Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

I purchased this unit in October for a good price at the time $265.00. I have a Philips 42" LCD 1080i TV, Philips Soundbar and connected all via HDMI and digital audio. Sound is amazing, upconverts all very well and was a breeze to setup. I chose the CD method to update the firmware. Ordered online and it was delivered in less than a week. Load times a bit slower but well worth the wait. Don't hesitate to get this one.

I have a PS3, so I'm already knee deep in the blu-ray experience. I wanted to get a standalone player for the bedroom, so I did a great amount of research. I had it narrowed down to 2 players: The Panasonic BD35 and this player. In the end I picked the Sony because of the price ($189 black Friday) and I'm glad I did. The player is sexy, 2.0 compliant, BD-Live ready (with latest firmware update), and it supports all the new audio codecs...all that one could want in a new BD player.

So far it has played every movie I've thrown at it flawlessly (Spiderman 3, Doomsday, I Am Legend, Rambo, Harry Potter...Phoenix, and Indiana Jones 4). The load times are a tad slower than the PS3, but not much at all. Lastly, the picture is phenomenal, edging out the PS3 even.

So if your researching players like I did, the Sony BDP-S350 is a winning choice.

I love it. Not only does it play Blu-ray discs and standard DVD's, but it also plays AVCHD discs I create from my Canon HD camcorder.

I've only used my new Blu-Ray player a few times so far, so I can make no comments on durability.

Set-up is extremely simple, although I have to down-rate the poorly written instructions. Step 7 in the Easy Setup menu has you select output resolution and then you're supposed to see an image; if not you have to go to a lower resolution. I saw no test image at any resolution setting. "Auto" mode nevertheless produced beautiful picture quality on my 40" Mitsubishi LCD HDTV via HDMI cable.

I played a standard DVD and found the 4:3 ratio picture stretched to fit my 16:9 screen. The video settings menu offered misleading Screen Format choices of "Original" or "Fixed Aspect Ratio"; "original" mode distorts the original program source to fill a 16:9 screen while "fixed aspect" keeps the original format of the program source, displaying 4:3 content and 16:9 content correctly.

Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player
I purchased this item on 26 October 2008 and you can not believe the difference it makes when you play a Blu-Ray Vs a Plain DVD. On a Big 42" Screen 1080p with a Sony HT-SS2300 5-1 Speaker System attached...the room becomes a theater...The picture and Sound to include it's effects are top of the line which makes theater going a thing of the pass when you can enjoy a good blu-ray movie at home now. Thanks SONY...for making this possible...a boy that has CP thanks you as he can now enjoy his children movies on a big screen.