SONY | SONY STYLE.COM

Wish it had streaming video

Pros: Super picture, great sound

Cons: Slow to boot up and load, no streaming video capabilities

I know that this is by now an outdated model, but since this model offers BD Live (which I enabled through the firmware upgrade), I'm disappointed that Sony has not offered Netflix or an alternative streaming video service through BD Live. Is another firmware upgrade for this model in the works? Wishful thinking?

Beautiful Image, poor controls

Pros: Almost 3D picture

Cons: Controls a big step back

Plain DVDs no longer satisfy, even though they too look better on this player (with a nice Sony high-end TV). Blu ray is SO nice! HOWEVER, I would return this particular player to the store if I could. Even with the most recent firmware upgrade--and when was the last time you needed to upgrade home entertainment equipment firmware?--the controls don't work correctly. Press Pause and the movie pauses; press Play and no more movie, not even the opening menu. Advance frame-by-frame? Not with the BDP-S350. At least there are no directions in the manual on how to do so--There's no manual! Let's hope all of this gets sorted out soon.

sony products rock

easy install and sharp crisp picture no wonder sony is on top of the electronic world can't wait for my next toy!!!!!!!!!!!

Missing a basic function.

Pros: Picture and audio.

Cons: No slow motion or frame advance.

Excellent playback, up-conversion, audio, and just about everything. However, it cannot frame advance when paused, nor does it have slow motion. When researching the product, none of the reviews happened to mention this major downfall.

Lower the Street Price to $199 for the 5th Star

Pros: Small attractive Design, Supports all Current Profiles, Easy to Update Firmware

Cons: Price - At $299 its about $100 from being a 'must have item'

Note I have an up-scaling Sony DVP-CX995V DVD Player connected via HDMI that does a very nice job of up-scaling DVD's on my Sony KDS60A2000 TV. It does the up-scaling so well that I have held off getting a Blu-Ray player because I couldn?t see any reason to support a new format that IMO offered little difference to the end-user. My first impression while watching Iron Man, was that I could not see any real difference. After poking around on the web regarding TV settings, I was reminded that my TV was reset to default settings when my ?little one? got the remote a few weeks ago. After tweaking the settings, there are quite a few on my TV, I was willing to give it another spin. (Bumped up the color, sharpness, contrast, black level and some of the advanced settings like image stabilization etc) I have the AVIA DVD to set up the theater but used the quick THX optimizer that is included on many DVD?s to check some of the settings for performance. I was now ready to go, so I watched a few of the scenes from Iron Man again and WOW ? what a difference. When Iron Man lands in the desert village the first time, it looked like you were literally part of the movie set. This is a very grey scene and with my out-of-the-box factory TV settings it seemed ?very grey?. With everything set for Optimal HD viewing, the colors popped. The red and gold of the suit were amazing. The finest details were sharp end very visible. Motion was incredibly clear and smooth. For reference, I put the standard Iron Man DVD in my DVP-CX995V player with the settings now adjusted on my TV. There was still a very distinct and sharp difference. Colors were brighter and richer on the Blu-Ray version. Images were sharper and had more ?depth? on the Blu-Ray version Motion was much smoother without the ?jaggies? or motion blur. Overall ? a very noticeable difference. Also watched: I Am Legend: Excellent ? the opening scenes were so brilliant; I thought I was watching out my window as Will Smith raced that Cobra SS around my block. A nice feature was the ability to watch the movie with the alternate ending as part of the viewing instead of just as an extra. 300: I am not a huge fan of the Film Grain effect that is used in this movie, but I purposely rented this for that reason. The imagery seemed more 3 dimensional than on the standard version ? so even with the film grain, it?s a thumbs-up for the depth improvement on Blu-Ray. Independence Day: Sorry! Maybe it?s because the cheesy-feel-good action genre that this comes from has been the subject for so many spoof movies? I don?t know. Overall I wasn?t impressed with anything ?Blu-Ray? about it. But keep in mind it this title is a few years old and I think that current and future action movies will be better served by Blu-Ray than some of the older/existing titles. The BDPS350 is 2.0 Compliant which gives you all the BD live and Internet Capabilities. To me I don?t need all this, but the Ethernet port does make upgrading firmware a snap. My overall concern with Blu-Ray is still underlying ? The format is a better value to the studios that were losing money on pirated DVDs and Blu-Ray puts the advantage back in their favor as it is not cost effective for people to pirate Blu-Ray. Studios can re-release movies again to get an extra cash out of the public for titles they already own on standard DVD. IMHO - right now you will see lots of effort on the studio's part to bring quality product to Blu-Ray ? Great Transfers or enhancements to previously released titles, and extras on new releases that aren?t available on the standard DVD version. However ? Yes here is my BIG GRIPE ? the studios will eventually stop doing this and then just pump out their libraries on Blu-Ray with sub-par transfers and little thought into the extras. Look at the standard DVD versions of films like the Godfather or Goodfellas ? Bad transfers. Deleted Scenes are extras and rarely part of the movie, studios should offer the alternate versions or director?s cuts as a full viewing option with all the space available on Blu-Ray ? as was the case for I Am Legend. But again, I fear that few studios will continue this effort once the format becomes the standard for everyone. Bottom Line ? Blu-Ray amazed me and made a believer out of a non-believer. Note to the studios ? put the effort into quality transfers and worth-while content and you can keep people happy ? don?t be cheapos!

Sony Blu Ray Player

Pros: Outstanding picture on blu ray and even makes my standard DVD's look awesome, very attractive unit, reasonable price

Cons: None thus far

I got this player to go with my Vizio 37 inch LCD 1080P TV and I could not be happier with it. The picture is so clear it still amazes me after almost 3 months. Blu ray is so much better than a standard DVD It truly takes movie watching to a whole new level. The upconversion feature even makes my standard DVD's look great. For the best picture quality possible make sure you connect it with an HDMI cable. I would strongly reccomend it to anyone.

Reviewer Images: (click to see full-size image)

Toshiba Fan

Pros: great picture,nice design,do like the menu

Cons: none yet

I received this player for xmas. I am a HD believer and was very surprised when I got it. The picture is one the best that I have seen. I also got some blu-ray movies,I have to admit I was impressed. I did not do the firmware because I will not be connecting to the internet. It does up-convert very well. On par with my HD player.

Great Bang for the Buck

Pros: Excellent unit for the price. Upgradeable firmware

Cons: Not Wi-Fi ready. Disk goes to beginning if you press stop.

Had this unit since Black Friday, and got it at a good price. For a basic unit it displays an excellent picture. Simple to use right out of the box. The only complaints I have is that it is not Wi-fi ready, and when you press stop on the remote, it will not continue to play where you left off, but starts from the beginning of the disk. How many people are running a LAN cable behind their TV? Most homes use Wi-Fi. Other than that this is a fantastic unit.