Sony's new BDP-S350

[ack_bak]

Thats the silliest thing Ive heard on here (well no its not but). The Toshiba products were built like tanks, even the last gen A3x series which was them cutting cost was still built tankish.

What I find funny is you were making the same generalities about the Toshiba players that engadget is doing to the S350 in that article. Thats highly amusing to me.

Huh? The A2 is definitely not built like a tank. You are thinking about the XA2, A1, XA1 player me thinks...

[ack_bak]

Wouldn't surprise me to see this player hit $299 for a short time just before Christmas.

I think it will happen too. I have heard that Wal-mart is going to carry this player but no word on price...

And if Costco and Samsclub carry the S350 (they carried the S300) then I suspect $299 or less is very possible this holiday season.

[crazzeto]

There's another free little iso burning utility that I like called BurnCC... Works with all flavors of vista (including 64b)... Not findning it on google searches now though

Oh well, need bed... have dark knight at midnight tomorrow!!

[ack_bak]

Oh well, need bed... have dark knight at midnight tomorrow!!

Have fun. I have heard that it is AMAZING. Can't wait...

[BillythePuppet07]

Easy as pie. You just download the update, burn it as an ISO file and then pop it in the player. There is free ISO burning software out there. I recommend this one (for Windows):
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/

But I would take the S350 over the S300 anyday. The S300 does not decode DTS-HD-MA (the S350 can bitsream all the advanced codecs), is much slower to load movies and is not a 1.1 or 2.0 player. Unless you can pick an S300 up for $199 or less, I would take the S350, the Samsung 1500, a PS3., the Panny BD30, or even the Insignia or Magnavox players.

OK, cool. Thank's for the info. I have been thinking about selling my PS3 and getting a standalone. I do all my gaming on my 360 so I don't need another gaming system. Either the S300 or the Magnavox, although it is very ugly. I can live with the limatation's of the S300 since I will only be watching blu-ray on it. I just want to pop it in and watch the movie with no glitch's. Can't you just call Sony and they will mail you the firmware update for free? I am not very computer savvy although I think my g/f could probably figure it out. That is what I love about my a-30. Just plug it into the modem and it update's the firmware no problem. By the way, the guy who said the Toshiba player's were built like toy's, I gotta disagree. Granted, the hd-a2 was nothing to look at, but their third gen player's were quite nice. It's a shame it was their last.

[BIGSAPOTEER]

I guess I'll be buying a SUC player then And to the OP, this was funny because???? If that makes you laugh, then try this: A horse walk into a bar, the bartender asks him "Why the long face?" Yuck yuck

[bluskiessmingatme]

OK, cool. Thank's for the info. I have been thinking about selling my PS3 and getting a standalone. I do all my gaming on my 360 so I don't need another gaming system. Either the S300 or the Magnavox, although it is very ugly. I can live with the limatation's of the S300 since I will only be watching blu-ray on it. I just want to pop it in and watch the movie with no glitch's. Can't you just call Sony and they will mail you the firmware update for free? I am not very computer savvy although I think my g/f could probably figure it out. That is what I love about my a-30. Just plug it into the modem and it update's the firmware no problem. By the way, the guy who said the Toshiba player's were built like toy's, I gotta disagree. Granted, the hd-a2 was nothing to look at, but their third gen player's were quite nice. It's a shame it was their last.

Billy, I was referring to the A2 and the A20, both models I owned.

As to Sony supplying update discs, yes, if you go to the Sony website there is a section where you are given a choice of dowloading the update or calling for an actual disc, free from Sony. Make sure you have your machine's ID # from the box because they will ask you for that, where you bought it, etc. When you call for a future update, they will have that info right there to make it easier. I am not techhy myself and don't trust downloading from the internet for this. Getting the disc from Sony avoids viruses or glitches.

[marine92104]

lmao! It does more than a XA2 for half the price!

I'd have to see if it upconverts standard DVDs better than the Reon chip in the XA2 & has the build quality of the XA2.

I still use the XA2 for upconverting standard DVDs. I haven't found anything to match it.

I heard the Oppo 983 is slightly better but the XA2 does 24fps for standard DVDs so I doubt I would buy the Oppo.

Also the XA2 with a firmware update will play PAL discs from any region in 50fps natively. I'm really glad my Kuro supports the 50fps. I've been importing anamorphic DVDs from other regions that were released in non-anamorphic here in the U.S.

Plus the X-A2 is built like a tank.

So can it do all the things the X-A2 can do? Uh, no.

I'm not saying the Sony player is a bad player by no means. That will be left up to the reviews.

But unless Sony goes against their policy & allows all region DVD play, puts in a Reon chip for DVD upconversion & allows 24fps standard DVD play then no it won't be able to do all the things the X-A2 can do.

[crazzeto]

So has anyone actually seen one of these units had have any thoughts to share? I guess I'm still a little cautious of it (particularly after the S300) but clearly this wasn't a real review.... This was more someone thinking they're cool

[bfellow]

I'll probably get one when they show up in local stores. The 'review' was silly garbage.$400 isn't big money.

$400 IS big money. Tell that it isn't to 90% of the people still buying/renting DVDs. Brand new models aren't supposed to be selling for same price as its previous generation or else something is wrong.



As for the reviews, it seems to be same access time as BD-S300 but uses less power, and it is OVERpriced. Also ONLY bitstreams DTS-HD MA at 5.1 while rest of the audio are complete support at 7.1. BD-Live capability is there but not functional yet.

[Guns4Hire]

Huh? The A2 is definitely not built like a tank. You are thinking about the XA2, A1, XA1 player me thinks...

Well to me. Everyone one of the HD DVD players I looked at (meaning I picked up them and felt how solid they felt) were built tankish. Now sure the XA2's, A1 and XA1's were more tankish. But I still felt that the A2X's and A3X's felt tankish. So its how I perceived it. All the Bluray players until recently didnt seem that way. Now I didnt check out every last one of them over the last year. So I might of missed some that were built 'tough'. The one that stood out to me was the Samsung 5K. But I didnt notice them starting to feel really solid until recently. My LG BH200 seems light as a feather compared to my A30 and A3. Its only a little bigger (height wise) than some of the DVD players currently out there now.

So I guess its all perception. And obviously perceptions can be wrong. Whether I am wrong or not I dont know lol.

[mcurrens]

I guess I'll be buying a SUC player then And to the OP, this was funny because???? If that makes you laugh, then try this: A horse walk into a bar, the bartender asks him "Why the long face?" Yuck yuck

It's funny because Sony is producing cheaper and cheaper BD players, and still asking 4 times what they are worth to the general public, which many people predicted would happen if Sony-Ray killed off HDDVD.

I also thought that the line "Even the front LCD is teensy: we've bought $200 home theater in a box systems from Sony with more extravagant displays." also to be very funny.

[Inglix the Mad]

It's funny because Sony is producing cheaper and cheaper BD players, and still asking 4 times what they are worth to the general public, which many people predicted would happen if Sony-Ray killed off HDDVD.

I also thought that the line "Even the front LCD is teensy: we've bought $200 home theater in a box systems from Sony with more extravagant displays." also to be very funny.

My uncles second or third year DVD player barely qualifies as a paper weight. Still works all these years later. Just because it's light doesn't mean it's poorly made.

[marine92104]

Well to me. Everyone one of the HD DVD players I looked at (meaning I picked up them and felt how solid they felt) were built tankish. Now sure the XA2's, A1 and XA1's were more tankish. But I still felt that the A2X's and A3X's felt tankish. So its how I perceived it. All the Bluray players until recently didnt seem that way. Now I didnt check out every last one of them over the last year. So I might of missed some that were built 'tough'. The one that stood out to me was the Samsung 5K. But I didnt notice them starting to feel really solid until recently. My LG BH200 seems light as a feather compared to my A30 and A3. Its only a little bigger (height wise) than some of the DVD players currently out there now.

So I guess its all perception. And obviously perceptions can be wrong. Whether I am wrong or not I dont know lol.

The Pioneer Elite Blu-ray 95 Player I own is built extremely good & is pretty hefty.

It has bitstreaming of all codecs along with a media player in the player.

It's definitely not lightweight. Great player. Best video & audio I've found to date for a Blu-ray player.

Can't wait to see their 2 new players out the end of this month.

[taygan315]

It's funny because Sony is producing cheaper and cheaper BD players, and still asking 4 times what they are worth to the general public, which many people predicted would happen if Sony-Ray killed off HDDVD.

I also thought that the line "Even the front LCD is teensy: we've bought $200 home theater in a box systems from Sony with more extravagant displays." also to be very funny.

I agree 100% with you. Way too much for something so...fugly.