Sony BDP-S570

The Sony BDP-S570 is one of Sony’s first 3D blu-ray players. For a mid-priced player, it comes fully decked with a long list of features and is a huge improvement over previous Sony players in many areas of performance, most notably being disc load speed. Full 3D playback will be available via a firmware update that will be available in summer.

Latest Update: Limited stocks of the Sony BDP-S570 now available at Amazon.

Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Player

Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Player

Design

sony-s570-remoteThe Sony BDP-S570 features a new minimalist look, dubbed the “Monolithic Design Concept” by Sony. It has a slim form factor and finished in gloss black. The front panel is simple and uncluttered with only four buttons – to turn power on/off, disc tray open/close, stop, and play. The buttons are very small and unlit so it can be hard to distinguish them in dim conditions.

There’s also a USB port on the front for convenient viewing of your digital photos and direct playback of MP3 music. (Note: the front USB port is current limited to 0.5A, so you will not be able to run a USB hard drive through it)

A nice option is that you can deactivate the display on the front of the machine so as not to interfere with movie viewing in your darkened room.

The small, unexceptional remote control is neither back-lit nor programmable, but does include an eject button which was missing in previous Sony remotes. The buttons are well placed and easy to find by touch once you’ve learned them.

Connectivity

Connectivity options are basic but adequate. On the back panel you get a HDMI ver1.4 output, component video out, composite video out, optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, 2-channel analog audio output, a USB and an Ethernet port. There are no multi-channel analog audio outputs provided, so the only way to pass decoded high-resolution audio formats is via HDMI.

It also comes with built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and 1GB of internal memory that will be useful for accessing BD-Live features of a blu-ray disc.

DLNA functionality is currently not available.
(Note: According to Sony, firmware update required for DLNA functionality will be available in July 2010)

Features

In addition to being a 3D-capable blu-ray disc player, the BDP-S570 plays almost all disc formats such as DVDs, CDs and even the superior sounding SACD. For video, this player supports both 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 output resolutions via HDMI.

For audio, the BDP-S570 has onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, and it also passes these high-resolution audio formats in their native bitstream form over HDMI for your AV receiver to decode.

With a USB storage device, you can enjoy photos, music, and videos. The BDP-S570 views only JPG images, but it plays MP3, WMA, WAV, and M4a audio files and video formats such as AVCHD, Divx and WMV9.

Sony’s free BD Remote App for iPhone and iPod Touch

Sony’s free BD Remote App for iPhone and iPod Touch

Being a Profile 2.0 player it supports BD-Live and BonusView. When connected online, either wired through the Ethernet port or wirelessly, you will have access to Sony’s BRAVIA Internet Video platform which features streaming content from Netflix, Amazon VOD, Pandora, YouTube, Picasa, and many others. Sony has also added IP noise reduction to specifically address the quality of Internet video sources.

Unique to all new Sony blu-ray players, users with an iPhone® or iPod® touch device can control the players using a free app called “BD Remote” that can be downloaded from the Apple App store. The app allows an iPhone or iPod touch device to function as a remote control that includes the ability to access a blu-ray disc’s details such as artwork, actor, and production information as well as search for additional video clips online.

In addition, the player features an Entertainment Database Browser, using Gracenote technologies, that allows you to browse details like actor and production information from a Blu-ray disc and access related content.

Actual user review:
“This was to replace my old Sony BD player, which was too slow to load and play, plus didn’t have wireless capability. I’d been waiting for Sony to come out with a model with these improvements and features and am very happy with it so far.

The load and play speed is very fast, and the fast-forward and rewind are also very fast and responsive compared to earlier models.

Setting up the Internet connection for Netflix was a little tedious with entering codes on both the Sony web site and Netflix web site. But once set up I’ve had no problems with access to Internet content through my wireless router.

I recommend the player if you’re looking for a reasonably priced and fairly full-featured, high quality player.” – J.Jim (CA,USA) Amazon Verified Purchase

Setup & Performance

The setup menu is the latest version of Sony’s XrossMediaBar that scrolls vertically and horizontally. Upon initial power-up, there is an easy setup menu that helps you select the resolution and output section. This makes setting up and updating firmware a snap.

Long boot-up and disc loading times have plagued previous generations of blu-ray players and is a major source of complaint for early adopters of the format. For BDP-S570 Sony has dramatically improved start up and disc loading performance. Part of this is due to the quick start mode. The BDP-S570 starts up from power off in less than three seconds.

To get hang of the speed of the BDP-S570, here’s a video by Sony pitting the S570 with a PS3…

Our own test confirmed the S570’s remarkable disc load speed. The Independence Day blu-ray disc started playing in a 26 seconds, which is a full 6 seconds faster than the previous speed king, Oppo BDP-83. Using the java-enabled The Dark Knight blu-ray, it took 40 seconds from putting the disc in till you see the movie menu and another 30 seconds for the movie to begin. (Do note that with the quick start feature turned on, the player consumes up to 6.74 watts even on Standby).

The BDP-S570’s image quality on blu-ray is not in the class of the Oppo BDP-83 but is an obvious improvement over the popular PS3 and the N460.

On the Cars blu-ray disc, colors were brilliant and saturation was superb. Black levels were absolutely solid, and levels of gray contained no signs of artifacts or pixelization. Christian Bale’s skin tones on The Black Knight were natural and the amount of detail present was remarkable in close-up shots.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack on this release packed a really mighty punch. Amidst all the low frequency rumble, the dialog remained clear throughout. The sound effects were simply jaw-dropping during the car chase scene. The gunfire, explosions and crunching of metal sounded realistic.

HD videos streamed from Amazon VOD were smooth and images looked sharp. It sounded good as well. Netflix video played fine but the sound was not as good as the Amazon stream. This test was done using a wireless N router.

To fully test the audio performance we relied on the superior sounding SACD format. SACD is still very much alive and many titles are still being released, especially in the classical genre. Music on SACD is usually recorded in 5.1 multi-channel surround, and the beauty is that the S570 passes it on as native bitstream through the HDMI output. This preserves the sound in its original pristine form till it gets to the AV receiver.

Mahler Symphony No. 8 is notorious for its massive body of instruments and choruses. This well recorded 5.1 surround SACD (with San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas) sounded natural, almost tube-like. The thunderous organ filled the room with real splendor, and the choral entrance was equally majestic and clear. Strings were lush and did not have the steely hardness that most budget and mid priced players exhibit.

Picture quality on DVDs wasn’t the best we’ve seen. Images had a hint of grain and color was on the dull side. On video-based material, jaggies were visible and jerkiness was evident during the scrolling text in end credits.

Bottom Line

The Sony BDP-S570 delivers a solid performance as a mid-priced blu-ray player. It is future-proofed in case you want to embark on 3D playback in your home. For a shade below $250 you get to enjoy great picture quality and super fast playback on blu-ray, watch videos streamed from the internet and enjoy fabulous music on SACDs. That’s excellent value for money by any measure.

Actual User Reviews:

• “I spent numerous hours reviewing Blu-ray players before deciding on the Sony BDP-S570. Some of my primary requirements were:

- Netflix capable
- Wi-Fi capable
- Additional online content
- Economical

I know my requirements are not that stringent, but the player is just for the family. I wanted to be able to do Full HD 1080p and the family/kids wanted to be able to watch Netflix. I wanted/needed Wi-Fi because I did not want to run a network cable.

After reading hours of reviews I decided on the Sony BDP-S570 because it met all of my requirements, as well as, is prepared to be a 3D player with a firmware upgrade. I watched Amazon for about a month and finally it went on sale for $224. I brought it immediately.

I had my new Blu-Ray player up and running immediately. I connected the Blu-Ray to my network and immediately updated the firmware. I registered with Netflix and was watching movies instantly. I have not had any issues whatsoever with Netflix. This is a great box if this is one of your major requirements. I also registered with Pandora and Slacker and have very much enjoyed the online music. My family has also enjoyed watching YouTube as well.

After a month I am extremely happy with my purchase and highly recommend this Blu-Ray player.” – D.Carter (NC,USA) Amazon Verified Purchase

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• “This is a high quality product and is relatively straightforward out of the box (at least by BR standards). The picture from the player is stunning. Load time for discs is quicker than most players.

The extra features are laid out nicely in the on-screen menu and are easy to navigate. Notably the wi-fi (while not perfect) seems to work much better than the PS3 wifi. (I have the PS3 and the 570 next to each other in the same video cabinet so I have been able to test the wifi side-by-side.)

The Netflix feature is much easier to use on the 570 than the PS3 version (which requires a disc from Netflix) and has better ff and reverse functions. People buying any BR player for the Netflix streaming feature need to understand that although the concept is wonderful, they are still tweaking this type of movie delivery system. Netflix streaming on the 570 is much improved over the PS3 but still a bit quirky. Sometimes it works great but at other times it pauses too much or cannot load the movie or portion of the movie. This seems to be more of a Netflix issue and will hopefully improve over time.

Bottom line: Excellent picture and good features.” – M.Pete (NY,USA)

• “I really like this blu-ray player and I am thankful that Sony decided to put an “eject” button back on their remotes. The picture is excellent. The speed is fantastic. The sound is great. I am very pleased with this blu-ray player.” – Mark D (OH,USA)

Average User Rating:

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