SONY | SONY STYLE.COM

Blu-ray technology, Sony ES style

Pros: DVD Upconversion, Build Quality, Connection Capability, Excellent Audio/Video Performance

Cons: Limited Remote

I've been waiting a long time for Sony to build a truly high-end ES Blu-ray deck worthy of being added to my existing Sony ES stack (scd-xa777es, dvp-s9000es, str-da777es), and they finally did it. I've only had this deck for a few months at this point, but so far my wife and I are loving it! The video/audio performance is simply amazing... I still have an older 4:3 (crt) display- and granted, my display has been been tweaked for color purity, convergence, black levels, etc- but the video quality (color, edges, black level, lack of artifacts, etc) is pure eye-candy. The audio is just as stellar... I have an older ES receiver that has no decoders beyond the orig Dolby Digital and dts 5.1... the fact that this deck supports analog outs to some of these older receivers is key (for me anyway)- and this has allowed me to upgrade to the latest video + lossless audio codecs by way of this player, without sacrificing my receiver in the process. I also found I had to tweak a couple of the in-play video settings for best performance... and I advise you to experiment as well to extract the best of what this deck has to offer. First, I needed to drop the Brightness level a bit (Options/AV Settings/Video Settings/Video Equalizer/Brightness)... I reduced it to -3 and this resulted in a fairly decent true-black with my tweaked display. I also chose to adjust the Enhance setting (Options/AV Settings/Video Settings/HD Reality Enhancer/Enhance) to +2 to sharpen the edges a bit with my older display (use a decent still-frame to do this)... it improved the edges without adding any artifacts (at least as far as my eye is concerned, a scope might say otherwise). One of the complaints I do have is about the remote... I miss some of the features found on my older dvp-s9000es player/remote: things like jog-dial, for easy frame-by-frame advance or reverse, etc. I don't know, maybe Sony just figured it was better to put their devel money elsewhere in this deck, and that would be hard to fault based on what I've seen so far. And yes, the disk load-times with some disks is pretty slow- notably with some of the DVD+R dts-hd 96/24 music discs have (and I only have a few)... by comparison, most of the std Blu-ray discs I have load fairly quickly (even with quickstart mode turned off). Bottom line- for me anyway- is this deck was worth every penny I paid for it... highly recommended in my book.

In a Class by Itself

Home run! Sony hit this one out of the park! The BDP-S5000ES is the fifth combo disc player that I have tried with my system, and the second Blu-Ray, an upgrade from a BDP-S2000ES. My audio system is a high-end, custom built stereo. The preamp signal processing includes 1960s manufacture Amperex and Sylvania vacuum tubes, and the amplifier is 250W/channel out to custom-built 5-way acoustic-suspension speakers, which have a wall-shaking flat response from 19 Hz to 40,000 Hz. The BDP-S5000ES supplies the preamp using linear PCM tracks when available and analog left and right channel outputs. The video out is HDMI to a 50" plasma TV with 30,000:1 contrast ratio. With this system I can effectively evaluate the BDP-S5000ES combo player for both audio and video. Both are superb, far beyond what I expected. The audio has an open, full-bodied, distortion-free clarity and brilliance that I did not know my system was capable of producing. The video is so good that it makes DVDs look almost like Blu-Ray. The usually noticeable pixels of DVD are smoothed out and the picture has spectacular depth, resolution, and color. Of course, Blu-Ray is even better. Suddenly, I can now enjoy my CDs as never before. CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray sound with the BDP-S5000ES digital-to-analog converters is great, better than some supposedly high-end audiophile DACs. I do not have surround-sound so I cannot comment on that, but based on my stereo audio and my video experience with this amazing disc player, I would say you could not go wrong. You will love it! Wow!!!

Finally!

Pros: Everything

Cons: Expensive

Finally a blueray player that feels like a finished product. Stellar video performance was a given before and still is a hallmark. Finally Sony has gotten around to include all the high definition audio codecs. The previous BDPs2000es was deceptive in their marketing regarding high definition audio capability since though they labelled it as DTS high definition audio, it didn't include DTS master audio. Audio performance is flawless in all formats. The most significant improvement, however, is in functionality, pop in a disc and it plays it, no more seemingly endless loading sequences. The menus and settings work with a quickness that makes the older gen seem paleolithic!. The Internet connection works flawlesly, simply connect and go. In the looks department the component is pretty boring basicly a box with a slot in the front. In summary, finally a BD player that lives up to all the hype in spades, not only in video and audio performance, but in functionality. The only negative is its steep price. For those that can afford it, it is probably well worth it price, since its excellent in all respects and will fit in perfectly with any audiophile home theater system. Definitely "reference" grade.