Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray Player Reviewed

  • By: HomeTheaterReview.com,

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Performance
4 Stars
Value
4 Stars
Overall
4 Stars

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Sony has won the format war against the now-defunct HD DVD, but the Blu-ray still hasn't reached what many had hoped for in terms of market penetration.  The PS3 has been the main player keeping Sony alive for most of this race, but the release of the new BDP-S350 may well change all that.  Entering the market at $299 retail and streeting for a bit less, the new Sony player finally might get Joe Six-Pack off the couch to go Blu.  This new player is small at 17 inches wide, just less than nine inches deep and two-and-a-half inches tall.  The build quality is adequate for the price point, but finally Sony has made a player that does what we need.  

Read more top performing Blu-ray player reviews from Sony, Sony ES, Samsung, Vizio, Denon, Toshiba, Oppo, Lexicon and many others.

The BDP-S350 offers bitstream output of all audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, which it can also internally convert to LPCM.  The player of course plays DVDs and can upscale them up to 1080p, and it can play CDs as well.  Audio outputs consist of one optical and one coaxial digital output and a pair of single-ended stereo analog outputs.  Video can be output in composite, S-Video, component or HDMI 1.3a.

Sure, all this is great, but what sets this unit apart from previous Sony models is that the BDP S350, with the current firmware installed, is BD-Live-capable.  Yes, a true profile 2.0 player from Sony, their first one since the PS3.  To top it off, this unit has great functionality, loading even notoriously difficult discs in mere seconds and outputting exceptional video from DVDs and especially Blu-ray discs.  Not only has Sony broken the $300 price mark, but they have done it with a player that works so well and responds to commands so quickly that anyone (not just Blu-ray mavericks who are upgrading for better performance) who buys this player will be happy with it, including those who have been holding out and are used to the speed of DVD players.  For those used to the PS3, Sony has added the Xcross Media Bar as a menu for this player.

Read about the high points and the low points of the BDP-S350 on Page 2.

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  • Comment on this article

  • By Dick

I love this player, especially for the price!

  • By jhherring

If Blu-Ray has won the war against HD-DVD, then sign me up. Send me a Blu-Ray player and a couple hundred movies right away. Bill me in convenient installments of $0.01 per month until my account is paid up.

  • By Ken Taraszka, MD

jhherring,

I think you are missing the point! This player sells for <$300 an it is awesome! both with SD DVD's and Blu-rays. I own many Blu-ray titles, but haven't bought one in many months as I rent them from Netflix, so for me the cost if discs is negligible. We will have sweepstakes for Blu-ray players, so try your luck! You are on your own for the movies though!


  • By chrisy

JHerring - did you see you can Enter the Sweepstakes to win this Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray Player & the 6-Disc James Bond Blu-ray Box Set?

  • By PC509

Some places have this player for under $200. Amazon even had a deal where you buy 4 BRD movies and take $100 off the player. So, it was around $220 for the player and 4 decent movies. Not bad at all.

After the Christmas holiday, I'll be picking one of these up for sure. I'm glad they finally released a good profile 2.0 player. And at a low cost. And from Sony, no less!

Oh, and BTW: Blu-ray didn't win the war, they bought the war! ;) I kid, I kid. No flame war! I still love my HD-DVD player, though!

  • By greg

Yes, the contest is excellent. I`m hoping to win. However, the market place I believe is still recovering from the format war. Its now a year, another Black Friday removed from all those consumers last year bought those highly discounted HD DVD players, just to find out that they got left in the dust. I think the AV industry has taken this quite liekly.
The general public does not like to be feel like they were taken advantage of. Add in the economy presently. So, once they feel Blu-Ray is truly the way to go, then we will see a move towards Blu-Ray. Remember, they are not audio/videophiles like us. Early adopters and that kind of thing. The industry can not make that mistake again.

  • By Maverick

They will keep trying and keep coming up with new formats - to keep making us buy. It's the American Way.

  • By Diverhank

I'm close to getting this BD player but someone told me that it cannot resume play (after you stop and turn the unit off). I have trouble believing that it can't as every single DVD player (including Sony) does it today. Can someone please confirm this? Thanks.

  • By Bob

It is possible to resume after stop on this unit with a blu-ray disk. Some disks (How the west was won e.g.) do allow resume after stop. Most (Transformers, Dark Knight....) do not. Here's what you do: At any point, press the green button on the remote. You'll see a small window with a bookmark number and time stamp. After stopping the disk, turning the unit off, etc. wait for the menu to come up (or hit pop-up menu). Go to scene selection. You'll see Bookmark there. I don't know how many bookmarks can be set. They can be deleted. This may not work for all disks. Hope this helps.....Bob

  • By alideb

I am still in the process of deciding which player to purchase I am leaning towards the SONY 550 or the Panasonic 55 models they have the analog audio outs for my older reciever .thinking about picture is only half of the story to enjoy the new sound formats you either decode the audio thru your reciever using HDMI cables or analog at least this way you can keep your older equipment & still hear the full sound of blu ray.
I find it funny that for years all trhe talk was going digital sound and now it's back to analog

Mike

  • By Ken Taraszka, MD

Mike,

You ill need to use analog until you update your pre/pro or receiver. For me in my home, both systems run all the new codecs over HDMI and stay digital until the final conversion before the output sections, but at least you can appreciate the increase in audio performance NOW for a small increase in price.

Ken

  • By greg

One thing that is good though, is now you have a player that is affordable, in both Sd and Blu-Ray. Which makes things a lot easier.

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