Picked this one up for $374 - hell of a price for everything you get. I had been torn between many different brands and decided to go with this one based on several friends recommendations. I have seen the Lip Sync problem come up a couple of times, but just hit stop and then play again and it seems to go away. A minor annoyance, but it was still the best value for the $$. I would recommend this one to anyone wanting to purchase a DVD player.So because of the Lip Sync problem, it is only get the 4 stars. If the problem was fixed, it would have a 5 star without a doubt...

Got my 550D about 2 months ago,and hooked it up to my Sony STR30DA ES Receiver. I have watched about six or seven movies and all I can say is "WOW". Great picture and even greater sound, a feast for the eyes and ears, the unit looks great too. No LIP SYNC problems so far... and I'm lookin real close...every time I pop a new movie into this unit I just get more and more delighted with my choice.I paid $430.00 , and for the price this is a great unit. I would highly recommend the Sony 550D.

This is a very good player the images are excellent and the sound is great. We have found it to be as good as some very high end cd player and very highly priced one's at that(Some well into $5000.00). The Analog section seems to be very well designed we are going on our listening test only and our ears havent seemed to fail us yet, the inner detail, soundstage and bass are very good. We had a disk with some lipsink problems and were told it was due to the disk's being very poorly made as it seems was a common lore as when cd's first became avalible. The store that sold us our unit had no qualms about replacing the dvd player, offered our money back if we wished and gave us a in store 2 year warranty but suggested that we remove the disk and re-insert it as disk alignment was likely the problem. From my prespective I give it a four star only because i belive that the pioneer elite has a better disk clamp but rather the $1200.00 dollars canadian is worth the cost of re-inserting the disk on ocassion is feasible to you. IT HASNT BEEN TO ME!!!!! GREAT WORK SONY AND THANK YOU FOR SUCH A FINE PRODUCT

I LOVE THIS MACHINE NO LIP SYNCE PROBLEMS!! JUST A GREAT PICTURE AND GREAT 5.1 SOUND!!!

Bought my S550D last weekend and so far I've only watched four movies (You've got Mail, Twister, Mission Impossible, and Star Trek Insurrection). The player is connected to my 35" Sony (KV-35V35) TV with an S-video cable while the audio is connected to my JVC RX-905VTN (Pro Logic) receiver using the line out of the player. Audio is playing through a pair of KEF Q70 (front), a KEF Model 90 (center), and a pair of DCM CX-07 (surrounds) speakers.
After hours of experimenting with the different audio/video settings of the player, I'd have to say the performance has been flauless. Picture quality is outstanding and the audio equally matches. However, it took a while before I was happy with the audio mainly because the manual is so damn difficult to understand. I couldn't clearly understand how each setting affected the sound and what settings I should (or could) use with my Pro Logic receiver.

At first I was very dissapointed with the sound quality while watching Mission Impossible. The soundstage was very compressed, the volume level was low, and the surround affect was minimal compared to the exact same settings on my receiver that I've used for years with my Mitsubishi VCR. After referring to the confusing manual again, examining the player settngs, and making a few minor adjustments, everything sounded great. Am I the only one in the world using a DVD player in a Pro Logic system?

I haven't experienced the dreaded "lip sync" problem yet since I've only watched four movies to date. So for now, I will give the S550D four stars (I can't give it five because of the poorly written manual). However, I'm going to be watching closely for the lip sync problem and if it shows up, I'll be back.

Well, it finally happened to me too. A damn a/v sync.
It happened with Pleasantville. Audio dropouts happened with it.
....I had to stop the DVD and press play again and it was back to normal. The audio dropouts disappeared at that point too.

Calling Sony, if they have no answers, then this player will be sent to Sony Headquarters with a bomb inside set to go off when opened.

Lip Sync problems and audio dropouts...oh and sometimes the highlighted menu selection disappears so you don't know what you're selecting.

I bought it only 2 weeks ago.

It's going back one week from today unless Sony calls me up to say they have the fix for all these problems. I'm not holding my breath, I have my packing materials all ready to go.

Without these problems the player would get 4 1/2 stars..so it now gets 1 1/2 stars. ....but we can't do halves here...so I'm rounding up.

I purchased this unit in June 1999. So far did not observe lip-syn or other noted problems. This unit has great picture and sound, and it is a very versatile unit. I would recommended to anyone. I use Monster Cable optical digital cable

I got this unit at the end of July. I experienced hang and restart of the movieon "Contact" and "Selena". I watched about 20 titles and the video quality is
extremely good. However, very annoyed about the hang. I believe the hang is the
masking of the lip-sync problem. My version is 1.800. Called the service line
and they refused to admit the problem and blamed it on the disk.

2 months and still going strong I love this machine !!! no lip sync problems yet to report , i keep my eyes peeled and report back .