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Sony BDP-S480
by AdamF
I recently purchased this Blu-Ray player to go alongside a new Bravia 46" 3D TV.
Firstly, aesthetically this is a beautifully crafted blu-ray player, it is sleek, appealing and pleasing to the eye. It sits perfectly in the front room and really is stylish, for a blu-ray player that is. It is probably the thinnest, most ... lightweight player I have ever used and looks somewhat professional stood under the TV on the stand.
The set-up as with the Sony TV was incredibly easy, it has all your standard components placed at the back so it was easy enough to pop in the HDMI and get it up and running. As well as this there is literally no sound when it starts up or is running. It is incredibly quiet when in use and on stand by. Further, even though this is somewhat superfluous the HELLO message that comes on the player's screen when it starts up is a nice touch as well as the Sony logo illuminating. Sometimes these little things really do add to the watching experience and it seems Sony has got it right on this occasion.
When it comes to energy saving this player really is handy, as soon as you switch off the main TV it automatically shuts down so there's no possibility for you to leave it running over night. It is up and running in seconds and allows you to watch some stunning Blu-ray DVDs. Furthermore the remote is incredibly easy to use, with all the functions you need to watch the dvd easily and navigate throughout the movie, or whatever you may be watching. As well as this it also responds to the main sony TVs remote so if you have a sony bravia TV already this is a bonus as you will only need one remote for both TV and the player.
When it comes to visual quality the player is of the highest quality, allowing me to watch blu-ray and normal DVDs to my hearts content safe in the knowledge that what I get to see on my screen is of the utmost standard. The 3D picture it shows is amazing, watching TINTIN for instance was quality. We bought a Gold HDMI lead to go with it as it is faster and perfect for the fast moving 3D movies. The audio again has always been perfect.
The functionality of the Player is also very good, easy to use and everyone who has sat down in front of the TV wanting to use the player so far has easily come to grips with it. The player also has internet capabilities but I can't really comment on that as I have not used it as of yet, but based on the experience of using it I've had so far it would go without saying that the internet would almost certainly be an added bonus to what is already a fine piece of technology.
All in all this is my favourite Blu-ray player that I have purchased and would strongly recommend it for its Audio/Visual output, functionality and little extras that really make this a great buy for anyone.
Finally I must admit that I got it free when I bought my TV, so obviously I would say it is great value for money, but based on current prices I would gladly spend that on this piece of equipment.
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Samsung BD-P1500
by Sefgrt
When I bought this Blu-Ray player, it had just been surpassed by the BDP1600, which meant I got it relatively cheap.
This is perfect for what it is intended to be used for, it plays Blu-Ray discs, DVD's and CD's. It has an Ethernet port for going online, but this is where the problem is because the Ethernet is practically ... useless as when attempting to use the BD-Live function on discs, the player requires extra storage space - i.e an external flash drive, however the USB Port on the player is not compatible with said devices and is only used for upgrading the firmware. The Ethernet port also allows this feature too.
another con is that the player processes quite slow when loading newer films, which are more data intensive - There is no lag whatsoever on films, but actually getting to them sometimes takes a bit longer than I would like to wait.
Positives are that it is FULL HD 1080p and supports backward compatibility. the player also looks very sleek too and works on anynet+ with any corresponding Samsung TV.
To conclude, I am very happy with the player for its basic use, but for extensive use as developed by Blu-Ray players such as BD Live, it is not one I would recommend.
6/10 - Plays perfectly, but a bit slow and lacking features.
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Sony BDP-S370
by teafan11
II bought this item about a month ago from Amazon for £89.99 reduced from £149.00 and when reading the information online was under the impression that it would not need a dongle, even got my dad to read through it to see if I was reading it right, being a layman, however when it arrived it does state in the instructions that you need a ... Sony UWABR100 network adapter to access Wi-Fi, and that costs another £56.97. I had bought this because I had wanted to access my Love film account through it wirelessly. So this frustrated me, nowhere did it say that I would require this, I assumed that if one was needed I could purchase a cheaper version dongle for 10-15 pound but when the instructions specified a particular item I was dubious of buying any other item as I have been told Sony products only work with Sony products (I could be wrong). It may work with a cheaper option, I don't know because I was reluctant to spend the money. Since buying it however have rung around a few shops to find out if I can use another adapter and been told no, and that even with the Sony UWABR100 the signal isn't great. Anyway I managed to get an Ethernet cable so that I can go online, but this is not what I was hoping for.
Another problem is that not all programs from Love film are available and when I called Amazon I did ask if they knew the reason for this, they stated that Sony have very different licensing and that I would not be able to access them, which again annoyed me because I had been connecting my laptop to my TV to be able to watch Love film, and I had bought the blu-ray so that I would no longer need to do this. So now if I want to watch the programs or films on love film that are not accessible through the blu-ray, I still need to connect my laptop. You have loads of other options to watch online through the blu-ray including BBC i player and demand 5 though.
It also has DVD digital up scaling making regular DVD better quality, and I have noticed a difference when playing DVDs on the blu-ray player. This is 1080p resolution so you do get fantastic picture and sound quality.
You connect via an hdmi cable which is not included so if you are considering purchasing this do be aware that you will need to purchase an hdmi cable too.
This is a very quiet, fast loading blu-ray and although it doesn't do all that I had hoped it is still a very good product.
The blu-ray itself has a very sleek design and I have been able to attach a hard drive to it so am able to view my picture and family videos through the blu-ray, which I find good and it does manage to play them in avi format. The price I consider ok but with all the drawbacks I wish I had of gone for another make.
I was drawn to this particular blu-ray because have had Sony product before and have always been extremely impressed and it is a very well known name for electronics so figured I was making a wise choice.
PRODUCT DIMENTIONS: 19.9cmx43cmx3.6cm weighing 1.6kg
BRAVIA Internet Video
USB x2
Smartphone remote
Quickstart
Wireless LAN ready
Full HD 1080P and DVD upscale
IP noise reduction
Internet video enhancer
Entertainment database browser
XrossMediaBar
High Definition audio codec's
Cost saving power consumption
Monolithic design
Overall not a bad product just doent do everything I was hoping for, but overall a very good blu-ray...I would recommend as a blu-ray and dvd player.
Review summary for the review "Sony Blu-ray player"
A good Blu-ray player with dvd-upscaling, you can connect to the internet wirelessly using a Sony UWABR100 network adapter or via an ethernet cable. Very fast and quiet blu-ray.
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