Sony BDP S-350 firmware upgrade profile 2.0 ?

[admin_exported]

I am very pleased the Sony BDP S-350 blu ray player however it is very slow. If I update the firmware BDPS350_VER015.EXE will this update the player to profile 2.0 ? And will I see any difference in terms of loading speed which is my main objective. I am not interested in BD live at this stage.

I've downloaded the update from the Sony site and saved to disc which is an alternative to plugging into my router which is upstairs. My Blu ray player is multi region for DVD, will updating the firmware change this at all ? The Sony site states that updating the firmware will reset the player to factory settings. I definitely don't want to risk losing multi region DVD functionality.

If anyone has an advice I'd be really grateful if you could let me know

thanks!

 

[matthewpiano]

You probably do risk losing the multi-region capability, especially as Sony don't authorise multi-region for their disc playing machines.

In terms of loading times, the 350 is usually pretty quick compared to previous players (the 300 and BDP-S1 were far slower).

 

[Anonymous]

I have just purchased the same blu-ray player and i find it pretty quick at loading up; have you tried looking in the settings menu as it gives you the option to select a faster loading up speed ... although at the expense of using more electricity. I selected this option when setting up the player and havent had experienced problems with loading up speed.

 

[Tonya]

Upgrading the initial software to 2.0 will not affect the region free setting for DVD playback. The region free coding takes about 10 seconds to accomplish anyway, using most "One For All" remote control handsets.
The startup time for any BluRay player is entirely dependant on the disc itself, as the machine has to load the Java application first, that creates all those fancy menus you see when it starts up.
Some discs take several seconds to try to go online to download BD Live information before timing out.

You will find that most discs will load faster if your Sony player is connected online at all times!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

It is specifically Blu Ray discs that take a while to load up. DVDs load up very quickly as usual. I have set the player to quick launch from standby too. I'd heard that uploading firmware update to 2.0 makes the Blu Ray player quicker? Unfortunately I don't have an internet connection near the Blu ray player so I can't keep it connected all the time - I guess in future we'll soon see bluray players with wireless as standard to overcome this?

Therefore if this update doesn't make Blu Rays load quicker and if I am not too interested in BD Live / can't connect to internet permanently, I am not sure if I will see any benefit of upgrading to profile 2.0?

 

[Tonya]

The Java software is updated quite regularly actually, so you would benefit from the upgrade anyway, in small things like menu access speeds, etc, even though your unit is not permanently connected online.
So much so that the new BluRay models from Sony, the BDP-S360 and the BDP-S56 actually have a wireless connection already built in to communicate with a wireless router and a DLNA network system right out the box.
I personally use the Sony 350 model but have set up a wireless access point behind my equipment rack (or horrible tower thingy as my Wife describes it), which supplies the online connection to the player, plus the KDl52W4500 TV, FreeSat box and a Media Centre PC as well, by communicating with my main wireless router.

You don't have to have wife-hostile cables all over the place!