Sony S790 or Panasonic 500 for......

Both players are equally good in performance when I demoed them. Panasonic is better built.

Thanks BB.....

I have the Sony 790 and it is quite superb !          (and less expensive of the two)

The Panasonic 500 like the Sony 790 both get great write-ups.

http://www.stuff.tv/review/sony-bdp-s790

http://www.stuff.tv/review/panasonic-dmp-bdt500

According to reviews, S790 is better & I love it, it also play SACD.  And here in my country (Indonesia) the S790 is a Region Free player for DVD, Panasonic is not.

I agree with Bigboss that the panasonic is better built, however I thought the Sony just ahead in picture quality when I auditioned (I guess that is sometimes a personnal thing). So I ended up with the S790.

Even Panasonic BDT500 is available as multiregion in the UK.

http://www.tps.uk.com/tps/home.html?product_id=1434&product_group_id=221...

You can't go wrong with either of those. New ranges from Sony and Panasonic are imminent, so both should be available with a decent discount.

For what its worth, I own a Panny 500.

It is a great player and as Big Boss says its built to a really high standard. The picture is amazing, as is the sound through my Sony av amp. Motion is nigh on perfect too, much better than my old Sony 370 Blu Ray player.

I have two young boys and a big kids libary of Blu Rays amongst others. It does have the odd wobble with some of my discs. For example, Tim Burton's modern Alice In Wonderland - it freezes at a certain point on the film and omits a high frequency noise / buzz. It has also done this on Drive recently. The firmware is up to date and the discs are immaculate. I must point out that my Sony 370 had wobbles with certain discs too, I think its just the nature of complicated Blu Ray players and most are prone to the odd strop. Sometimes the picture quality (fed to a Panny GT30 tv) just makes me grin with joy (the last two Batman movies were beautiful to watch from a picture perspective).

The Sony was not out when I bought it, the 500 was the boss at its price point. I still have the Sony 370 upstairs in the bedroom.

I have not had a chance to demo the 790 yet but from what I have read it is very very good. Had it been out to choose from when I bought the Panny I probably would have gone for that but I am still a very happy chappy.

For me, the Sony menu system is so much more user friendly. As also mentioned it's a SACD player if that was a selling point. Plus, I hate the touch / swipe remote on the Panasonic. Some like it but I cant get on with it - its gimmicky and not very intituitive.

I also cant seem to get the 500 to talk to / stream to my Sony Vaio laptop - it can be done but I have given up (have Airport Express anyway) - far too complicated for my simple mind.

It's a difficult choice though still. I have a Sony av amp and yet a Panasonic tv (which I notice you have too, probably a broken one!). My Sony amp has some hdmi switching issues with the Blu Ray player (keeps switching to tv input and not hdmi1 input by default, if that makes sense) which can be a little annoying too.

I think if I had a choice now I would go for the Sony but I am sure their are plenty of 500 owners that will gladly tell you that I am wrong.

Hopefully that helps :)      

Thanks for the replies!

just read about the Panasonic 450......any thoughts on which of these 3 players suit Yamaha 1065 amp and GT50 TV?

Does pairing matter with bluray players?

You mean the Pioneer 450? It's a very nice player as well. I've heard of some users reporting playback issues, but haven't heard any issues recently. The mechanism is noisy when starting to play a disc, but quietens down when actually playing.

No. 

Doh! Indeed the Pioneer!

now bearing in mind I don't know, hence asking for opinions.....the what hi fi article where they pair up systems says that they felt the 450 paired better with a Sony amp than the Sony 790' which has 'leaner' sound and therefor better paired with a yamaha amp......

so are they being super fussy, or just need to say it so they have a more interesting read? Or is that controversial?

I can't comment on that, as I can't understand how that's possible. All I can say is that the sound depends on who decodes audio - your blu ray player or your AV amp. If one decodes audio, the other shouldn't have any bearing on it. That's my understanding.

So how do you know which is decoding? Do I need to check? Same I guess for up scaling DVD, I've not seen anything to switch on/off on the tv to say its not up scaling?

Having compared the 2, if you don’t want the 7.1 analogue out and are just using it for movies then save some money and buy the Sony, however if you use it for music as well then go for the Panasonic as its audio decoding and analogue out quality leave the Sony behind.

If ease of use is what you want then as has been mentioned the Sony is the better, with the Panasonic seeming a bit basic in comparison. (Both have apps for Smart Phones and Tablets)

Hope this helps, however as always compare then at your local dealer as only you can make the final decision.

Bill

Audio: "Bitstream" will allow your AV receiver to decode audio, & "PCM" will let your player decode it.

Video: If you leave DVD at 576p, your AV receiver will upscale it. If you set your AV receiver to "pass through", then your TV will be forced to upscale it. Generally, blu ray players are the best upscalers.