Official New Sony S370/S470 Owners Thread - Page 90

Check the Screen settings in the Menu under Setup. Since you can change the TV type from 16:9 to 3:4, Screen Format from Original to Fixed Ratio, and Aspect Ratio from Letter Box to Pan & Scan you might find a setting that stretches the picture to your liking.

Normally though for a widescreen TV what should it be set at?
Original or Fixed Ratio?
Letter Box or Pan & Scan?

TIA

Original
Letterbox

I disagree. Fixed will properly show 4:3 DVDs without stretching and show 16:9 full screen. So that's my preferred setting. If you like everyone to look short and fat, then use Original by all means. Sony's terminology is backwards. Original is really stretched and Fixed is really original (not stretched). This only applies to 4:3 content of course, like some older movies and tv shows.

Thanks for the replies about stretching/cropping to eliminate black bars. I was playing with a widescreen DVD that has black bars on top and bottom, and none of the screen settings seemed to make any difference.

The aspect control on my TV does do the job, but the downside is that I need to keep adjusting it depending on what is being displayed. It would be more convenient if the DVD player had the option to zoom or stretch content to fill the screen. My conclusion, however, is that these Sony players just don't have that capability.

If a movie is 2.35:1, there will be letterboxing. Even a 1.85:1 movie will have some tiny letterboxing which may see if your TV is set to 0% overscan. (A 16:9 TV is 1.78:1).

hi
currently on software m04.R.735 should I be updating?

Yes. That is out of date. 787 is the latest:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/mod...d#/downloadTab

Never update unless you have problems.

Maybe an update could increase speed of access or add video sources, couldn't it - even if you aren't having problems w. an old release?
I agree that if no new sources are added and you aren't having problems - don't fix what ain't broken.

I have to strongly disagree in this case. The changes in this upgrade compared to the OP's current version are huge. He'll get DLNA, 3D, DTS Neo 6, Gracenote, much better photo app, 1080/60p file playback, better youtube, more disc compatibility, better HDMI compatibility and the bd-live bug. Upgrade is a no-brainer.

Greetings -

I have a Sony BDP-S470 plugged into a Harman Kardon AVR245.

When playing a Blu-ray disc with DTS sound,
the disc will play okay if started from the beginning.

But, if I select a specific scene or pause & then resume play,
the sound becomes intermittent, dropping a few seconds
then playing a few seconds (tho' still in sync), just not
'catching up'.

Discs with Digital Dolby or LPCM (or whatever it's called) sound play fine.
As well, the HDMI & TosLink cables work fine if I plug them into other components.

Have no idea what's going on. Any & all insight welcome.

Thanks,

I'm amazed this isn't talked about more but my BDP-S370 will not skip menus that my Oppo BDP-83 can. For example, I can't skip any menus on my Lost In Translation Blu-Ray. I thought that was very odd, so I tried it on my Oppo, and I can skip all of them! So with the Sony, I'm forced to sit and watch them.

There is a guy on the Sony forum that took a huge fit over this issue.

Remember that Sony is also a movie studio. They probably STRICTLY follow all restrictions.

Yeah but why would I need to be forced to view the Universal logo? What good is a fast loading player if I can't get to the movie quickly?

I have a problem with my S470 in that the Fringe Season 3 discs will not play any of the Special Features items on any of the discs. The player screen just totally freezes up and I lose all cursor moveability and selectivity. Episodes play fine.

I updated the player to the most current firmware [out during 08-2011] and it did not change the issue.

I have a Samsung D5500 and everything plays fine on all 4 discs. Since it plays all the content I don't think the discs themselves are defective.

Anyone able to test this for me by any chance?

I know that you found out later what was going on and that a firmware reverting wasn't necessary. But i wanted to talk about one thing you asked. If there was a way to revert to older or factory firmware, it's too bad that sony didn't build the specs or this feature into Blu-ray players. it would have solved (other problems) a lot of bad flashing headaches.

The general answer is NO, but it can be done by Sony in there factory. So I started investigating the possibilty of the end user being able to do it, I found the PDF of the service manuals for the unit and went into the service menu for this unit and there is a possibilty that an end user could do this. I posted pictures of the option in the service menu that may hold that ability either by itself or injunction with a bit of hardware. I did not wish to test this posibilty out on my unit (as it may break/brick it) but I found some interesting data in the PDF as far as either clearing or erasing the chip that stores the firmware. It's been a few months since I stopped looking (no one with the level of knowledge i needed ever answered). Would be great option to have though. If I remember right there was a pin on the chip to clear the data. Wasn't clear with my limited understanding how to do it though. Ultimately got sidetracked and since the unit (BDP-s560) has returned from
Sony's Loredo, TX facility it's been working on about 96% of the Blu-rays.


thanks, I never adjust those, I'll have to take a look next time I find a movie that I don't think looks great.




battscrew - it completely depends on what you do & what you want to do with your player.

Sony & some other Blu-ray manufacturers especially in some of these and earlier product lines have had a not insignificant number of problems with bad firmware flashes. So unlike on say a computer where you can uninstall a driver, there is no such option here. If all you want is to playback blu-rays ans dvds and it's never missed a beat there... then I'd suggest leaving well enough alone. If you've had problems or want the features mentioned above then that's different. Also if the unit happens to be under warranty or not is another consideration. If the flash fails under warranty it will only cost you ~$15-18 to ship it to Sony for re-flash or repair. If it's not under warranty & it goes bad it will be over $120 just for a re-flashing.

IF you are going to flash it. AT LEAST do it the safest way... get the disc from SONY. 2nd safest method download the file from sony (checksum) use a burning program that will verify the data after the burn. Don't use your internet... Chances are if something does go wrong with the connection in only a few cases will it actually be able to re-attempt and be successful.

I have a BDX37 (S370) from Costco. Over the last few weeks, trying to watch almost anything from Netflix has been a disaster. There are constant stops & starts for loading. I am not sure, but I think it may be the bluray player and not Netflix because I also have a ps3 and it hasn't had any problems. Anyone else have issues with Netflix using a 370?

Thanks!

Has anyone else noticed that the S470 is slow at doing DVD layer changes? Of all the DVD players I have owned, this one is the slowest. There is a noticeable 1-2 sec pause at the layer change. It's surprising to me given that this machine has much more memory and CPU horsepower than a standard DVD player. They should have buffered a few sec of video to make the layer change transparent.

I have noticed layer change pauses on the 370.

Are you talking about a DVD, or a BD?

To be honest, as a player has to understand more and more formats, it gets more difficult. My original DVP-S530 started up fast, and recognized and started a DVD quickly. A newer DVP-NS55P took much longer. The S370 seems somewhat in the middle, although BD Java encrypted disks can always take forever...

For some reason during blu ray playback the chapter pops up every few seconds. Has any one had this problem and/or know of a fix?

I tried both Android and Apple version of Sony Network Audio Remote, but neither one finds my blu ray play S470, but it finds my E570 just fine. Anyone tried this ?

No problem for me with the iTunes version a while ago now (BPD-S370). Both devices need to be on the same WiFi network.

Did you use the Network Audio App for Ipad or Android ?

btw, my DLNA server is mybook live from WD

Sorry, I used "BD Remote" on an iPod Touch. I just took a look on iTunes, and it appears that it's been replaced by "Media Remote for iPhone".

I have been using VideoRedo (quick stream fix) to create mpeg2 file from DVD. It works most of the time, but some files does not allow fast forward. Any suggestions on other software to create mpeg2 file that will work over DLNA ?

I currently own the Sony S370 and wife doesn't understand why bluray discs never fill the entire screen, DVD's work fine. Any suggestions to stop the complaining?

What type of BD's? Many movies may be 2.35:1, which will leave a large letterbox on top and bottom. Also, older TV's shows may be 4:3. By default, the player stretches 4:3 material on DVD's, but not BD's, if it's upconverting.

Considering getting a 3D HDTV to use with my 470, but I am thinking of going with a Passive system setup as I don't really want to have to recharge glasses.

Anyway, I'm looking at a new LGLM5800 42" LED display. Anyone know if I'd have any compatibility issues with 3D playback?

Really would appreciate any input.