Official 2012 Sony BDP-S790 Thread - Page 69

Originally Posted by Mark the Red 

Well finally ordered a s790 based on the glowing reviews on this thread. Also did piles of research on all the other alternatives;I hate myself for being so risk averse over buying new electronics.
I am upgrading from my fearless and loyal bdp-51fd that is still going strong. I wanted to try out 3d as my AVR and TV are both 3d capable and I just got for Christmas the stupendously kickass Dredd 3D blu-ray that I want to watch again in 3d. Also the bdp-51fd is painfully slow to load some discs. i.e., The Terminator 2 Skynet edition has got to be the slowest disc ever in my Pioneer.
I am very happy with the current streaming setup I have for my Samsung pn59d8000 TV (HBO Go is all I use) so I only wanted to have a blu-ray player that:
(a) Loaded and UNLOADED discs faster than my bdp-51fd (pretty low bar I'll admit)
(b) Felt faster and snappier through the menu's, chapter search, etc. (AND had a clean and intuitive menu system)
(c) Quiet Drive (BDP-51FD is a very well built drive that was whisper quiet)
(d) Output great 3d and 2d BD quality. I only have 2 DVD's so upscaling was irrelevant although I will watch Spirited Away DVD again to see how it looks on the s790 as it is an absolutely gorgeous movie that the entire family loves.
(e) Looked good in the rack. Yes, I am shallow and petty.
Actually bought the Panasonic dmp-bdp220 at Costco but returned it because I did not like the menu interface, found it laggy and it looked really, really tacky in the rack with its faux-chrome plastic bezel. Faux-chrome on electronics is kool-aid I can never drink. To be fair, the Panasonic has outstanding image quality. My reference level blu-ray scene to test is the greenhouse scene in Spielberg's Minority Report that (in my admittedly anecdotal opinion) has some of the toughest color accuracy, contrast and film grain to reproduce. The Panny ate it for breakfast.
Which only left me the Oppo-103 and the s790 as alternatives. I could not justify the additional $300+ (the tax man kills me here in California) for the Oppo although it arguably looks the best of the BDP out there and has great service.
Hope I like the s790. If not, I will come here regularly and whine about it and secretly resent all of you.

Originally Posted by bluechunks 

FWIW, here's Dave's reviews of the Samsung and the Sony. He's clearly taken a good look at both.

Originally Posted by Snowdogyyz 

Well, I purchased my 790 2 weeks ago and have been loving it. Really nice player. But, 2 days ago, it started stuttering on dvd playback, after working fine for 2 weeks playing dvd's. I put a blu-ray in and it works fine, but every dvd stutters. So, I'm returning it for a replacement. Not sure why it plays blu's fine, but not dvd's, but that is what is going on. I bought this to replace an OPPO BDP-83 that I have sent back twice for repairs, which I expect back this weekend. We'll see if I sell the OPPO or keep it in case another Sony goes bad. Amazon's CS is great!

Originally Posted by Audio5oh 

I just had the stuttering problem yesterday while watching a rental. Then, today I put one of my dvds from my collection and the stuttering happened again. I had to turn off the unit and turn if back on for the movie to resume as normal. It really sucks because I was already getting audio drop outs with random blu ray discs and was blaming my receiver. I posted this concern on the official Sony STR-DA3600ES thread. A couple of guys experienced this problem too so I'm not alone. Now, i got stuttering on dvds. This really bothers me. I hope a firmware can fix this. I've only had it for about 7 weeks.

Originally Posted by Dave Vaughn 

Ken,
It depends on your TV/AVR combination. If your AVR and TV have ARC (Audio Return Channel), then using your TV's apps would be preferable since the TV has more processing power and the apps will probably load quicker and be more user-friendly in this regard. If your AVR doesn't have ARC, then using the BD player would be the best way to go for the reasons you've already stated.

Originally Posted by Dave Vaughn 

Chris,
I wouldn't disagree at all. I've complained about the Samsung menu displays for at least 3 years, maybe four. Too many layers that make the navigation too complex and clunky.

Originally Posted by hearrean 

Reading Dave's review made me think of something I've wondered a long time. I have a Samsung Smart TV with dozens of different streaming apps & then my BD player with just as many & more as he talks about. Why would there ever be a reason to use the Media Hub/Apps on my Samsung TV in lieu of just using the apps on the BD player? The way my system is set up with everything going into my Yamaha AVR & then out to my display, if I try & use my display's media hub (apps), I have to go thru a lot more steps to get audio than when using the BD player's apps. Am I missing something?
Ken

Originally Posted by chrisjmccord 

Dave,
I haven't hooked up my Sony S790 or my Denon 1913 yet, so I can't use ARC yet either, but I do prefer, as of right now, using Netflix and other apps like through the XBOX and Apple TV, it seems the apps are a lot better designed for UI and UX than what Samsung has on the ES8000 LED TV I just got. I don't know what they are like on the Sony yet but I'm curious to see how the UX is. I just got to play with the UX for Netflix on the XBOX yesterday for the first time and its really close to the UX on the Apple TV, my point being, I think Samsung could do better with some of the apps they are having created for their Smart Hub components, I know Apple and XBOX are two of the better UX creators out there, Samsung needs to pay attention and learn from them.

Originally Posted by Golferdude 

I have a Denon AVR-988 receiver and I am looking at buying the BDPS790 to go with it. I currently have the Sony BDPS350. My wife like the Netflix movies and I like blue ray movies... Was wondering if with the AVR-988 receiver if I need to go with the BDPS790 or would the BDPS590 do fine. I know the 790 has two HDMI outputs which I can run one to the AVR and one to the TV. Otherwise with the 590 I have to run the HDMI to the TV and a digital cable to the AVR. I thought I read by going with the 790 I would get better sound by running a HDMI to the AVR. Am I correct or did I misunderstand that? Any other reasons to go with the 790? Thanks...

Originally Posted by apw2607 

I tried a ROKU but I just didn't like it. Something about the video quality just isn't as good as the s790 for the popular streaming services.

Originally Posted by mdavej 

The only reason for dual HDMI is if your AVR is so old that it can't pass 3D to your TV. I think yours can, but you'll need to confirm.

Originally Posted by Golferdude 

I am not so much worried about 3D going to my TV as currently I don't have a 3D TV. I was more concerned about being able to decode DTS-MA if I don't use a HDMI to my AVR. I thought I read it won't deocde the DTS-MA if i send the audio over a digital cable to the AVR.
There are times we want to watch a DVD with just the sound from the TV, late at night, etc., so I need the HDMI to go to the TV so I have that capability as well. But when I am playing blu rays I wanted to be able to have the best sound I can.

Originally Posted by Golferdude 

I am not so much worried about 3D going to my TV as currently I don't have a 3D TV. I was more concerned about being able to decode DTS-MA if I don't use a HDMI to my AVR. I thought I read it won't deocde the DTS-MA if i send the audio over a digital cable to the AVR.
There are times we want to watch a DVD with just the sound from the TV, late at night, etc., so I need the HDMI to go to the TV so I have that capability as well. But when I am playing blu rays I wanted to be able to have the best sound I can.

Originally Posted by drhankz 

HDMI is REQUIRED to get Lossless Audio.
It does not matter where the decode is done.
It is part of the HDMI License Agreement.
You are way past the TIME TO UPGRADE your AVR to HDMI.

Originally Posted by bluechunks 

Just to avoid any confusion, Golferdude's Denon AVR-988 (per the eariler post) includes HDMI and will decode DTS-MA and TrueHD if connected via HDMI.

Alternatively, the BDP-S790 could also do the audio decoding internally and send the uncompressed audio to the AVR as LPCM via HDMI.

Originally Posted by bluechunks 


Golferdude, using the BDP-S790's dual HDMI outputs you could use two HDMI cables from the BR player connected this way:
HDMI1: S790===>TV (TV HDMI input 1)
HDMI2: S790===>AVR==>TV (TV HDMI input 2)
Just be sure to turn off CEC on all devices so there is no auto input/output switching and verify the "AV Separation Output Mode" (p. 36 of the manual) on the S790 to "OFF" (default) so the S790 sends video and audio to both HDMI ports. Depending upon the TV, you may need to manually set the S790's "Audio (HDMI)" (p. 33) setting to PCM to let the player do the decoding if you are experiencing audio issues with both signal paths eventually terminating at the TV.

Originally Posted by Golferdude 

Thanks for the info. If I went with the BDP-S590, could I get the same thing by hooking up via a digital cable from the 590 to the AVR? Or do I have to connect it via an HDMI?

Originally Posted by Golferdude 

I am trying to figure out since I have the AVR-988 do I need to get the 790 or the 590? Not sure the 790 is needed for what I am doing.

Originally Posted by bluechunks 

Just to avoid any confusion, Golferdude's Denon AVR-988 (per the eariler post) includes HDMI and will decode DTS-MA and TrueHD if connected via HDMI. Alternatively, the BDP-S790 could also do the audio decoding internally and send the uncompressed audio to the AVR as LPCM via HDMI.
# # #
Golferdude, using the BDP-S790's dual HDMI outputs you could use two HDMI cables from the BR player connected this way:
HDMI1: S790===>TV (TV HDMI input 1)
HDMI2: S790===>AVR==>TV (TV HDMI input 2)
Just be sure to turn off CEC on all devices so there is no auto input/output switching and verify the "AV Separation Output Mode" (p. 36 of the manual) on the S790 to "OFF" (default) so the S790 sends video and audio to both HDMI ports. Depending upon the TV, you may need to manually set the S790's "Audio (HDMI)" (p. 33) setting to PCM to let the player do the decoding if you are experiencing audio issues with both signal paths eventually terminating at the TV.

Originally Posted by bluechunks 

You will need to use HDMI if you want the "lossless" HD Audio from Blu Ray discs. The digital audio connection (optical or coax) will only transmit "regular" DD or DTS although Blu Ray discs are encoded with a higher bit-rate audio steam than DVD's typically are.
You could get by with S590 and hook it up using HDMI:
S590==>AVR==>TV
The main feature you would lose, in addition to the loss of the faster processor in the S790, is the easy ability to only use the TV speakers when desired. I know this can be switched using the Denon's setup menu but would it require going into the setup menu every time you wanted to switch between using the TV speakers and your surround speakers.
Alternatively, it's possible that either the S590 or your Denon AVR has an audio setting for a "nighttime" setting that adjusts the audio mix for lower-volume listening using the surround speakers. (Every manufacturer seems to use a different name for this feature, BTW.) I'd take a look at your Denon manual and the S590 manual (available online) to see if this is an acceptable option for you.
Clear as mud?

Originally Posted by Golferdude 

Curious, what does the faster processor buy me with the 790?

Originally Posted by dcarroll 

THIS might be what i've been looking for to solve my audio problem! how do you turn off CEC? i've never seen that in a menu screen on anything.

Originally Posted by bluechunks 

I haven't used a S590 but from the reviews it seems like the S790 loads Blu Ray discs faster from power-on to first screen. (Newer Blu Ray discs contain lots of software that must be loaded and run.) Presumably the S790 also has a "snappier" user interface but I'd be shocked if there was a noticeable difference in picture quality during actual Blu Ray playback or Netflix streaming compared to the S590. The S790 definitely has better DVD upscaling.
Personally, I considered doing something like you are doing (with multiple connections) and then reconsidered and hooked everything up very simply with everything going to the AVR via HDMI (and then a single HDMI cable to the TV). If it's nighttime I just keep the volume down and it seems to work out just fine. YMMV.

Originally Posted by Golferdude 

Thanks for all of you help..I bought the 790. I have the option of doing it with multiple connections or by a single HDMI now...plus the wife likes to get Redbox dvd's so hopefully the upscaling is better for that.
Should get it by next Thursday...looking forward to trying it out.

Originally Posted by Golferdude 

Thanks for all of you help..I bought the 790. I have the option of doing it with multiple connections or by a single HDMI now...plus the wife likes to get Redbox dvd's so hopefully the upscaling is better for that..

Originally Posted by Hanzo59 

I'm very glad about the enjoyment of Sony BDP-S790 "superb" quality. That's fine. I really checked that Sony video quality is over its competitors... but in 2D. The fact is that no one is able to give a satisfactory answer why Sony is not able to output a forced (non "auto") 3D signal when is not capable to recognize a 3D device. If that doesn't work, never taste that quality... in 3D. Unfortunately I was obliged to return back to the seller the Sony BDp-S790 and continue with my old Samsung, yes, with less quality but it's able to output a 3D signal when Sony can't. I'm upset that Sony didn't help to solve this issue (I talked with them for two weeks and no clues on the web). Someone must think in this and in all the forums, what happen when a 3D player doesn't recognize a 3D device. New purchasers have to be very sure that compatible devices is an important issue for an enjoyment of the full features of a device. If Sony BDP-S790 is compatible, I guess that's is a winner (but not everywhere).