Sony BDP-S360 or Panasonic-DMP-BD35

[method man]

I am not a home cinema buff. but we have been using a 30 quid asda DVD for over 5 years. A year or 2 ago I got a WHF reccomended Panasonic Viera TV, and love it. It is the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX70BA.

Now we have the price drops on these Blu-ray spinners, Both can be purchased for arounf £130.00. Reading about both machines on WHF reviews including thier upscaling abilities ( I dont not yet own a Ble-ray disc) . I wanted to ask which you would go for?

I should just say, that i want to be able to play the sound through my AVI 9.1 speakers

which are active with internal DAC, this works well being fed optically from my sky+ box. can i do this with these two players? I belive the panny has optical output and the sony has optical and coax digital. The coax digital would be nice as my speakers are currently using the 2 optical inputs fed from squeezebox and Sky+ .

is my TV good enough for Blur-Ray? as I read a previous post of a chap getting judder.

also both I presume would need a HDMI cable to the TV? is that the best way to connect? As I have two spare HDMI inputs ( we are using scart for SKY as it reroutes thru an Archos PVR.

cheers paul

 

[bigboss]

Sony S360 is the newer model which has won rave reviews everywhere. I would go for the Sony S360, or the Panasonic BD60 (BD35 is an old model).

 

[method man]

bigboss:Sony S360 is the newer model which has won rave reviews everywhere. I would go for the Sony S360, or the Panasonic BD60 (BD35 is an old model).

to be fair mate. I know that. The BD35 also got rave reviews. was a more expensive player when launched. and the WHF review of the newer BD60 says there no difference. but I can get the BD35 for 119.99.

what Im really after guys, is an opinion form somone that might have seen them, used them. some info if getting a panny would be a better match for my TV, and some answers to my queries.

 

[Anonymous]

The BD-35 and BD-60 are IDENTICAL in terms of picture and sound quality. I have even tested the BD-35 against the BD-80 - sound was slightly better in the BD-80, but not by a huge margin as one would expect. Picture quality remained identical.

You can get some really good deals on the BD-35 now and I would urge you to consider that point, from a purely financial perspective.

I haven't seen the urge to upgrade from my BD-35 as it is an extremely good blu-ray player.

It is a tried, tested and proven product, not to mention an award winner. I cannot comment on the S360 as I have yet to see one in action, but I would be really surprised if it can better the BD-35 in picture quality.

 

[method man]

thanls valian. does yours have coax digital out? i know it has optical.

 

[TitusG]

Sorry to thread hijack but what are the panasonic load times like?

 

[Clare Newsome]

ValianTX:
The BD-35 and BD-60 are IDENTICAL in terms of picture and sound quality. I have even tested the BD-35 against the BD-80 - sound was slightly better in the BD-80, but not by a huge margin as one would expect. Picture quality remained identical.

You can get some really good deals on the BD-35 now and I would urge you to consider that point, from a purely financial perspective.

I haven't seen the urge to upgrade from my BD-35 as it is an extremely good blu-ray player.

It is a tried, tested and proven product, not to mention an award winner. I cannot comment on the S360 as I have yet to see one in action, but I would be really surprised if it can better the BD-35 in picture quality.

The S360 does pip the Panasonic ('35 and '60), in our comparative testing. Doesn't stop the Panasonic(s) being a great option, though. If I was buying from scratch, i'd opt for the Sony, however - superb sound and vision for the money, and slicker to use than older models.

 

[method man]

thanks claire. it may win on having a coax digi output alone. but the rest is noted. ive certainly read that load time is quicker.

 

[nads]

as an owner of a DMP-BD35 i also do not have any desire to change it yet, and i have been looking.

 

[Anonymous]

Is the Sony significantly better than the Pana or just marginally better?

 

[Clare Newsome]

Certainly not significant enough, IMO for the Sony to be considered an upgrade. However, if you've the choice of both from new, it makes sense to pick the best for your money. You may also, however, own a Panasonic TV and be prepared to trade off that slightly superior performance for the added convenience of single remote control.

 

[Anonymous]

Righto Claire! Thank you.

 

[manicm]

Clare Newsome:Certainly not significant enough, IMO for the Sony to be considered an upgrade. However, if you've the choice of both from new, it makes sense to pick the best for your money. You may also, however, own a Panasonic TV and be prepared to trade off that slightly superior performance for the added convenience of single remote control.

Just to put in my 2 cents Clare

- the Sony's remote can be programmed for basic functions for some big makers' TVs like Samsungs - it's in the manual. Just checked - Panasonics too.

 

[method man]

having read a few reviews from new owners on amazon. the sony some recon isnt upscaling DVDs as well as they thought. whereas i belive the panny is well known for being good at that. any thoughts?

 

[Clare Newsome]

The Sony is fine - have they compared it to the Panasonic, on the same screen (with the same disc)?

Also, a budget Blu-ray player isn't going to work miracles (whatever brand) with, say, poorer DVD transfers and larger, Full HD TVs...

 

[method man]

right you are claire. the usual amazon reviewer is a first time user. its just that the same numpties were all impressed with the pannys upscaling. maybe as it was launched more expensive the buyers have better TVs and actually own a HDMI cable. LOL

 

[nads]

just to add to the DVD upscaling. No idea dont use the Panna for it as i have a very good HD DVD player to do that if needed.

 

[method man]

thanks all, thanks WHF for the reviews. and thanks Claire particualry.

we bought the Sony today. Currently its upscaling my Godfather DVD box set. looks great. sounds fantastic thru the AVI speakers. and FINALLY my wife is happy that she can once again put a CD into something and listen to it, rather than getting me to rip it.

As yet I do not own even 1 Bluray disc. will be interested to see the difference.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Glad you're enjoying it - Blu-ray will look/sound even better (and there are some great disc-deals around....)

 

[Anonymous]

Can the Sony and Panasonic play Multi Region D.V.D's ?

 

[bigboss]

No, they are usually locked to region 2. If you've not bought your player yet, you can buy it multiregion for DVDs. Check www.richersounds.com & www.mrmdvd.com for multiregion (for DVDs) blu-ray players. If you've already bought the player, it can easily be made multiregion for DVDs using a remote hack (obviously, check the player first to confirm that it's really region locked).

 

[manicm]

I bought my 360 Region 2 classified from a Sony retail store here in SA, and played my Region 1 DVD out of the box - so check first - it might be region-free without needing to hack.

 

[method man]

well.i couldnt be happier. once agian thanks to WHF. somone that is not a 'buff' gets a great deal at a good price. My afore mentioned TV was a WHF award winner a couple of years back. and I got it after a huge price drop. coupled with the sony blu-ray, I now have ( just like with my AVI 9.1s) a system that is good enough to show the difference in original source material. that is easyily enough for me.

I played some old DVDS, some looked better than others. on my old player they all looked pretty much the same. But when i put in the latest Bond DVD . WOW! a whole new ballgame.

whilst having a surf around for some Blu-rays, its become apparent to me (no doubt old news to you lot) that some are done well, some arent, and some are worse than a good DVD. but i seem to remeber in the early days of DVD there were some rushed thru crappy ones. even in many CDs actually. But at least we have the interent now to discuss them.

 

[daveyjay]

I've just found the S360 for £134.88 on Dixon's website. This was the best deal I could find this morning. I've ordered one - should be here around midweek. Hope the peformance lives up to the reviews.

 

[bigboss]

The Sony S360 is available on Amazon for £134.88 as well. I'm sure you'll be happy with your purchase!