Sony's $399 Profile 2.0 BDP-S550 Blu-ray player now shipping

[TheMoose]

Sony's $399 Profile 2.0 BDP-S550 Blu-ray player now shipping



Now that Sony's BDP-S350 is all taken care of with that BD-Live-enabling update, the focus shifts to its mightier sibling. The BDP-S550, which was announced way back at a Sony event in late February, is finally shipping. Granted, it's still hard to find in some places, but Sony's own website has 'em in stock and ready to ship within a few business days. $399.99 will get you full 1080p BD output, DVD upscaling via HDMI, 7.1-channel analog audio outputs, Dolby TrueHD internal decoding, BD-Live / BonusView support, BRAVIA Sync and a swank Discovery Channel Blu-ray Disc. Can't beat that with a stick, huh?

[wes]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

Sony's $399 Profile 2.0 BDP-S550 Blu-ray player now shipping



Sony's own website has 'em in stock and ready to ship within a few business days. $399.99 Amazon have them on sale at $329 will get you full 1080p BD output, DVD upscaling via HDMI, 7.1-channel analog audio outputs, Dolby TrueHD internal decoding, BD-Live / BonusView support, BRAVIA Sync and a swank Discovery Channel Blu-ray Disc. Can't beat that with a stick, huh?

Just bought it on amazon for $329

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S550-...4634268&sr=8-1

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by wes

Just bought it on amazon for $329

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S550-...4634268&sr=8-1

Great!
Make sure & give us a full report.

I'm still waiting for a standalone until I can find something significantly better than my playstation 3.

[wes]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

Great!
Make sure & give us a full report.

I'm still waiting for a standalone until I can find something significantly better than my playstation 3.

Will try

[kennyt]

I bought the BDP-S350 a week ago.

It too is BD 2.0 capable (you need to update the firmware and add at least 1G USB Flash drive, minor cost as last time I was in CompUSA an 8G was $14....

The load times are the best I've seen, it even loaded Pirates of the Caribbean almost instantly, and the response to control is also on par with standard DVD players. I think Sony has finally made a Blu-ray player that works GREAT!

FWIW Moose, you don't need the 550, the 350 is all you'd need as your receiver handles bitstream for all the new codecs, the 550 just adds the internal memory and analog outputs (though it only decodes Dolby TrueHD via them, DTS HD MA and HR only come out bitstream from both.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by kennyt

I bought the BDP-S350 a week ago.

It too is BD 2.0 capable (you need to update the firmware and add at least 1G USB Flash drive, minor cost as last time I was in CompUSA an 8G was $14....

The load times are the best I've seen, it even loaded Pirates of the Caribbean almost instantly, and the response to control is also on par with standard DVD players. I think Sony has finally made a Blu-ray player that works GREAT!

FWIW Moose, you don't need the 550, the 350 is all you'd need as your receiver handles bitstream for all the new codecs, the 550 just adds the internal memory and analog outputs (though it only decodes Dolby TrueHD via them, DTS HD MA and HR only come out bitstream from both.

Are you noticing a difference in audio & video quality over the PS3?