Loading ...Up for Review: The Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray Disc Player. The BDP-S550 is the latest offering from Sony, which uses the Blu-ray Disc technology. It is the upgraded version of the BDP-S350. An extra gigabyte of onboard memory has been added to give access to BD-Live interactive features. BD-Live can help you download trailers, scenes and movie-based games. There is a built-in Ethernet port too which allows you to view BD-Live content and Bonus View features. The BDP-S550 is Profile 2.0 compliant. It supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio and has 7.1 analog outputs.
A USB flash drive has been integrated in the player. This helps to access the Internet enabled features. The audio quality is impressive on the BDP-S550. No extra receiver is needed for improving sound effects. There is great connectivity on the Sony BDP-S550 too. HDMI handles the high definition video output up to 1080p resolution. The existing component video can output Blu-ray discs at 1080i and DVDs at 480p. A host of other connections like the composite video and S-video also exist in the player.
Performance-wise, the Sony BDP-S550 passes the Video Resolution Loss test. There is absolutely no image instability. Only a strobe-like flickering was observed in the most detailed part of the test. The image quality of this player is comparable with any other Blu-ray player of its range. Over 2 million
pixels per frame are produced by the full HD 1080p resolution. Ordinary DVD’s are encoded at only 480p. The Sony BDP-S550 outputs films at 1080/24p which is the standard requirement for watching any Hollywood movie.
The Sony BDP-S550 is capable of video bit rates up to 40 Mbps. A higher bit rate implies more data processing leading to higher video quality. It sounds impressive considering that normal DVD’s have a maximum video bit rate of 10 Mbps. A higher bit rate also means lesser data compression, optimizing the original video source. In comparison to normal DVD’s, the Sony BDP-S550 has 5 times more storage capacity. Special features like inline navigation, interactive games and director commentary can be accessed owing to this extra storage capacity.
Sony BDP-S550 Key Features Review:
DVD Features
Media Type CD , DVD , BD-R , CD-R , BD-RE , CD-RW , DVD+R , DVD-R , BD-ROM , DVD+RW , DVD-RW
Recordable media BD-R , BD-RE , DVD , DVD+R , DVD+RW , DVD-R , DVD-RW , CD , CD-R , CD-RW , JPEG
Video D/A Converter 12 bit / 148.5 MHz
Audio D/A Converter 24 bit / 192 kz
Built-in Audio DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD decoder,
Decoder Dolby Digital Plus
Media Load Type Tray
Supported Digital AVCHD
Video Standards
Supported Digital MP3, PCM
Audio Standards
Upscaling Yes
Output Resolution 1080p
Parental lock Yes
TV Screen Saver Yes
MP3 Compatible Yes
Additional features BD-Live, BonusView, Cinema mode, JPEG photo playback, Progressive scanning
Audio System
Sound Output Mode Surround Sound
Digital Audio Format DTS digital output, Dolby digital output
Connections
Connector type 1 x Ethernet (RJ-45) - Rear, 1 x HDMI output (19 pin HDMI Type A) - Rear, 1 x 7.1 channel audio line-out (RCA phono x 8 ) - Rear, 1 x SPDIF output (RCA phono) - Rear, 1 x SPDIF output (TOSLINK) - Rear, 1 x Composite video/audio output (RCA phono x 3) - Rear, 1 x S-Video output (4 pin mini-DIN) - Rear, 1 x USB
Manufacturer Warranty
Service and support 1 year parts and labor