Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player (2010 Model)

PLAYING HOME RECORDED DISCS: I have many hundreds of DVD-RW home recordings--movies and tv programming recorded on a Panasonic DVD recorder at 480 i--but would all these home-made DVDs play on this Sony Blu-ray player? ANSWER: YES, even when the disc has been rewritten multiple times. The upscaling is more than I had hoped: the movies range from silent 1912 movies to present, so the quality of the original film being recorded is highly variable. Load time on the Sony Blu-ray player is extremely fast. I liked the first Sony so much, I immediately bought a second unit from Amazon. Remember: home-made recordings must be finalized to play on your Blu-ray, so record everything you want before finalizing--why finalize one episode with 60 or 90 minutes of SP record time left, when (with Panasonic, anyway) you can adjust recording literally to the minute (from 1 minute up to eight hours) on a Panasonic DVD recorder in Flexible Recording (FR) mode (most one hour TV shows are 40 to 46 actual minutes when pausing out the commercials, multiply the episodes by three and add about ten minutes to avoid timing accidents; record each subsequent episode allowing what FR time is needed for the remaining number of episodes--3 one-hour shows or 6 half-hour shows are about 2 hr. 12 minutes to 2 hrs. 30 minutes of FR recording time at very close to SP quality, including your TV schedule data for program title recordings as a program intro and some "wiggle room" for time estimation).SYSTEMATIC MAKING OF HOME RECORDED DISKS: If you have a TIVO: record movie titles, show summary, production date, stars, writers and directors on my old Tivo player with a 480 i Panasonic recorder (recorded on Panasonic #1 from a Tivo, which has prettier program titles, better format and more information than DirecTV titles--recording the two TIVO title pages at 12 seconds each with a pause between to change page, total 24 seconds). Whether using TIVO titles or not, you can prepare titles and/or just label many movie discs up to two weeks ahead of time from TV programming information and put them on a disc spindle until the program comes up for recording (a reason to save old spindles and covers). When recording , I place the pre-titled, unfinalized disc in Panasonic recorder #2 to record any pre-movie commentary, movie, and post-move commentary or tv show (also at 480 i) connected to a DirecTV player set at 1080 i as my source (TIVO won't let me do this) . At the end of a movie (to which I add 8 minutes run time--adding or removing time if you want to record a series/movie whether it is shorter or longer than 2 hours of SP play (up to 8 hours as noted above; if you record 1930s movies they tend to be short, so record the first one, titles and all, before adding titles for the second movie; label the top of the jewel case "1) movie title/ 2) movie title") adjusting record time to fit two movies, usually with the same star or director. I add time to record any movie commentaries (TCM is exceptional for its commercial free/pop-up free programming with the notable commentaries by the exceptionally knowledgeable Robert Osborne and often a guest programmer--a continuing course in movie-making and its history) and the "Cast and Crew" section of the movie from DirecTV-- which provides place and date of birth/death, various types of work in the industry (actor, producer, writer, an occasional photo for big star, which character they played in the recorded movie etc.); I scroll down each cast and crew member as it records for 12 to 15 seconds per person, less time if no biographical data is supplied). IF you misjudged the extra time needed for this (unless you totally ran out of time), stop at the end of the show and commentary instead of just pausing (this permits erasure and re-write on an RW disc if you make an error in this next recording) and reset the remaining time available. extending the FR mode as long as you need in the amount of time you have left for recording.LABELING HOME RECORDINGS: Record the data about the movie info on your large (10 mm) jewel box and disc with a black Sharpie permanent marker (use small jewel boxes for ordinary tv shows you can still write on the top of the box in tiny lettering). Title, main star and production year go on top of the box; title, extended star info, run time, year, director, important writers, and "(F)," if finalized, are written on the disk. I sometimes include a rating system (+ to ++++, less is worse) if the tv show had even one irritating pop-up or crawler message , making the show less watchable. Leave that disk unfinalized if you think you might find show repeats within 6 months or a year without the detracting feature--just redo it or wait and leave the original show on your TV box hard disc until it repeats--if you have two recordings of the same show, and you can choose the better segment of the show by evaluating each at double speed or faster for pesky pop-ups or crawl messages while the recording is on pause--yes, the commercials are in the same place and one may give you a nicer amount of time "going to black" to pause before the next commercial). The point is: record a program one section at a time, having fast forwarded to know where that section ends so you can pause the commercial when you go back and record. You may want to watch commercials which interest you anyway. If you chose to RE-record a re-writable DVD, you can erase any Sharpie writing on both disc and jewel case by using rubbing alcohol on a paper towel folded in quarters--disc labeling is best erased while inside its jewel case; don't pour rubbing alcohol directly on your disc. Re-writable DVDs are the saving grace of the error-prone recorder and/or prudent recycler. Save all jewel case packaging to store your movies/TV shows title up in drawers--or title out on shelves.QUESTION: I have series episodes recorded in the wrong order on different discs--is there a way to connect my Blu-ray player to my Panasonic #2 DVD recorder, so I can play the recorded disc on the Sony Blu-ray and re-record on the Panasonic in my preferred order (setting a timer five minutes before show end so I can walk away, to be alerted when it's about time to stop recording)? It would save me from re-recording a lot of discs from a program repeat (having to re-eliminate commercials) just to get one already recorded episode in my preferred order. Can anybody answer this?ADDENDUM: RE-RECORDING HOME MADE RECORDINGS FROM SONY BDP-S570 TO A NEW DISC (CHANGE THE EPISODE ORDER OR SOURCE QUALITY): it is a simple connection between this Sony Blu-ray player and my Panasonic #2 DVD recorder. As long as an original DVD-RW disc is finalized for play on the Sony BDP-S570, it is an easy connection to my different brand's recorder, and will re-record FROM the Sony's designated recording device output for the recorder TO the recorder's designated input for the Sony. Due to upscaling to 1080i, the Sony BDP-S570 improves the source of the original recording for re-recording of one or more episodes into any preferred order onto however many new discs I require to correctly order the material, Re-format the wrongly ordered source disc once you have re-recorded the episodes you want in the order you desire. Re-use the re-formatted disc to record new material. The Sony manual explains how to remove elapsed time data from the screen so it does not also re-record onto your new disc or appear on your screen when just playing a commercial disc (which is, rightly, copy-protected by law, don't even try). When the newly episode-ordered, finalized disc re-recorded at 480 i on Panasonic #2 is played on the Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray, it upscales again. I use new discs to re-record any really outstanding shows, then use re-formatted discs for "I just want it" stuff--like home repair, renovation, garden design and home decorating that I want to recall and/or take to stores that sell what I recorded--such as paint colors, appliances, carpet, furniture, plants, etc. Many stores have DVD players).WALL MOUNTING YOUR SONY BLU-RAY PLAYER: By the bye, having bought a second Sony S570 DVD player, I placed it inside a long rectangular box with a back for screwing into multiple studs, made by a local carpenter (50" long, high enough to also hold jewel-cased or commercially recorded DVDs either on their side or upright inside the original original package, painting the box black to match the TV edge color, and 10" deep, since the Sony is just 8" deep) mounted 6" below the 44" wide LG 46LE8500 (also through best-priced Amazon, also fabulous) a few feet in front of my treadmill. Mounting the box at 40" above the floor (putting the top of the TV at just above 7'), it appears to "float," leaving the space below it totally clear, and it's inexpensive--I chose no dividers inside the box, since jewel-cased DVDs in the original packaging don't scatter and can be moved around when labeled as described above in groups of ten (10 mm-cased movies) or 30 (narrow-cased TV shows). There's room to add other components. The TV wiring/power is connected from a hole on the wall behind it--placed to match your mounting needs--dropping inside the wall to a HORIZONTAL opening behind the Sony below: power plugs continue further down inside the wall to a VERTICAL oblong hole next to the electrical outlet (the two visible wall holes have OUTLET COVERS with a round hole in the center for routing wires/plugs and which provide size marks for the holes to be made in the wall). One cover painted black is for the horizontal oblong hole at the back of the Sony, the other is for the power plugs dropping below the Sony to the white cover on the VERTICAL oblong hole next to the electrical outlet; these covers snap apart across the face so that cords/wires can be routed easily and then snap together to screw onto the wall. I didn't cover the hole behind this 60 pound TV that allows its wiring to drop down to the Sony. If you move, patch the mount/wire holes, repaint, or leave as is, if desired by the next occupant. Don't forget the Sony box!You might just get shin splints from walking the treadmill so much longer watching movies at 1080 i or Blu-ray. This device also encourages exercise by playing restful Yoga or energizing exercise discs as well as TV shows or movies in sharp, clear, focus. Finally--a reason to keep a commitment to fitness.

In this review I'll do a quick comparison between the S570 and original 60GB PS3. I've used the PS3 as my main blu-ray player since it has always been the best in regards to speed and compatibility. But now, there are a lot of players on the market that rival and surpass the PS3. I will start off by saying that my main concern was loading speed (since I'm accustomed to the PS3's speed) and any extras included with new blu-ray players was a moot point. Since the S570 has consistently gotten top ratings for loading speed I decided to purchase it as my main blu-ray player.After using the S570 for just over a month I can attest to the speed of this player. Using one of my heavier menu loading blu-ray movies, The Pirates of the Carribean, I did a few real world speed tests. With the PS3, from power on until the player recognized the disc, it took roughly 30 seconds while the S570 only took 11 seconds (with quick-start enabled.) Skipping past all the previews, I could start watching the movie in just under 1 minute with the S570 while the PS3 took nearly 1 minute and 45 seconds. Which brings me to one great thing about the S570; the speed of skipping chapters is almost instantaneous. Generally speaking, with the S570 I can start watching most of my movies in the time the PS3 would power on and load the disc. Overall, the speed performance of the S570 is amazing.The menu screen is exactly like the PS3's XMB so there were no surprises there. It's not as smooth navigating through the menu as it is on the PS3 but it's tolerable. There are a lot of online features on the XMB (some which are available through firmware updates) but I really don't use much of it. The only ones I played with were YouTube and Amazon's Video on Demand. Initial wireless setup was a breeze and I was able to stream YouTube videos with ease. Amazon's Video on Demand required registration and it was a fairly simple process as well. Streaming videos on both were very smooth and the HD video sample from Amazon's Video on Demand was excellent quality. For reference my main router is located upstairs while my player was downstairs in an in-law unit.As for sound and video quality, no complaints there. You honestly won't hear or see any difference between this and the PS3 or any of the other brand name players unless you're one of those people who like to scrutinize each and every detail and measurebate instead of watching a movie. DVD upscaling was decent with the few I tested. I don't have extensive experience with good quality DVD upscalers so I can't really comment on it, but to me it does a good job.Other quick notes about the player - the player can be noisy (mechanical noise of the laser moving) when it initially loads up and when you skip chapters, but normal playback is fine. If you leave the player untouched at the Home menu it will eventually turn off which is great for energy saving. Overall, this is a great blu-ray player with exceptional speed and great overall video and quality performance. Extra features are plenty and oh yeah, it's 3D-ready. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.