When the Sony BDP-S500 Blu Ray Player was first released it was one of the flagship models of the Sony range. At the time it had a lot of exciting features but now these are found on a lot of other standard Sony models.
One of major things you will notice about the BDP-S500 player is the physical size of the machine. It is larger than normal players and in today’s modern world this really does make a difference. The other major factor of this blu ray player compared to other models is the price as it is quite expensive.
As most of the features on the BDP-S500 can be found on newer slim line models, we don’t think it’s to fit extra components. The only reason we can think that this player is so large is because of the motorized front which flips down, and it just needs to be larger in order to work. Whilst this does look very cool it doesn’t really justify the high price.
From what I have written all ready it sounds like the Sony BDP-S500 blu ray player is a terrible buy, but looking at the picture quality it isn’t. It delivers the full 1080p high definition, and 24 frames per second cinema quality picture. There is even the Sony x.v.Colour system built in which provides richer fuller colour tones.
If you have any old DVD discs you want to play that isn’t a problem either as the BDP-S500 is backwards compatible. In fact the player will even upscale these discs so the picture quality is improved on these as well.
One of the downsides of the Sony BDP-S500 compared to some of the more recent Blu Ray players is its start up speed. It can take some time from the point of wanting to load the disc to actually getting the film playing.
High Definition Audio
The sound quality on the BDP-S500 is excellent as well as there is 7.1 channel surround sound as well. Also if you have an older sound system there are even gold plated 5.1 channel analogue audio outputs as well.
Overall this Sony Blu Ray player is good but it is becoming pretty dated compared to recent models. The motorized front and 5.1 channel outputs are good points but I don’t think justifies the high price. Personally I’d probably take a look at some of the more recent models like the Sony BDP-S360.
Blu Ray Player
Sony Blu-Ray Players