Official New Sony S370/S470 Owners Thread - Page 92

Disney gets this right (asks you if you want to resume from last stop when you go to play the movie again), but it's one of the few...

What I had hoped for, was to be able to stop the BD, and turn off the player, and then, later turn on the player, and press Play, and pick up where I left off. With BDs, I have not found a way yet, to do that....

I put in Godfather III tonight, and I pressed STOP once, and then PLAY, but the film went back to the beginning Menu, and not back to the scene that I was on.

I'm going to catalog all of my BD discs to keep track of which ones will go back to the scene and which ones won't....
Edited by See The Light - 7/1/12 at 3:17pm

I was quite surprised/pleased that on my S470, Star Wars Episode 1 BD resumed from where I left off, even after the disk had been removed from the player. I don't know if that disk uses BD Java though (wasn't able to find a quick answer via Google).

There are several ways bookmarking works on BD's.

'Normal' BD's use the players built-in bookmarking, and will pick up where you left off almost instantly after hitting PLAY.

BD-Java BD's seem to use several methods:
Auto-remember and ask if you want to resume shortly after it loads the Java code, even before going through the logos and stuff

Auto-remember as above, but you sit through some logos first.

Auto-remember, but you have to go to the main menu, and it then asks when you go to start playing (Disney seems to do this so the kids see the ads over and over.)

Manual bookmarks by hitting the GREEN key before you stop. You usually have to go to the Scenes, Chapters, or similar menu, then find the tiny BOOKMARKS icon to select and view. Universal titles are worse, as you usually have to start playing them, then hit UP arrow to pop up the timebar, then down-arrow to get the bookmarks highlighted.

No bookmarks at all (HBO, BBC)

Some BD-Java disks may have both auto and manual bookmarking.

Basically, I ALWAYS hit the GREEN key before hitting STOP. Hopefully, you get a 'bookmark added' notice. If not, then I hope it has some form of auto-bookmark.

Anyone else buy the The Dark Knight Rises score CD today? It's not spinning up/being recognized at all in my 470. Gave my iTunes 10.6.1 (7) fits and starts before finally coming up also. Plays fine in my 10+ year-old Sony D-F20 CD Walkman though. I suspect that the "CD unlocks Website with exclusive Music and Bonus Content" is the culprit.

You can use one of those CD checker programs that reviews the format of the CD. It probably has computer files on it that are confusing some devices.

Re ^^ Thanks for the reply. You're likely right. Although I understand that this just (further) distinguishes me as an old fart in some people's eyes, I'm of the opinion that a music CD shouldn't ever have anything on it that precludes it from "Just Push Play" functionality.

The offending files mean it's a CD-ROM, yeah? I'd sure like to have thought that that 10+ year old technology makes that a "baked" format at this point. And I partly blame the player: One of the things I don't like about it is the primacy of the networking functions--you often can't just put in a CD and press "Play" without needing to have the display on and toggle to the "Music" menu or at the very least if it already defaults to that when attempting CD playback (and admittedly more frequently but only slightly less annoyingly) press "Play" twice. I'm reminded of my BlackBerry (yeah I know, another old fart/"get with the Android-iPhone program" trait): the player might be a little too "smart" for its own good if it can't just play a disc that a freakin' Walkman from 10 years ago can. Kinda counterintuitive that a more sophisticated deck can't handle this disc for whatever fakakta authoring reasons compared to gear from a decade ago which apparently can just ignore the offending files and play the music.

Actually, audio CDs with computer files on them have been around for many years and are often referred to as "enhanced cd" or "CD+". It simply means there is a 2nd session following the opening audio cd track session on the disc. CD players only see the very first session - and play the music. They have no clue there is another session following the audio tracks. Computers see the last session and generally launch whatever program is there (usually a video or something like that related to the music on the cd). I suppose it is possible that newer and more sophisticated players that are actually computers under a standalone player cover might see and try to handle that 2nd session on an "enhanced cd" and get confused? Or in the case of your example - try to launch a connection to a website? I've never run across a problem, but then I listen to my music CDs with my old and excellent Denon cd player and leave the blu-ray player for movies.

I will check when done with the commentary I have paused on my Panny DMP-BDT350 right now as I'm in the middle of it, but I have a hunch that that player will spin up this disc just fine. It's of the same model year as the 470.

Of course, I don't consider the 470 "just" a "Blu-ray player." And it's obvious that Sony doesn't either. To wit, it was their choice to finally embrace playback of their own SA-CD format with the 2011 models. With that step I think it reasonable to expect that there are going to be music buff consumers who use the deck as much if not more for SA-CD (and perhaps CD) music as for BD movies. I personally think the deck should handle all its advertised major feature sets (BD & DVD; SA-CD & CD; network functionalities) with equal competence/prominence. Perhaps things got better with the 2012 models but little things like this (and the lack of SA-CD tracks number being displayed) with this deck are admittedly minor issues but issues nonetheless, ones I've never had with the four other BD players from two other manufs I've owned.

That 'auto-start' capability on computers was used by Sony a few years ago to install rootkits on computers that could block copying of CD's. It was installed even if you declined to install the other software on the disk! Big lawsuit resulted.

Yup--spun up just fine on the 350.

This may be dumb - but is there anyway to use this player (or any player) to take advantage of the NBC streaming of the Olympics? I realize the quality would be sub-par on a big screen (have no idea of the bit rate) - but NBC is showing every event live on the internet. Would rather watch some things on a regular display rather than a computer screen.
Sure am glad they now are showing more events "live", even on the big screen. Years ago, got a Canadian DBS system in time to watch many events live and their coverage was top notch. (Also got it because that's when HD first came out and Comcast was a year or two behind in providing it here as was both DISH and DirecTV.

The only way you could use the player is if there is content on Hulu Plus or other supported service, or if Sony adds an Olympic channel. It can't be used as a generic streamer that can connect to any site.

Is my Sony Blue-ray BDP-S470 USB port always on

I'm wanting to buy a Turtle Beach DSS2 headphone amp that's powered by USB.

Is the USB port on my Sony BDP-S470 Blue-ray DVD player always on? In other words, I don't use the player much so it's usually not turned on when I'm watching, say, a Netflix movie on my 46" Sony Bravia EX720.

I'm asking because I don't know if the EX720's USB ports or the DVD player will power such an amplifier.

Kerry

I haven't checked, but would think it depends on the power off mode you have the player set to. If fast start is on, it may remain powered as the box only goes into standby. If fast start is disabled, then the port is most likely turned off.

Does anyone know which technology these players use for streaming Netflix? The newer devices (and computers) seem to get different streams than my BDP-S370.

Case in point, if you view the Example Short movies on Netflix on your computer or on a new Apple TV, you can see bitrate and other information about the stream you're viewing (and this appears to be hard-coded into the Example Short videos themselves). If I play the Example Shorts on my S370, I don't see this information, which leads me to believe it's playing a different encode.

(I'm aware of the bitrate display that is a part of some of the newer Sony players, but this appears to be something different. Look at the Example Short movie on your computer if it's not clear what I'm trying to say.)

Most newer players, including the x90 series, have newer streaming software. I doubt there are any plans to use it on older players, and it may not even work due to not having enough CPU power or something.

The encode is probably the same. The main difference is that the x70 and x80's try to determine the bitrate before playing, and can have pauses if it guesses too high. Newer versions are adapative and start with Low/SD, and work up as high as they can, and can drop to a lower encode if needed.

I think netficks is going to much depend on net speed and if you have a subcribed service with them, as for how much movie it will play with very much depend on what is currently stored on netflicks servers in


if it only has a preview of said movie you wanna watch it will only show the preview though to move on from there you may have to pay for it..

i would say netflicks apps may vary in usability options between hardware variants it may not be as compatible as you were lead to believe...

also note that if you're the quality of the actual stream will depends on how fast your internet connection is, on a 4-8mb connection don't expect to get 1080i or 1080p type service, max without buffering will between 360p-720p

the more stuff you have online the slower the service becomes..


from what i have read on the sony lit regarding usb, thumb drive used as memory expansion, usb hdd for watching stored stuff on hdd or wifi dongle use where wifi isn't built-in or present..

usb link between tv and bd player may or maynot work...

from what i recollect in when i read my 370 manual...

usb tv functions are the same or similar to bd player support features.. regardless of tv model you have...

edit:

1 thing i will also add usability and options for support within the player itself are very basic inn support option as you go up in bdplayer models you may have extra support options on a higher end models, features are really bare from what i've seen in my 370 which is almost a carbon copy in what is supported in my ps3....
Edited by mystic_sniper28 - 8/22/12 at 4:08pm

Our 370 players (we have 2 in two diff. locations) just show a "Testing internet connection" screen for a few seconds while a "testing bar" runs across the bottom of the screen for 5-10 seconds. We have no way of knowing the bit rate it winds up giving us. We have a fast (supposedly) internet connection - so should get the best feed available. Just don't know.

snids what is your, cable/adsl/fois modem speed..


looking at home network speed if you bd quality res min i would use is 100mb or 1gb in speed..

a low qual bd might use 50mb in buffer, 70-100mb buffer bit rates for high qual discs..

if you're on less than a 12mb connection most of the crap you will watch will fall into 320x240, 640x480 and 720x576 streams vs viewing platforms you watch at whether it be 720p or 1080i/p..

hi all

Have just added an Arcam rLink DAC to my setup (S470 BD, Pioneer 1020k av receiver to Monitor audio RS 6 bookshelf speakers):

I would like to run the optical output of the S470 to the Arcam rlink, and then output analog stereo to my Pioneer receiver for audio and video file playback, while utilizing HDMI out for video if necessary.
The thing is, how do you set the audio output preference in audio settings on the s470 so that the audio also comes out of the optical output as PCM?

So far I have tried switching via the pioneer to force signal to the analogue audio setting while the input is HDMI video, but I get no sound. As soon as i change signal select to HDMI or auto I get sound (rightly so via hdmi)

On the ps3 you can setup so that audio comes out HDMI and the optical/coax outputs at the same time -how does one do this on the S470 (if indeed this can be done)?
I have scanned the manuals of both devices with no luck.

Thanks in advance

I was thinking about upgrading my old player, but it already streams netflix and amazon so it's not so bad. The newer players are nice since they have wifi and more ram internally. If there was one that would load bloody disks a little faster, I might bite! I don't know much about the bitrates but I was sure to get 12meg on the new line installed on the house (to uverse from cable for less than 1/2 price). It is strange though, one SD show I'm watching is terribly jerky. Another HD show I'm watching is perfect. Therefore I think they use different methods of encoding and some are better than others irregardless of bitrate.

In Oakland Comcast - speed tests are 12-16mb. Usually over 15.
In Miami Comcast - almost always over 22mb. Usually around 25-26mb

Speed tests via "speedtest.net"

average would be 11mb on 2 devices active at the same time, that's on 22mb connection, on 16mb 8mb per 2 devices..


since you're likely to be running a min of 4 devices, you would fall within the 5mb category per device..

on a 16mb you would sustain 3-4 mb per device throughput..


so themax you would see with buffer is 720p in throughput speed rather than viewable upscale...


the next time you watch a bd in your 370 it does give a view option of processing power the bd uses...

from what i've actually seen you can average a 50-100mb buffer on a 1080p presentation, so adsl isn't actually fast enough to push 1080p content...

you actually need lan type speed to actually get 1080p, don't matter the app you use for streaming content average anything from a 360--720p stream-able content, anyone claiming 1080p over adsl is speaking pure fiction as you'll be in a constant buffer due to your connection speed..

even on fois you will have buffering issues due to how many things you have running on your home network at once...

I would say netflicks in context to a home movie server might be a great app, in context of streaming stuff off the web at best you might get a 720p and at worst get a buffered to hell and back 1080p stream , more likely watching an upconverted 720 stream to 1080p

Sony BDP-S370 - Will firmware update disable component?

Hi Everybody,

I have been learning about the new copying laws and the new Blu-ray players not having HD component outputs or putting only SD on the component outputs. In my setup, I needed component, so I bought an older Sony BDP-S370 that has HDMI and component. I like the player but is there any concern that a firmware update will disable HD signals on the component output to make it comply or is it grandfathered in since it was made in early 2010? Thanks.

I don't think Sony is updating the firmware on the x70 series anymore. It's been well over a year. I both a 370 and a 380. The 380 was updated a month or so ago, but I assume it too will be ignored now that the x90's are out, and probably the next generation coming out soon, if not already.

The issue isn't the firmware, but the disks themselves. They can now contain a code that tells the player to disable analog outputs, or restrict them to SD. And, of course, DVD's will not upconvert on the component outputs under any circumstances. The best you'll get for them is 480p.

over composite you'll see 640X480...

svideo 720x576

component: 1080i and possibly 1080p pending on the hardwares upscale support

when it comes to dvd playback, unless you plan to re-encode your disc's HDMI isn't the best medium for dvd playback...

from what i've seen through both my sony 370 and toshiba bd players and looking at my onkyo 1080i upscale 704 dvd's are a pretty hit and miss on hdmi whether you playback pal or ntsc material..

I'm having problems with my BDP-S370 where when playing back conventional DVD's that are "enhanced" for widescreen TV's, I would sometimes get a loss of video for about a second, especially if I use fast skip or doing menu selections on the disc's selection menu. Should I upgrade the firmware to M03.R.769 (I'm using M03.R.742) and see if that resolves the problem?

It should be noted that the player is connected to a Sony KDL-40EX500 through an HDMI cable using firmware version 1.512. Should I update that too to 1.514?

sadly you're dealing with a frame rate speed issue...

hdmi isn't the best solution for dvd playback, firmwre will only fix bug issues with gui