Sony BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 Blu-ray players (and BDP-BX2) - Page 2

It sounds like the Sony 360 and the new Panny 60 are about the same MSRP, with similar (identical?) features. They also seem to be modified only slightly from this year's Sony 350 and Panny 35.

Any thoughts on which of the new ones would be preferable?

A blu-ray player that doesn't sound like a 747 perhaps?

Please.

Unless you sit within 3-feet of it, it's practically inaudible. Not to mention that in actual practice (ie. watching a movie), even if the PS3's fan was audible, the soundtrack of the movie would render it a moot point. There are very, very, VERY few scenes/moments in films that are 100% silent, and if those remotes instances are reason enough for you to dish out another $300 - $500, then be my guest. It would still, however, leave me mucho confused.

It's like the people who cry about minor convergence issues on their projectors or TV's when looking at grid test patterns, and then ADMITTEDLY follow it up with affirmations they can't notice anything "wrong" with the picture during actual viewing of filmed material (even though they are LOOKING for the errors!).

I understand we all want perfection, but I'm sure I'm not bursting any bubbles by saying none of us will ever attain it....ESPECIALLY in this hobby! Likewise, I understand the inherent "flaws" with the PS3 that are HUGE for some and miniscule for others. You pay relative to what's important to you, I suppose.

I'm just glad it's your money and not mine.

-Paul

Sorry to derail the thread, but I clicked on the S360's product page and looked at their "demonstration" tool to compare 480i and 1080p. Anybody else find it humorous that all the slider does is degrain the 1080p?

You're so right. That way they'll never sell those things to the average joe - who might even consider noise as more detail

The reason BD players will continue to have internal decoding without analog outputs is for Bonus View. If you want to hear the movie with the best audio track with the special features engaged (like PIP), you need a player that will decode every format. All analog connections, audio and video, will be going away in the next three to four years anyway.

+1

PS3s take too much power to run, and make an annoying amount of noise. Those 560s will sell like hot cakes. I can see a lot of people who own PS3s just for blu-ray playback ditching them for 560s.

And for those who care, the 560s will look much better in component racks than PS3s.

The 560s even look better than previous standalones. I much prefer the new black faceplates to the blue ones they were using on the 350s and 550s.

I'm actually disappointed in these. The 360 appears to be exactly the same as the 350 in terms of features. Still no dts hd decoding. The newest panasonic and samsung both have internal dts hd decoding.

Any word on a multi disc blu-ray player from Sony?

My prediction has been that Blu-ray players will evolve to have internal decoding but no multi-channel analog outputs. The reasons are:


1. Chips will be able to do internal decoding at no additional cost.
2. Internal decoding makes sense from the point of view of Profile 1.1 and 2.0 capabilities.
3. Entry and mid-level pricing will continue to fall, putting pressure on manufacturers to delete unneeded features.
4. The multi-channel analog outs will remain expensive, however, since the require D/A converters and jacks.
5. New receivers and displays will all handle HDMI with LPCM audio. Consumers like having only one connector of a standardized style rather than the mess of wires we have had for 30 years.

In a few years, I also expect entry-level Blu-ray players to have only HDMI outputs (i.e., no analog video, no SPDIF, or analog audio at all).

Premium-priced units will still offer these features.

Sony's new machines simply follow this pattern.

Sure it decodes DTS HD MA. From the first post:


shinksma

from the specifications on Sony's website and post #15, it does not appear it does.

I have a suspicion that the DTS Advanced NEO [or whatever currently named!] post processor 'coming in late 2009' receivers might only perform a 7.1 to 11.x upmix in conjunction with an in-receiver DTS-HDMA decode. In which case, the utility of in-player DTS-HDMA decoding might be somewhat diminished in the future.

Hmm, that omission is a little suspicious. But Sony's specs on their website are not the most complete, IMHO - they may be accurate (i.e. if it says something it is true), but they often omit some things, either due to lack of attention or because it was a last-minute update that never got vetted prior to the specs being published.

IMHO, since the press release states it explicitly, Sony will have to publish data that explicitly contradicts or corrects the press release to make me think that the new players don't support internal decoding of DTS-HD MA.

And the Sonystyle website actually says this on the "Learn" tab of the BDP-S360 product page, with similar wording on the Features tab:


So if they've left out DTS-HD MA decoding, they are essentially lying/mistaken on their webpage (not the first time thids has happened to a CE company).

I suspect the decoding of DTS-HD MA was late enough in the game that it was accidentally left out of the specs page, but maybe it is still not done and Sony intends to provide as a FW update. Only way to know is to try it, I guess. Which is annoying - it is hard to really to "know" it is properly decoding DTS-HD MA internally, since it will use the regular DTS "core" if it can't...

shinksma

According to the Sony Style website it has internal decoding...Read the "HD sound that Hollywood intended" paragraph.

Does anyone know what chipset will be used for these players? The supposed boot time of 6 seconds has me hopeful that they can handle Java-laden discs about as seamlessly as the PS3, or at least much more seamlessly than my Panasonic BD35.

No idea what chipset they are using yet but the quick-start mode appears to be for going straight to the movie instead of waiting for the interactive stuff to load.

Well i think i have decided to wait and buy the new Sony bdp 560, and just hook up the optical audio output to my old avr without hdmi and forgo the hd audio formats for now. it will be a couple years before i buy a new hdmi avr. Does anybody know of any problem i will encounter by doing this before i buy??? I've been happy for several years just listening to dts and DD formats, so I think I can deal without the hd audio for a while.

If it's like the S350 and S550, Quick-Start speeds the start up of the player only.

I saw someone mention in quick passing that a new ES player was also announced and shown. Is that true? Is there any information out there yet about that forthcoming player?

Yes,Any More Info On This New Blu Ray Es Player.Usually Sony Does Not Show Or Let Any Info Out On Their Es Line Till June And Then Sell During Sept.Oct.

Let me take one more crack at this.

Oh goody, more great machines to watch old movies on. Just what we need. What we need is lower priced "new movie rentals" to watch on these great machines. Not what we have now.

The 560 would be the ideal choice because of the built in Wifi.

There are a couple reasons actually. Standalone players are typically better than combo devices. This is why purists buy pre/pros and amplifiers rather than consumer AVRs. The PS3 was a great bargain for blu-ray when it released (similar to the way the PS2 was a bargain DVD player when it released), but not so much these days. A PS3 is $400 while a standalone can be had for around half the price. Furthermore, the PS3 is no longer in the top tier of BD players for picture and sound quality. The PS3 can't output bitstream (which many prefer their AVRs to do the decoding for several reasons) and the picture quality is not up to par with standalone players in the same price range. Another niggle is that it doesn't have an IR receiver, making it incompatible with universal remotes without an ugly IR USB adapter (which consumes half the total USB ports).

So yeah, I could see why people would ditch the PS3 for a standalone- particularly a standalone in the $300-400 price range. The standalone will simply outperform the PS3 in just about every way- which in a market like blu-ray, where picture and sound quality and fidelity are the end all be all, that's a big deal.

In short, gaming console life cycles are around 5-7 years while most consumer electronics are 1, which means newer, better technology and hardware at cheaper prices. The PS2 was a great DVD player at launch, but today a 480i PS2 still costs $120 while an upscaling 1080p DVD player with TONS more features and horsepower can be had for much less. The PS3 was a great BD player for a year, and very good one for the next year and now, is being surpassed by standalone players.

SONY just updated their website.

S360 estimated availability is May 3.

S560 estimated availability is mid-July.

This seems to be a similar release pattern as the 350 and 550. Lower priced model released first followed by the higher priced model.

I have been wading through forums for 3 days now and want to get as much for my money as possible. I have been told by many that a ps3 is the way to go even if not a gammer because it is so flexible. I guess my questions is can anyone list the features I would not be able to get on a ps3 that I could get on the BDP-S560. I am leaning towards the 560 but am not sure why except for the IR remote and the idea that a stand alone system is a better way to go. I am getting a samsung LN52B750 as soon as they come out and at some point getting a hdmi compatible sound system. Any discussion on the 560 vs ps3 would be appreciated.

PS3 picture/image quality will not be as good according to some posters here as well as this review:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16089...c_players.html

The PS3 also doesn't have as many audio options/capabilities (can't bitstream HD audio formats for example). The PS3 also has some problems with a few AVR's, the H/K 254/354's being the worst offenders.

On the flip side, the PS3 still has the fastest boot and load times due to it's internal storage/buffer capacity. It also gets frequent firmware updates, although don't expect all the limitations of the unit to be fixable via software. PS3 also offers pretty good quality DVD upscaling, which seems to be hit or miss with standalone players.

I'm in your boat as well. I was going to get a PS3 (mainly for BD playback, not as much for games), but then was swayed by standalone players. I'm still undecided. But the decision is tougher for me as I AM a gamer, lol.

My biggest reasons for getting rid of the PS3 is the fan noise, which does ramp up to unpleasant levels when in an enclosed cabinet. Along with heat and power consumption. The PS3 consumes around 380 watts. 2009 stand alone blu-ray players consume 20-35 watts. I'll second the whole no IR remote thing as it has put me off buying a all-in-one remote. PS3 will continue to be the perfect blu-ray player for many. Heck I have friends that still use there PS2 as there main dvd player.

Now THAT is sad.