Review: Sony BDP-S550 offers solid Blu-ray performance and 7.1 analog audio outputs

If you've been put off by Blu-ray's changing Profiles, varying audio decoding compatibilities and prohibitive pricing, Sony's BDP-S550 represents a lot of what is right about the latest crop of Blu-ray players coming out. The BDP-S550 has a strong feature set, including Profile 2.0 support, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding and 7.1 analog outputs. Sony also goes the extra mile on this player and includes a tiny 1GB USB drive, so the BDP-S550 works out of the box with BD-Live features, as long as you're connected via Ethernet. We were also impressed that the BDP-S550 performed well on both Blu-ray discs and DVDs, making it a well-rounded player. We didn't have any major complaints with the BDP-S550, except that some competing players offer much of the same functionality for less, like the Panasonic DMP-BD35, or offer additional features for the same price, like the Samsung BD-P2550. That aside, the Sony BDP-S550 is a very good Blu-ray player, especially for those who need 7.1 analog audio outputs.

Read the full review of the Sony BDP-S550.

[tech-deals]

If you're considering the BDP-S550, you should definitely look at the Panasonic DMP-BD30K Blu-ray player, which has gotten great reviews and is available now for $225 at Newegg. Here are the details of the deals: http://www.techdealdigger.com/deals/panasonic-dmp-bd30k-224-at-newegg/5078

[gbelloni]

This Panasonic DMP-BD30K does not feature the same capabilities of the Sony BDP-S550. According to the CNET review posted below, the BD30K is not BD-Live capable (profile 2.0), doesn't feature advanced audio codec suport and does not have an ethernet port for updates. See the CNET review here: http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/panasonic-dmp-bd30k/4505-6463_7-32730548.html. Only a 6.6 out of 10.

[MickBurke]

Any comment on how the load tiem is is on this player (or the other two mentioned in this post)? I'll be replacing my BDP-S300 this Christmas, and am looking to gain features, but to also WAY improve the load time and start up time. Thoughts?

[Sonnyliston]

I don't really understand why everyone doesn't realize the big draw for the Panasonic bd55 over bd35 IS the analog output. So saying the bd35 is the same as sony 550 makes no sense. If one wants to keep their reciever (I do) then you NEED a player with analog output and so please compare apples with apples. By the way, I live in Toronto and I find it amazing that although our dollar is about 20% less value than US, our prices are less on much of the audio/video equipment even before allowing for dollar exchange. Those of you in US might well check Toronto area pricing. I just bought a new sony BD-350 for $224.00 at Sears Canada.

[stargazer22101]

There is one feature of the BDP-S550 I really don't like. If you stop a movie and remove the disc, on reinsertion it does not resume the movie where you left off. This requires either using scene selection or remembering the chapter no. etc. The Sony DVD player I replaced with the S550 had this feature. It is much missed.