Review on Sony BDP S360 1080P Blu Ray Player by Ashutosh Takumatla

After enjoying my HDTV to the fullest and the high definition HD video and audio quality from my cable/satellite and DVD upconverter, I was itching to upgrade to see my favorite movies on blu ray. I was waiting for a few things before buying my first Blu machine. A few features I wish were available at my price point so the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD battle is ironed out and firmware versions are more versatile. Once it was completed all my needs pointed to this device and I've been happy ever since. I have to say right away that there are several things that attracted me to this device. One of them was the Sony brand (I'm a loyal Sony user, but I'm not a blind follower either). Second, I also needed a new sound system to handle the Blu-Ray audio quality and this Sony Blu-Ray player was a complement to the Sony sound system I wanted (HTSS360). Thanks to the same black color, bezel size, and design, they look great together. For both a Blu-ray player and sound system for less than $500, it was an easy sell. Another very important feature of this unit for me was the onboard processing of True Dolby HD and HD DTS audio tracks. If the Blu-ray player handles them itself, you don't need to handle HD audio with your sound system - you can send them over the PCM channel. and they're a definite upgrade from the regular 5.1 soundtracks. To explain it, it's like the difference between an HDTV that is HDTV "ready" and one that has a built-in tuner. In this case, the receiver or the sound system (with PCM) is "ready for HD sound" and the Blu player acts as a tuner. So you do NOT need a receiver or sound system that specifically handles HD audio to enjoy it. suggestions. The OSD is used for quick setup and can be easily accessed to make changes to your settings. In terms of performance, the boot time of this device is much faster than I expected as a first time Blu user. It only takes a few seconds longer than my upscaling DVD converter, but the video and sound quality is worth it wait another 2-3 seconds. Other people who have older Blu models say that load times are pretty quick on this device. As I said, the HD picture and sound is impressive and makes me very happy to upgrade to Blu. Other Thoughts: Yes, as mentioned, there is no 'Eject' button on the remote and it would be nice to have one. Otherwise, the remote control has all the functions I need. I like being able to bring up the disc menu while watching a movie instead of having to pause playback to get to the menu. It doesn't have built-in Wi-Fi, which is now available on other devices, but there are firmware updates. can be done by connecting to the Internet (or you can even download updates from the Sony website and update the player from a disc). I almost spent extra money for the S560 player with built-in Wi-Fi, but from what I've heard it doesn't support Netflix streaming (which would be my main reason for wanting built-in Wi-Fi from the start) . . I haven't seen any live BD content that would (I think) be worth connecting to the internet for. So far, all the discs I've watched (both new and old) have loaded with no problems and played with no problems. This unit can actually upconvert DVDs. but I haven't seen any improvement over the Sony 5 disc upconverter I already have and plan to continue to use the upconverter for my DVDs and only use the Blu player for Blu discs. I would like to have a 5 disc changer available, but as far as I know there isn't one yet. I was planning on waiting for a 5 disc changer but not with a Blu-Ray.