Blu Ray Disc Players

Sony is one of the leading electronic products producers in UK. They have proved their stand in producing quality products by winning accolades from the European commission and EISA in the 2007 alone. Sony’s current target is to reduce the impact of its products on the environment. Sony has released BDP-S300 Blu-ray disc player that has gained a fair amount of interest among those who have so far been in the sidelines of the high definition disc battle. Though the Blu-ray DVD players provide us with spectacular quality of image, its pricing has been a matter of issue every time there is a release. The HD DVD players costing just around half the price of the Blu-ray players offer identical performance. In this case, Sony BDP-S300 has taken a step forward in the terms of pricing though a few sacrifices had to be made.

Design:

Body design:
Sony, which is known for providing gorgeous outlooks, has not lived up to its expectations with its design of BDP-S300 Blu-ray DVD player. BDP-S300 is a little slimmer than Sony’s BDP-S1, its predecessor. It has the LED screen display in the lower part its facade. The function buttons are placed on the top of the player. The player’s “eject” and “power” button are placed in the right and left top edge of the player, which you would feel inconvenient. The upper right part has a few basic handy playback controls such as the chapter backward and forward buttons.

The Infra-red universal remote control:
The remote control coming with Sony BDP-S300 Blu Ray Disc player has a good look but the buttons are very small and lacks the back illumination. This slick-looking remote has the reflective directional pad at its center. The buttons are not only small, but all are designed in the same way and as they are placed adjacently, you may find it difficult to navigate through them when in a dark room.

Features:

When we are talking about the networking and interactivity features we must keep in our mind it is not just what is possible and what is not possible now that we have to consider, but also the can and can not of it in the future.

No Ethernet:
Similar to the other entry level Blu-ray players, Sony BDP-S300 Blu-Ray DVD Player also lacks the interface for Ethernet connectivity. A fully functional Ethernet connectivity will be mandated only to players conforming to profile 2.0 aka BD-live. There is no doubt that Sony BDP-S300 will be receiving firmware updates in future which we can burn in a CDR or wait until you get it mailed by Sony.

Other Connectivity:
The rear side of the unit has the assortment of component, composite, legacy standard def S-video and HDMI connections. The HDMI can support high resolution audio and 1080p high definition video analog. Video output of high definition can be got with the help of component video. The analog audio is supported by a 5.1 Multi-channel output. For digital audio, there is HDMI output with the coaxial and optical digital audio outputs.

Playable formats:
Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray disc player can play the standard audio CDs and also MP3 and JPEG files burnt on CDs or DVDs.

Sony BDP-S300 has included the 24p output capability as some studios have started encoding hi-def video content such as Blu-ray disc in 24p. This produces more natural looking and smoother images.

Supported media types:
Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray disc player can support the following media types, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD, CD, BD-R, BD-RE and BD-ROM.

Performance:

Set-up:
On turning the on player for the first time, the player defaults to the language and resolution settings. The player recognises your displays native resolution and adjusts its output accordingly. The load time was 18 seconds which is not bad at all when compared with the current BD/HD players.

Menus:
While talking about the menus, Sony BDP-S300 features an artful high-def graphics inherited from the PSP. Though it is not loaded with a lot of involved settings, its looks can be pleasing and appreciable.

Picture quality:
The quality of the image was very good. The BD playback did not take much time to start. The pictures were sharp and the details were presented neatly. The crystalline clarity of 1080p BD movies1 and DVD upscaling2 can be believed once you see it. Sony BDP-S300 produces output at a resolution of 1080p/24. This high definition makes it possible for you to enjoy home entertainment with stunning picture quality and audio. This unit supports MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 audio formats.

This player supports High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and also x.v.colour. The videos lacked macro-blocking thus adding to its quality. But the Java sluggishness is evident at certain areas. The player did a great job in delivering the deep blacks and saturated colours. There were a few jaggies spoiling the picture.

This player has BRAVIA Theatre sync using which you can control BRAVIA TV and AV systems3 using a single remote. This “one-touch play” remote control feature takes you beyond the simple audio and video functions. It has adopted the newly approved international colour standard called xvYCC. With this feature, the colour space has been greatly expanded. It can produce 1.8 times as many natural colours as the current HDTV signals will be producing.

Audio quality:
The player has a satisfactory audio performance. Unlike Sony’s PS3 and BDP-S1, it does not have the SACD playback and lacks decoding facility for high resolution sound track formats like Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio. The play station 3 which is currently available in the market essentially does everything that the BDP-S300 does with a lot more additional functionalities. This product costs around the same of that of BDP-S300 and is a product of Sony too. BDP S300 does have support for the Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound tracks and also the Dolby Digital plus, which is a slightly higher quality format.

Verdict:

Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray DVD Player has an excellent picture quality on Blu-ray and DVD. The DVD upscaleing up to 1080p and HDMI output are its major pros and its undesirable cons include the absence of onboard Dolby True HD decoding, slow loading on certain discs and a few performance issues. If you are looking for a cheap, standard design Blu-ray player, then BDP-S300 is a decent choice. But if you are looking forward for a better performance, you can look for alternatives like Sony’s Play Station3 or Samsung BD-P1200 or even Panasonic DMP-BD10A.

Technical Specification Details of Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player

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