BDP-S300 or BD10A

There are a few key threads about the two units you should go through in detail, but a brief summary, which is AFAIK, YMMV:

- Panny has 7.1 analog outputs, Sony only has 5.1

- The Panny clearly supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, whereas it is unclear how or whether the Sony supports those two. Both support DD+, and regular DD and DTS. Neither support DTS-HD MA (no unit out there does, AFAIK).

- The Panny comes with 5 specific titles, the Sony does not.

- The Panny is not HDMI 1.3, whereas it is unclear whether the Sony is 1.3.

Other than those items above, I do not know of any technical differences. The main pain is a lack of definitive details from the Sony specs. Even the manual is ambiguous.

The Sony is rumored to be made by Samsung (not sure why...), but no-one has substantiated that yet, so it may be incorrect info.

shinksma

I've got the Sony being delivered tomorrow and I just received the Onkyo 805 yesterday. Very cool. I'm a novice in the latest and greatest in advanced audio, HDMI and the like, but after reading the Panasonic manual, I was also concerned about the advanced audio formats (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD) supported by the Panny, but not the Sony. However, since my 805 supports all of the advanced audio formats, does it make any difference if the BD player supports them? In other words, even though the Sony doesn't support True-HD and DTS-HD (it does support uncompressed LPCM), can I still get these audio formats (assuming they are coded on the disk) via my 805 since it supports these formats? Or should I return the Sony and wait for the Panny?

Thanks for your insights and opinions.

You need to wait a few days to start seeing any reviews of the new Sony as almost no one has gotten their hands on one.

Mine will be here Thursday and I have a selection of BRs to play on it to check out as much as I can. When I'm done, I'll post about it.

Key to me is the audio capabilities as that is where most of the confusion is about this one. As to the PIP, personally I don't care, but I don't think any of the BR players can do that now. But the 10/31/07 spec that new models brought out after that date supposedly have to have is where the issue lies. NO ONE actually knows for a fact what the current models can be updated/upgraded to do, or at least those that might know aren't posting here. All conjecture based on what we know and what we think.

Supposedly the Sony can't pass the audio codecs to be decoded by the 805, so it doesn't matter that the 805 can decode them. Same as all the other current players

^Including the Panny.
At this moment in time, there isn't any hardware to decode DTS-HD MA.
The 805 can decode that format...unfortunately, none of the players have the ability to pass it.
The Panny decodes everything internally EXCEPT DTS-HD MA and even decodes DVD-Audio as well.
The only thing it can do with DTS-HD MA is extract a 1.5 mps core track.

On another subject, how does that 805 sound? The audio specs and build quality (THX Ultra 2 certification, 51lb unit, etc.) far exceed anything else in its price range.

Oh yeah, one more difference now that I remembered it while reading another thread:

the Sony can do 1080p24 (i.e. 24 fps output, same format as stored on the disk), the Panny cannot (yet - maybe a firmware update, but not confirmed)

And as mentioned above, as far as anyone knows neither player complies with the new BD1.1 spec that is mandatory for all new models after Oct 2007.

shinksma

I think the SRP for the Panasonic is $599

Mine wont be set up until Thursday, but there's a lengthy owners thread under in the Audio/Amp... forum. Lots of positive firsthand feedback and opinions. All I can tell you thus far is that it's a bear to get out of the box. Looking forward to Thursday.

My Sony comes tomorrow. I was torn between the 2 as well, but decided on the Sony. $100 cheaper, out quicker, and I already had the movies the Panny had, and personally favor Sony.

Says "Made in Japan" on the back panel...

RaginCajun92:

This might help: Here is the owners manual for the new Sony S300

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/BDPS300.pdf

Is that the profile 1.1 chip in that picture?

Can someone please check to see if the S300 has the same "staircase" edges on pause problem as the older models?

Best way to check it is with the Twentieth Century Fox logo.

I am definitely getting one of these players, but I want to make sure I am understanding something correctly. Does the 5.1/7.1 analog outputs offer the highest level of audio each machine has to offer or does that need to be sent through HDMI. I'm sure this has been answered but I have become very confused trying to understand the audio issues.

thanks,
Tim

In general, and I believe it is true for these machines as well, whatever is available over HDMI is also available via analog, since the analogs just convert from the digital domain. This is not true for players that do not internally decode advanced codecs like TrueHD but can transmit it via HDMI1.3 as the original bitstream for decoding in (HDMI1.3) receivers.

Exceptions: analogs are limited to 5.1 physically on the Sony player, whereas the Panny has 7.1. HDMI can take up to 7.1 on this player, but it may depend on what your receiver will accept - some are limited to 5.1 LPCM.

Some folks like to leave everything digital to the receiver to get all the processing that their receiver offers (some receicvers do not process analog inputs).

Hope that helps,

shinksma

smp8634lf
Disappointed. I expected sony was secretely working on a Cell based stand alone player that would fall in pice quickly with volume not another third party expensive chip. Wasn't the Cell supposed to rationalize all their home electronics division?

I left my NASA photo enhancement software at home by mistake...could you read to me the bottom line under the SMP8634LF, please?

It wouldn't say "0623 REV A CO" by chance, would it? I certainly hope not...that would be, well, just wrong.

Between the sony bdp-s300 and the panny dmp-bd10a; which one will give a better picture when it comes to blu ray movies? I have a sonxy xbr3 and can output 1080p/60hz but i was leaning towards the sony because it is more future proof than the panny. I cant play with the audio to much because of my living situation won't allow me to crank it up. So my main concern is which one of these players has better picture quality?

I say get which ever you can get your hands on first! Also, if you want to save $100+, go with the Sony. I never saw Fantastic Four, but I was shocked at the stand-alone price for that disc!

I bought the S300, and have posted some of my observations in the Panasonic PZ700/750 plasma forum (regarding the 1080p/24), in the S300 forum, and in the Onkyo 805 forum. I already had a PS3, but wanted to try this. I DO like it, but now some of what I am hearing about it not playing DD THD and others has me wondering/worried if I should maybe have gotten the BD10A, or maybe even just go back to the PS3 and wait for the later stuff after October? Boy, this has gotten more maddening and chaotic than computer hardware!!!!!!

Is there anywhere that lays out what the supposed specs are going to include?

That was the "back breaker" that swayed me to return my sammy1200 (along with the fact I could not get past 1 hour of viewing before lockups and freezes). After all the wait for the hdmi1.3 receivers only to find out the current crop of players can not pass the bitstream. I thought that hdmi 1.3 allowed the "lossless" data to be sent for external decoding. I will probably go ahead and get the panny once they come down to swfl. I have several DVD-A's that I am looking forward to enjoying "digitally" JB

I posted this in the S300 owners thread, but during a chat w/Sony support I was told infactically that the S300 does support TrueHD. I too am disappointed about the HDMI 1.3 spec. Guess Gen 3 players will support it?

I am planning to import either of these players to Japan.
Besides bhphotovideo.com do you recommend any other online stores ?

see this post pic. it has sigma Chip smp8634lf

but at least Samsung has the platform in place for bitstream output.