Best Blu Ray video and for 2 channel transport?

"In the end the one feature killing the total love on these machines is the fact it can't do the most simple function of saving the place on a DVD to return to it later!"

Check out the Sony BDP-S550... problem solved!
A fantastic player otherwise too.

Couvajazz
Really? Do you know how many discs it will hold in memory? And will it do Blu ray and sDVD in memory?
Thanks!
Sucks you gotta pay 100 more for such a basic function though.
So I luckily just worked a deal on the S550 for 8 bucks less than the 350, saving some more cash! Thanks hope your right and it will save disc spots, hopefully on Blu ray and standard.

Wow, Undertow, sounds like you'll have the ultimate affordable BD shootout on your hands pretty soon. The Sony's sound like a good way to go, especially the s550, which seems to address my pet peeve (no memory). Thanks for all the feedback. I'll look forward to hearing how all the comparos go. I'm delighted with the Oppo, but it would be good to know possible directions to go if BluRay finally starts to draw interesting titles. I sure have no intention of paying more than $400 for a player and the S550 is currently running around $320 online (doesn't seem like the Amazon vendors are out of stock) so if it's as good as you think it might be, that'd be a winner in my estimation. I can see why some folks might prefer the punchier picture on the Panasonic - it's kind of like candy. Or in film terms (for those who actually remember what film is), it's like Velvia or Kodachrome vs. Provia, Ektachrome or Kodacolor (the later being a bit extreme). I was never a Velvia guy, and almost never set my digital camera to "Vivid" to mimic that kind of film. Personal taste. Good to hear that my suspicions of an odd digital artifact were not in my imagination on the Panny. I look forward to hearing more of your observations.

Oppo scores a 94 out of 100 in 2 channel transport duties

Sony scores about a 87-88 out of 100

However to be fair the oppo had a better power cord as I don't have an adapter yet for the sony type connection, and at first we found out that the 2 coax cables we used varied a little in sound as well after swapping those a few times between transports..

In the end the sony has good potential, soundstage on the oppo is a little more vast and refined, the sony was a tiny bit more sparkle on top with a little punchier sound, but not quite as deep as the oppo. oppo is a tiny more refined, again though without fair cable equality, as literally the sony had to run up against a 14 gauge audiophile type cable on the oppo it only has a like very cheap 20 gauge or 18 gauge "Boombox" cable that comes with a walkman back in the 80's!

Also to be fair the oppo had some serious hours of use on it, about 2 years doing some pretty heavy lifting so it was not a surprise it was a little bit opened up sounding.

I can't totally say the sony is at total fault, but the oppo was a little more relaxed natural sound... I am still moving forward to try a Sony 550s as a full blu ray transport for 2 channel system for the time being. And I have a good power cord coming to work out the kinks hopefully with the body of sound coming of the sony, it still did not lack to far behind but it was a little bit drier presentation, I hope to get it tuned in with some burn in, and some cable changes, I don't think they will be very distinguishable at that point.

Oppo scores a 94 out of 100 in 2 channel transport duties

Sony scores about a 87-88 out of 100

That's pretty darn close and I'd guess the discrepancies you mention (power cord and burn-in) may account for some of that difference. Are you using an Oppo 983H for comparison. Also differences may be system dependent, and dependent on the DAC you use. Anyway, I was astonished that a transport could actually make that much difference, but certainly the difference between the Panasonic and the Oppo was significant in my system. Sounds like the Sony 550 will be a great choice for you. This should be very useful information for anyone considering a reasonably priced BluRay player at this point in the game. Many thanks for posting your impressions.