Official Sony BDP-S780 Thread - Page 3

Originally Posted by HDDAVID

Does anybody know if the 780 will play multi channel SACD's? I have asked many retailers and even Sony themselves, and it seems everyone has a different answer.
I have seen the 780 box at Best Buy, and it is marked SACD, but nothing about multi channel.
Now I have been comparing this unit to the Oppo 93 and the Yamaha BDA 1000, both do play multi channel SACD's, but are double the price of the 7is80.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

BTW..I have an older Sony dvd/cd/sacd player, and when a sacd is being played it only displays the time, no track numbers or listings. Guess this is a Sony thing.

Originally Posted by HDMI_13

Recently I did a blu-ray player testing. Thought of sharing my experience in this amazing forum.

Here are the players that I have tested.

PS3
BDP-570
BDP-270
BDP-770
BDP-780

Before I get to details let me give you my testing equipment info.

Video - I have Olevia 747i professionally calibrated display (Have 24hz capability) and very happy with PS3 (40gb) since early 2008.
Audio - Have Denon 3808 receiver, Magnepan MMG, MMGW , Two 12 inch subwoofers.
Connected via HDMI only - 3 feet cables (mono price cables).

Recently wanted to get a player that can play SACD with DSD output and also have Pandora. This is where my troubles started.

Got BDP-570 – I was more amazed by the Blu-ray and DVD picture quality than SACD and Pandora. It was more 3Dish. Avatar, Kung-fu Panda, Cars, Speed Racer, Groundhog Day , Up, wall-e, ice age dawn of the dinosaurs whatever movie I play , they look amazing. It blows away PS3 in image depth and in some cases color (more neutral). Chronicles of Narnia series 3rd picture was at its best. Setup was in (ycbcr 4:4:4) , Sound was amazing (HD Bit stream ). In my setup I could clearly hear the difference in PCM vs HD bit stream. btw, My PS3 do not have HD bit stream capability.

I tried BDP-270 for other room hoping it should be good for blu-ray and DVD. Well that was the worst player comparing to PS3 and BDP-570.

After seeing the above results and whatHifi.uk(http://www.whathifi.com/review/sony-bdp-s770) review - I tried BDP-770 to see what improvements it will bring. 770 is a detail monster. But for some reason it did not have the depth of 570. And also got some eye strain watching any movie into one hour or so. Same happened to few others in the family and friends.

Finally tried BDP-780 – well this player has the depth of 570 and details of 770. Setting that brought more depth was( Custom1 – mode Film ). When ever there is sky, water , chrome metal, glass , glossy finish , lights, light fall on objects - 780 is a way better. It could be because super bit mapping. Other colors I don't see much difference. Camera movements also better than 570 and 770.

From picture wise , I am Very Happy with 780.


05/09/11 Update :

Last night had chance to test with 570 head to head to conclude on sound. 780 sounded slightly better (not sure how this is possible as bit stream is supposed to sound the same - may be less jitter could be the reason).

Finally interface and youtube, cracle, videos are also faster compared to 570 and 770. (using wireless connection).

Very happy with 780 better picture and sound.

Originally Posted by billh03

I owned a 770 which decided to play blu ray no longer, and in anger I did bad things to it on the way to the trash bin. The SKYPE experience concludes that Sony is going downhill, too bad after all my fanboy enthusiasm. When I did get the 780 to replace the 770 there was a real sinking feeling about the largely empty outer box and super lightweight box contained inside. At least this time I have a warranty. Sorry to see Sony going in the direction of really cheap lightweight crap, just my opinion, no hate mail please. I'd like to have a DVD-BD player built to last and would gladly give up all the interconnectivey stuff that might be good for some, but I like the player to be substantial and last maybe even 3 or 4 years. That does not seem to be the way that is "good for business." This is my last Sony purchase, not that the others are any better Way not go to, Sony.

Maybe Microsoft's purchase of Skype will change things (though not for Sony from all appearances. Even on appearances which I don't care that much about, the monolithic design on the 770 outdid the 780. The 780 removes the imbedded 1GB memory. The 790 will probably require an external drive ))))

Originally Posted by billh03

I owned a 770 which decided to play blu ray no longer, and in anger I did bad things to it on the way to the trash bin. The SKYPE experience concludes that Sony is going downhill, too bad after all my fanboy enthusiasm. When I did get the 780 to replace the 770 there was a real sinking feeling about the largely empty outer box and super lightweight box contained inside. At least this time I have a warranty. Sorry to see Sony going in the direction of really cheap lightweight crap, just my opinion, no hate mail please. I'd like to have a DVD-BD player built to last and would gladly give up all the interconnectivey stuff that might be good for some, but I like the player to be substantial and last maybe even 3 or 4 years. That does not seem to be the way that is "good for business." This is my last Sony purchase, not that the others are any better Way not go to, Sony.

Maybe Microsoft's purchase of Skype will change things (though not for Sony from all appearances. Even on appearances which I don't care that much about, the monolithic design on the 770 outdid the 780. The 780 removes the imbedded 1GB memory. The 790 will probably require an external drive ))))

Originally Posted by bommai

Too bad you did not take advantage of the AVS store's sale on Sony S5000ES for $350. It is built like a tank (22 lbs) and plays beautifully. Has a 5 year warranty. Sony discontinued this model and the original msrp was $2000 for this.

I bought it and am extremely pleased with it.

Originally Posted by Skakruk

Hi, I have the S380, but I'm pretty sure this question is just as relevant to the S780:

How do you get a functioning DVD menu when playing a ripped DVD (VIDEO_TS) via USB?

I can browse to the first VOB file in the VIDEO_TS folder, and when I press enter it takes me to the ripped DVD's menu screen, but there is no way to interact (can't highlight menu elements, and pressing play does nothing).

If I browse to other VOB files in the VIDEO_TS folder, I can play from various points in the DVD, but nothing happens if I press the top menu button from there, and the skip chapter function is really erratic.

Has anyone got this working?

Originally Posted by mjf_uk

I'm not aware of any Blu-Ray Player that will play ripped DVD (or Blu-Ray) with menus. Many support VOB playback, but not with menu support.

Originally Posted by mjf_uk

How long have you owned the 780?

Originally Posted by Skakruk

Is there any way I can make menus work on this player (with minimal conversion)?

Originally Posted by sbddvm

Anyone know if this unit is available at BB yet?

Originally Posted by Mister B.M.

Billh03 touched on the 780's DVD playback, and I have questions in that area:

Does the Super Bit Mapping in the 780 provide any added benenfit to DVD playback? Or perhaps a more answerable question: Is the 780 better/worse/same as 770 with DVDs?

The techno-explaino piece I read on Sony's SBM only spoke within the context of Blu-Rays. My new Blu-Ray player will actually be playing more DVDs than Blu-Rays, so I am really more interested in my new Blu-Ray player being the best DVD player amongst Blu-Ray players. A write-up on Soundandvisionmag.com slagged last year's BDP-S770 DVD chops in view of an entry-level Panasonic, so I'd like to try to get an idea if the 780 is any better than the 770 in the DVD area.

Also, I kinda-sorta have the same feeling about Sony in general as billh03. I had Walkmen in the 80s, and they were sweet, durable products. I had a CD changer that stood up to the rigors of the 90's college years. But in the aughtie's I purchased a combo DVD/VHS deck that had an unbelievably poor remote control (40 buttons - all small, all alike) and a bad DVR (which didn't self-initialize correctly, had to be returned, retailer then shipped to Sony for a factory fix, Sony factory never communicated back to retailer,... etc etc long ugly story,...got refund). I had a PlayStation lemon couple years ago also (fans were always at max speed/noise-level even when it wasn't doing anything besides just being ON), but GameStop made that one a happy ending by replacing it with a newer smaller-die/more-efficient/quieter SKU.

It just feels to me like Sony's All-Star engineers retired several years ago, and now we got Sony Junior Varsity.

Originally Posted by Mister B.M.

Billh03 touched on the 780's DVD playback, and I have questions in that area:

Does the Super Bit Mapping in the 780 provide any added benenfit to DVD playback? Or perhaps a more answerable question: Is the 780 better/worse/same as 770 with DVDs?

The techno-explaino piece I read on Sony's SBM only spoke within the context of Blu-Rays. My new Blu-Ray player will actually be playing more DVDs than Blu-Rays, so I am really more interested in my new Blu-Ray player being the best DVD player amongst Blu-Ray players. A write-up on Soundandvisionmag.com slagged last year's BDP-S770 DVD chops in view of an entry-level Panasonic, so I'd like to try to get an idea if the 780 is any better than the 770 in the DVD area.

Also, I kinda-sorta have the same feeling about Sony in general as billh03. I had Walkmen in the 80s, and they were sweet, durable products. I had a CD changer that stood up to the rigors of the 90's college years. But in the aughtie's I purchased a combo DVD/VHS deck that had an unbelievably poor remote control (40 buttons - all small, all alike) and a bad DVR (which didn't self-initialize correctly, had to be returned, retailer then shipped to Sony for a factory fix, Sony factory never communicated back to retailer,... etc etc long ugly story,...got refund). I had a PlayStation lemon couple years ago also (fans were always at max speed/noise-level even when it wasn't doing anything besides just being ON), but GameStop made that one a happy ending by replacing it with a newer smaller-die/more-efficient/quieter SKU.

It just feels to me like Sony's All-Star engineers retired several years ago, and now we got Sony Junior Varsity.

Originally Posted by Audio5oh

I was hoping to see more positive reveiws on the 780 from regular people and not experts.