Sony BDP-S560

Given the weight it threw behind the development of the Blu-ray format, and that it comes from the same parent company as both Sony Pictures and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Sony can't afford any mistakes on its own Blu-ray disc players.

Despite the fact that the BDP-S560 represents an obvious competitor for Sony's very own PS3, the new player provoked something of a storm in the otherwise calm world of HD video a few months ago when it was launched as it sets the bar very high.  On sale for around £250, this is one of the most feature-rich Blu-ray players currently available thanks to its combination of both WiFi and DLNA compatible network connectivity, both of which we'll take a closer a look it in the test.

Hardware and design

The S560 follows in the footsteps of its younger brothers, the S350 and S360, and so we're pleased to find that it's only 7 cm high and 21 cm deep.  That's nice and compact, but the downside is that it's too small to put an amp or another device on top.  Almost all of the front panel folds out when a rather plastic drawer slides out.  The display is clear, but reasonably small, and the whole things is reasonably well-finished.

This player can read CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs, for which it offers Profile 2.0 compatibility, a recent innovation giving it access to BD-Live content.  It has an Ethernet port for connecting to the Internet, but that's not all: the S560 also has a WiFi wireless network connection (802.11a, b, g and n) which allows it to join your home network without being plugged into a router.  It's not just a handy extra, though: it allows this HD-loving player to join DLNA home networks.  To put it simply, once it's connected to the network, the Sony S560 can automatically find DLNA compatible computers and access their content--photos in this case.  You can then enjoy them on screen or using a projector, via either wired or wireless connection: it's up to you.  It's a great feature, but it only goes so far, because the S560 can't access any online services like YouTube or Picasa, nor can it display widgets with news or weather.  Its main competitor, the Panasonic BD60, does offer these services, but comes without WiFi and DLNA.  It's a hard life!


What formats and settings are on offer?

Sony has decided to maximise the possibilities of this player by providing support for as wide a range of formats as possible, except, um, DivX and DivX HD, which is rather frustrating.  Stop your grumbling, though, as there is a USB input (which can only access JPEGs!) and it's compatible with AVCHD files produced by HD camcorders, which you can read from a DVD-R for instance.  MP3 audio is no problem, and neither are JPEG HD photos, and it's a shame that all of these formats aren't available via the USB port, which is, as we restricted, restricted to JPEG images.  A second USB port is available at the back, and its job is to store bonus content downloaded during the playback of a BD-Live Blu-ray disc. 

You take control of the beast using the famous Xross Media Bar interface that also powers the PS3.  The menus are spilling over with options, including three different noise reduction filters and an excellent lip-sync mode you can use to re-align audio and video tracks from 0 to 120 milliseconds.  It's a good feature that can be very useful in some cases.  Amongst the other settings, you can also adjust the video output based on the device you'll be displaying it (1080p or less) as well as calibrating the audio (which is easy to do).


Image Quality

We tested the S560 with HD test cards, DVDs and films on Blu-ray discs, and found that it shared all of the same qualities as the excellent little S350.  The upscaling of DVDs to 1080p isn't the best in the world (the Pioneer LX91 takes that crown) but it's still very nicely done.  Apart from a few rogue pixels and ringing artefacts (small haloes around some objects as a result of MPEG compression), this Sony performed superbly and produced a clean, neat image, with rich, deep colours and excellent details and contrast.  We also tried noise reduction filters, but found that there weren't strictly necessary, apart from cases where there were especially large areas of blurry pixellation on DVDs.

We used three Blu-ray discs that present different challenges: Blade Runner for contrast, Up for colour and 300 for detail, and the results were unanimous: the S560 has perfect control over the task at hand.  It produces a video signal of exceptional overall quality (background, contrast, resolution, lack of noise).  The vast majority of difficult clips were handled perfectly, like the multi coloured balloons in Up for instance, with excellent fluidity (with 24p mode turned on).  The whole effect was worthy of a cinema and very classy.  It's very much comparable to the results achieved by the PS3, and that is by no means a light compliment for a Blu-ray player.


Audio Formats

The S560 can read and decode all HD audio formats, from DTS-HD Master Audio to Dolby TrueHD or PCM, with support for up to eight channels (7.1).  Using the HDMI cable, the audio signal can be sent to a compatible amp.  This player doesn't include any other multi-channel analogue audio output, just a RCA stereo output, which almost cost the S560 a star in this section.

To finish with, two technical details: the mechanism used is Precision Drive, correcting the playback across three axes and the audio conversion is 192 kHz/24 bit.

Our Measures

Average energy consumption: 31 W
Energy consumption on standby: less than 1 W
Start-up time: 7 s
Access time for a Blu-ray disc with a complicated interface: 26-35 s