Product Description

See and hear a whole new world in high definition with Sony’s BDP-S300 Spiderman 3 Limited Edition. 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

• Color: Blue
• Brand: Sony
• Model: BDP-S300/SM
• Dimensions: 3.10" h x 17.00" w x 14.90" l, 10.00 pounds

Features

• Spiderman 3 Blu-Ray Movie Included in the box
• Full HD 1080/60p & 24p True Cinema Video Output
• DVD Upscaling to 1080p via HDMI
• BRAVIA Theatre Sync (HDMI-CEC)
• BD/DVD/CD playback and AVC-HD with x.v.Color output

From the Manufacturer
See and hear a whole new world of high definition with the incredible BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player. The crystalline clarity of 1080p Blu-ray Disc movies1 and DVD upscaling2 has to be seen to be believed. Amazing 24p True Cinema3 2 output and cinema-tuned picture presets allow you to see movies exactly how the director intended. And with BRAVIA Theatre Sync, you can now you can control your compatible BRAVIA TV and AV systems3 from just one remote.

x.v.Color
Thanks to the adoption of a newly approved international color standard called xvYCC (an option in the HDMI v1.3 spec and which Sony participated in helping to create), the color space has been greatly expanded. 1.8 times as many natural colors as existing HDTV signals will now be faithfully reproduced. (x.v.Color capability is available on select BRAVIA televisions, Blu-ray Disc players and the PlayStation3 computer entertainment system.)

24p True Cinema Video Output
Many movies are filmed at 24 frames per second (fps) and prime time TV programs are videotaped at 24p. Seizing an opportunity, some studios are taking a purist approach and encoding high definition video content such as Blu-ray Disc in 24p. The BDP-S300 wisely takes advantage of this by including 24p output capability. The benefits are smoother and more natural-looking images that make watching television an experience to remember. (24p video input capability is available on select BRAVIA televisions.)

BRAVIA Theater Sync
Go beyond simple audio and video transmission with the "one-touch play" remote control feature that allows you to easily manage select BRAVIA televisions and Sony HDMI audio and video components with a single remote. (Available on select BRAVIA theater home A/V systems and components.)

Blu-ray'sHD resolution offers a vastly better picture than SD resolution availabel from regular DVD

More About Blu-ray
The format provides five times larger capacity than today's DVDs, with unprecedented storage capacity of 25 GB (single-layer) and 50 GB (dual-layer). Blu-ray Disc players will be fully backward compatible with current DVD formats, delivering entertainment content in full high-definition (HD) quality, under a secure environment made possible through the most advanced copyright protection technology.

Blu-ray Disc provides picture quality beyond anything available, with full capability 1080p/24 resolution in Blu-ray and Up to 40Mbps bit encoding - 5X current DVD. The theater quality "uncompressed" audio supports 8 channels of Liner PCM, Up to 32 streams of audio, interactive capability, seamless menus, integrated games, hi-def bonus and educational features. Java will allow for more dynamic, more sophisticated interactivity.

Expand your workd with Sony products using Blu-ray Disc technology. It;s the heart of an outstanding line of Sony products with Blu-ray Disc technology that extends beyond the boundaries of high-definition and opens the new vistas for creativity, enjoyment, and interaction.

Discover unsurpassed picture quality and uncompressed audio on supporting media that goes beyond any other format you've seen. Immerse yourself in the unrivaled detail that lets you experiencemore in every movie, every game.

Movies

Find a huge selection of great movies available now on Blu-ray Disc

The best names in entertainment suppor Blu-ray Disc technology. Seven of Hollywood's major studios -- with 90% of home entertainment sales -- ensure the most extensive library of high definition titles, with hits from SOny pictures, Walt Disney, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Lions Gate. You'll find more titles coming every month.

Blu-ray Disc was created to match the accelerating growth in digital consumer electronics and computer technology. The platform supports the convergence of film, music, gaming and other computer entertainment in a single standard. Sony Computer Entertainment's adoption of Blu-ray Disc ROM technology in the next-generation PlayStation 3 system was announced at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Capacity Without Compromise
Everything that DVD can do, Blu-ray Disc does and more. Blue laser technology enables up to 50 GB of storage -- five times the capacity of DVD. That's room for nine hours of HD. Or 23 hours of SD. Or tens of thousands of songs. Unbelievable data storage.

Versatiltiy Beyond the Ordinary
From movies to music to games to PC software and file backup, Blu-ray Disc is your solution! The system embraces pre-recorded titles (BD-ROM), discs that you can record yourself (BD-R) and discs you can re-record over and over again (BD-RE). So we can anticipate not only BD players for your living room, but also BD recorders, BD-based game consoles, BD drives for your personal computer and even BD camcorders using compact 8 cm (3") discs!

Customer Reviews

Underwhelming performance overall....
I received this as a gift last Christmas, and am using it with a 50" Panasonic LCD TV (can't remember model number at the moment). One of the first things I noticed about this unit was how long it takes to load a disc. The fastest I've ever seen it load with any kind of disc is about a minute. For Blu-Ray discs with more elaborate menus and such, it can take 3 or 4 minutes to load the menu. I also found out within a couple of weeks of owning it that the player does not support either Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master audio, only Dolby Digital plus. A bit of a disappointment, to say the least. Also, performance on standard DVD's is no better than any $30 player you can get at Best Buy. My $200 Oppo blows it away for standard DVD's. Another annoying thing about the player is that, if you hit stop while watching a movie (to answer the phone, for example) it does not save your place in the movie so when you go back, you have to wait 3 or 4 more minutes for the menu to load, then try to find where you were in the movie. Very poor design. I tried several times to download and update the Firmware, hoping it would help with some of these problems, but Sony's web site always tells me "the page can not be displayed" when I try to download this particular firmware. E-mailed their support, and they were not at all helpful. Blu-Ray movies DO look great (once you buy your own HDMI Cable which, for some reason, is not included) but the other issues of this player make it a poor buy.

Read The Small Print
A very big disappointment. On the box, you see 1080 Full HD printed all over it. There is one small line which says, "HDMI capable HDTV with 1080p display required, Image quality and upscaling results will very." I have a 1080 HD Projector, but it does not have an HDMI input. No problem I thought. I can use the component output jacks on the Sony BDP-s300. I connected everything and turned it on and when the movie finally started to play, my projector told me that I was only getting a 480i picture from the Sony Box. After reading through the instruction manual, I learned that the player can only produce a full 1080 HD signal from the HDMI output. I called Sony Customer Support and asked if there was a way to work-around this problem using some kind of special cable. They informed me there was no special cable. If I wanted a 1080i picture, I would have to buy a new TV. I told them my TIVO Series 3 Hi-Def recorder could produce a 1080 picture using component video output. I told Sony I would take the player back for a refund. I am very disappointed that Sony did not make a better effort in warning the buyer about the limitations of this player with some types of HDTV's.

Nice player.....A LOT OF PROBLEMS!!!!!!
I purchased the BDP S300 after buying a 52" XBR4. It does have some minor issues, but nothing I could not live with. Overall I was happy with the player.
The main problem came when I tried to update the Firmware that Sony has available on their website.
I had the thing for about a month when I downloaded the Firmware update from Sony's website. The 3.8 version froze up my player. I got the message "Incomplete, Need Disc". I could not shut it off, or eject the disc. This was after I got the message that the download was successful.
I fortunately purchased the item from Circuit City who was wonderful! I was 4 days over their 30 day return policy. The let me exchange it for a new one. I got home, and attempted to download a version of the 3.7 Firware that I knew worked since I had upgraded the old plaer. The same thing happened again!!!! I contacted Sony's support, who were not helpful. They wanted me to pay to have it shipped to PA for repairs. After I spent $4000 on a T.V., and $400 on the stupid player. I feel that this is a slap in the face by Sony. Especially when I have been loyal to Sony for 20+ years!
I returned this second player. Like a fool, I will probably get screwed over by Sony again with the new player.
I asked the Sony rep. to send me the upgrade disc from them rather than downloading it from the internet. He assured me that this issue will not happen again.
If this freezes up with the disc that Sony sends me directly, I am returning the player and going with another company!!!

BE VERY CAUTIOUS WHEN PURCHASING A BD PLAER!!!!!

As another reviewer mentioned. The technology is too new at this time. Spend the money on the extended warranty from the store, NOT SONY. They will screw you over.