Sony BDP-S350 Blu ray player delivered and tested!!

[Pistol Pete1]

Hi,

For those whom are interested in the new Sony BDP-S350, I thought you may like to hear my views on it.

It is connected via HDMI to an Onkyo 606, with the Q Acoustic 1010i 5.1 speaker package, and then via HDMI to a Panasonic TH42-PX80 (HD READY ONLY) plasma.

Comparing the dvd playback to my DVD recorder with 720p upscaling, the Sony (outputting 1080p) has much more detail. The colours are more vibrant and I'm noticing sounds I never notice before while watching Phil Collins in concert. All in all a much improved concert experience.

Moving to the Blu ray playback. WOW!!!! What a picture - even on an HD ready only screen the detail is amazing. I will be trying it on a friends full HD screen soon. I think that will be very interesting cos I can't imagaine anymore detail is possible, nevermind the clarity of lines. Fantastic picture quality!!!

The sound, while using the players decoder (trueHD sound) does output at a lower volume which makes you have to pump up the amp's volume. Set it up so the amp is doing the decoding, and the volume output is louder, so the amp can be turned down to gain the same output through the speakers. (Obviously care has to be taken once finishing a blu ray and switching to normal tv if the amp's volume is set high cos the blu ray trueHD volume is low!!)

Does anyone have an opinion about whether to use the decoders in the blu ray player, or amp? Or is it just down to individual taste? I have currently set it up for the amp to do the work, and hope this is the best way.

All in all, I FULLY recommend this player to anyone who wants to spend £208 inc p+p (Laskys) on the latest blu ray technology.

 

[Andy Clough]

Sounds like you've got yourself a bit of a bargain there Pistol Pete!

 

[Anonymous]

How do you set the player up so the amp decodes the sound not the BDP-S350, I've tried but it seems the player will only pass decode audio to the amp. The Amp always displays Dolby Digital,and the blue HD Audio light will not come on.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Hi,

Go into audio settings on the home page, then into BD audio settings. Make sure 'direct' is set. After switching, my amp showns the sign 'true HD' when playing such a disc. Without that change, the amps display read 'dvd multich' with PCM above it.

I also changed the Dolby Digital part to pick Dolby Digital, rather than Downmix PCM, and did the same with DTS.

I finally selected the 96khz/24bit sampling frequency from another part of the settings menu.

Hope that helps....

 

[Big Chris]

I'm tempted by the 350, but like you, I only have a HD Ready TV. My TV is not 1080P compliant though. Can it be set to 720P and what's the picture like at 720P? (if it can be done)

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Big Chris:I'm tempted by the 350, but like you, I only have a HD Ready TV. My TV is not 1080P compliant though. Can it be set to 720P and what's the picture like at 720P? (if it can be done)

It will still look fantastic at 720p as it's not an upscaled version of 720p it's the real deal.

 

[Big Chris]

I'll probably buy one after pay-day on Tuesday. Only issue I've got, the Wife has finally agreed to me getting an Arcam CD192 at the new bargain price of £400. Don't think she'd be too up for letting me splurge £600 odd next month.

I'm thinking I'll move my DVDR upstairs for use with the 26" in the bedroom. Bring the BT Vision box downstairs for its recording facilities, and use the 350 for Blu-Ray & DVD duties.

 

[Big Chris]

Andy Clough:Sounds like you've got yourself a bit of a bargain there Pistol Pete!

Andy.

I think I read elsewhere that you have (or had) the same TV as me. Are you using Blu-ray on it, and what do you think of it if you are?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks I'll give these settings a try.

 

[Anonymous]

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After setting up my Blu Ray player as you suggested the Amp was still only displaying Dolby Digital. Finally got it working when I discovered you have to select Dobly TrueHD from the Blu Ray disc (Batman Begins) pop up/menu > setting > language settings > English Dolby TrueHD.

ÿWish I'd spotted this before going and buying a new 1.3 HDMI lead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ÿCheers for the help!ÿ

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Hi Austin_helps

Sorry, forgot about that part as I thought you would have realised that whatever disc you put in the machine you would have to select which sound 'device' you want to use to decode it. Anyway, glad you have the set up sorted now.

Its makes a big difference it the sound quality, doesn't it?

Big Chris - not tried 720p from the blu ray, cos my tv is 1080p/24fs compliant. In the set up menu when switching on for the first time, you get a choice of resolution. So i imagine in the video settings you would be able to change it. I imagine it will look amazing too, and will test it later tonight and report back.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Big Chris,

Just tried it... you can display a 720p picture from the sony 350,

but I can notice a difference.

1080p looks a touch better, in my opinion.......

Hope that helps you.......

 

[Sorreltiger]

Are you sure you shouldn't just send your Sony a 1080p signal, Chris? ÿAs the TV is 768p not 720p (I think) you'd be left with a 'data gap' and the TV would have to upscale. ÿI may be completely wrong, but I think you should try sending the full monty and let the TV deal with it. ÿHaving trawled the forums, that seemed to be the advice forÿmy HD-Ready Pioneer 4280. ÿ PQ is brilliant from the BDP-S350 (not to mention the sound).

ÿOf course, I may be completely mistaken, but - hey - I'm happy!ÿ

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Sorreltiger:

Are you sure you shouldn't just send your Sony a 1080p signal, Chris? As the TV is 768p not 720p (I think) you'd be left with a 'data gap' and the TV would have to upscale. I may be completely wrong, but I think you should try sending the full monty and let the TV deal with it. Having trawled the forums, that seemed to be the advice for my HD-Ready Pioneer 4280. PQ is brilliant from the BDP-S350 (not to mention the sound).

Of course, I may be completely mistaken, but - hey - I'm happy!

I agree with that!!

 

[Big Chris]

Sorreltiger:
Are you sure you shouldn't just send your Sony a 1080p signal, Chris? ÿAs the TV is 768p not 720p (I think) you'd be left with a 'data gap' and the TV would have to upscale. ÿI may be completely wrong, but I think you should try sending the full monty and let the TV deal with it. ÿHaving trawled the forums, that seemed to be the advice forÿmy HD-Ready Pioneer 4280. ÿ PQ is brilliant from the BDP-S350 (not to mention the sound).

ÿOf course, I may be completely mistaken, but - hey - I'm happy!ÿ

I thought as a 1366 x 768 TV, my TV wouldn't accept a 1080P signal (I think I tried setting my Onkyo 875 to upscale everything to 1080P as a test when I first got it, and I didn't get a picture)

I know some HD Ready TVs can 'downscale' a 1080P signal, but as mine is 3 years old, it ain't one of 'em!

I could just stick to 1080i I guess.

 

[Sorreltiger]

That's a shame. ÿIn the end I think the only thing is to try all of the possibilities and see what's best and what works. ÿWhat I AM sure of (and Pistol Pete seems to be sure of too) is that you WOULD enjoy significantly better PQ. ÿI wasn't going to buy a Blu-ray player just yet, but I was tempted by the introductory Amazon price (£192). ÿMaking use of my LoveFilm subscription, I am getting a lot of pleasure from my new toy!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi folks , Merry Christmas!

I have just been setting up my BDP-S350 with Sony DG-820 Amp. I have set every setting I can think of - including the previous ones on this thread. When playing Blu-Ray set to Dolby TrueHD in Language Settings - the Amp displays Linear PCM - is this correct for the S350 outputting bitstream correctly and the amp picking it up and decoding to TrueHD ?

ou812?

 

[Anonymous]

Big Chris

I have my S350 connected to a Hitachi 42pd9700 and I set the 350 HDMI output to Auto and it selected 1080i and it looks great, but my set is supposed to be capable of 1080p so I set the HDMI to 1080p and lost the picture with the tv telling me it could not handle the source so i went back to auto! have to admit though I have not tried 720p. I might give it a go see what it is like.

Bc.

 

[Anonymous]

Pistol Pete1:
I'm noticing sounds I never notice before while watching Phil Collins in concert.ÿ

ÿ

Damn. Glad I didn't get the Sony then.ÿ