The Official Sony BDP-S550 Owner's Thread - Page 6

So this is curious. In my seemingly never ending quest to get DTS-HD MA 7.1 LPCM from my S550 to my STR-DA5300es via HDMI, I've found some rather strange results.
With the S550 "BD Audio" set to "mix" and the "Decode Priority" on the DA5300es set to "auto" I only get 5.1 LPCM according to the receiver. The 550 display shows DTS 3/2.1 48kHz.
With the S550 "BD Audio" set at "direct" and the DA5300es "Decode Priority" set to "PCM", I get 7.1 LPCM on the receiver and the display button on the S550 says DTS-HD Master Audio 3/4.1 48khz.
Why would the behavior be different?

With MIX, you are getting the secondary audio track and core DTS> The Denon does it exactly the same. THe latter with 'direct', is true DTS MA... Thats what you want.

Ok so I lied. I just ordered the S550 from Buy.com with free shipping and 5% coupon for $314. I was sold on the panny but the price is to good on this S550 not to jump. Hopefully this is not to good to be be true and they don't cancel my order.

$314! I imagine the Pioneer buyers are just dying right now...

Why is it doing core if there is no secondary audio track to mix?

What are the crossover settings available when using 7.1 analog out?

After the rollercoaster ride here the last couple of days while waiting for my player it arrived today. I decided to rent Live Free Die Hard on the way to home test DTS MA 5.1 over analog as that is what my system is set up as. It works as advertised for those who need another verification.

Initial thoughts about player are:

-I tried to take a quick look at the chipsets, but after removing 9 screws and still not able to get the top off I decided to leave well enough alone for now. I am interested in how the DTS MA is being handled considering Sigma's feedback on the 8634 chip.

-I wasn't sure about the blue front, but it is transparent and looks black to me so if you are not buying this player because of the front I would rethink it

-Love the menu system. Very responsive and thorough

-PQ looks very good so far. Impressive amount of video settings.

-Very well built player. When lifting it has some substance to it. Doesn't feel flimsy

-Like the way you can pull up menu options while playing a movie

-Display button shows alot more info than my Sammy 1400 did. It is similar to PS3.

-I can confirm it does not have frame advance after pausing. Not a big deal to me. If you want to catch a Sharon Stone like moment you will just need good timing

I am very pleased so far. This is alot of BD player for the money, especially when considering the Sonystyle deal.

Any thoughts on a possible firmware update to allow frame advance or some kind of jog? I am sold anyway, but want it all....

There are none. There's a single, fixed crossover at an unknown point.


How did you determine it works as advertised? What player settings did you use? What receiver are you using? And are you connected to a TV using HDMI for video? Thanks.

It does for me. I was really worried when I read conflicting posts.

Its not even confirmed yet if the S550 uses the Sigma chip. Someone please open up the S550 and tell us what video chip it uses.

-Pressing display or audio it shows DTS-HD Master Audio 3/2.1 48khz. The detail in sound quality is evident. Just what I was looking for in upgrading.

-The pertinent settings are: Multi Channel Analog, Bd Audio= Direct, Audio DRC=wide.

-Harman Kardon AVR7200 which is a 7.1 receiver but I have a 5.1 setup using the analog inputs. I found better results using the bass management in my HK. The HK has an option of 6 channel direct which send the players settings or 6 channel "DVD audio" which applies the receivers bass management settings which allow me to set the crossovers where I prefer. Which happen to be 60 for the fronts and center and 80 for the surrounds.

-I have the video connected through HDMI going through my DVDO EDGE VP.

-By the way I checked the SD DVD output and it does do 480i over HDMI which my 1400 couldn't do and the video quality through my VP was MUCH better than the 1400. I would love the "source direct" option, but it just takes a few seconds to change the output to 480i for a SD DVD.

Somone finally knows how to get the best out of this player with analog! I really don't understand the previous obsession with "MIX" although it was really a stupid decision on Sony's part to make that the default setting.

So you have to set the speakers to large on the S550 to send a full range signal to your receiver and then from there your receiver chops it up? Hopefully my Marantz can do that to.

I'm happy with my 550, but if some of you are interested Circuit City has just got in the Panny 55 online.

Most AVR's simply take a analog input as is. In other words, bass management needs to happen in the player first before sending to the AVR. If you are lucky enough to have something that will redigitize the analog signal and then apply bass management (among other things), then you are good to go. Most AVR's can't do that.

What do you mean by this? I have a HK635 and use the same set up as you for audio. I run video direct to the 1080P TV with HDMI. I am using a Samsung 1200 set to upscale everything to 1080P, which takes advantage of its outstanding Reon processor. Are you saying that you have to set the 550 to do no upscaling and send the 480i signal to your video process so it can perform that function? In that case, we still do not know what kind of job the 550 does in upscaling a SD DVD. I want to see how it compares to the Reon in my 1200. I would like to have an all in one machine, but if I have to I can keep the 1200 hooked up for the occasional SD DVD that I pop in.

I was using the Samsung DVD-HD960 before getting the S550. I think the 960 did a very good job of upscaling to 1080P and the S550 is just as good.

Any internal pics yet?

Sorry if this has been covered. I am using a Lex MC12 that can only decode via optical or coax.. pcm. Will the sony downconvert to 5.1 over pcm. I am currently using a lg bh200 which will switch all format to dts5.1 and send it over to the lex. thanks

This is not a good comparison. I had a HD960 before I got the 1200. The upscaling chip is not even in the same ballpark. The Reon HQV chip is pretty much considered the best available. Unfortunately it is only available in the Samsung 1200 and the 2500/2550 as far as I know (and the old Toshiba HD-DVD player). So far no other chip has tested up to the Reon performance standards and most people can see a visible difference even with a 42" display. I would love to hear from someone who can compare the upscaling performace of the 550 with a Reon equiped player, either Samsung or Toshiba.

The Denon 3800 uses the Realta chip which is better and Oppo players use ABT chips that measure just as well or better as the Reon. And of course external scalers...........

I think the Denon 3800 is the only player that is going to compare to your 1200 for upscaling.

They say "No news is good news." But it is becoming somewhat curious as to why none of the new 550 owners are addressing its video characteristics...

Even when we pop the top, if you recall from the S350 pics I posted before, The chip you want numbers from is under this huge heatsink that is attached with some special tiny clips. Someone will almost have to ruin their player to get that off (or rig it back after).

I will open one as soon as I get me hands on one, but still it will not be that telling opening the top. I am not going to possibly ruin a player to remove that heatsink.

I don't want to hijack this thread but the Realta and Reon are both made by Silicon Graphics and both use their HQV technology. In fact the Reon is a successor to the Realta, but was designed for the mass market. Regardless both are good. I have heard the ABT that Oppo will use is also a good upscaler but not sure if it is in any other mass market machine. The Denon at around $1800 is not what I would consider a mass market Blu Ray player. Even the Oppo will push the envelop if it cost more than $500, as I have heard. A machine at $400 MSRP with Reon/Realta or ABT is probably the best Joe Six Pack can do at upscaling. That is why I am interested in seeing how the 550 will stack up with that as the benchmark.

Here are some inside pics:

(they were taken by a friend James B.)

Cool.

Check out this link that was posted in the S5000ES thread Jon.


http://hdtvpolska.com/index.php?showtopic=13050

Not sure if you saw it, any impressions of the interior? Any similarities to the S350 (or the 550 for that matter) that you remember?

Looks to be the EXACT same BR drive.

Thanks

Sorry, could someone pretty please tell me if I am out of luck with this unit or direct me to the correct thread. Pretty please. Again, will the 550 be able to convert TruHD to a 5.1 compatible format that can be sent thru pcm for coax or toslink. thanks again.

You get the lossy 5.1 DD through coax/toslink. Every BD player does this. Don't expect lossless through coax/toslink unless it's 2CH PCM.