Official Sony BDP-S480 Owner's Thread. All questions and comments go here - Page 3

I used to have N460 until yesterday (upgraded to 480 just to get Vudu and sold 460). Much better build quality than 480. About 2x heavier. It worked just fine. Last firmware upgrade released by Sony about 2 months ago.

In your situation I would get 560. I think this Superbit thingy is useless. Remote quality should not even come into consideration as you should be using Universal remote anyway. You can get one for money saved by not buying S1000ES.

Thanks for the tip. I'm seriously considering it, because I could quite frankly care less about the streaming ... I may be adding an AppleTV into my setup in the near future anyway.

My main concern is a reliable player with good PQ. The majority of my collection is on DVD anyway. I'd like to start building up my Blu-Ray library (I currently own only two titles!) and am a snob when it comes to PQ.

What about the 5 year warranty on the S1000ES? Not worth it? Should I just skip it and go with the S560? I can still return the S480 since I only purchased it on Monday.

OK, So I bit the bullet and bought the S560 new for $99 on eBay.

The seller who has the S1000ES got back to me and told me he has two new, one in a sealed box, the other one is opened but never removed from the box. $275 is too steep for that model. I'll see how I do with the S560 and go from there.

560 most likely very similar to 460. Picture quality will be just fine (I think it is pretty much the same with any player using HDMI because it is just a transport to throw 1-s and 0-s via HDMI). 480 is not any better as far as picture quality is concerned. Good luck with building your Blu-ray collection - I though I would never repurchase anything I already owned on DVD and I was wrong .

OK, good. I feel better about the "impulsive" eBay purchase.

I'm still tempted by the S1000ES, I just wish the seller wasn't intent on selling it at $275. If he would let it go for $200, I'd probably buy both of them and give one to my parents. I just can't justify the $275, even if it is an "ES" model.

You. Must. Resist. Your. Temptation.

You. Will. Purchase. Universal Remote with money saved and stop embarrassing yourself by still not having it!

Best advice I've gotten from an online forum in a long time.

I actually have the big fat Sony RM-AV3000 that I bought brand-new on eBay for $30 last fall. I'll program the remote function for "EJECT" into the AV3000 before I take the 480 back because I know the 560 doesn't have an eject button on the remote

Yeah, I think I'll be happy with the 560. Plus, I'll end up saving some $ off the 480 I bought. I was more annoyed with the fact that I would have to keep going into the settings to change the picture mode from "AUTO" to "OFF" when I wanted to watch a DVD. And by leaving it off, of course it doesn't exhibit the problem, but I'd like to enjoy the benefits of owning a 24p capable TV without having to fumble through my settings every time I want to enjoy a flick!

I could contact customer service but I'm sure that won't get me anywhere. I'm sure Sony removed the constant "ON" option for 24p mode to make things more straightforward for not-so-tech-savvy consumers. And maybe that works OK with their 2011 TVs, but for folks like me who don't have the latest-and-greatest, it's annoying. I literally counted 5 seconds where I had a blank screen and just audio after hitting play. Maybe I'm more OCD than most; that's probably the case. The "ON" option for 24p was omitted in the settings in the X70 models and above, and if it hasn't been added back via a firmware update yet, it probably will never be.

Anyway, I digress. I'll wait patiently for my 560 to come in the mail and report back with the results!

This is your problem right there - you purchased wrong remote!!! Nothing was ever wrong with your Blu-ray player.

Remote must have buttons so that you don't have to look at it to do anything. Duh!

This is what I have:

http://www.hometoys.com/htinews/apr9...ews/rc2000.htm

It's probably 10-12 years old and still going strong. To this day there is nothing better. Back then I paid $220 or smth like that. Now you can have similar for much less (URC or Logitech)

That's a pretty cool remote! I like the Sony one I have, but admittedly the size is pretty clunky and programming isn't very intuitive... I'll have to do some research and see what's out there.

My freind just picked up this player and i just burned some MKV movies for him. I was wondering once he puts the disk in what menus does he go through to play the disk?
I have a JVC and Sammy. Just need he walk through for for him for playing MKV movies.

Btw does the Sony have any drag or lockups with these disks?

He needs to go to "Video" (with film strip icon) in the main menu, then select "Data DVD" (it will appear in the list after folder structure is read). This will bring up list of files.

As far as drag or lockups - I haven't experienced any but in general it seems BD players are not as flexible in playing different formats as PC or other dedicated multimedia devices for different file formats.

Thanks Joe! How is the fast foward on the Sony?...My JVC is perfect just like playing a regular dvd but my sammy sometimes randomly gets stuck while FF.

I am looking for a player that can play MKV disks flawlesly or close to that like the JVC.

I am also looking at the Pannys...what do you think about the picutre quality compared to the Sonys?

Thanks for helping my friend and I out. ;-)

I haven't used 480 much for media playback, so can't comment on FF or if it is better than anything else. Take a look at this (I never owned it):

http://www.amazon.com/Micca-MPLAY-HD-Full-HD-Digital-Player/dp/B002XVBAKI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316400356&sr=8-2

As far as picture quality - I already expressed my opinion above: since output is digital (HDMI) all BD players are just a transport to throw 0-s and 1-s at your TV, so picture quality should be the same for all of them unless you use some picture processing internal to BD player. IMO all that picture "enhancement" is just a gimmick.

I saw that someone made a wiki page for the sony s480, I'll see to it to add some data when I have some free time.

http://www.dexid.org/wiki/Sony_BDP-S480

Just procured a Sony BDP-S480. My 1st real issue with the unit is that I have a wmv file (video) that will NOT play the audio portion. Whether in the USB port, or off the disc. The picture looks great but I get a "Audio format not supported" message. I think I tried toggling every audio option/setting in the player menu but always the same message. (On my PC it plays perfectly) Thoughts?

Can anyone confirm, or deny, or better yet show a work around for being able to get 5.1 when live streaming when utilizing the coax audio out bitsteam? I have an older Pioneer receiver with no HDMI inputs. The coax audio connection is fine for DVDs and Bluray but I only get 2 channel stereo when streaming live. This link.. sonytalk.com/dolby-using-vod-streaming-t123183. (can't post link yet) has posts from others with same issue. Someone was told by Sony that player only supports 5.1 streaming when audio is connected to receiver via HDMI. True? Any way around this? I may take the player back to Best Buy if I will never be able to stream real Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1.

HELP !!!!

Not true. Details in my post earlier in this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post20938052

In a nutshell it doesn't down-convert DD+ to DD 5.1 (DD+ is down-converted to stereo). "Regular" DD 5.1 streams fine via Vudu HD or HDX and Amazon HD.

Thanks for the reply.... I did already see that earlier thread, but I still have not been able to get 5.1 streaming from a single source. I have tried many of the 5.1 tests on Youtube, and have been Vudu and other movie apps and run "free sfuff" like trailers and "1st 2 minutes for free" etc... NEVER came up as 5.1.

*Can you give me an example or two of a place I can go, without purchasing a movie, or subscribing to anything, that will stream 5.1 to me? Thanks!

Vudu, "The Incredible Hulk" 2008 in HDX. 2 minute preview. Streaming it as DD 5.1 right now. You may have to subscribe but you don't have to put your credit card details right away. Plus this player comes with $5 Vudu credit.

Thanks Joe! Literally my 1st experience seeing 5.1 stream. No subscription required. Hulk-2008 720 HD. I swear I watched another preview on Vudu the other day that was stereo. I found the tab to verify the sound track before choosing so I will refer to that in the future. I guess there is just not as much 5.1 out there streaming as I thought. It looks like Youtube cannot do it, at least not through this player. If you have a list of other sites that you get 5.1 please share... Especially any free programing / movies / music etc... Thanks again for the help. Joe

Another one is Amazon streaming - most of the newer titles in HD. But there are no free samples there - everything is pay-per-view. There used to be free HD sample to check if your internet connection is fast enough but it disappeared when they changed user interface some time ago. Other than that I don't know.

The FF on this model is pretty fast in my experience. Also chapter skipping is very fast on BD and DVD.

I recently switched back to the older S560 and it is slightly slower. I preferred the older S560 in terms of build quality, plus I was experiencing some picture drop out issues (see earlier posts in this thread) and the Optical Audio+Coax Outputs not present on the current models. Yes, I don't have all the fancy streaming options, but that's what I'm buying an Apple TV for

Just to clarify - Coax output IS present on S480

Target has the S380 on clearance sale for $98. I bought one for the bedroom (I have an S370 on the main TV). I'm guessing an S390 is coming out soon (and probably matching 490 and 590.)

Hi all,

Just picked up a new S480 from Amazon thanks to the advice on this thread. It's replacing a Pioneer DVD player I've had since 1999. Yeah, cutting edge is my middle name.

Anyway, a simple question about the YouTube streaming services. I know that with a browser I can select a 720P or 1080i version of the video if it is available.

However, I can't seem to do this on the player's YouTube interface and I know the videos have HD versions. Some videos don't look that great on my display. The same video played on a PC connected to the same display running 1080i look much cleaner.

Maybe I'm expecting too much on these simple interfaces?

Thanks!
-Pete

Hi all,

new to this forum here but eager to know before buying:

Does the S480 handle mkv over DLNA as promised? Sonys Webpage states "after update". I got an Seagate black armour 220.
Furthermore what about mkvs containing dual audio tracks? Any possibility to switch between these tracks?
Thanks very much for sharing your experiences!

Leo

Just bought this BP at best buy. They of course tried to sell me a 6' HDMI cable for $60. I said "no thanks". He kept pointing out the speed of the cables. Is it true that the faster the rated speed in Hz the better the picture? Or should I just stick with my 10.2 cables. He was pushing a 15.0 speed cable.

I have cheap "Amazon Basics" 9ft HDMI cables. They handle 1080p60 fine, which is the highest resolution you'll see for awhile (until 4K becomes common). With a digital signal, if it can't handle it, you'll either get nothing, or lots of obvious noise.

So the speed of the cable shouldn't matter?

I have a problem with this player. When I try to watch mp4 video over the front usb I can't get subtitles to show. Subtitles are in .srt format, and exacly the same name as .mp4 file.

When I try this with .avi it always works normally, and for .mkv I mux the subtitle into the container, but I have yet to find a solution to get subtitles on mp4 to show so I came here for some tips.