Should I return the SONY BDP-S300 and get a Samsung BDP-1500?

Question

I just got a good deal at Target on a Sony BDP-S300: 272.00. After getting home, and not opening the box, I jumped online to check the reviews. It appears to have some serious issues such as slow load time and not dolby HD compatible.

I found that the Samsung BDP-1500 seems to have better reviews and more features. Should I just take the Sony back to Wal-Mart and trade it for a Samsung?

Help me out with this decision.

-Matt

Answer 1

The Sony is far superior to the Samsung. Ive read no reviews stating what you say. There is no onboard decoding of DTS-HD Master Audio, it can decode every other HD format. Its Sony's entry level player and is getting much praise. There is going to be more blu ray players being launched this autumn frrom various companies.

Did you check the firmware is the latest one? Although the player is only Profile 1.1 out of the box, Sony will be releasing a Profile 2.0 firmware update shortly after launch. Probably worth checking.

If you are set on swapping, the Panasonic DMP-BD50  is a fantastic player, has all the features but is a bit more pricey. i'd personally wait till more players are released this autumn.

good luck.

EDIT: Looks like Jason posted the same info lol, sorry Jason.

Answer 2

Let me throw out a third option..  We recently got a Sony BDP-S350.  It's smaller, and supports all of the lossless audio codecs (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA) by bitstreaming them over the HDMI cable to a compatible receiver.

I've yet to see a BD player that I'd say "loads fast", but it's not absurdly slow by any means.

It also supports BonusView, and has a USB port on the back to add a flash drive to support the coming BD Profile 2.0 firmware.  It updates over the network, using the onboard Ethernet port.  That works well too.

If your receiver doesn't support Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, you might consider yet another couple of players - the Panasonic DMP-BD50 or the Sony BDP-S550 (due out next month).  Those have analog audio outputs and decode the new audio formats internally.  If your receiver can handles those, skip those two, and go for the BDP-S350.