Image Quality: The display device for this review was a ISF calibrated JVC DLA-HD1 – 1080p projector with the audio being handled by a Denon AVR-4806 paired with PSB G-Design towers, center and rears and a PSB SubSeries 9 subwoofer. Mixed 3:2 Film, Vertical Text Crawl: Pass – Score 10 of 10.Mixed 3:2 Film, Horizontal Text Crawl: Pass – Score 10 of 10.Film Cadence: Pass – Score (Combined) 40 of 40.Motion Adaptive Noise Reduction: Pass – Score 10 of 10.Color Bar/Vertical Detail: Pass – Score 10 of 10.HQV Benchmark Results: The BDP-S300 scored quite nicely with the standard definition HQV benchmark disc, not only did in pass most of the tests with flying colors it was able to lock onto the 3:2 film cadence test faster than many of the DVD and BD/HD players I’ve tested recently. It’s not bad per say but the smallish buttons combined with the fact it’s not back-lit doesn’t exactly make for an intuitive user experience in a darkened room, of course learning the codes into a back-lit universal remote will remedy this. The remote however leaves a bit to be desired. Load times were on par with other current generation BD/HD disc players, about 18 seconds from open tray to video on-screen, not bad at all.
The player also did a good job at recognizing our display’s (JVC DLA-HD1) native resolution and adjusting its output accordingly. The player defaults to language and resolution settings on first boot, which of course would be quite advantageous to those with odd/unusual display settings. Setup and General Observations: One of the first things I encountered with this player was actually one of the best features/implementations I’ve seen on any HD disc player to date and all I had to do was turn the player on. Either way the BDP-S300 will no doubt receive firmware updates as well, we’ll just have to burn them to a CDR and or wait for official firmware updates by mail, directly from Sony.
#SONY UPDATE BDP S300 PS3#
It’s assumed that the PS3 could achieve profile 2.0 compliance by means of a firmware update but this remains to be seen. It appears as if fully functional Ethernet connectivity will only be mandated with players conforming to profile 2.0 aka BD-Live, at the risk of beating a dead horse, no 2.0 compliant BD playback devices are currently available. Even Blu-ray’s new minimum 1.1 profile slated to become mandatory after October 31st, only mandates 256mb of memory and a secondary video decoder, something that HD DVD players have had since day one, but I digress. Here’s the thing that I’ve come to realize about interactivity and networking features on hi-def disc players, it isn’t about what you can/can’t do with them today, it’s about what you can/can’t do with them tomorrow. Entry level (most to be exact) Blu-ray players typically lack Ethernet connectivity so nothing new here in that regard but I have to scratch my head every time I spin a BD player around and see a feature that’s mandatory, even on the cheapest of HD DVD players, missing from its Blu-ray counterpart. The back panel of the player has the usual assortment of component, HDMI, composite and s-video connections but one interface in particular is notably absent. I feel this was a mistake but the top edge does slope down a bit so while annoying (at least to me) it shouldn’t offer any real-world hurdles in day to day operation. The S300’s eject and power buttons are placed to the left and right top-edge of the unit’s front facade. Chalk it up to personal preference, an unwillingness to accept change or just downright stodginess, I don’t like function buttons on the top of equipment. The BDP-S300 is a bit slimmer than its predecessor (the BDP-S1) and the overall design is pleasing enough, with one notable exception. Of course as with any other new piece of gear, we’re just as, if not more, interested in how the unit operates as much as its specifications. The player outputs at resolutions up to 1080p/24 and handles all of the commonly used lossless audio formats, HDMI 1.3 1.1 and supports x.v.color. Sony’s BDP-S300 at $499 has sparked a fair amount of interest among those who have, thus far, remained on the sidelines of the hi-def disc battle.
You know me, check out turned into a five and a half hour review. A good friend of mine was kind enough to drop by and allow me to check out his new Sony BDP-S300 ($499) Blu-ray player.