Sony BDP-S300 Blu-Ray Player

OK I guess you can call me ‘Betamax man’ (though in fact I bought a Phillips 2000 VCR as my first video) and ‘yes’ I admit I bought a Toshiba HD DVD player so it came as no surprise to me when Toshiba announced that HD DVD was ‘dead in the water’. So to the Sony Blu-ray... looks good, though the footprint is large, bigger than the Toshiba and much bigger than a Sky HD box and it seems all these HD players are VERY slow to boot up, press ‘open’, go make a cup of tea. But it is quite (the Samsung is reported to sound like a hovercraft) and I am a great fan of HD and this Sony will not let you down in that department... stunning picture quality though the ‘Up-scaling’ is good, it’s not as good as they would like you to believe. I guess like all these things the price will drop very soon, so if you can hang on till next Christmas, I would go shopping then.

This is a remarkably good value for money product. Yes, it is entry level, but you are getting a lot for your money.
The only criticism I can think of is the boot up time which I guess is up to two minutes. This seems quite a long time when you are on your knees with a DVD in hand waiting for the drawer to open.

After much research following the announcement that HD discs will no longer be produced, I came to the conclusion that a second hand Blu Ray player would be a good idea for now. I was right, I know that this player will probably not cope with the extended menus etc. planned for future Blu Ray discs but quite frankly - I don't care, I never use added features on DVD's as it is - I just like to watch the movie & eject.

I specifically chose this player as its upscaling for standard DVD's was rated so highly & I have not been disappointed in any way. The difference it has made to my DVD collection is immense, films I thought I probably wouldn't watch again have been making they way into the player. I felt that some movies (particularly high action) that I have previously seen were better watched with the upscaling because I saw details that I had missed before! My friends have questioned why I didn't just buy a PS3 but I didn't just want Blu Ray I wanted to improve the many DVD's I already own.

Watching a Blu Ray movie is a whole new experience completely although having said that I have yet to hear anyone complain about Blu Ray or HD quality on any player. The only negative thing I can say about this player is that when it powers up it takes a while to get in gear, I don't know why but it has not ruined my enjoyment any. Once it has powered up (about 30-60 seconds) you can insert your disc & get going in the same time as an average DVD player. It has some great features, the most useful is the resume function which will resume where you left off even if you have removed the disc from the player. I never buy Sony due to price but I can see now why everyone rates their products so highly.

The remote is high standard & quite weighty & this is where the real quality of a product will show. It is a solid quality machine & only one of the first generation Blu Ray players and because of this I have noticed the prices falling almost everywhere. If you want a Blu Ray player but have been hanging on until prices come down you could do worse than invest in a used or reduced (half price in Dixons last month) S300 while you wait.

This Bluray player was bought to be quite honest for it's price... Although it takes a while to load dics, you have to bear in mind the amount of information on a bluray disc.
As will all audio visual equipment... If you buy the correct player and TV you must also buy good quality leads to appreciate the best out of the player. Not much point spending all that money on the right hardwear when you skimp on the leads, hence why Sony don't supply the HDMI cables with their equipment.
Anyway... This is a good player and a good starting point, for almost any living room. If you want to spend hundreds on equipment, then you need the space to be able to appreciate it.

This item is simple to use. Its even easier to assemble (plug and HDMI lead). The remote is well laid out and can also be programed to control your tv so you only need the one controller. it plays all normal dvd, music, mp3 disks removing the need for a seperate dvd player. At present it is retailing at around £300. i paid £160 boxed and sealed as new here on E-bay. What a deal! and its a sony, the people who made Blu-ray famous. what more can u want?

Superbe blue ray player excellent picture and colour definiton .What hifi rated this product 4stars should have been 5stars im my opinion. Easy to use and set up, good build quality as you would expect from sony. Having just bought a sony HD tv, this dvd player is the perfect accessory for it.

Would advise to get the best out of Hd purchase a good quality HDcable.

Quality is brilliant I like sony products and I would highly recomend this unit as blueray dvds are dear you want quality and this is what you get with this unit ,picture quality surround sound is top class

Overall a great player takes a long time to load but picture quality is exellent. And with the 5.1ch Gold Plated Analog Audio Out connection to my amplifier was very easy and the sound quality is a massive upgrade from DVD

Clear picture and good resolution. A little slow however to read the discs, when put in the disks it can take a few minutes to read them and bring up the inital blue ray menu.
The Picture is crystal clear on a 1080p TV. No problems with any blu rays not playing

Look I have feed back my comments. What is it about you that require 100 characters ? GREAT A LIFE .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The player is excellent in every way. Easy to use and setup.
The bonus with this player is that it has 5.1 surround sound phono output jacks for the older surround sound. Not many Blu-ray players have this along with all the other features.
I find the player a little slow when loading and ejecting a disc even after the setup is complete.
Apart from that it is superb and I recommend it to anyone.

Picture good, just it takes ages to load and does not take every type of DISC.. so if you are looking for a DVD player to play all sorts of Discs' then this is not the one.

i THOUGHT IT WAS GOOD VALUE AND A QUALITY PRODUCT AND AFTER LOOKING ELSEWHERE IT SEEMED TO BE JUST WHAT I WANTED AND THAT PROVED CORRECT

A Consumers Association Best Buy this product fully lived up to me expectations giving crystal clear High Definition pictures of my blue ray movies. It does seem to take rather a long time to boot up but is worth the wait.

I bought this simply because it was a cheap way of watching Blu Ray.
A review site explained that it was still an excellent player but did not have all the latest features like picture in picture and internet connection to download latest firmware.
This did not bother me at all, I have no desire for picture in picture or director's commentary- I only want to watch Hi Def movies and I can now do so for £100- sweet.

Before buying my Blu-Ray from ebay, I read all kinds of forum reviews. The number one topic for this player was how slow it was at loading discs, I decided to take a chance as the price was very good. I think that the writers of the forum reviews must have lived on the planet Zog in cyber space. on average I guess it takes 15-25 seconds to load the average movie, so by the time you've got back to your seat, kicked the cat off, sat down and got comfortable, theres your film ready to go. so don't be put off by the geeks, these are great players with fantastic quality for not a lot of money.

The BD picture quality cannot be faulted. Also upscales DVD to near HD quality. Takes nearly a minute to start after switching on tho their may be software fixed for this. The hand controller has lots of functions on it, possibly more than likely to be used. The offer of free BDs from sony has now lapsed.

When i bought this item, it was to be used on my new Sony 1080p Plasma, and it fits in perfectly. I can watch all my normal dvd's in HD with the built in Upscaling technology and watch all the new Blu-ray dvd's. Brilliant picture, sound and even the player itself looks amazing! 5 Star Product!

I have been looking around for this product for quite some time but found it was expensive. The product I have purchased on e-bay is brilliant, makes the picture quality on tv so clear. I am thrilled with it and it is perfect for doing my wedding fair's. I think I have made a great buy and would definitely recomment this produce to anyone who is thinking of buying a new DVD player.

just one word ; BRILLIANT !!!!BRILLIANT! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! 1 1 ! ! ! !1 ! 1 ! ! ! ! ! !1 ! ! 1 ! 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!