First you need to explain the reasons for buying a new BD player, then you'll get a more focused response. - Audiophilander

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First you need to explain the reasons for buying a new BD player, then you'll get a more focused response.

The conflicted query you've provided is a little confusing:

"I need to purchase another blu-ray player..." BUT "...I donâ€™t care at all about BD capability, I just want the best picture and sound."

and this...

"My choices are the Sony BDP-S500 which has built-in Dolby HD decoding and excellent build quality. Second choice is BDP-S350 which has the same basic functionality but lesser build quality."

Why buy a new Blu-ray player if you aren't concerned about BD capability (whatever you meant by that), and why are these your only choices? Is someone at SONY holding a cathode ray-gun to your head?

If you want the best standard definition picture (upscaled to 1080P) then your best option is the Oppo DV-983H (not Bly-ray), that is also region free so that you can enjoy standard definition DVD from all over the world with the best picture possible.

If you're on a budget and it's Blu-ray that you 'need' for whatever reason then just about any currently available player will do if BD capability isn't important. Nearly everything will look better in 1080P if it's mastered to that standard (as opposed to 480 scaled up to 1080P), but not always; picture quality is just as dependent upon the mastering of the discs as it is the hardware.

Keep in mind that SONY isn't necessarily going to perform better than Panasonic, Pioneer, et al., and the differences will be pretty much limited to load times, audio decoding and miscellaneous 'capabilities' that you apparently don't care too much about.

BTW, gold jacks probably won't make the picture or sound any richer! ;O)

AuPh

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Please help me choose between Sony BDP-s500 and BDP-s350 - Dafve B. W. 14:42:38 01/05/09 (9)

RE: Please help me choose between Sony BDP-s500 and BDP-s350 - chris.redmond2@bushinternet.com 13:51:32 01/06/09 (0)

Clarification of post - Dave B. W. 07:04:58 01/06/09 (3)

thanks for the clarification - Joe Murphy Jr 18:05:03 01/06/09 (1)

RE: thanks for the clarification - cfraser 08:23:35 01/07/09 (0)

RE: Clarification of post - cfraser 11:58:47 01/06/09 (0)

RE: Please help me choose between Sony BDP-s500 and BDP-s350 - Audiophilander 01:50:10 01/06/09 (0)

First you need to explain the reasons for buying a new BD player, then you'll get a more focused response. - Audiophilander 01:31:56 01/06/09 (0)

RE: Please help me choose between Sony BDP-s500 and BDP-s350 - Ben Van Dyk 19:47:18 01/05/09 (0)

need - Joe Murphy Jr 18:51:04 01/05/09 (0)

RE: Please help me choose between Sony BDP-s500 and BDP-s350 - mdavis 16:00:43 01/05/09 (0)

Follow Ups

First you need to explain the reasons for buying a new BD player, then you'll get a more focused response. - Audiophilander 01:31:56 01/06/09 (0)