Subjective Evaluation

The Sony BDP-S1 puts out an HD picture that is exquisite. Since this player outputs the full resolution of 1080p you get an incredible crisp image with amazing clarity in color and grayscale. Anyone that can take advantage of the native 1080p24 output is in for a real treat. Pans during movies are extremely smooth and free of judder. I know this is a distraction to some, and once you get used to seeing images this way it is hard to go back to 1080p60.

During my time with the BDP-S1, I watched quite a few titles on Blu-ray. I was constantly impressed with the level of detail offered. Corpse Bride is a great test of a player's ability to display the full resolution of HD, with massive amounts of fine detail and great dimensionality. The S1 did a phenomenal job with shadow detail, depth, and fine object detail, and the image looked clear enough to reach your hand in. This film was shot using 4K cameras and what you see on the screen are actual clay puppets, not CGI, so the image displays impeccable detail and dimensionality.

Open Season is a new animated feature from Sony Pictures and is rich in color and detail. Never once did I see any signs of streaking or loss of resolution in the bright colors of the film. Textures on the animals and in the environments looked impeccable and every bit as good as when I saw this film in an IMAX theater.

Moving on to live action, I checked out the bundled Blackhawk Down Blu-ray disc. When the BDP-S1 originally shipped, Sony was bundling The Fifth Element with it. This disc quickly garnished the reputation of being one of the worst looking high definition discs on the market. Sony is now shipping the S1 with Blackhawk Down, which was a great choice as it is one of their best titles for showing off how good Blu-ray can look and sound. The uncompressed PCM soundtrack is an aural delight and delivers the full depth and detail of this Academy Award™ winning soundtrack.

I've been blown away by the presentation uncompressed PCM soundtrack can bring. The level of atmosphere, dynamic range, and presence that they afford trumps just about anything I've heard on DVD's compressed offerings.

Another huge highlight was Casino Royale, the newest Bond film and an exclusive to the Blu-ray catalog. This is a gritty looking film that showcases great contrast, image depth and detail exquisitely, and could be one of my favorite showoff discs. The 1080p24 output of the BDP-S1 delivered the image with razor sharp detail, smooth pans and superb color rendition. It is titles like this that ensure my support for both formats. There is no way I could pass up seeing a great film like this on HD!

Conclusions

Sony's initial offering into the Blu-ray arena is quite solid and leaves little to be desired. I would have preferred to see some support for next generation audio codecs, but that seems to be an issue for all of the manufacturers right now. The video output is second to none though, and support for native 1080p24 makes this a videophile's dream come true. If you were going to buy a first generation HD player right now, you would be hard pressed to find better than the BDP-S1!

- Kris Deering -

Associated Equipment:

Marantz VP11S1 1080p DLP Projector
Anthem Statement D2 A/V Processor
Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray Player
Sony Playstation 3

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