Product Description

See and hear a whole new world in high definition with Sony’s BDP-S500. The crystalline clarity of 1080p Blu-ray Disc™ movies and DVD upscaling that can bring your DVDs to the highest possible quality, mean your favorite movies have never looked or sounded so good. Add to that Sony’s 24p True Cinema and Cinema Tuned picture presets, which allow you to see any movie just the way its director intended, and all you’ll need is a little popcorn to lose yourself in an HD world. Better yet, now Sony’s BRAVIA® Theater Sync™ means that now you can control your compatible TV and AV systems all from one remote.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6030 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Black
• Brand: Sony
• Model: BDP-S500
• Released on: 2007-11-01
• Dimensions: 13.00 pounds

Features

• Full HD 1080/60p & 24p True Cinema Video Output
• Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD bitsteam out over HDMI
• DVD Upscaling to 1080p via HDMI™
• Bravia Theater Sync™ (HDMI-CEC)
• Motorized Sliding Front Door

Customer Reviews

Good enough picture and audio quality. Lacks some basic things.
It lacks support for streaming DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI. It downgrades that signal to regular DTS.

It supports BD-ROM Profile 1 only, although the player started selling after October 31st, so it should support Profile 1.1. I don't think that can be upgradeable by changing the firmware.

Load time is very slow. Around 1.5 minute from pressing standby button to the moment you see an image on the screen.

Remote is not backlit. If you don't memorize where the buttons are on the remote you have to turn on the lights to operate it when watching a movie in a dark room.

The Display function only shows time elapsed of the title, but not time left.

Cover is not as blue as the picture suggests, but almost black.

As I have noticed in different audio/video stores, picture quality is the same than cheaper model Sony BDP-S300 and Samsung or Panasonic players.

BRAVIA Theatre Sync (HDMI-CEC) is very useful, very nice feature, but I don't know if it works with TV and receivers that aren't from Sony.

Picture quality from regular DVD's is about the same compared to a DVD player with the ability to upgrade signal to 1080p. Picture quality from a Blu-ray disc is 10% to 25% better than regular DVD (upgraded to 1080p via HDMI) but noticeably worse than HDTV at 1080i coming from a terrestrial antenna (over the air).

If cost is important, I would recommend that you wait a little bit longer for a new model to be released, since it will cost less and will come with some of the things this BDP-S500 lacks.

My TV: Sony KDL-40XBR5. My receiver: Sony STR-DA5300 ES.

Good but could have been better
I decided to acquire a BD player that was able to decode HD Audio like Dolby True-HD. I therefore traded in my BDP S300 and exchanged it for the higher end model - the BDP S500.
Despite preferring HD DVD formatwise, I really wanted to be able to experience the best of all films in Hi Def and that meant going purple and getting both formats.

The drawbacks of the BDP S500 are primarily that it is a Profile 1.0 BD standalone player. Blu-ray is an incomplete format, rushed onto the market so as not to be left behind by HD DVD which is a completely finished Hi Def format.
There are two further Profiles that are forthcoming for Blu-ray players:
Profile 1.1 sees the introduction of extras such as picture in picture etc that are available on HD DVD players but are not available on Blu-ray until very recently, with the introduction of a few players like the Panasonic DMP BDK30.
The other is Profile 2.0 which has not yet been introduced and at this time there is no sign of any players appearing enjoying that profile.
This profile features full internet connectivity via an ethernet connection, another function enjoyed on HD DVD players but completely missing on BD Players.
Obviously being Profile 1.0, the BDP S500 enjoys none of the features that will be available in Profiles 1.1 or 2.0 nor is it possible to upgrade this player to incorporate these features. As a result the arrival of Blu-ray discs that have these features will simply be a case of playing the film only for the BDP S500 and its fellow Profile 1.0 players.
- Another drawback to the BDP S500 is that it does not decode DTS-HD Master Audio. Therefore, any discs in that format will be decoded as normal DTS.
It is rumoured though that Sony are going to provide a firmware update which will allow DTS-HD Master to be decoded via this and other Blu-ray players. The sooner the better frankly.
- Like all BD machines, the BDP S500 is limited as to what CDs and DVDs it can play. Anything outside of a conventional CD or DVD eg a CD-R or DVD-R etc will not be able to play.
My last criticism of this BD player is the clunkiness of the Java menus and the time that they take to load, particularly when playing a 50GB Blu-ray disc chock full of extras eg Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.
This loading time and overall Java interactivity has been helped though by Sony's recent firmware update 3.50 for this player. Loading times have improved since I applied this firmware to my player.

So what is good about the BDP S500?
It decodes Dolby True-HD superbly, giving a deep and very rich sound indeed when played back via my Onkyo HDMI Amp. Films like Close Encounters and The Fifth Element are simply superb, sound is beautifully clear across all channels with no distortion whatsoever. Surround sound is amazing and is never intrusive.
Despite not(yet)being able to play back DTS-HD Master, the BDP S500 can play back DTS-HD and conventional DTS sound. Both are superb and give an incredible audio experience.
Ditto for its ability to playback Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus.
- Visually the BDP S500 plays back a stunning 1080p Hi Def picture and this fantastic picture is really what the Hi Def experience is all about.
- Lastly the build of this machine is very good and I just love the the robotic fascia that lifts up and down prior or after the disc tray opening and closing.

So there you have it, a mixed bag. I bought the player for its strengths and was fully aware of its aforementioned limitations. It has not disappointed me in my expectations of it but just be aware of the Profile 1.0 concerns and others that I have outlined. If like me, you can do without those features, then go ahead and pick one up because this is a fine Hi Def player which will be even better if it gets its rumoured firmware update to be able to decode DTS-HD Master Audio.

BEST PLAYER AMONG THEM FOR IN THE MIDDLE
This is the best player I have owned so far. I have owned the LG blu-ray/hd-dvd combo, PS3, Bdp-s1, Bdps300 and the HDA1. It loads as fast as any of them, about 45 seconds, then 15 - 30 seconds to play depending on how new the movie is. Firmware updates help the java loading on newer movies. I gave it four stars for not have DTS HD Master bitstream, but they could easily update its firmware to send it down the pipe. For upscaling it is amazing. The detail on peoples hair etc. is super fine.
Unlike what people say, regular DVD players that upscale, can't TRUELY upscale, they just line double. The Blu-Ray players have the processing power to TRUELY process the pixels into a higher resolution. I have owned the DENON 3910 DVD player, and even this superb player could'nt upscale like this one. I bought this player for the HDMI 1.3 for Bitstream HD Audio and support for High bandwidth colors. The BDP-S300 isn't HDMI 1.3, so it lacks future abilities for higher color gamut. All in all this is the best player in its price range. I have hooked it up to both a LG 47lc7df LCD and a Mitsubishi WD65833 Diamond series DLP. Both look crystal clean.
Movies will very on quality depending on the transfer and age of material.