Should I buy the Sony BDP-S350?

[olilugo]

Hi all, I notice the Sony BDP-S350 blueray player is down to 299.00.
I know must of you will recomend the PS3 before anyother player. I am not a game player and I don't see myself buying games anytime soon.

The question I have is what is the real difference between this sony BR and say pionner elite BDP-05FD, now this BR is 800.00 and it seams to have many features. But is this BR almost 3 times better than this sony? I realize there are many features that sound wow but I never end up using, for example the pionner has a "bonus view" feature which you can play side by side while the movie is playing or something like that. I just don't see my self wanting to do this. However I am interested is great picture and great sound.

So what do you guys thing is it worth it or do I get the same video and sound but no extra features...

I am only mentioning these two as an example but could be any BR player.
Thanks

[zx_toth]

The BD-live feature was recently added to the Sony 350 via a firm ware update. I would make sure that your future pre/pro or current AVR can decode all the lossless codecs or you will not be able to listen to DTS-HD MA ... so I would only get this player once you have decided on what pre/pro you wish to get. Noticing that you are in the market for a pre/pro get one that has decoding features and this one (Sony 350) should serve you well.

Interestingly the player can internally decode Dolby TrueHD--which means you can hear Dolby TrueHD with an HDMI compatible reciever. Though this information only comes from the article below and not from my own first hand experience with the player. Not all BR have Dolby True HD though, some only have DTS HD, seemingly dependent on the studio the movie is from and what contract they have.


There is a nice little review on CNET re: this player.

http://reviews.cnet.com/video-player...?tag=mncol;lst

Zsolt