"Now why would I pay over a grand for a Blu-Ray player when they're available for a tenth of that these days?" you might be wondering. You wouldn't, and you shouldn't, unless you have a huge screen surface area to cater for i.e. TVs of 50" and above or those of you out there with Full HD projectors. Then it starts to make a difference that you have a higher end video processing chip, and that you have sophisticated video equalisers allowing you to filter out three different kinds of noise, to reduce grain, and to apply edge enhancement should any of these modifications suit your taste.
The 5000ES is also a very high quality audio unit, it can play CDs at approaching the same level as most CD players for under a grand, and will serve your surround sound system very well indeed. Only if you have an A/V Receiver that is markedly more expensive will you feel inclined to output the HD audio by bitstream.
The machine is profile 2.0 BD live ready, comes complete with a 1GB card for storing downloaded material, and it reads and plays the most up-to-date discs at an impressively high speed with no bugs or firmware issues so far (I only had to update it once because of a projector issue, long since settled). The 7.1 analogue outs are also high quality, but most customers will probably be looking to go via HDMI.
Downside? The remote control is identical with that for the BDP S 550 and while backlit (unlike the Pioneer LX-91!) it does look and feel a little cheap for the companion of such a machine. General build quality is also good but not at the level of Pioneer top models; the HDMI port does not embrace my Van den Hul cable as snugly as those on my Pioneer receiver. It is also a lot of money to pay and still not be able to claim to have the BEST Blu-Ray player on the market, but the LX-91 is much more expensive for only slightly better picture quality, and not necessarily any audio improvement (unless you are going 7.1 analogue out).
It is surely the best price/quality machine in the high-end arena and well worth a test spin at your local dealer. One final note: the picture on this page is NOT the 5000ES, it looks like one of Sony's original machines from 2006 or thereabouts!
If anyone has any questions please post them as comments; as an enthusiastic advocate for this machine I am happy to answer any queries.