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| Sony BDP-S500 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player | 
 enlarge | Brand: Sony
Category: CE
List Price: $599.99
Buy New: $359.90
You Save: $240.09 (40%)
New (10) Used (1) Refurbished (2)
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 2083
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries: 2
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 20
Dimensions (in): 20 x 22 x 11
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: BDP-S500
Model: BDP-S500
UPC: 653569194699
EAN: 0027242723788
ASIN: B000VSWCRK
Release Date: November 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 22 | | NEXT » |
 Expensive, but good player overall August 16, 2008
I have had this player for about a week now. I was vacillating between the S500 and the S350, but after reading countless reviews, I decided to go with the newest model hoping that Sony was able to work out all the kinks and bugs that came with the previous units. I have tested this player with a few movies (Spiderman 3, Full Metal Jacket, and the Planet Earth series), and fortunately, I have not run into any of the problems that other users have encountered (i.e. movies not playing, freezing, etc.) I really like the new feature of the sliding front door. I have yet to experience a complete Blu-Ray experience since I do not have the best home theatre setup (I have a 5.1 Dolby Digital as opposed to a 7.1), but the sound is great regardless. The upscaling feature is pretty darn good, in my opinion, though I wasn't completely blown away. It's about as close to 1080p as you can get.
I did upgrade the firmware, but not because I was having problems. Sony recommended you upgrade if your player's firmware was older than a certain version.
The warm up and load time is still slow, but as other reviewers have mentioned, the technology is still new. Though compared to the S300 model, there is a significant improvement. Really, unless you are super impatient, I don't think it should prevent you from buying this model. I did have a scare a few days ago when my current disc would not eject. None of the suggestions on the troubleshooting page worked, and I was very upset to hear that after only 3 days, I would have to send my player to Sony to service it! Luckily, I fiddled around with the DVD, and think that maybe it was the movie itself that was causing the player to act up.
All in all, I am pretty satisfied with this product. It is nowhere near perfect. It is expensive and still very big compared to regular DVD players.
 I just don't get it... August 14, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
How does the company that invented (in effect) BluRay put out a player that not only refuses to play a brand new BluRay disc, but trying to do so
causes the player to shut down!!
If this is that that BD-Java code, then it is truly pathetic that it isn't backward compatible. I've now got to wait nigh on 2 weeks to try a firmware upgrade since I don't have the inclination to follow a 20 step program full of warnings to burn one myself.
What a PoC.
 Overpriced Junk August 13, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
We have had NOTHING but problems with the device. It takes 5 minutes to "load" a movie. The open & shut feature is very unpredictable. You have to sit there pushing buttons, in hopes it will work. Tonight it fails completely and I will have to return it to Sony (if I can). The DVDs load, but will not play (3 of 3). AVOID!!!
Good but not great March 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchased this player along with a KDL-46XBR Sony tv. The combination is quite wonderful. My initial review was shortly after purchase, and now I've had the unit about four months. I'm still very pleased with the unit's performance. I have upgraded firmware once in that time period and found the instructions from Sony were reasonably complete and the process was pretty painless. It took about half an hour so it's best to do it when you don't want to be watching anything. The instructions are required, so do not attempt to just run the disk.
Picture quality is exceptional. I'm very happy with the upscaling performance of this unit. I have a 6.1 setup as opposed to 7.1 (the center rear speakers are bridged onto one speaker) so I get the general 7.1 experience in my listening area. The imaging and placement are excellent in my viewing area and probably worth the price differential from a BDP-S300. If you're looking for a good midline player I have no problem recommending this unit.
Areas where the overall experience is somewhat lacking are the long boot time for the system to come up. I now have the habit of hitting the open button, going off and doing something and then coming back to drop the disk in. This is most annoying thing about the unit. The documentation is not as good as I'd like either. This is a general problem with consumer electronics, and this documentation compares as about average for mid-line audio/video equipment.
After living with the unit for four months I think that most users will be pleased with the unit. I do think that the long boot time and difficulties during set up caused by less than complete documentation are detractors. A big plus is the ability to upgrade firmware, as this has been useful already. Overall, I might reconsider and pick up a PS3 instead if I were more of a gamer, but the better audio of the BDP-500 is noticable when comparing systems. If audio and video quality are primary concerns, then this may be the right player for you.
Excellent Performance but Slow Start-up March 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I purchased this disk player because I wanted a mid priced Sony BluRay player to match my Sony HD LCD and A/V receiver to insure compatibility. It worked great right out of the box. I did review the Sony support site prior to the purchase and did the firmware upgrade prior to using it for the first time. I have had ZERO problems with reading BluRay, DVD and CD's. The wife makes home DVD videos of vacation pictures using Roxio Easy DVD creator and the Sony has played each without any problems. I am very satisfied with the player's performance. The only down side is that it takes a few minutes to boot-up after turn on and takes a minute to read a disk after insertion. So it's kinda slow on those two issues.
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