The first thing you will notice about the BDP-S300, Sony's second generation Blu-Ray DVD player, is that the list price is substantially lower than the first generation model. The Sony BDP-S300 is obviously still much more expensive than most standard definition players, but is now more in line with the cost of competing HD DVD players. While the BDP-S300 delivers the same stunning visuals from Blu-ray discs as the first generation BDP-S1, some features have been lost and some performance issues remain.

The picture quality from Blu-ray discs is stunning. Anyone who has not experienced the difference between Blu-ray and standard definition discs is in for a treat. Just as importantly, since there are still limited titles available in the Blu-ray format, the BDP-S300 can also upscale your existing standard definition DVDs to 1080p resolution. In these respects, the Sony BDP-S300 certainly delivers. Unlike the BDP-S1, however, the BDP-S300 offers no onboard decoding for high resolution audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD. Instead, its compatibility is limited to standard Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Digital Plus formats. This Blu-ray player also lacks both SACD and DVD-Audio playback.

Sony's PlayStation 3 offers more features for a lower price, so it's hard for us to fully recommend the BDP-S300. This unit might look more attractive stacked in a home theater set-up than a game console, but even the design of the BDP-S300 presents its own problems. Crucially, Sony has chosen to locate the power and tray open/close buttons on the top of the unit, thus making it difficult to stack another component above the BDP-S300. This unit is noticeably bulkier than a standard definition DVD player, something we're sure will be addressed in future generations. We did appreciate Sony's omission of the distracting blue light on the front of the BDP-S300, and while the included remote is perfectly functional, it can be difficult to access in the dark since it lacks backlighting and many of the keys are the same shape and size.

All Blu-ray and HD DVD players launched to date have had issues with slow load times and the BDP-S300 is certainly no exception. In fact, it is one of the slowest we've experienced--something that may frustrate users over time. The BDP-S300 supports the new color space x.v.Color, which was designed to take advantage of the more dynamic range of HDTV and displays nearly twice as many viewable colors. This is a feature for the future, however, since the true effect is difficult to ascertain since there are no consumer devices available yet for displaying xvYCC.

Despite the stunning visual experience from this Blu-ray DVD player and the welcome drop in price, the Sony BDP-S300 loses marks for loss of features and some performance issues.

Pros: Excellent picture quality, inexpensive for a Blu-ray player, offers HDMI upscaling to 1080p
Cons: Slow load times, lacks onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD

Warranty
1 year, parts and labor