Actually purchased blu-ray player with sony card reward points. Worked fine without any issues, until recently. Player would shut down once movies started from the menu screen and was a compatibility issue with new blu-ray disc versions and the DTS-HD. Went to blu-ray.com website to download firmware upgrade for the BDP-S500 and works like a charm now.

Pro: Easy to operate and connect, Various connectivity options
Con: Takes too long to load a disc also operated in Slow motion.

I own this Sont BD player along with a 46" HDTV and a Sony 7.1 Receiver. When I finally get the movie up and running, the picture is great. The problem is that it takes forever to turn on the player and open the disc tray (try that in the store before you buy) and load the movie. Last night, I tried playing the new Hulk movie and after ten minutes of waiting, the movie turned off my player and restarted. Then I tried again and ten minutes later it did the same thing. Now, I've just wasted 20 minutes and can't watch the movie. Sony should take this one off the shelf.

You won't believe your eyes. Blu-ray is here to stay folks and this machine gives me my fix! Remember to update the firmware and learn to be patient with the slow door response and you won't be disappointed with the entertainment!

I have had this player for about a week now. I was vacillating between the S500 and the S350, but after reading countless reviews, I decided to go with the newest model hoping that Sony was able to work out all the kinks and bugs that came with the previous units. I have tested this player with a few movies (Spiderman 3, Full Metal Jacket, and the Planet Earth series), and fortunately, I have not run into any of the problems that other users have encountered (i.e. movies not playing, freezing, etc.) I really like the new feature of the sliding front door. I have yet to experience a complete Blu-Ray experience since I do not have the best home theatre setup (I have a 5.1 Dolby Digital as opposed to a 7.1), but the sound is great regardless. The upscaling feature is pretty darn good, in my opinion, though I wasn't completely blown away. It's about as close to 1080p as you can get.

I did upgrade the firmware, but not because I was having problems. Sony recommended you upgrade if your player's firmware was older than a certain version.

The warm up and load time is still slow, but as other reviewers have mentioned, the technology is still new. Though compared to the S300 model, there is a significant improvement. Really, unless you are super impatient, I don't think it should prevent you from buying this model. I did have a scare a few days ago when my current disc would not eject. None of the suggestions on the troubleshooting page worked, and I was very upset to hear that after only 3 days, I would have to send my player to Sony to service it! Luckily, I fiddled around with the DVD, and think that maybe it was the movie itself that was causing the player to act up.

All in all, I am pretty satisfied with this product. It is nowhere near perfect. It is expensive and still very big compared to regular DVD players.