Sony BDP-S1

A Sony BDP-S1 in August 2014.

The Sony BDP-S1 is a first generation Blu-ray Disc (BD) player, first released in North America. It was originally scheduled for release in the United States on August 18, 2006 with a MSRP of $999.95. Sony had postponed the release date of this player several times and it was released on December 4, 2006.

On November 30, 2006 Sony announced that the player began shipping to major consumer electronics retailers and specialty dealers nationwide. It became available at retailers on December 2, 2006. As of August 14, 2014, the latest firmware release for the BDP-S1 is version 6.10, released on April 12, 2012.[1]

Overview

Network capabilities

The Sony BDP-S1 does not come with a built-in ethernet or Wi-Fi connection, therefore it has no online capabilities. However, firmware upgrades may be applied by downloading the upgrade and burning them onto a recordable or rewritable DVD and loading it on the player.

BD-J compatibility

During its initial release, there were reported issues with certain BD-ROM movie discs, namely BD-J functionality. The discs played incorrectly or would not play at all. Sony solved this issue with a firmware update and the player is now compatible with all BD-J standard discs once upgraded to it.

Audio decoding capability

The player is capable of decoding Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus,[N 1] Dolby TrueHD,[N 2] LPCM, and DTS core. Currently, the player is not capable of decoding DTS-HD High Resolution Audio or DTS-HD Master Audio.

Audio and video output

Audio is sent out of the player through TOSLINK, HDMI, or composite 5.1 analog surround sound jacks. The player will gives the option to output Dolby Digital or DTS via the Toslink (optical or coax), or selectively downmix either independently to PCM. However the digital output is not necessarily compatible with other surround system decoders. Even standard DVD soundtracks cannot be guaranteed to be correctly decoded by Toslink input equipped decoders. There is a disclaimer in the supplied owners manual to this effect. The player will save your selections allowing for customization of your outputs. The supplied HDMI connection is version 1.2 and does not support Deep Color or Bitstream out for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and DTS-HD Master Audio. This feature is not capable of being added later.

Load times

The BDP-S1, being one of the earliest of the first generation Blu-ray Disc players, has much longer load times than later model BD players, around two to three minutes from the initial system power up to actual video playback. When the unit is fully powered up, playback is faster, taking approximately fifty to seventy seconds from disc insertion. However, this is not as fast as the PlayStation 3. Loading times are improved from the original version when updated to later firmware versions.[2]

DVD-Audio, SACD, and Compact Disc playback

The player is not compatible with any audio disc format, as a BD-only drive is used. However, playback of Compact Discs (CD) is possible when using the Asia-Pacific version of the BDP-S1, known as the BDP-S1E. A re-branded version of the BDP-S1E with CD playback capability was later released in North American region, with the model number, BDP-S2000ES.

Notes

  1. ↑ After firmware upgrade v2.00 or higher.
  2. ↑ After firmware upgrade v2.00 or higher.

References

  1. ↑ "eSupport". Sony.com (Sony Corporation). Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  2. ↑ "SonyStyle".

External links