Sylvania NB500SL9 review

[IceNine]

I received this unit today and tested it against my Sony Playstation 3. I timed how long it took to perform various actions on both units and the results are as follows:

The Sylvania NB500SL9:

The time from power on to display on screen was 35 seconds without a disc in the tray.

The time from inserting a Blu-ray disc (The Nightmare Before Christmas) to display on screen was also 35 seconds.

The display went black for 1 minute and 4 seconds after the previews, as the BD menu was loading. It took 2 minutes and 2 seconds before the audio handshake completed and the BD menu soundtrack started playing.

The menu is moderately slow to respond, but not painfully so. Moving between menu items is not snappy like it is on the Sony Playstation 3 (Playstation 3 80GB, but it is not slow enough that you don't think the remote is working.

It took 5 seconds to load the Disney Blu-ray screen after pressing play (without intro by Tim Burton). After the Disney Blu-ray intro, it took 25 seconds to get to the FBI warning. It took 13 seconds from the end of the FBI warning to get to the Disney castle scene and then about 3 seconds to get to the movie.

The HDMI audio handshake failed again and I had to reset my processor to get the audio to work.

I pressed "Top Menu" to get back to the menu and it took 1 minute and 2 seconds to return to the menu screen and, once again, the audio did not work. The video and audio cut out and came back on after 1 minute and 4 seconds and the audio was back.

The video output is pretty solid and I don't believe that anyone will have many complaints here. Overall, the video output was excellent and I was very pleased with the performance.

The audio is problematic in my installation and changing the BD audio mode did not fix the handshaking issues. The audio eventually synchronized, but it took a long time and was definitely disappointing.

Apparently the HDMI handshaking is questionable on this unit. I have a Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD player and a Sony Playstation 3 Blu-ray player and neither have HDMI audio/video handshaking issues with my Integra DTC 9.8 processor. I connected the NB500SL9 with the same Audioquest HDMI cable that I use with my HD DVD player, so I know the cable is not the issue here. I tried all the various settings in the setup section and was unable to resolve the audio handshaking issue, so this is where my testing ended.

This unit might work much better with a different processor than I am using, so consider this a review of how the Sylvania unit works with the Integra DTC 9.8 pre/pro only. With this in mind, I cannot recommend this unit for anyone using the DTC, as the audio handshaking issues are a deal breaker.

I tested the same disc with the Sony Playstation 3 and the results were as follows:

Power on to display took 9 seconds.

The disc was recognized by the PS3 5 seconds after insertion.

It took 29 seconds after insertion to get to previews.

It took 26 seconds to get the the BD menu after the previews. The audio synchronized immediately. Menus are immediately responsive.

It took 3 seconds to get to the Disney castle scene after pressing play without intro.

It took 13 seconds to get to the FBI warning.

It took 26 seconds to get to the BD menu after pressing "top menu" from the movie.

If you are in the market for a Blu-ray player, I would still suggest the Sony Playstation 3, as it doesn't cost very much more and performs far better in every way. Playstation 3 80GB

IMPORTANT... see below:

When connected directly to my Mitsubish WD-73833 DLP set, the HDMI handshake was immediate, so the issue is with how this unit's HDMI port handshakes with my Integra DTC 9.8 processor. I cannot say how this handshakes with other processors, but I suspect that it will work well with many processors.

Overall, I will give this unit a 3.5 star rating, as I am certain that it will work very well in some settings, but not in mine. I would give the Sony PS3 a 4.5 star rating and would still recommend it over the unit reviewed here.