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Takes forever to power up or to load a disk. I've also had some curious lock-ups while attempting to navigate through disk menus (I suspect that I may not have been patient enough to let the player catch up before issuing another command). I've got one major beef with this machine, and that is I T I S S O S L O W. I'm going to take a deep breath and install the latest firmware in hopes of improvement, but were I shopping today I would look for a more recent model rather than try to play catch-up with the firmware versions.
My $200 Oppo blows it away for standard DVD's. One of the first things I noticed about this unit was how long it takes to load a disc. Also, performance on standard DVD's is no better than any $30 player you can get at Best Buy. I tried several times to download and update the Firmware, hoping it would help with some of these problems, but Sony's web site always tells me "the page can not be displayed" when I try to download this particular firmware. A bit of a disappointment, to say the least. E-mailed their support, and they were not at all helpful. Another annoying thing about the player is that, if you hit stop while watching a movie (to answer the phone, for example) it does not save your place in the movie so when you go back, you have to wait 3 or 4 more minutes for the menu to load, then try to find where you were in the movie.
Very poor design. I received this as a gift last Christmas, and am using it with a 50" Panasonic LCD TV (can't remember model number at the moment). I also found out within a couple of weeks of owning it that the player does not support either Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master audio, only Dolby Digital plus. The fastest I've ever seen it load with any kind of disc is about a minute. For Blu-Ray discs with more elaborate menus and such, it can take 3 or 4 minutes to load the menu. Blu-Ray movies DO look great (once you buy your own HDMI Cable which, for some reason, is not included) but the other issues of this player make it a poor buy.
I called Sony Customer Support and asked if there was a way to work-around this problem using some kind of special cable. On the box, you see 1080 Full HD printed all over it. After reading through the instruction manual, I learned that the player can only produce a full 1080 HD signal from the HDMI output. I told them my TIVO Series 3 Hi-Def recorder could produce a 1080 picture using component video output. I connected everything and turned it on and when the movie finally started to play, my projector told me that I was only getting a 480i picture from the Sony Box. I told Sony I would take the player back for a refund. They informed me there was no special cable.
If I wanted a 1080i picture, I would have to buy a new TV. A very big disappointment. I can use the component output jacks on the Sony BDP-s300. There is one small line which says, "HDMI capable HDTV with 1080p display required, Image quality and upscaling results will very." I have a 1080 HD Projector, but it does not have an HDMI input. No problem I thought. I am very disappointed that Sony did not make a better effort in warning the buyer about the limitations of this player with some types of HDTV's.
I feel that this is a slap in the face by Sony. I contacted Sony's support, who were not helpful. Like a fool, I will probably get screwed over by Sony again with the new player. I asked the Sony rep.
I fortunately purchased the item from Circuit City who was wonderful. Spend the money on the extended warranty from the store, NOT SONY. They wanted me to pay to have it shipped to PA for repairs. I got the message "Incomplete, Need Disc". The technology is too new at this time. The main problem came when I tried to update the Firmware that Sony has available on their website.I had the thing for about a month when I downloaded the Firmware update from Sony's website. I was 4 days over their 30 day return policy.
Overall I was happy with the player. This was after I got the message that the download was successful. After I spent $4000 on a T.V., and $400 on the stupid player. to send me the upgrade disc from them rather than downloading it from the internet. Especially when I have been loyal to Sony for 20+ years.I returned this second player. The same thing happened again.
He assured me that this issue will not happen again.If this freezes up with the disc that Sony sends me directly, I am returning the player and going with another company.BE VERY CAUTIOUS WHEN PURCHASING A BD PLAER.As another reviewer mentioned. I purchased the BDP S300 after buying a 52" XBR4. I got home, and attempted to download a version of the 3.7 Firware that I knew worked since I had upgraded the old plaer. It does have some minor issues, but nothing I could not live with. The let me exchange it for a new one. The 3.8 version froze up my player.
I could not shut it off, or eject the disc. They will screw you over.
VERY slow loading times though. Perhaps this will improve with time. Haven't compared to any other units though. Very happy with it. Makes my 52" Aquos LCD look awesome. All in all a good unit other than slow boot up and play times.
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