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Sony BDP-S1 Review |
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Reviewed: 08 August 2007
Design
Slimline the Sony BDP-S1 is not, but the rather bulky chassis still manages to present itself as a chic piece of equipment in the Sony tradition. This is due in no small part to the outstanding build quality that we have come to expect from Sony, but have not always found of late on some of their High Definition kit.
A blue coloured glass fascia and brushed metal finish add the perfect finishing touch to the impressive build quality.
Features
The Sony BDP-S1 offers 1080p full HD video output for the highest quality HD imagery and will breath new life into your existing Standard Definition DVD collection with upscaling to 1080p (via HDMI).
Video Upsacaling: yes Output Resolution: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p Playable Disc Formats: BD-ROM (single & dual layer), BD-9, DVD, CD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CDR/RW, MP3, JPEG, AVC-HD 8c / 12cm DVD Playback Sockets: 1 HDMI input, 2 USB, 1 Scart, composite video, s-video, dvi, component output video.
The current must have feature for High Definition (HD) kit is 1080p/24 frames per second (24p) support and the BDP-S1 doesn't disappoint. Movies have traditionally been filmed at a frame rate of 24fps (frames per second) and the 1080p/24 feature allows films to be shown in their original format.
Having read reviews of the BDP-S1 currently available in the US you will be pleasantly surprised that the UK version unlike its American cousin has the ability to play audio cd's.
While the Sony BDP-S1 goes some way to supporting the new HD sound formats with its support for Dolby TrueHD, it is unable to decode the more widely used DTS-HD, watering it down to DTS 5.1.
Perhaps most disappointing through its absence is the lack of an Ethernet port which rules out the promise of on-line support and regular easily applied firmware updates. This disappointment is compounded by the fact that the BDP-S1 does not sport the full Blu-ray java 1.1 profile which means that many interactive features on Blu-ray discs will not be accessible.
Performance
The Sony BDP-S1 may not be the most impressively specified HD player out there, but in the most important area it delivers. Things take a little time to get going (around a minute from power on to film start), but its worth the wait with the HD picture on this unit with output at full 1080p absolutely peerless with outstanding detail and clarity.
The incredible detail on the BDP-S1 is retained even with the darkest scenes, with subtle and precise shadow detailed unmatched by any HD player. Equally impressive is the fact that even with the fastest moving action scenes most of the detail and sharpness is retained.
Colours produced by the BDP-S1 are rich and vibrant, showing none of the minor gamut faults we have witnessed on other High Def players. Of course, the quality of your screen will play a part in overall quality, but at least you will know that the BDP-S1 is certainly not going to be the weak link.
Pop a normal DVD into the BDP-S1 and if you hadn't witnessed the awesome HD performance of this unit you would be forgiven for thinking that you were watching a High Definition disc.
It is becoming a cliché, but the upscaling abilities of the Sony BDP-S1 really does breath new life into your existing DVD collection, to the extend that you will be thinking twice before upgrading them to HD.
Conclusion
It may lack some of the features of other High Definition players, but in terms of the quality of its pictures, and after all this is what interests most of us, the Sony BDp-S1 is simply the best Blu-ray player currently available in the UK.
