Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony BDPS550 Profile 2.0 Blu-ray Player

Had this player for nearly a year now. I'm very impressed with the blu-ray picture quality, had no problems playing the latest titles. Firmware upgrades can easily be burnt to a blank CD. I have previosuly owned an expenesive Denon DVD / SACD player and a similar Yamaha, both refused to play some shop bought BBC DVD's. My PC couldnt even play the Faulty Towers Disc, but I tried it in this Sony Blu-ray player and it played perfectly! The sound quality of the HD audio discs is also superb. I was less impressed with the menu & controls when it was used as a basic CD player but it played the discs well enough, I cant really complain at this price. A little slow to eject the disc when first switched on but that doesn't matter as it playes all the discs without jumping or freezing.

I will make this review as clear as possible.
Amazing picture,surround sound excellent,easy set up including the software update. There is nothing not to like about this machine.
If you are going to get into Blue Ray then this is the machine for you.

Bought this player from amazon in May,Read all the glowing reports and then decided to upgrade to this player.
I can honestly say what a waste of £250, It will play DVD,s for a few minutes then completely freeze.
Then when one ejects DVD and tries again message comes up CANNOT READ DISC these are new DVD,s
Been in touch with Sony ,but all they recommend is to take it for repair . Maybe I am just unlucky but I have never had this with my previous Panasonic .I am TOTALLY DISGUSTED

First there was CD. You put the disk in and it plays sound. Then there was DVD. You put the disk in and see pictures. Now there's Blu-ray. You put the disk in and nothing happens for an age! What is it doing? After while you then get a helpful egg timer thing to watch, then some menu selection then the studio logos and distributer banners. Why? Who cares which studio etc?

Well having got that off my chest, yes stunning pictures and sound in 1080p but lots of menus to dig through to get the best performance. I am still not sure if the player does a better job of up-converting DVDs or should I let the TV do it?

Then there is a daft external memory stick in the back. Why? In any event it failed after a few months but I could not face taking the unit in anywhere (what happened to the Sony owned Service Centres?) and I found that any old stick seemed to do.

I was promised 2 complimentary Blu-ray disks with the unit but these never materialised (did anyone get them?) Perhaps Sony would do better to spend some time producing an idiot's guide on a disk to explain the technology. I for one do not have time to RFM!

So how many stars? Well once the thing is going 5 but getting to that point probably 1!

delivery was excelent,setting up made simple with the easy to follow instructions.It is fast enough when loading a disc and film quality is excellent.I have not used all the features but look forward to doing so.