Sony BDP-S300 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

I have a 300 and it DOES NOT take 5-10 minutes to load a movie, It is 58 seconds to to power on and get to the do not copy warning. I think that is pretty darn quick. The movie started playing at 1:45 seconds.

I just load my 2nd update to 4.2..... STILL no picture in picture feature, so I can't use the special features on Transformers and Heroes S2 Blu-ray. So I am a little bummed about that, but, I got my player on clearance for $197.00

I am thinking about getting a PS3, BUT, I like a time display, PS3 doesn't have that, no digital coax, only optical out, I have optical on my receiver, just prefer digital coax.
No remote, the remote with the 300 is SWEET. I know you can get a Blu-ray remote for $25, just not as nice.

So the 300, no BD-live and and no pip special features use.

So far he 2 firmware upgrades I did, were very easy to do and have vastly improved the load time of BR discs.

It is a HUGE brick, but not a big deal to me.

I received this player for Christmas '07 and as of today have been wondering how this product ever got the Sony name on it. It would have to speed up to be considered slow. It can take minutes to turn on, load, and very often the picture freezes and your left with the remote in hand pushing buttons with no results. I finally had enough last night when it froze and refused to eject a dvd. It now rest peacefully under horse manure in my dumpster. I will buy another Sony but will buy from a store with at least a 30 day return policy.

Quick....buy this player and raise the frustration level of your movie viewing experience to previously unimaginable levels. This player is sooooo slow I actually age while movies are loading. About 25 percent of the time, the following day, when the movie finally does load, the player shuts off after you select "play movie". Several times while in the middle of films the player has just shut off. Knowing that by the time I actually get the movie loaded again and to the scene where I had left off I would no longer be in the intended age demographic of the studio, I have seen several films only half way through. This makes me seem very moronish around the water cooler. Honestly, I don't know how sony, which usually builds quality items, could consider this product ready for the market. In the interest of fairness, once you do get going the picture is excellent. I am running the player through a JVC HD-100 projector onto a 120 inch Stewart screen and have no complaints about image quality. Oh yeah, when you are finally finished with the large chunk of your life you have committed to the process you have to get the DVD out. Pushing the eject button requires you to summon all of your remaining patience to avoid throwing the thing out the window as it takes several minutes just for the tray to move. My theatre is on the first floor, but when I finally do throw this thing out the window I will carry it up to my third floor deck to increase my level of satisfaction.

rating is for current price, gold box $299, its not worth it to me. sub $100 and i will give it serious consideration. also, the software is still too pricey. is someone in sony land getting the picture yet?

Slow Start up - that's new technology for you
Movies froze - had to power down the entire unit and start over again
Had to update firmware which fixed most of the frozen movies
DVD Players say's "CAN'T Play Disc" even when the the tray is open and I putting in the disc for the first time.
One unit just failed on me and can't play DVDs anymore (NO DISC Error message). I have to pay to have this shipped back to Sony to fix.

There must be a better way and I wonder if the other brand BLU-RAY DVD players are far superior to this Sony.

Update - I just updated to the latest firmware on my working Sony Blu-Ray DVD player to 3.95 so hopefully this should resolve most of the problems. I have heard good reviews on the new 350 so that is probably a better option for those wanting to buy a Blu-Ray DVD player now.