From what I can tell the the Sony BDP-S550 Blu-Ray player did not make it for a review in the Awards issue? The Panasonic DMP-BD55 sound promising (thanks for putting the review online!) but I would love to know how the two compare. On paper they seem pretty identical so I am very curious about the picture/sound quality, noise, startup time and DVD upscaling. What Hifi is my go-to mag for hifi advice, thanks for doing an awesome job!
Sony BDP-S550 review?
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matthewpiano
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- Nov 23, 2007
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We haven't received an S550 in our Sony Centre yet but when we do I'll try to post some thoughts on it. I would think the S350 will remain the better seller as the S300 did over the S500, but if the difference is substantial enough you never know.
Gerrardasnails
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Clare Newsome:The Sony made it in time for Awards testing. Be patient - only a day to wait!
And my S550 is being delivered to me on Friday!! My "review" will be posted over the weekend. I bet you can't wait!!
And my S550 is being delivered to me on Friday!! My "review" will be posted over the weekend. I bet you can't wait!!
Does anyone think that the BDPS300 is still worth a punt at a much reduced price of £150. My local retailer has a few left and is selling them off at that price.
Or should I stop being such a cheapskate and shell out an extra £60 for the 350.
Decisions decisions
Or should I stop being such a cheapskate and shell out an extra £60 for the 350.
Decisions decisions
Gerrardasnails
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mrmrj:Does anyone think that the BDPS300 is still worth a punt at a much reduced price of £150. My local retailer has a few left and is selling them off at that price.
Or should I stop being such a cheapskate and shell out an extra £60 for the 350.
Decisions decisions
You can get the 350 for as little as £179.99 if you shop around. The 300 is not a good deal.
Or should I stop being such a cheapskate and shell out an extra £60 for the 350.
Decisions decisions
You can get the 350 for as little as £179.99 if you shop around. The 300 is not a good deal.
ie bought the awards 2008 and i cant see a review for the S550 anyware . has anyone else seen it?
i really need to know whether the s550 is better than the pany bd35 as i want to order one of them , please help me im going mad without me hi def movies.
cheers dean
i really need to know whether the s550 is better than the pany bd35 as i want to order one of them , please help me im going mad without me hi def movies.
cheers dean
We haven't run the Sony review yet - we'll get it online ASAP. But yes, the 550 Sony is more capable than the Pana 35.
In short, the ascending order of quality is: Sony 350; Pana 35; Sony 550; Pana 55.
In short, the ascending order of quality is: Sony 350; Pana 35; Sony 550; Pana 55.
Bummer, you had me thinking the review was in the Awards issue. But hey, I can read just as well on a screen. Clare, can you tell us anything about how the two compare in terms of fan and disk-spinning noise, and DVD upscaling? I'm guessing, at least on the latter issue, that the Panny 55 takes the lead, but if so, why?
thanks clare
sorry i must have got confused
congrats a on a great mag
have you ever thought of having a what hifi tv show, with the amount of events around the world it would be good to see it in the flesh.
regards dean
sorry i must have got confused
congrats a on a great mag
have you ever thought of having a what hifi tv show, with the amount of events around the world it would be good to see it in the flesh.
regards dean
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Hi Mattie,
both are quiet disk-spinners and the BD55 does have the edge with both DVD upscaling and Bluray discs. There's by no means a massive gulf between the two, but the BD55 produces a slightly cleaner, more detailed picture. There's a bigger difference in sound quality between the two - the online review should reveal all...
both are quiet disk-spinners and the BD55 does have the edge with both DVD upscaling and Bluray discs. There's by no means a massive gulf between the two, but the BD55 produces a slightly cleaner, more detailed picture. There's a bigger difference in sound quality between the two - the online review should reveal all...
Gerrardasnails
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Andy Madden:
Hi Mattie,
both are quiet disk-spinners and the BD55 does have the edge with both DVD upscaling and Bluray discs. There's by no means a massive gulf between the two, but the BD55 produces a slightly cleaner, more detailed picture. There's a bigger difference in sound quality between the two - the online review should reveal all...
Thanks for that Andy.
Would the sound aspect matter if I'm sending the audio to my receiver to decode via hdmi?
Hi Mattie,
both are quiet disk-spinners and the BD55 does have the edge with both DVD upscaling and Bluray discs. There's by no means a massive gulf between the two, but the BD55 produces a slightly cleaner, more detailed picture. There's a bigger difference in sound quality between the two - the online review should reveal all...
Thanks for that Andy.
Would the sound aspect matter if I'm sending the audio to my receiver to decode via hdmi?
Andy, thank you! The music aspect is very important to me, I have invested in the Dali Ikon 6 5.1 package and having a Blu-Ray player that is not the best sonically would be a hugeÿdisappointment. And so now I am very curious as to why the Panny is better...
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The BD55 has upgraded audio circuitry and a couple of other design tweaks over the cheaper BD35.
Gerrardasnails, in response to your question - yes, the BD55 does sound better than the S550 over HDMI.
Gerrardasnails, in response to your question - yes, the BD55 does sound better than the S550 over HDMI.
What does the Panasonic do that makes bitstreamed audio decoded by an external amp sound better?
professorhat
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Gerrardasnails
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Mentasm:What does the Panasonic do that makes bitstreamed audio decoded by an external amp sound better?
I think he may have missed what I was asking. I'm hoping he was talking about the sound from hdmi through the tv. Surely if the sound was being decoded by the receiver, it will be that that makes it sound good or not so?
Anyway, who cares. My S550 should be arriving today and I have about 5 BD ready for the weekend at home!!
I think he may have missed what I was asking. I'm hoping he was talking about the sound from hdmi through the tv. Surely if the sound was being decoded by the receiver, it will be that that makes it sound good or not so?
Anyway, who cares. My S550 should be arriving today and I have about 5 BD ready for the weekend at home!!
I'm hoping he misunderstood and was talking about the player internally decoding and sending as LPCM... When you get the S550, make sure you set it to Direct instead of Mix in the audio options, as it won't output DTS-HD (either variant) with the Mix setting (although it does do TrueHD). It means you'll lose menu sounds and secondary audio, but it's easy enough to switch between the two settings.
Don't want to intrude on a vigorous, if circular, debate, but the BDP-S550 review is going online later this afternoon.
Gerrardasnails
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Andy Clough:Yes, and in fact it's up there now, so you can read it exclusively here.
Thanks for that Andy. Well, I've just plugged mine in and put on Ice Age 2. I had this on Sky HD and the picture was jaw dropping then. The BD version is not a huge leap but how good can you get. The sound though is on another planet!!! My first taste of HD audio and it's incredible. From Dolby Digital to DTS HD Master is like VHS to 1080p. Cannot wait for the rest of my discs to load.
Thanks for that Andy. Well, I've just plugged mine in and put on Ice Age 2. I had this on Sky HD and the picture was jaw dropping then. The BD version is not a huge leap but how good can you get. The sound though is on another planet!!! My first taste of HD audio and it's incredible. From Dolby Digital to DTS HD Master is like VHS to 1080p. Cannot wait for the rest of my discs to load.
Clare Newsome:
We haven't run the Sony review yet - we'll get it online ASAP. But yes, the 550 Sony is more capable than the Pana 35.
In short, the ascending order of quality is: Sony 350; Pana 35; Sony 550; Pana 55.
In short, "you gets what you pays for"
We haven't run the Sony review yet - we'll get it online ASAP. But yes, the 550 Sony is more capable than the Pana 35.
In short, the ascending order of quality is: Sony 350; Pana 35; Sony 550; Pana 55.
In short, "you gets what you pays for"
Gerrardasnails
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HDNumpty:Clare Newsome:
We haven't run the Sony review yet - we'll get it online ASAP. But yes, the 550 Sony is more capable than the Pana 35.
In short, the ascending order of quality is: Sony 350; Pana 35; Sony 550; Pana 55.
In short, "you gets what you pays for"
Well, all I can say is I can't imagine how good the Pana 55 must be, let alone the new Pioneer and even the Denon!!
I connected up the Sony 550 last night and played for a while with Ice Age 2 and Ratatouille. The first thing is the sound - it is incredible. I've had Ice Age 2 on Sky HD for ages so the picture in my head of that film was pretty much perfect. However, the sound is on a different planet.
Later last night I watched my first BD film. Pans Labyrinth. First of all, what a film!!! Absolutely brilliant. The soundtrack is only in DD but it still sounded superb. The picture though is just spellbinding. Close ups of faces show unbelievable detail. The girls chapped lips and the stubble on the soldiers, just amazing.
We haven't run the Sony review yet - we'll get it online ASAP. But yes, the 550 Sony is more capable than the Pana 35.
In short, the ascending order of quality is: Sony 350; Pana 35; Sony 550; Pana 55.
In short, "you gets what you pays for"
Well, all I can say is I can't imagine how good the Pana 55 must be, let alone the new Pioneer and even the Denon!!
I connected up the Sony 550 last night and played for a while with Ice Age 2 and Ratatouille. The first thing is the sound - it is incredible. I've had Ice Age 2 on Sky HD for ages so the picture in my head of that film was pretty much perfect. However, the sound is on a different planet.
Later last night I watched my first BD film. Pans Labyrinth. First of all, what a film!!! Absolutely brilliant. The soundtrack is only in DD but it still sounded superb. The picture though is just spellbinding. Close ups of faces show unbelievable detail. The girls chapped lips and the stubble on the soldiers, just amazing.
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