Comments about Sony Sony Blu-Ray Disc Player:

I use this Blu-Ray player with a Samsung 40" LCD (650 series)TV. Picture quality is everything I thought it would be. The 1080p resolution is so sharp, it almost looks like 3D. The upscaled regular DVDs are great, too.

I haven't used the internal decoding for HD dolby or DTS yet, because the older Sony amp does not have HDMI input. I get audio via an optical cable from the TV to the amp. The down mixed Dolby 5.1 sounds fine for now.

You just have to get used to the long power up and load time with the S500. It can take several minutes before it will take commands.

Comments about Sony Sony Blu-Ray Disc Player:

Yes, this is a great player and upconverter but so is the Toshiba HD-DVD player. All-in-all the Sony seems a more solid and reliable unit...however...Sony didn't play fair and some of us resent being forced to Blu-ray.Because there is ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE in the formats and I've been watching HD for almost 3 years on the best HD TV's.

Comments about Sony Sony Blu-Ray Disc Player:

I just need to first say this: How is it that BluRay is winning the format war? I understand that they have most of the major Hollywood studios under their belt, but their technology seems so far behind HD-DVD. I proudly express myself as a gadget guru, and have to have all the new technology as it comes out. Because of this, I own an Integra DHS 8.8 HD-DVD player, and this, Sony BDP-S500. What really kills me, is the amount of negative qualities this thing has.I'll start off with the very few positive traits: The player handles almost all the new HD audio formats. Which is huge, for those of us with new, HD audio ready receivers. It does output Bitstream over HDMI, which is also hard to find. The front panel looks great. I love the seamlessness of it, hiding (most) of the buttons behind a moving front panel. (I'll get to the negative side of this part later)It's relatively easy to start the firmware update procedures, once you have the disc. The picture looks great!That's really all of the positives, now to the negatives:My biggest complaint with this player, and other players, as I've come across, is the extensive load time of the player. I'm not specifically talking about how long it takes to boot up, because it's very similar to HD-DVD players. I'm talking about how long it takes for a disc to load. First of all, I feel like i'm playing a playstation one game, waiting and waiting for the game to start. Why is it necessary for BD-Java to load for so long? Can't they build it into a trailer or something? HD-DVD has ZERO disc load time. They play, exactly like a normal dvd does. That alone makes me SO angry to see that HD-DVD is losing the race.I'm sure, if you're a BluRay fanatic, you'll tell me that I probabaly should update my firmware so that the most current software is installed on my player, and then maybe it won't take so long. I will disagree with you. Since first firing this up, I had to update the firmware, because it would not play spiderman 3. After the update, it worked fine, UNTIL, I played a newer BluRay disc, the movie WAR. This disc, simply will not play until Sony comes out with a newer firmware update, and to this date, they still have not. If i were to install this in a home, where the customer has NO idea how to update firmware, or doesn't have access to internet, they'd be out of luck, and I would rip the player out of the system immediately to avoid all of the unpaid service calls this thing would generate. Obviously, I'm ranting about that, but you can understand my frustration.This may not be a problem for everyone, but if you were instaling this in a Rack, where remote control line of sight may be impossible, and you'll have to use an IR control system, good luck placing the emitter on the front of the player. Since the front panel moves up and down to allow you to load a disc, your emitter will not line up with the IR receiver when it is open, (or closed, depending on where you place it) Your only option is to use an IR blaster, or make sure the panel is up every time you load a dvd. Good Idea, Bad design.The lack of an ethernet port on the back means that this is not future proof. It also, does not have usb ports, for upgradability. Either of the two would allow you to buy this and not worry about the future of where BluRay is headed, which is clearly, downloadable content. Again, score one for HD-DVD, where most of their players have an ethernet port, AND usb jacks, for future use. You actually can upgrade firmware directly from the player, instead of having to create an ISO disc from a CD-Burner. End results? If you're dedicated, don't wanna spend[$]for the top of the line player, this is an OK unit. It will give you a few headaches here and there, but, being so new to the world, it's to be expected, with both BluRay, and HD-DVD. Obviously, HD-DVD seems to have a clear head start with functionality, while, unfortunately, BluRay has all the movies. You just can't win in a format war, until it's over.