sony offers this feature on most of its lower end DVD players, so why is this feature not possible on a high def player?All in all, the BDP-S300 delivers what it promises. If it would correct some of these problems, it would be a first class product. The best improvement on this player is that Sony has reduced the price to make it affordable to more people wanting to get into Blu-ray technology.

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Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray DVD Player
$151.11 • •Specs
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