This is a Blu-Ray disc player that can play both 3D video and regular movies. It is thin, easy to use, and is capable of accepting online content.

The first reason I got this was because it is Sony. I love Sony products and I have never had a major problem with any of their devices I have bought. I have read comments from other reviewers about how they have had devices break or die, but with my dozen plus Sony electronic products I have bought over the years, not a single one has broken or malfunctioned on me for no reason (although they don't react well to being dropped on hard tile). So with my personal experiences with Sony, I love them and I highly recommend them.

So I did not hesitate at all when I bought this off of Amazon.

This is a standard Blu-Ray player for an entertainment center. It is ideal for an HD television but I can see it used for other applications such as a projector. It is very easy to use and accepts a number of optical media. And it also accepts USB media, which is a mandatory feature for all products in this category. If it does not have USB input, don’t get it.

The controls in the front are 4 buttons. Stop, play, open, and power. And they are hard to see. I actually like having all of my remote buttons on the unit itself so I am a little disappointed with the lack of clear buttons (which is the norm now). Form is better than function to most people I guess. The Blu-Ray player looks great. It is streamlined and sexy. A very common theme in Sony products. So if you’re not a obsessed control freak like me, then you will be just fine with 4 buttons in the front.

The remote
This is your standard size remote. It is slight shorter than my Sony 5.1 remote I use for the same television. It has buttons for 10 numbers, power for the player and television, input, open/close, Theater, audio, subtitle, favorites, yellow, blue, red, green, top menu, pop up menu, return, options, enter and cross key, HOME, previous, replay, advance, next, forward, backward, play display pause and stop.
The previous and replay button allow you to move forward and backwards by certain increments. Kind of like the Tivo 30 second skip feature. Also mandatory in my book.
The remote take 2 AA batteries.
What I find annoying with my two Sony devices (Blu-Ray and 5.1 audio) is the remotes do not work perfectly with both boxes. So I do have to use both remotes, not one. I think it should be universal.


It was very easy to install. I plugged in the unit to my houses AC. Used the HDMI cable and put it into my HDMI switcher (which is hooked into my television’s HDMI input port). Then took a spare optical cable and plugged one end into the Blu-Ray player and the other into my 5.1 surround sound system. That’s it. You can plug it into the RCA ports if you wish, but that would give you an inferior video quality. You also have USB ports.

Within the first week I connected the LAN cable from my LAN splitter box (This is hooked up to my cable modem and iMac) to the back of this Blu-Ray disc player. So I could watch Netflix video (and other internet content) on my HDTV. Worked perfectly and all I had to input was the username and password to get Netflix working. Easy.
The player asked me if it could download and install an update, so I did that with not ill effects.

Front buttons
Eject, play/pause, stop, power. And a front USB input port.
Back ports
Line out audio (2) and video via RCA connectors, digital out for coaxial and optical, back USB input, HDMI out jack, component outputs, and LAN (100) terminal

The USB port.
The USB port is awesome. You load your music or movies on a USB capable device and it plays them. You can do it with an external hard drive, flash drive, etc. The real advantage is if you rip your movies onto a hard drive or server, you can move them to a flash drive and play them through the USB port. Or connect a hard drive to your LAN splitter and this player can access that. I have watched several movies I ripped from my DVD collection and watched them on this computer. I also ripped some FLV files from YouTube and watched them also with no issues.

So if you wanted to digitize your collection and put them on an external hard drive, you could. The issue I have is you have to have just the right settings in order to view these videos. If you use handbrake on your Mac to rip your DVD’s, then you need to make sure you rip them as an mp4 and manually set the rate to 29.7 fps. After it rips I manually change the extension from .m4v to .mp4. I have then transfer the file to my flash drive and selected the film from the menu screen. It works perfectly. I also downloaded some flv files off the internet, put them on my flashdrive, and played them with no modifications at all. Just an awesome feature that will be standard on all of these players in the future.
Just keep in mind that a lot of these files will look like crap on an hdtv unless you rip the file at a high quality. For example, a lot of youtube videos look fine in a small window on your computer monitor, but they look horrible on a http://www0.epinions.com/review/Sony_KDL46V2500_Television/content_296028049028


There is also a Wi-Fi setting that I have not used since I connect the player with a hard wire connection. I believe it requires a USB wireless transceiver.

The biggest feature for me (besides being Blu_Ray) is I can watch NetFlix on this player. This is a mandatory option for any piece of equipment I buy in the future. I can also watch YouTube content. Navigating on this box is not that easy. YouTube (or NetFlix), can be a pain to search with. But you do have that option. I personally never search NetFlix on this box, I use my computer for searching.

An issue you will notice on NetFlix is you cannot quickly navigate through the video. If you fall asleep watching a movie, you have to fast forward from the very beginning. You cannot skip to the next chapter. Chapters do not exist, which really sucks. Also if you fast forward, it takes a few seconds for the player to receive the correct streaming information.

Worried about updating the Blu-Ray player?
This is the reason I bought a PS3 as my first Blu-Ray player. It had a hard drive and could be updated to work with new Blu-Ray features as them became available (the Blu_Ray standards were not set when the PS3 and other early Blu-Ray players were available). I still recommend a PS3 as a Blu-Ray player, online content player, and as an awesome gaming system. Thankfully this Sony Blu-Ray player is update-able through the internet. It can check for updates and install them. So it couldn’t be easier. I assume it will adjust to any new Blu-Ray standards as they are introduced (not sure if they will introduce any more at this point though).

Services available
I watch Netflix on this device a lot. I have had no problems with it. Even though I was having issues with my PS3 during Sony’s hacking incident (I had no access to the internet or external servers), this Blu-Ray player was not affected by that issue. So I still had a way to watch Netflix on my television.

The menu is almost identical to the PS3 menu.

When I first looked at the menu I saw a ton of services I could access. From Youtube, to Netflix, to….well just about anything. You have a lot of options. I viewed some of these and there is a wide array of commercial free, free with commercial, and paid viewing. You can get webisodes, movies, and television shows. Very cool.

Netflix movies look sharp. Many of them are in High def of some sort. Now that I have this, this is my preferred way of streaming Netflix movies. And yes, some movies do play in 5.1 surround sound. I like this feature so much that I will cancel my DVD option on my Netflix account soon. I just need to get some rare/old anime movies that are not stream-able yet before I finally cancel it. But with this integration of Netflix on multiple devices, I am able to use Netflix in almost every room in the house.

3D movies I have not bought a 3D television yet so I can not comment on this aspect. But for a few extra bucks, I felt it was worth it to get it now since I’ll get a 3D television very soon.

Parent controls
There are several parent controls. Blu-ray, DVD, and internet controls.

Other features

Screen dimmer.
Screen saver.
Easy setup.
Internet content for Blu-Rays/DVD’s
Resume
hd-cd

Music formats
mp3, m4a, wma, wav, super audio disks.
It also has Gracenote access.

Video formats.
mpg, mpeg, m2ts, mts, avi, divx, mkv, mp4, m4v, m2ts, mts, wmv, asf, avchd.

picture formats
jpg and jpeg

These are listed in the manual as not being compatible.
-BDs with cartridge
-DVD-RAMs
-HD DVDs
-DVD Audio discs
-PHOTO CDs
-Data part of CD-Extras
-VCDs/Super VCDs
-Audio material side on DualDiscs
-A disc recorded in a color system other than
-NTSC, such as PAL

Problems
Like every other Sony A/V I own, I have had no problems with it. Nothing weird. It works perfectly with my flat screen and with my Sony 5.1 system. I’ve never had to reset it. The only issue is it does not recognize some video formats even though they have the approved extension (such as some files with amp4 and some m4v). I have double checked them on my computer and they run perfectly there.



Listed dimensions 17 in. × 8 5/8 in. × 1 7/16 in.)
Length: 8 5/8 inches
Width: 17 inches
Height: 1 7/16 inch
Weight: 4lbs 6.5 ounces


Summary
I use this primarily for Blu-Ray movies and Netflix. Before I only had access to Netflix from my PS3 in my other room or my Computer. So for that reason alone this is worth it. But with both internet access and server/USB access, it can be used for much more than that. And with USB, you can easily watch your 3D photos on your3D television.

&#169 Alan Lake's Kitchen 2011


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Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 150