Exclusive Review: Sony BDP-S550 Blu Ray Player

25 Responses to “Exclusive Review: Sony BDP-S550 Blu Ray Player”

1. elminster1976 says:

   March 3, 2009 at 7:11 pm

   Great Player
   This player is great. Not much lag time. Very satisfied. I have recently bought a second one.

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2. cruiser_ct says:

   March 3, 2009 at 4:38 am

   Sony BDP-S550 dic player

   This is a very good product. HD Picture quality excellent. Video DVD at 1080i excellent. Blu-ray dic. Ease of use excellent.Rated number two in the consumer report Blu-ray player ratings for 1/2/2009. Great porduct.

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3. compulsivegeek says:

   March 2, 2009 at 9:42 pm

   Very happy!
   The results are great even when playing a DVD. I haven’t stressed it too much nor compared it with the Panasonic I have which I use with a projector. No complaints at this time.

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4. bruinccn says:

   March 2, 2009 at 4:45 pm

   great blue ray player
   This is an excellent player. The picture is crisp and clear on my HDTV.

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5. donnytv says:

   March 2, 2009 at 3:10 pm

   Good solid player
   This is a great player. Simple to use. It’s Sony so you can expect them to understand how to properly play Blu-Ray movies.

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6. Anonymous says:

   March 2, 2009 at 8:38 am

   BD player
   Detailed, but still quite expensive. I have this and the Samsung bd-1500. Samsung is quicker and pictures are very similar.

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7. Anonymous says:

   March 2, 2009 at 7:33 am

   excellent player
   The Sony BDP-S550 is an excellent midrange Blu-ray player with a full feature set. It plays reliably, produces an excellent picture and is easy to use. The remote suffers from flaws in the layout of buttons (i.e. the navigation buttons and the menu buttons are too close and one can easily press the wrong button). However, it has played every disk I tried without a problem, unlike an earlier Samsung model which is prone random freezes.

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8. Anonymous says:

   March 2, 2009 at 2:25 am

   Review of blue ray player
   Haven`t had the player very long but I watched the new batman in blue ray and it was great. Thanks to the agent who helped me she knew her stuff and I got a good deal for my money.

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9. Anonymous says:

   February 27, 2009 at 5:30 pm

   One Of The Best
   After going through a couple of brands for Blu-ray players, this is the best (Next to a PS3). Shop around, these usually go on sale for 100 less than suggested retail. I love mine because it’s perfect for my needs. Sends out uncompressed PCM sound.
   
   The image quality is outstanding, couldn’t get as clear of an image with the other players I tried. Some people complaint that this player has no slow motion feature. Is it that big of a deal? Besides, the slow motion feature can be added with a firmware upgrade, I’m sure that at some point it will be added.
   
   In the meantime, I don’t need slow motion, and I love my Sony S550. Only thing is that those BD-Live Blu-ray discs don’t have anything worth downloading, pretty lame. HD DVD had better content for download, but I’m sure BD will catch up.
   
   The only thing wrong with this, and the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because it’s a terrible up converter for regular DVDs. My HD DVD does a better job at this. I’m sure they’ll fix this with a Firmware upgrade.
   
   Get this player, you won’t regret it.

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10. Anonymous says:

    February 25, 2009 at 12:48 am

    Great sound from player!!
    Currently upgraded my Panasonic bd10 for this model. Really, thought there would be no big difference, boy was I wrong. The picture looked a bit sharper and alot brighter, and its a dark movie. I watched Max Payne last night, and in the beginning there was a water scene. It felt so real. I felt as if I was in the water. One shoot’em up scene made me jump, because you don’t know where its coming from. I have it up pretty loud, too.

    People who say there is no difference between dts-hd, true hd versus regular sound. Really haven’t heard the 2.

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11. slajt4040 says:

    February 24, 2009 at 11:21 pm

    Blu-ray wins.
    If you have a Sony HDTV (higher end preffered) then this is a perfect compliment to your HD home experience. Bravia Sync capability recognizes instantly other Sony products attached to your TV and can be controlled with one remote. Blu-Ray DVD’s look awesome and it also plays and enhances regular DVD’s making your viewing experience much better. The only minor thing is that it doesn’t have wireless capability. Have to attach an ethernet cable to my router to update software versions. I’m sure that will be added on the next gen blu-ray players.

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12. Anonymous says:

    February 24, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    best of class
    The Sony BDP-S550 is an excellent midrange Blu-ray player with a full feature set. It plays reliably, produces an excellent picture and is easy to use. The remote suffers from flaws in the layout of buttons (i.e. the navigation buttons and the menu buttons are too close and one can easily press the wrong button). However, it has played every disk I tried without a problem, unlike an earlier Samsung model which is prone random freezes.

    GD Star Rating
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13. drumst6 says:

    February 24, 2009 at 3:46 am

    Sony Blu Ray
    This is a great player. Takes very little time load.The BDlive feature makes this the ultimate Blu Ray player. I actually purchased a different brand Blu Ray because of price.After some research I found that there are currently 2 different formats/. Well the Sony has you covered now and in the future so the unit does not become obsolete in a year. Highly recommend this player Picture and sound are incredible. I have mine hooked up to my Mitsubishi 65″ DLP WOW WOW WOW

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14. Anonymous says:

    February 21, 2009 at 9:14 pm

    Blu-ray S550 player
    I am very pleased with the Blu-ray. Had some trouble getting it
    
    hooked up, but with help from Sony technitions on the phone
    
    I finallly go it. I get a really good picture, I have Direct-TV with
    
    High Definition.

    Frank Gibson

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15. noushyk says:

    February 21, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    Great player for the price
    This was purchased to replace a BDP-S300 in our living room. Much faster startup, and supports the new HDMI 1.3 spec allowing our tv to control the player. Amazon has it for a great price, and overall a significantly better player than the first gen devices (BDP-S300 and BDP-S500). The BD-Live feature is a bonus but not necessary, the internet firmware upgrades makes it much easier than burning a disc everytime a new update comes out. The only complaint is the unit seems to be built much cheaper than the older players, smaller, more flimsy compared with the older Sony units. This seems to be a trend even with Samsung and Sharp.

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16. vrml says:

    February 21, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    Great player bang for the buck.
    I recently upgraded to HD (1080P). I stuck with all Sony brand name equipment so I could take advantage of the Bravia Sync. This player was a great deal on amazon for $320.00 when I purchased it.

    I can open the player, insert a movie and go sit on the couch. The receiver and the telivision will automatically switch to the proper inputs and outputs for the movie to play and have surround sound from the receiver.

    Most people I’ve talked to don’t understand that the only 1080P source available is a Blu-Ray player and this one is the best bang for the buck. The older player is much slower and has to be upgraded and have memory added to be capable of doing what this unit can. The higher priced units cost more than twice what I paid and don’t offer any features that I could tell the difference in the movie experience.

    It was a no brainer for me.

    GD Star Rating
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17. Anonymous says:

    February 21, 2009 at 11:48 am

    Doesn’t play most burned DVD’s
    According to their claims, Sony says this will play burned DVD’s- well, I can trll you the one I got does not. They all seem to skip and cannot scan early on in the disc. They do seem to improve later. It does play all normal Blu-Ray or DVDs but if you have any burned DVDs and you plan to use this as your end all player- think again

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18. Anonymous says:

    February 21, 2009 at 9:38 am

    Excellent Player
    I purchased this player right before christmas and so far am very happy with it. The picture quality is superb which surpasses a DVD player. You could check your player’s firmware version through system setting and If the last three digits of the version number is less than 015, you could contact Sony’s web site and download an updated firmware or request a cd to upgrade your player.

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19. Anonymous says:

    February 21, 2009 at 7:11 am

    A great addition to the HD Plasma
    I am very happy with the unit: easy to set up, nice design, and great images. Worth every penny.

    GD Star Rating
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20. Anonymous says:

    February 21, 2009 at 6:35 am

    Great Picture
    This is my first Blu-ray player so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I chose it based on the reviews, the Sony reputation, and the fact that it was cheaper than the BDP-S330 at the time being that it was an upgrade over that model.
    
    I was not disappointed. The picture quality is great. Set up is simple. It loads a disc slower than a standard DVD player but reading reviews for other Blu-ray players it seems to be the norm for Blu-ray, however, not so slow as it’s a problem. With these features and the price it can’t be beat.

    GD Star Rating
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21. dfw2000 says:

    February 21, 2009 at 3:44 am

    does what it says it will do,however
    Audio set up aint as easy as hdmi.

    bd-live? any one ever use this thing? did use it on a ps3 and found it useless. so don’t buy this unit if bd-live is your main concern.

    transcodes all audio. that is a plus if you have an older receiver.

    great price, updates are easy…just order thru sony as the usb in the back of unit like everyone else says is tough to make it work.
    
    nice remote.

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22. Anonymous says:

    February 20, 2009 at 11:30 pm

    First Blu Ray player
    A pretty good product. Connected it to the home network, hooked it up to the Sony AV receiver and “away we go”.

    Picture quality is good on my 2 year old Sharp 42″ LC42D62U, but the sound from the DTS audit track rocks. It is so real that when a dog barks in a movie, my Schnauzer goes nuts.

    Upconversion of existing DVDs is pretty good. Playing Pearl Harbor the other night, the screen pixilated several times during the extreem action scenes, but that is the only problem we have had .

    GD Star Rating
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23. Anonymous says:

    February 20, 2009 at 9:50 pm

    Very good
    Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-ray Player is very good to play Blu-ray discs. However, if you are looking at up scaling a regular DVD to 1080p; then you’ll be disappointed…

    From what I noticed; you’ll not see any real benefit of BDP-S550 as against a DVD player with up scaling feature; when playing regular DVD.

    Overall, it was a good buy.

    GD Star Rating
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24. stagemad says:

    February 20, 2009 at 4:02 am

    Finally… A Blu-Ray player That Plays
    I had a terrible experience with a prior Blu-Ray player I owned (a Sharp BD-HP20U), and decided to buy a replacement. After reading the reviews at Consumer Reports, and here on Amazon, I decided to splurge on this Sony model.

    I will limit my review to the initial set-up, as many other more sophisticated users are more qualified than I to judge the quality of the video and audio. (I live in a NYC apartment so stuff like 8 speaker home theater sound systems are a no-no unless you want to be evicted and/or punched out by irate neighbors).

    In a nutshell, this player was a breeze to set up. It actually has easy-to-follow, step-by-step on screen set-up instructions. AND, when I connected it to my home network, it actually went right to the Sony website, flashed a message that there was a software upgrade available, and then downloaded those latest software patches (If you buy any model Blu-Ray player, you better be prepared for software chsnges, and have the know-how to use usb drives etc if the player doesnt connect directly to the internet).

    In addition, this model has a lot of bells and whistles which I’ll get to in time, but the bottom-line is I think I found a player thats worth recommending. And like almost always, Amazon had the best price, and delivery just two days after ordering.

    GD Star Rating
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25. Anonymous says:

    February 20, 2009 at 12:01 am

    One of the best Blu-Ray’s on the market
    After hours of research I decided on this product from Sony. I couldn’t be happier. The load up time is relatively quick with no issues. You can sync the Blu-Ray with your Sony TV and control both with the same remote. No complaints. Definitely worth the money.

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BD-Live Ready / Full HD 1080p/24p and 60p AVC-HD w/x.v.Color Output / Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD / 1080p HD Upscaling / BRAVIA Sync / HDMI

Bring home the future of Blu-ray Disc technology with BD-Live and the BDP-S550 Blu-ray Disc player. The S550 is the step-up model to Sony's BDP-S350. It adds a gigabyte of onboard memory, so you can enjoy expanded Blu-ray capabilities like BD-Live interactive features right out of the box, and dts-HD compatibility for studio-quality sound.

BD-Live takes your movie experience to a whole new level. Download and stream bonus content such as additional scenes, shorts, trailers and movie-based games. Equipped with a built-in Ethernet port, the BDP-S550 makes it easy to access specially created BD-Live content and Bonus View features. A USB port that allows you to add more storage to access the growing number of special features that will be available given the immense storage capacity of Blu-ray discs themeselves. This player outputs a Full 1080/24p True Cinema picture and  upscales your existing DVD collection to 1080p when using the HDMI connection. Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD delivers studio master quality audio which is designed specifically for high definition entertainment. Make the most of all of these features with the icon-based Xcross Media Bar, which provides simple navigation of the player's menu system.

Key Features

• Slim chassis
• True 1080p Output (Learn more)
• 7.1 Channel Dolby Sound , Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD (Master Audio and High Resolution Audio) (Learn more)
• 1 Gb of onboard memory and a USB Port Allows More Storage for Access to More Special Features, Like Bonus View (Learn More)
• Ethernet connection for BD-Live Compatibility and firmware updates (Learn more)
• Higher Bit Rates mean less video compression (Learn more)
• Emmy-Award Winning Xross Media Bar Interface (Learn More)
• Bravia Sync for Easy Connectivity (Learn More)

Learn More

More Picture

More Bits

In the digital world, picture quality is not just about resolution, but also about bit rates. The higher the bit rate, the more data that is processed, typically resulting in higher video quality. DVDs have a maximum video bit rate of about 10 megabits per second (Mbps). In comparison, Blu-ray Disc is capable of video bitrates up to an incredible 40 Mbps. The bottom line, higher bit rates allow for the least amount of data compression for HD video that looks closest to the original video source.

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More Sound

Xross Media Bar

Xross (pronounced Cross) is Sony's Technical-Emmy award-winning graphic user interface for Sony WEGA and BRAVIA televisions and PS3 and PSX game systems. The interface features category icons spread horizontally across the screen that organize the viewing options (TV, Music, Internet, Tools, etc...). When a category icon is selected on the horizontal bar, a vertical bar appears showing the viewing options within that category. Using the directional pad on your remote, you can easily maneuver horizontally from category to category, then scroll vertically through individual viewing options to easily navigate through the wide range of programming available on today's televisions.

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BD-Live

BD-Live is a Blu-ray feature that enables you to access  special content via an internet-connected Blu-ray player. Because it's not coded into the disc, BD-Live content is always updated, always fresh. With BD-Live, your Blu-ray disc is different every time you view it. Check out the latest previews,  download special scenes, exclusive features and ringtones, and participate in online communities or games. As BD-Live continues to grow and expand, even more features will become available, customizing features and content to your location or preferences.

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More Space

Blu-ray Disc has 5x more storage capacity than DVD, which allows more content to fit on the disc. The extra storage capacity also means more room for special features like inline navigation, Bonus View, interactive games, deleted scenes, director commentary and more
Navigate to special features, other scenes, or settings without leaving the content you are watching.	Bonus View lets you watch special features and commentary inline without leaving the movie.

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HDMI Features

x.v Color

RGB Color Range

xvYCC Color Range

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 creating), the color space has been greatly expanded. All Sony XBR HDTVs support the xvYCC color profile (Extended YCC Colorimetry for Video Applications), or "x.v. color" for short. Standard RGB color space allows the display of a portion of the colors that are viewable to the human eye. The next generation "xvYCC" color space actually offers  an available range of colors that exceeds what human eyes can recognize. Next-generation "xvYCC" color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately Enables displays with more natural and vivid colors

Deep Color

So, where x.v. color expands the available range of colors your HDTV can display, Deep Color increases the number of colors your HDTV can display within that range, for smoother transitions from color to color. Lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colors to billions of colors Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors Enables increased contrast ratio Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white

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Connectivity

As a leader in products with HDMI connectivity, Sony has created BRAVIA Sync to gobeyond simple audio and video transmission. When combined with a select number of BRAVIA televisions and other Sony audio and video products, in addition to audio and video transmission, control functions will betransmitted via the HDMI cable. With "One Touch Play," operations that took several steps have been reduced to one. Press the PLAY button on the remote, watch the audio and/or the video component(s) turn on then the BRAVIA television turn on and switch to the correct video input–Simple–Easy–BRAVIA Sync. Inputs and Outputs Analog Audio Output(s) : 2 Channel: 1 (Rear) Coaxial Audio Digital Output(s) : 1 (Rear) Component Video (Y/Pb/Pr) Output(s) : (Y/Pb/Pr) OUtput(s): 1 (Rear) Composite Video Output(s) : 1 (Rear) Optical Audio Output(s) : 1 (Rear) S-Video Output(s) : 1 (Rear) Ether port for firmware updates USB port for BD-Live External Memory

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Specifications

Weights and Measurements

• Dimensions (Approx.): 17 inches x 8 3/4 inches x 2 3/4 inches (430 x 220 x 70 mm)


• Weight (Approx.): 7 lbs 4 oz (3.3Kg)

Audio Features

• Dolby: Yes & Dolby TrueHD bitstream out over HDMI (V1.3)


• Dolby Digital plus Decoding: Yes


• Dolby TrueHD Decoding : Yes


• dts Decoding: Yes


• dts Output: Yes


• dts-HD Decoding: Yes


• LPCM: Yes (multi channel decoder): Yes (HDMI bitstream out)


• Dolby True HD bitstream output: Yes


• dts HD bitstream output: Yes

Capability

• CD: Yes


• DVD: Yes

Video Features

• BD-R/RE Read Compatibility: Yes (BDMV & BDAV format)


• BD-ROM: Yes


• DVD+R Read Compatibility: Yes


• DVD+RW Read Compatibility: Yes


• DVD-R Read Compatibility: Yes (Video Mode and VR Mode)


• DVD-RW Read Compatibility: Yes (Video Mode and VR Mode)


• JPEG Playback: Yes


• x.v.Color Technology: Yes