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The Official Sony BDP-S350 Owners Thread - Page 166

post #4951 of 6719
1/28/09 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawgdaes View Post

I have the 350 connected via HDMI to a Sony DG910 receiver and the BR remote will control the volume of the receiver....

I have an STRDG-920 connected via HDMI to my S350.

What do I have to change on the 350 to be able to adust the volume level of my 920 using the remote that came with the 350?[/quote]

I have the same concern regarding the remote. I emailed Sony & they replied that the remote can only control a TV. I have the 550, assuming it is similar?
This really bothers me as the Sony DVD player I retired had a code to control my Sony receiver. Now I have to access 2 remotes to get the job done. I don't consider this high end equipment lacking a mandatory feature. Who uses the volume to control a TV in a home theater environment?
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post #4952 of 6719
1/28/09 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lamontcranston View Post

Who's going to be the first brave soul to install it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Odysseus18 View Post

Same here. I just got done with the update without a problem.


How did you do it ?

If I just plug the player into DSL phone, will it update automatically ?

Like the DISH box does at 3 am ?
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post #4953 of 6719
1/28/09 at 1:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdferguson View Post

Sorry if my opinions offend or upset you, you are free to ignore them. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been voiced before. My comments began, in fact, in response to another poster who was expressing the same complaints. And frankly, your snide comments really aren't contributing much to the conversation.

The $400 list price of the S350 isn't the issue (I actually paid around $350 if I recall); I am an early adopter with disposable income to buy toys like this. I had been waiting for months for an affordable BR player to come out, so when the 350 first arrived, I bought one (although compared to DVD players, $350 is hardly a bargain). I don't generally spend $30 on disks either, but there is a significant gap between the MSRP of DVD and BR disks.

Look, I want Blu-ray to succeed as much as anyone, but it is taking a very long time for it to take off. The release of titles on BR continues at a mere trickle, BR players are cheaper but still a long way from the $40 DVD player, and their basic functionality doesn't yet match that $40 DVD player in some respects. Certainly the PQ and SQ are outstanding, but there's more to making a product successful than that. As has been widely discussed elsewhere, BR has a relatively small window of opportunity to succeed, and the clock is ticking.

All I was realy trying to say is many of us dont feel like the issues you described ruin the experience as they seem to for you. DVD had many of the same problems when it first came out and since your an early adopter Im sure you knew that. So why did you expect BD to be any different? You should be used to it from buying all the new tech so early in its life.
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post #4954 of 6719
1/28/09 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerm357 View Post

These people surely have never used a Toshiba HD DVD Player because the 350 is alot faster then them. I dont think they know just how bad it realy could be. Im realy supprised sometimes how fast my 350 actually is with HD media. When I hit the eject button it only takes 17 sec for the tray to open (and thats with out using quick start) add another 20 sec at most (most BD I have used were only like 5-10 sec) for the BD disc to load and your watching your movie in no time.

The 350 is faster to tray open, but takes longer to load movies, and is slower for DVD navigation as compared to my Toshiba HD-A2.

That is if you're talking BD-J. The 350 is faster in two scenarios:

1) Quick Start is on. I don't use Quick Start because it wastes electricity.
2) There is no BD-J used on the disc.
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post #4955 of 6719
1/28/09 at 2:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raymond42262 View Post

How did you do it ?

If I just plug the player into DSL phone, will it update automatically ?

Like the DISH box does at 3 am ?

With FW 10 I just connected it to my router and selected "Network Update" in the menus.

With FW 15 I actually burned the ISO image with ImageBurn as I didn't feel like unplugging everything from the back of the TV/player to carry it into my home office.
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post #4956 of 6719
1/28/09 at 3:22pm
Hello. I just got a 350 and am looking to do an initial out-of-the-box firmware update. However, I don't have any way of getting a wired Internet connection to where the 350 will reside.

So, while looking for the best way to connect my HT setup to the Internet, I became curious about the powerline option. I like the simplicity vs. wireless, especially since I have two, possibly three components that I'd like to connect (the 350, DirecTV HD DVR for VOD streaming, possibly Sammy HDTV for firmware and/or streaming content).

However, I also know that powerline is incompatible with any sort of surge protection or line conditioning. I currently have my entire HT setup running through a Panamax 5300. It seems to me that then plugging any component directly into the wall is risky. Of course, I know little about electrical topics - does the ethernet connection protect at all instead?

I'm hoping that this is a safe option since I haven't seen any discussion of any risks with powerline and I know that many people are using it as a connectivity solution. Thanks.
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post #4957 of 6719
1/28/09 at 4:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raymond42262 View Post

How did you do it ?

If I just plug the player into DSL phone, will it update automatically ?

Like the DISH box does at 3 am ?

No, no, no. The player requires an ETHERNET line not a telephone connection. You must connect the player over ethernet CAT5 to your home router connection or purchase a wireless bridge to connect in the event you can't run wired ethernet.

Or, alternatively you can simply download and burn the CD for the new firmware which takes about 15 minutes.
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post #4958 of 6719
1/28/09 at 5:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdferguson View Post

Look, I want Blu-ray to succeed as much as anyone, but it is taking a very long time for it to take off. The release of titles on BR continues at a mere trickle, BR players are cheaper but still a long way from the $40 DVD player, and their basic functionality doesn't yet match that $40 DVD player in some respects. Certainly the PQ and SQ are outstanding, but there's more to making a product successful than that. As has been widely discussed elsewhere, BR has a relatively small window of opportunity to succeed, and the clock is ticking.

I'm perfectly happy with my S350 - which was the last piece of my HT upgrade over the last year - and combined with a steady stream of BDs rented from Netflix, everything has come together nicely for me.

But I agree that the odds are stacked against Blu-ray for the reasons you've cited. And I'll add one more: The biggest (only?) advantage of Blu-ray is the awesome PQ and SQ, but the investment you need to tell the difference will keep the main advantage of Blu-ray away from mainstream adoption. I've got over $3K into my HD panel, speakers, AVR and so on, and my system is barely above "entry level" for some of the folks on these forums.

I considered giving a Blu-ray player to family this Christmas but realistically there'd be no logic to it unless they're in line for a big upgrade. They'd have to pay more to rent or buy disks and they wouldn't see or hear any advantage - they'd only experience the disadvantages you've listed, however much those bother a particular user (me, not so much). My family is by no means luddites or unable to "buy in", and I expect the "average" consumer is even farther behind.
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post #4959 of 6719
1/28/09 at 6:38pm
for the audio(hdmi) setting between auto and 2ch.

the instructions say choose 2ch if connecting to a tv that does not support dolby digital or dts otherwise no sound may occur. i'm probably missing something but i'm wondering if the tv or amp has an hdmi input on it, wouldn'[t it be fair to say that it accepts either dts or digital? in what situation would you plug an hdmi in but it is not a device that accepts digital or dts


also i read that audio drc only works for dolby. so when i select dts does that mean it uses no dynamic range compression? and for reg dvds the instructions say it uses standard. does that go for reg dvds that have a dts track too?
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post #4960 of 6719
1/28/09 at 8:59pm
Firmware 015 is available on the regular sony support site with notes and instructions
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...27&mdl=BDPS350
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post #4961 of 6719
1/28/09 at 9:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmel View Post

Firmware 015 is available on the regular sony support site with notes and instructions
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...27&mdl=BDPS350

Only had my player for a week, so my question is:
Will this upgrade be available via network update in player? If so how long is the expected wait?
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post #4962 of 6719
1/28/09 at 9:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmel View Post

Firmware 015 is available on the regular sony support site with notes and instructions
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...27&mdl=BDPS350

Improves BD-Live performance to enhance interactivity.

[ Fingers crossed ]
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post #4963 of 6719
1/29/09 at 3:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkylineChili4Me View Post

Hello. I just got a 350 and am looking to do an initial out-of-the-box firmware update. However, I don't have any way of getting a wired Internet connection to where the 350 will reside.

So, while looking for the best way to connect my HT setup to the Internet, I became curious about the powerline option. I like the simplicity vs. wireless, especially since I have two, possibly three components that I'd like to connect (the 350, DirecTV HD DVR for VOD streaming, possibly Sammy HDTV for firmware and/or streaming content).

However, I also know that powerline is incompatible with any sort of surge protection or line conditioning. I currently have my entire HT setup running through a Panamax 5300. It seems to me that then plugging any component directly into the wall is risky. Of course, I know little about electrical topics - does the ethernet connection protect at all instead?

I'm hoping that this is a safe option since I haven't seen any discussion of any risks with powerline and I know that many people are using it as a connectivity solution. Thanks.


I just read the pdf for the Belkin Homeplug adapter. It plainly states not to use an external surge protector as it has its own built into the device. Read here:

http://www.belkin.com/uk/support/art...072_manual.pdf
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post #4964 of 6719
1/29/09 at 4:21am
I have a sony 350 and have noticed the last two films have some garbled sound. Swing vote and the Ernie Banks football movie (can't remember the name). It appears that these are in DTS-HD. My receiver is only DTS and Dolby Digital and is quite old. Do I have a setting wrong or something. Most of the sound is fine, just mixed with a garble at times. I listened to Dark Knight with no problems as well as Pineapple Express with no problems. Any ideas
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post #4965 of 6719
1/29/09 at 6:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreameral View Post

I have a sony 350 and have noticed the last two films have some garbled sound. Swing vote and the Ernie Banks football movie (can't remember the name). It appears that these are in DTS-HD. My receiver is only DTS and Dolby Digital and is quite old. Do I have a setting wrong or something. Most of the sound is fine, just mixed with a garble at times. I listened to Dark Knight with no problems as well as Pineapple Express with no problems. Any ideas

More than likely your receiver can't handle the higher bitrate DTS encode that is sent out from the player.

Is there another audio track on either of the disks beside the DTS-HD? Maybe try that to see if there is a difference.

How are you connected to your receiver? Via optical or digital coax? (I would assume one of those SPDIF connections...)

What settings do you have for the digital audio outs on the player? Have you tried doing a 2-ch downmix instead of 5.1 over SPDIF?

Sorry for the interrogation questions, but more info will help diagnose the issue.

shinksma
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post #4966 of 6719
1/29/09 at 7:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geezer View Post

I have an STRDG-920 connected via HDMI to my S350.

What do I have to change on the 350 to be able to adust the volume level of my 920 using the remote that came with the 350?

I have the same concern regarding the remote. I emailed Sony & they replied that the remote can only control a TV. I have the 550, assuming it is similar?
This really bothers me as the Sony DVD player I retired had a code to control my Sony receiver. Now I have to access 2 remotes to get the job done. I don't consider this high end equipment lacking a mandatory feature. Who uses the volume to control a TV in a home theater environment?[/quote]


Perhaps it is because of the Bravia function that I can control receiver level thru the 350 remote; the set-up is: 350 to STRDG-920 via HDMI [also a Sony DVD 77N( I think that's the model #)to a second HDMI input]; the receiver's HDMI out goes into a Sony 52XBR4; all HDMI controls are enabled via each unit's menu...everybody plays happily together..audio volume is controlled by any of the 3 remotes:receiver's, TV's, or Blu-Ray's...I rarely listen to the XBR's speakers; audio is output to the external 5.1 speakers via the STRDG-920...I think the Bravia nomenclature is just Sony's proprietary name for the consumer control codes that pass through HDMI connections, but I may be wrong on that;I would think that any equipment with proper codes would respond to volume requests..is your set-up similar to the one I have described?
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post #4967 of 6719
1/29/09 at 7:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawgdaes View Post

I have the 350 connected via HDMI to a Sony DG910 receiver and the BR remote will control the volume of the receiver....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Geezer View Post

I have an STRDG-920 connected via HDMI to my S350.

What do I have to change on the 350 to be able to adust the volume level of my 920 using the remote that came with the 350?

You need to turn ON "control for hdmi" under settings on the 350. It's off by default. Sony support is correct about the 350 having remote codes only for TV's, but they neglected to tell you that your receiver can be controlled from the 350 via hdmi.
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post #4968 of 6719
1/29/09 at 7:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geezer View Post

Only had my player for a week, so my question is:
Will this upgrade be available via network update in player? If so how long is the expected wait?

The ethernet update is available now. I am downloading it as I type this.
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post #4969 of 6719
1/29/09 at 7:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketknight73 View Post

Some of these comments are amusing. "It doesn't load fast enough" "It's too slow". Question: What the hell do you hope to do with those "precious" extra seconds you gain with different players? I'm baffled as to why it's such a huge issue with some people.

I think a lot of people have been spoiled by their DVD players, which powers up almost instantaneously and loads a disc in a matter of seconds.

I don't know how many of you had a laser disc player, but I loved the fact that it powered up instantly, I inserted a disc, and the movie started playing within 10 seconds. No previews, no FBI warnings that cannot be skipped, no slow-moving menus to deal with.

I think if blu ray owners realized that their player is more like a computer (how long does it take your computer to boot up), they would see that these "slow" load times are quite acceptable.
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post #4970 of 6719
1/29/09 at 7:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by EG Ryan View Post

I think a lot of people have been spoiled by their DVD players, which powers up almost instantaneously and loads a disc in a matter of seconds.

I don't know how many of you had a laser disc player, but I loved the fact that it powered up instantly, I inserted a disc, and the movie started playing within 10 seconds. No previews, no FBI warnings that cannot be skipped, no slow-moving menus to deal with.

I think if blu ray owners realized that their player is more like a computer (how long does it take your computer to boot up), they would see that these "slow" load times are quite acceptable.

I think people would still find reasons to whine about it.

I can see complaints on load times of several minutes where there's simply nothing (seemingly) going on (which is how it was with the HD-DVD players).

Now though you typically get some kind of title or loading screen within 60 seconds followed by the feature or main menu in another 60 seconds.

If you find this an unbearable wait then one option is to simply wait it out until faster loading players come out, which will probably take some time.
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post #4971 of 6719
1/29/09 at 7:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.G View Post

The ethernet update is available now. I am downloading it as I type this.

For those owners who have never attempted an ethernet update, read below.

The download took about 3 minutes on my ethernet connection and the software installed in 5 minutes.

After the download completes the TV screen goes blank and the Sony front panel begins to display the installation progress...VUP 0/9 continues to VUP 9/9...after which you hear the player spin up briefly. 'Finish' displays on panel and player turns off.

I turned the Sony on to check 'System Information' and it displayed 07.4.015.

Threw in my 'Iron Man' BD to check play and sound and everything seems normal.
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post #4972 of 6719
1/29/09 at 8:18am
i have not yet tried the bd live on the player and am about to. will any usb flash drive work? and is there a minimum size? i have a 512mb and wondering if that will work.

also does it need to be formatted any particular way like with fat or ntfs. thanks so much
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post #4973 of 6719
1/29/09 at 8:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmpage2 View Post

If you find this an unbearable wait then one option is to simply wait it out until faster loading players come out, which will probably take some time.

I thought this was amusing.
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post #4974 of 6719
1/29/09 at 8:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtao81 View Post

i have not yet tried the bd live on the player and am about to. will any usb flash drive work? and is there a minimum size? i have a 512mb and wondering if that will work.

also does it need to be formatted any particular way like with fat or ntfs. thanks so much

Page 23 specifies 1GB or larger. FAT format.
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post #4975 of 6719
1/29/09 at 8:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.G View Post

Page 23 specifies 1GB or larger. FAT format.


It of course has to be small enough to fit into the slot on the back of the player as well. There are quite a few that don't fit.
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post #4976 of 6719
1/29/09 at 9:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdavej View Post

You need to turn ON "control for hdmi" under settings on the 350. It's off by default. Sony support is correct about the 350 having remote codes only for TV's, but they neglected to tell you that your receiver can be controlled from the 350 via hdmi.

Since I am trying to stretch the life of my older equipment, I am not using the HDMI cables at this time. I am running component 1080i to my 65" RPTV & using the analog out (I have the 550) to my 6.1 Sony receiver. How much could it have cost Sony to include a few discrete codes for a receiver? After all, I am still using a Sony!
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post #4977 of 6719
1/29/09 at 9:16am
i updated to fw 15 through ethernet and repo! the genetic opera now works!
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post #4978 of 6719
1/29/09 at 9:27am
I have the following:

Sony BDP-S350
Sony Bravia 1080i TV
Onkyo HTS 894 Home Theater 5.1

I have the TV connected to the receiver via an HDMI cable. I have a second HDMI cable from the Blu Ray to the reciever.

My problem is on certain disks, Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hairspray, I Robot, I can barely hear the main dialog audio track. I can hear all the other sounds perfectly.

I did a firmware upgrade yesterday, but this didn't improve things.

HELP!! Very frustrating!
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post #4979 of 6719
1/29/09 at 9:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmpage2 View Post

I think people would still find reasons to whine about it.

I can see complaints on load times of several minutes where there's simply nothing (seemingly) going on (which is how it was with the HD-DVD players).

It's loading iHD, etc... which can be just as slow as loading BD-J.

Quote:
Now though you typically get some kind of title or loading screen within 60 seconds followed by the feature or main menu in another 60 seconds.

Frankly I'm surprised by anyone who does NOT consider the S350 slow. Maybe I'm just impatient, but it does seem rather lame to have to wait 2-3 minutes just to be able to play a BD-J movie. Just because an HD DVD player can also be slow doesn't make the S350 fast. They're both slow.

What makes it appear even slower is the fact that other players that cost much less are actually much faster. My Insignia Blu-ray player is significantly faster than my S350 for both BR loading and DVD navigation. "Significant" in that the difference is quite noticeable... yet even the Insignia is still slow. The S350 is just much slower.

Quote:
If you find this an unbearable wait then one option is to simply wait it out until faster loading players come out, which will probably take some time.

Actually, that's exactly what I tell many HD n00bs. I tell them that:

A) BD-J movies take forever to load.
B) DVD navigation is much slower.

It does deter some people who plan on replacing their DVD player, but many others don't care because they just keep their old DVD player.
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post #4980 of 6719
1/29/09 at 11:35am
I suppose it depends on how you use it, too. My BDP-S350 (and my Toshiba HD-A3) for that matter aren't too slow for me, because they're on a rack behind the screen wall of my HT. So I invoke the command to watch a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD from my remote, and by the time I've walked around to where my rack is located, so that I can insert the disc, the player is ready. By the time I've inserted the disc and returned to the HT to sit down and watch, again, the player is ready.

If I had the player(s) in a wall unit right next to the TV, though, I can see how the slow-ish response could be irritating.

One thing I will say about high-def players, versus standard DVD players. In addition to DVD players being mature, they're also still built in pretty high volume... those two factors likely mean that a lot of their functionality is built into ASICs. I suspect (and I'm completely speculating here) that much of the high-def player functionality is implemented in GPPs and FPGAs. Seems to me hard logic in an ASIC has the potential to be much faster than software on top of an OS on a GPP, or even firmware on configurable FPGA logic (particularly in terms of boot time).
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