What's the best Blu-Ray player for 300.-350.

Kallefornia
Panasonics dried up because they are discontinued! CES has the new versions like the BD 45 and 65 or something like that... The sony is far superior trust me, and very affordable, with future update ability so don't worry too much.. And the nice thing is you can get a S550 at the local Target, best buy or anywhere really to just try it out vs. many other models, and if you did not like it for some reason return it no questions asked, however you will of course get a far better deal online, but you can lose shipping it back and forth.

Good Luck

Sony PS-3!

Danlib1
Problem with the PS3 is that it is not a very good transport for audio uses, and most want much smaller conventional audio/video components for their rack and hi end systems.. The S550 is essentially a PS3, but actually far better transport, and actually a better picture and audio options along with COAX & Toslink digital output etc... Which is far more universal for our needs. Also remember that the dedicated audio circuits in these units are quite a bit better than a PS3.

The S550 & S350 are the first machines that sony has produced that is in fact a notch better than PS3 in the Blu ray field, this is pretty well known and reviewed elsewhere. And in this case actually it is to be found cheaper than even PS3 finally..

I believe that the Sony S550 lacks the special functions that most DVD players have .
Like slow motion, frame by frame,advance etc.
Can anyone confirm this ?

Not to sound like a S550 basher but after doing a little research this morning about the S350, which is very similar in video performance to the S550 according to Undertow and several others. If this is accurate, according to a few reviews standard dvd upconversion on the S350 is only fair. The Oppo players wiil exceed the standard dvd upconversion process of the S350 Or S550. So if you plan to use this player for standard dvd, be careful! If to be utilized for Blu Ray only, I say give it a shot. Awaiting input Undertow...