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Sony’s high-end BDP-S5000ES Turn over for more…
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52 Sony BDP-S5000ES ➜ £1,200 Approx ➜ www.sony.co.uk
The perfect recipe Speed, subtly, ferocity and a propensity for moody sweeping vistas makes Sony’s flagship BD deck a master of the format, says Richard Stevenson
W
hen I was young and crazy I had a dream about making noodles – and one about Hi-Def movies so crisp, so bold and so natural you could step into the screen and be there. Immersing myself in the rich, oriental landscape of ancient China while watching Kung Fu Panda (a cracking CG-toon about a noodle-making panda) on Sony’s top-flight BD player, I realised I was
Home Cinema Choice april 2009
never going to be a noodle chef. Still, one out of two dreams coming true can’t be bad. With Sony’s Blu-ray format firmly established as the top-dog of disc-based HD media in 2008, Sony’s famed Chief Distinguished engineer Takashi Kanai (ironically also a noodle-making enthusiast, as it happens) set about creating a defining statement of the BD
Beastmaster: At a whopping 10 kilos, the BDP-S5000ES is a veritable heavyweight amongst BD decks
disc-playing breed: the BDPS5000ES. It’s fully Profile 2.0 compliant, HDMI v1.3a-enabled, HD-audio format-compatible with onboard decoding and brings together a suite of Sony’s image enhancing technologies: Super Bit Mapping, HD Reality Enhancer with Scene Adaptive Analysis, 14bit video reprocessing, Precision Cinema upscaling, Vertical Edge
Reviews 53 Compensation and Off Centre Feet – to name but a few unfathomable monikers appearing on the marketing bumph. Search Sony’s website for full technical details if you like, but rest assured, teams of engineers have been beavering away to ensure that this machine delivers HD movie content that pushes the BD format forward by a huge leap.
Rise of the Transformers Based on a frame and beam chassis, the BDP-S5000ES is loaded with high-end R-Core transformers, high-speed DACs (including a set dedicated to stereo music output for hi-fi enthusiasts), and a Precision Clock Conditioner to reduce jitter over HDMI connection. Operation is wonderfully slick using the familiar ‘XrossMediaBar’ GUI hijacked from the PS3, and a neat backlit remote completes the package. The look and build quality are seriously Sony. It’s a large unit, weighing in at 10kg and standing 125mm high – that’s more than three
times heavier and twice as big as Panasonic’s DMP-BD55. But it wears its bulk well, looking reassuringly solid and majestic in its blue-black livery. Connectivity, too, is
unsurpassed, with goldplated inputs/outputs and full 7.1-channel analogue outs. Neat features include
updateable firmware, quick start and a bit-rate display – which makes a reviewer’s lot of choosing the trickiest scene for a player dead easy. To enable the Profile 2.0 goodness you stick the supplied 1GB MicroVault memory card in a port at the rear and hook up to the internet with a hard-wired Ethernet cable. Even when connecting the BDP-S5000ES to my wi-fi network using a wireless Ethernet bridge, the player discovered the network, assigned address and checked for firmware updates before I’d got back into the menus. Clearly this is a machine that Sony intends to keep ahead of the game for a considerable time into the future. And the future is where the
AV/CV Product: Profile 2.0, high-end Blu-ray player Position: Heading up Sony’s BD charge Peers: Denon DVD-3800BT; Pioneer BD-LX81
better Profile 2.0 features probably lie, unfortunately. BD-Live is, for the most part, a mere sideshow – its application has been meagre to date. In addition, there is a real lack of additional killer Profile 2.0 apps on current BD discs to really test the S5000ES’s mettle. It’s a damn good job then that the picture is simply stunning. There is rich, detailed colour, amazing greyscale information and a tangible 3D quality the depth and breadth of which I have not seen equalled in an HD source to date. With animated fare like DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda the BDP-S5000ES is just stupendously good, creating characters that all but step out of the screen, and sweeping oriental vistas that you can measure in leagues. From the opening scene in Po’s father’s noodle bar, the shadow detailing is a pleasure to behold. Despite the bright outdoor shop you can see into the gloom of the kitchen and notice bottles, jars and containers under shelves and hidden in the darkest corners. And Po’s deep
The S5000ES’ firmware is upgradable, allowing the player to keep up with the latest Blu-ray profiles whenever they emerge
April 2009 Home Cinema Choice
54 Reviews ➜ Specifications
Video upscaling: yes Up to 1080p24 Multiregion: no Region B (BD); R2 (DVD) HDMI: yes v1.3a Component: yes 1 output Multichannel phono audio: yes 7.1-channel Digital audio: yes coaxial/optical/HDMI SACD/DVD-A playback: no Sadly missing Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD/DTS-MA decoding: yes/yes Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD/DTS-MA bitstream: yes/yes Profile 2.0: yes BD Live function via Ethernet Dimensions: 430(w) x 365(d) x 125(h)mm Weight: 10kg Also featuring: AVCHD playback; MicroVault card slot, Ethernet connectivity, HDMI link
➜ Tech Labs
Power of seven: The player boasts a full array of analogue outputs for 7.1 audio
black fur has a shimmering realistic quality, with lots of individual hair detailing, no matter how dark the scene. At the other end of the contrast spectrum, the detail and graduation in lighter areas is just as good. Freeze the frame and take a good look at the Tigress’ snarling teeth – they look photo-real.
I spent so long ohh-ing and ahh-ing at the picture I had to go back and watch the film again to discover what
Here’s one I made earlier: Sony’s sonic guru Takashi Kanai proudly clutches a BDP-S5000ES, the deck he designed
it’s actually about. This eye-watering visual treat is backed up with Sony’s usually clean and crisp bitstream audio implementation over HDMI to create what is the best BD disc-spinner on the market so far. The player’s own onboard Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio decoders are excellent and even its output over analogue multichannel (7.1 here folks!) or LPCM is dynamic and punchy. Engaging bitstream HD audio output takes some finding in the manual but, when you get it going, the S5000ES’s full potential can be realised with a top-notch AV amp. Hooking up to Sony’s own
Home Cinema Choice april 2009
STR-DA5400ES receiver makes a perfect partnership and the sound simply soars. Gentle dialogue and barely audible effects are crafted with precision and when the going gets tough the clean, vibrant sound is bolstered with LFE that is seriously fast and deep. When Po drops his pinkie at the climax of Kung Fu Panda, the circular shock fronts wash over you in spleen-joggling waves.
Lowering standards Naturally, it’s not a complete sweep at the Oscars for Sony’s BD flagship. The picture’s trick of creating tangible 3D worlds in your living room is sadly lacking if you upscale standard DVD movies. The contrast, motion smoothness and colour are top notch, but there is an overt softness that robs the picture of depth and fine detail. The Peony Pavilion scene in House of Flying Daggers (DVD) is rendered rather flat-looking, even though there isn’t a hint of artefacting or jaggedness. But do I care? No. With HD pictures and sound this good, full Profile 2.0 abilities on tap and a day-to-day ease-of-use that some other manufacturers would kill for, I can live with a few compromises. This is without question the first Blu-ray player from Sony to push the limits of the Blu-ray format as well as being a rather nice CD-spinner (when used with the matching STRDA5400ES receiver running the HATS re-clocking system over HDMI). It’s also a personal triumph for Sony audio guru Takashi Kanai (pictured left), who led the design project. Like Kanai’s noodles, this player is very tasty indeed
DVD Playback Audio jitter: 172.9ps Video jitter: 3ns Video S/N ratio (composite): -71.5dB Video S/N ratio (S-video Y): -77.0dB Video S/N ratio (interlaced component Y): -80.4dB Chroma AM: -75.3dB Chroma PM: -60.5dB Chroma Crosstalk: -57.0dB Response @ 5.8MHz (composite): -1.7dB Response @ 5.8MHz (S-video): -0.99dB Response @ 5.8MHz (component, interlaced): -0.52dB HQV Benchmark Jaggies test: PASS HQV Benchmark Text Crawl test: PASS Excellent test results include good performance in the HQV Benchmark jaggies and test crawl tests. Though this player also handles AVCHD, note it will not play a wide range of formats including MP3, WMA, DivX, and, oddly, DualDisc CD
Verdict Sony BDP-S5000ES £1,200 Approx Price check: www.techradar.com/503019 Highs: Stunning BD picture quality; crisp and potent sound; Profile 2.0 gadgetry, future-proof Lows: Upscaled DVD not so engaging, but that’s it... Performance: Design: Features:
Overall: