Customer Reviews
Mine works just fine! 
2008-09-06
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.
Don't buy this 
2008-08-30
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.
uuuugggghhhhh! 2008-08-07
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.
i like the blu-ray picture but 
2008-08-06
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?
The future of the DVD Player is painful 2008-07-25
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.
My Two Cents... 2008-07-24
Everyone will marvel at the stunning sound and picture quality of this second-generation Blu-ray Disc player. With remarkable features and versatile performance, the BDP-S300 is an amazing value.See and hear a whole new world of high definition with the incredible BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player. The crystalline clarity of 1080p Blu-ray Disc movies and DVD up scaling has to be seen to be believed. Amazing 24p True Cinema output and cinema-tuned picture presets allow you to see movies exactly how the director intended. And with BRAVIA Theatre Sync, you can now you can control your compatible BRAVIA TV and AV systems from just one remote.
Don't waste your $$$ 2008-07-22
Terrible product by Sony. Yes the picture is great, but it doesn't outweigh the hassle of >2 minute warmup time, flimsy remote, extremely poor upscaling and very few bells and whistles (didn't even have 'time left' feature).
Spend your hard earned cash on the new BDP-S350. Same price, half the size, better picture, easier navigation, minimal warmup time, etc.
Mine is running on a 52" Sony Bravia and it is incredible!
Great picture, big annoying problems with player 2008-07-16
I purchased my unit at Christmas in 2007. I've gradually begun using it more and more.
The good:
When you get a Blu-Ray DVD playing, the picture and sound quality rock!
The bad:
DVDs often take an inordinately long time to load. Really long.
The worse:
Many DVD's, especially NON blue-ray I've noticed, freeze up on the menu and there is nothing you can do to get it going again - I actually have to UNPLUG the DVD player and plug it back in to get it going again.
I am deducting 1 star for the DVD load times and 2 stars for the freeze-up problem.
I can't recommend this unit for the above reasons. I thought Sony would do better than this, a $300 player should not be so buggy and slow.
VERY, VERY slow 2008-07-15
I work for the Computer Art Department at a large university in Manhattan. We bought this player to replace a broken DVD player in our presentation room, and have had to return it because of how SLOW it is. It takes upwards of 30 seconds for this player to start up. In that time you can't put the disc in, so you're looking at a minimum of one minute before you can get an image on screen. Compounding this problem is the lack of a "real" power switch. It only has a "soft" power-on switch, so in our configuration where we turn on our entire AV rack with one surge protector, this player stays off until you hit it's power button.
We're just going to stick with plain old DVD, for now. We considered a higher-end blu-ray player, but from the reviews I've read, all the players out right now (July 2008) are similarly slow. In a presentation environment, we just can't live with delays from our equipment. We didn't really need the blu-ray capability yet and were just looking for a reliable player that was also somewhat future-proof.
On the positive side, the build quality seemed decent, the remote was good--if a few too many buttons-- and the setup and menus were easy to navigate.
P.S. My unit gave me setup options for 720p & 1080i, but not 1080p. I don't know if this was because I didn't have an HDMI cable hooked up or not, but buyer beware.
Sony Time-Killer 3000 2008-07-07
I run LG's Super Blu and Sony's S300 next to each other. The Sony is by far the most irritating piece of equipment I've ever owned.
Everything is painfully slow. Walk up to it and press the open button, and you wait about 70 seconds (no exaggeration) for it to open.
Loading Blu-Ray's typically takes anywhere 5 to 15 minutes. Sometimes it will have an error where it justs loads forever (eventually you figure it out). I usually open it up and put a disk in, come back in 5 minutes when the menu is up, then hit play, then come back in another 5 to 10 minutes after the movie has actually loaded and just rewind a little.
The fast forward settings are irritating. It just takes seconds for it to change speeds.
It even takes 9 seconds for my LCD to disconnect from it. I don't know if it's the TV or the player, I just know that everything is painfully slow, as if it were running a poor quality computer inside.
