bySony
Price:$72.52+ Free shipping with Amazon Prime
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on June 30, 2016
Bought this for my mom so that she could stream internet content to her TV in addition to playing DVD/BlueRay disks. Very compact unit, very easy to setup. Product seems to be actively maintained as first thing it did was notice that there was an updated firmware package available for it. Have used it to stream UTube, Netflix and Amazon content with no major issues.
Overall, very happy with the unit. Having the WiFi built in is a big win. Haven't actually tried to play a disk yet, but I am assuming that works. Wwe do need to test that soon as BlueRay is a somewhat squirrelly "standard" and I've seen other BlueRay players that would fail to play certain BlueRay disks because of some subtle incompatibility between the disk encoding and the player's software. I'm hoping that since this is a Sony device and they created the BlueRay standard that we won't see that with this unit. The UI for the streaming apps is no worse than any other DVD unit that I've seen. Not sure there is much that can be improved given that the input device is a DVD style remote control which limits what one can do.
The only short coming I've seen so far is that it seems to take longer to configure and activate its WiFi network interface via DHCP than I would expect (more than a minute) and if one tries to use a streaming app before the network has been configured it drops one into the interface for configuring the WiFi. What it really should do is two things: (a) display progress of the network configuration progress so that one knows whether it is still working on the configuration and (b) when configured to use DHCP it should offer the choice to retry the DHCP handshake instead of forcing one into the network reconfiguration tool. As it stands, one simply has to guess that it is being slow with the DHCP process and then guess how long to wait. Guessing is bad - it should tell the user what is happening and when using DHCP it should offer the ability to retry the handshake rather than telling one that they have to reconfigure their network settings.
Overall, very happy with the unit. Having the WiFi built in is a big win. Haven't actually tried to play a disk yet, but I am assuming that works. Wwe do need to test that soon as BlueRay is a somewhat squirrelly "standard" and I've seen other BlueRay players that would fail to play certain BlueRay disks because of some subtle incompatibility between the disk encoding and the player's software. I'm hoping that since this is a Sony device and they created the BlueRay standard that we won't see that with this unit. The UI for the streaming apps is no worse than any other DVD unit that I've seen. Not sure there is much that can be improved given that the input device is a DVD style remote control which limits what one can do.
The only short coming I've seen so far is that it seems to take longer to configure and activate its WiFi network interface via DHCP than I would expect (more than a minute) and if one tries to use a streaming app before the network has been configured it drops one into the interface for configuring the WiFi. What it really should do is two things: (a) display progress of the network configuration progress so that one knows whether it is still working on the configuration and (b) when configured to use DHCP it should offer the choice to retry the DHCP handshake instead of forcing one into the network reconfiguration tool. As it stands, one simply has to guess that it is being slow with the DHCP process and then guess how long to wait. Guessing is bad - it should tell the user what is happening and when using DHCP it should offer the ability to retry the handshake rather than telling one that they have to reconfigure their network settings.
on May 21, 2017
Don't Buy It! I bought this for a bedroom for a second home, which means it would be used once every few weeks. For the first couple of months (maybe 2 uses), I was able to connect to the internet and watch something that was short. However, over the following 6 months, if we got it working, the connection would time out after 20 minutes of viewing and now it won't maintain a connection at all. The box simply wigs out and freezes. I should have heeded the other 1 star warnings on this. I suppose I have to file a warranty claim. it would be nice to hear from the seller on how to handle this.
on October 29, 2016
At first I was pleased with the DVD player and the online interface for my netflix viewing. But I also had the problem with the DVD tray not opening. I purchased this in February and it stopped working in Sept. This was too late for a return. I'm just hoping to be able to get my DVD out. The tray issue disables the entire player, it is stuck on a generic blueray screen, and even unable to use the online functions. A waste of money, and I will have to purchase another player. A true disappointment.
on May 2, 2016
This player does it all.... ok well, it does everything we want it to. ;) Just wish they would design this with a VHS slot as well. It gets very costly to change over from VHS to DVD/BRAY all at one time so now, I'm not able to watch any of our old movies that I haven't updated yet. I probably still have about 50-100 movies to change over to DVD. Finding a dvd/bray/vhs player is close to impossible.
Ease of set up and use on this is very easy. It is a pain to have to key in your passwords and usernames, but that's nothing new. Once set-up it's a done deal. Playback quality of this is great...regular DVDs look almost as good as Blu-ray. Having Netflix, YouTube, hulu, vudu, amazon prime, etc available at the click of a button is great. The remote is kind of small so could be easy to misplace and obviously you MUST have it to use the player features. The remote does have the tv volume on it, so if you want to turn the volume up you don't have to look for your other remote. (My Pics include the home screen and then available apps under movies/tv option).
Movies do not auto start though, you have to get to the correct input device (hdmi,usb) and player menu to choose your selection, but for us that is no big deal. Also, it does take a few moments for the player to "activate" and be ready to follow your commands, but again, that is no big deal to me. So far we are very happy with this purchase and would recommend to friends. Great way to update your TV and make it into a wi-fi smart tv. We always add square-trade warranty to our electronic purchases, just in case.
Ease of set up and use on this is very easy. It is a pain to have to key in your passwords and usernames, but that's nothing new. Once set-up it's a done deal. Playback quality of this is great...regular DVDs look almost as good as Blu-ray. Having Netflix, YouTube, hulu, vudu, amazon prime, etc available at the click of a button is great. The remote is kind of small so could be easy to misplace and obviously you MUST have it to use the player features. The remote does have the tv volume on it, so if you want to turn the volume up you don't have to look for your other remote. (My Pics include the home screen and then available apps under movies/tv option).
Movies do not auto start though, you have to get to the correct input device (hdmi,usb) and player menu to choose your selection, but for us that is no big deal. Also, it does take a few moments for the player to "activate" and be ready to follow your commands, but again, that is no big deal to me. So far we are very happy with this purchase and would recommend to friends. Great way to update your TV and make it into a wi-fi smart tv. We always add square-trade warranty to our electronic purchases, just in case.
on May 20, 2017
I first bought this player to only play Blu Ray discs, but it very quickly replaced my Apple TV as my to-go streamer. It has Amazon Prime Video whereas Apple TV doesn't, so I can finally watch The Grand Tour on the big screen. I also simply found Netflix's UI to be much better and less clunky than Netflix on my Apple TV (although to be fair, my Apple TV was purchased in 2012, I would imagine that it's gotten better). Because of this, my Apple TV has officially been relegated to AirPlay use only and the Sony is my new daily driver. I also haven;t had the child lock issue that so many others have reported so I give its flawless operation five stars.
on April 11, 2017
I believe any problems have been fixed with the latest software update. I'm not an expert though. So don't take my word for it. I just know it works great for me. Install was almost effortless - one hdmi cable (not included), plug the power in, turn it on, enter your wireless password. It took about as long to do as it did to type this review. The software update happened automatically as soon as it connected to the internet. On quality of player for this price point, it is everything I hoped it would be. For those that want more, better or faster features, I would suggest looking to a more expensive unit. This one fits the "good enough" to make me happy without overspending. I use this to play blue rays, and stream Netfix and Amazon Video. It does these very well!
on December 30, 2016
I purchased this item on June 16, 2016. It worked perfectly fine for six months. This month (December 2016) the Blu-Ray player started having problems. It would disconnect from the WiFi almost every time we turned the player off. Then it started disconnecting EVERY time we turned the player off. Today the player not only disconnected itself from the WiFi when turned off, it started turning itself off as soon as I set the WiFi up! So the cycle goes - turn on player, set up WiFi, player turns off by itself, turn on player, set up WiFi, player turns itself off, repeat.
on July 11, 2016
This DVD has got to be the worst DVD player I have ever come across. It constantly is updated, the wireless connection is horrible at less than two feet, and it is dropping from my wireless router all the time. The only plus or reason I bought this is because I have movies on the play station network, but because it always drops from the network or fails to connect I hardly get to use other than a DVD player.
on October 20, 2016
This is a very nice low-price box that does a lot.
Of course I followed instructions - step one, access wifi; step two, update firmware.
It is really two machines in one - a blu-ray player, and a streaming box. Some controls only work if it is in the "right mode" - that is, you can't launch the streamer if the tray is open, and you can't open the tray if it is in streaming mode. This is not a big deal, that's what the "home" button is for.
I have had zero problems streaming in a few months of use (wifi only, I never bothered to hook up the wired ethernet jack).
I have had zero problems watching DVDs and BDs in the same time. It's actually very nice to use. If left "paused" from one day to the next, it shuts down. Next day, when I tap "play" on the remote, it takes only seconds to resume.
The colored buttons are for magic features on some BDs.
The default "pillarboxing" of 4:3 aspect ratio DVDs is an excellent feature.
It does a great job of decoding whatever surround sound format is thrown at it.
Hint: pressing the REW or FFD buttons 2 or 3 times makes it go faster.
It made some vibration when I first set it up, because it was on top of a component with a tin top. So I isolated it, can't hear it at all.
For the price, I am very impressed.
Of course I followed instructions - step one, access wifi; step two, update firmware.
It is really two machines in one - a blu-ray player, and a streaming box. Some controls only work if it is in the "right mode" - that is, you can't launch the streamer if the tray is open, and you can't open the tray if it is in streaming mode. This is not a big deal, that's what the "home" button is for.
I have had zero problems streaming in a few months of use (wifi only, I never bothered to hook up the wired ethernet jack).
I have had zero problems watching DVDs and BDs in the same time. It's actually very nice to use. If left "paused" from one day to the next, it shuts down. Next day, when I tap "play" on the remote, it takes only seconds to resume.
The colored buttons are for magic features on some BDs.
The default "pillarboxing" of 4:3 aspect ratio DVDs is an excellent feature.
It does a great job of decoding whatever surround sound format is thrown at it.
Hint: pressing the REW or FFD buttons 2 or 3 times makes it go faster.
It made some vibration when I first set it up, because it was on top of a component with a tin top. So I isolated it, can't hear it at all.
For the price, I am very impressed.
