Here are my stereo vs. Dolby Digital 5.1 observations...
I'm running the DVD in stereo mode. I only noticed a lip sync problem in
Ronin with the directors commentary enabled, about 1-2 minutes into chapter
16 (when Natasha is saying the 'f' word), but only after resuming play (i.e. not starting from the beginning of the disk). Starting and stopping the DVD didn't make a difference, although powering it off and on temporarily corrected the problem. I played around with the starting point for awhile and that seemed to have an effect on whether or not I saw the sync problem. It wasn't very noticeable. I have not seen any sync problems on Fugitive - but then again, I started the DVD at the beginning of the movie and watched it until the end.

After changing a few parameters the synch problem is more notieable. About 20 minutes in Fugitive things started going south. Here's what I changed:
Center speaker enabled
Rear (or side) speakers enabled
Dolby Digital set to Dolby Digital
DTS set to 'ON'
Connected to receiver via coax digital



Unfortunately, when I talked to Sony (2 days ago), they informed that there was a known problem with this player, and they are working on a fix. They took my name and phone number so that they can contact me when it's available. I'm going to return this one to Circuit City (I wasn't aware of this site when I bought the player) and get a 7700.

Picture and features (5 stars) - synch problem (2 stars) = 3 stars.

I bought the 550D a couple of months ago and noticed the lip sync problem immediately. Several DVD's seem to have this problem. Aliens 2 is the video that I have the most problems with. I was going to return the unit a couple of days after I bought it, but was not sure whether it was a series of bad DVD's or the 550. I have also noticed that when watching some movies the scene pauses as if it is advancing to the next track. DVD's exhibiting this problem include Aliens 2, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and Predator (there are others).
As far as features go the product is loaded. However, the very basic function of playing back movies without pauses and/or visible synchronization problems is kind of...basic.

I am really disappointed in Sony for releasing such an obviously flawed product. I wish there were some reviews posted when I bought this thing.

My advice to buyers...don't.

i bought the player from one-call, and i love the player, and the features, however, the dreaded lip-sync prob has showed up on several occasions already, and i just bought this player...most recently on blast from the past, the other time was on heat....
how does one find out the firmware version they got?

also do i send this back to one-call? or call sony?

features/picture 5 stars

because of lip sync bugs....3

Great unit. Superb picuture and sound. No lip synch problem seen. I have had the unit since May and have watched 25+ DVDs without a problem. Unit is the 1.5 version. I mentioned the problem to the salesman when I bought the unit. It was a local audio store and a salesman I have dealt with in the past. He said he had sold dozens of the units and no one had mentioned the problem to him.
I am using the regular stereo outputs, not DD or DTS or 5 channel and S video out for video. Has anyone else experienced the problem with the same settings?

Might be time for a sanity check on DVDs. As an older citizen I remember the first VCRs. I can''t believe we actually watched them. I remember living in a large city and having only 3 channels. DVD is a super system. I cannot believe the improvement over tapes and broadcast. If we have a DVD then we are early adopters. Can''t think of any system launched that did not have some birthing problems. As early adopters we have to accept that there might be these problems or wait until someone else clears out all the bugs. Heck, Bill Gates still has not fixed Windows! Lets not be so tough on Sony and DVD. At least they are accepting that there is a problem and trying to fix it.

Five stars and go buy one of these if you like movies. You''ll love it.

The price seemed a bit high, but well worth it.

I would have to say that this is the best DVD player I have ever owned. I have had no problems at all with it and have never needed to send it back. I have gone through 5 different DVD players trying to find the best one. Time and time again I would run into audio and/or video problem which would send me back to the store, and every time I would get a different brand name. RCA, PROSCAN, PANASONIC, TOSHIBA none of which worked out for me until I got the Sony. The picture is even better with the component video out and even better that it has a built-in dolby digital processor. If you are thinking about buying one then do.

If you are experiencing the lip synch problem Sony has a list of affected users they are maintaining so that when a fix is found all affected users will be notified. Sending your unit in for repair now is a waste of time until they officially correct this issue.

I have had the Sony 550D/b for 3 weeks now. I have watched 15 movies with no problems.I love the picture quality and all the features this unit offers.
No lip/sync problems and the remote is fime for this price range ...I paid $389 at a local dealer.
I had a Toshiba 3109 and did not like it because of build quality (no heft to it and very flimsy tray) The Tosh refused to play Armageddon regular editon although the demo unit in the store played it fine.
All in all I think the Sony is a fine machine...the lip sync problems although well documented here, I'm not seeing alot of posts about it in the newsgroups at this time. Therefore I believe that the problem is on a small scale only affecting a few units.
If you get a decent deal on a Sony buy it you won't be sorry IMHO
Kevin

Great unit. Superb picuture and sound. No lip synch problem seen. I have had the unit since May and have watched 25+ DVDs without a problem. Unit is the 1.5 version. I mentioned the problem to the salesman when I bought the unit. It was a local audio store and a salesman I have dealt with in the past. He said he had sold dozens of the units and no one had mentioned the problem to him.
I am using the regular stereo outputs, not DD or DTS or 5 channel and S video out for video. Has anyone else experienced the problem with the same settings?

Might be time for a sanity check on DVDs. As an older citizen I remember the first VCRs. I can't believe we actually watched them. I remember living in a large city and having only 3 channels. DVD is a super system. I cannot believe the improvement over tapes and broadcast. If we have a DVD then we are early adopters. Can't think of any system launched that did not have some birthing problems. As early adopters we have to accept that there might be these problems or wait until someone else clears out all the bugs. Heck, Bill Gates still has not fixed Windows! Lets not be so tough on Sony and DVD. At least they are accepting that there is a problem and trying to fix it.

Five stars and go buy one of these if you like movies. You'll love it.

since experimenting with dvd players, non came close to the quality of this player, never experience any difficulty, love it.

i am new to dvd technology, but has view lots of movies at my friends on there player, it blowed me away. i then decided to venture out on my own and get something that was different from theirs. i did some research on line and i decided to go with the sony 550d. after purchasing and setting up my buy i was amazed at the functions and quality of this player. the only problem is the syncronization of the audio and video, but what the hek, if this is corrected,this would be a master piece player.