This is a short personal review of the Sony BDP-S500 stand alone Blu-ray player.
Setting it up was relatively easy. When I first connected it I discovered it was set to 1080p (what the previous user had set it too) so my TV did not support it. I switched over the component (which when the player is set to 1080p component will only support 480i I guess). I proceeded to finish the setup and finalized by setting it to 720p. HDMI handily outperforms component video when the player is set to 720p. The picture is noticeably blurrier and over saturated when component is used. I was very surprised at the difference I saw when I changed inputs to HDMI.
Features on the player seem a bit slim, like a player this big should be on a diet..?!?!
The 5.1 analog outputs are nice, but the bass management functions seem to fall tragically short. Center and surrounds are by default small and can't be set to large, not a big deal. The fronts can be set to small or large...fine. Crossover point?, I don't know. I do know it's not adjustable. I view this as a real bummer as I was hoping to hook this bad boy up via analog and get the full experience. I guess I will just have to wait for an HDMI repeating AVR to get my bass management "freak" on.
It has resume play for DVDs as long as it doesn't leave the player, unlike Sony DVD players that catalog some 10 DVDs for instant recall to where you might have left off. It has no resume function for Blu-ray however. Sorry folks, but if you stop the train you've got to go back to Norfolk.
Loading times are...well....long. My basis of comparison are the HD-A3 and PS3. Clearly the PS3 is going to resemble a Ferrari while the HD-A3 are going to full in the mid-sized sedan category. The BDP-S500 seemed to be a tad slower booting than I remembered with the HD-A3, but once it's up and running it seems to be more responsive. With DVDs it runs just as a DVD player would (minus the boot time). With Blu-ray it's choppy, missing a few frames with pop up menus, and other general bugginess.
"Appearances can be....deceptive", No, not really. I just felt like picking one of the few redeeming qualities of the AWFUL movie "Burn After Reading". It had it's moments, but over all it was pure nonsense. Anyway, appearances... The BDP-S500 definitely has sex appeal. The motorized sliding face reveals the disc tray and a few simple function buttons. Around the back are gold plated connections that make this player have a more "high end" feel. The over-sized digital coaxial seems a bit absurd, but I'll live with it.
Blu-ray PQ is every bit as good as it is on the PS3 when HDMI is used. I was also pleasantly surprised at how well it performed upscaling. I was expecting much less, something more akin to the Toshiba HD-A3. It wasn't as good as the Playstation 3 in terms of upscaling.
The audio quality over Toslink was as expected. I don't feel like toying with the analog outputs and won't likely use them. I don't want to spoil myself with my dad's gift.
If I didn't have a PS3 in my room already I would have given this player a strong consideration for the price of $199. As it is I am still very pleased with the performance of the PS3 as a Blu-ray player. The stand alone is still very sexy and seems to perform as it should.
A couple more pictures....
