After spending almost 25 hours with the best new Blu-ray players in 2015, we recommend the for most people. The Sony offers integrated Wi-Fi and has the most popular streaming apps, plus the user interface has been improved this year, making it easier to access apps you want than on the other players we tested. It also leaves off features that most people don’t really need or care about, such as and 3D playback. Last updated: November 17, 2017 Our latest round of testing focused on, and we now recommend the if you have an.

In this guide, we’ve linked more prominently to the, which we’re confident is a newer and more affordable version of our long-standing HD Blu-ray pick. From 2010 to 2014, I handled almost all the Blu-ray player reviews for Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity; I had nearly 50 come through my hands over that time. I subjected them to countless objective and subjective tests, and I worked to develop advanced test patterns to better measure performance. I even to verify their image quality.

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I know what makes a difference in a Blu-ray player and what you can ignore. This year and last I’ve tested a dozen players for The Wirecutter using the same intensive methods. Who should get this. If you already have a Blu-ray player that works fine, you don’t need to upgrade. The only features that have been added to Blu-ray players recently, such as screen mirroring and 4K upconversion, are inessential. Your 4K TV will already upconvert video as well as any inexpensive player, and there are better ways to get your mobile device’s screen to your TV. Some Blu-ray players, mostly from off-brand manufacturers, have stopped getting firmware updates.

This is an issue because Blu-ray copy protection is still evolving, and newer discs can have new forms of copy protection, meaning they won’t be viewable on older, non-updated players. If you have one of these older players, find you can’t watch a new Blu-ray you bought, and can’t update your player, you may need to upgrade. Most players continue to get upgrades, though, and we have players that are over five years old that still play all new releases. If you want to add streaming services (Netflix, etc), you’re better off getting.

They support far more services, have a better user interface, and are faster to use than a Blu-ray player. The streaming features of a Blu-ray player should be considered a bonus rather than a reason to upgrade. Only having a DVD player is a good reason to upgrade. Blu-ray discs offer far better picture (and audio) quality than DVDs or streaming services.

For a second room, a Blu-ray player can do double-duty, providing disc playback and adding some basic streaming services to an existing TV. How we picked and tested. From top: Sony BDP-S3500, Sony BDP-S5500, LG BP550 and Samsung BD-J5100.

The Blu-ray player market is shrinking. Companies like Toshiba no longer manufacture players, and these days, most of any given company’s models are nearly identical. They almost all have the same progression in features as you go up in price.

Base models are wired-only. The level above adds Wi-Fi, then 3D, and then you get 4K upconversion. Adding 4K usually means adding a faster processor, making the overall experience better—but not to a degree that you’d want to pay for it. Since most companies have stopped making players, it was easy to review the main models from the companies that still do: LG, Sony, and Samsung. Some other companies like Panasonic and Pioneer are making players, but their models were eliminated for reasons discussed below.

We consider Wi-Fi to be essential for most people. As mentioned earlier, Blu-ray players receive firmware updates to let them play the most recent movies. Movies also have special features that can require online access. Since most people use Wi-Fi around their house for connectivity, we assume you’ll want your player to have it as well. If you can easily run Ethernet to your BD player, you could save a few dollars with a wired player, but the price difference is minimal and cheaper players are also generally slower overall. (You do want some kind of connectivity: while you can do firmware updates with a USB drive, that’s much harder than having the player automatically notify you and install the update when it’s available.) We wanted any player we picked to offer at least certain key streaming services.

(Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu were considered essential in a player.) These services will look virtually identical across all Blu-ray players and have the same interface. As long as the player provides access to the services, it will work just fine for streaming. Beyond that, additional features are not nearly as necessary. When we asked more than 1,500 readers about what they want in their future TV, less than 2 percent said they cared about 3D. Even if adding 3D to a Blu-ray player only costs $10, most people don’t seem to care. If you might want 3D in the future, spending $10 for it might be worthwhile.

If not, pass. You do not need 4K upconversion, which converts 1080p Blu-ray discs to 4K resolution. Your 4K TV has this capability built-in, and it’s likely to do the job just as well as a $100 Blu-ray player. If you really want better 4K upconversion, the will do it for eight times the cost of our pick. Unfortunately, most websites and magazines have stopped reviewing Blu-ray players. CNET published a total of two reviews this year, and they each covered models that included 3D.

Sound & Vision also published a total of two reviews, and the models reviewed cost $2,000 and $5,000. Pull Quote For the most part, Blu-ray discs played back through any Blu-ray player are going to look identical. You should know that for the most part, Blu-ray discs played back through any Blu-ray player are going to look identical, regardless of brand. If a player is described by a reviewer as having “blacker-blacks” or “extra sharpness” with a Blu-ray disc, then it (or the reviewer) is doing something wrong. (That did knock a couple of players out of competition.) The ideal player sends the bits on the disc unmodified. Thankfully, almost all players do exactly this. Testing per-pixel color accuracy.

We’re able to verify this final claim using test patterns and a DVDO AVLabTPG test pattern generator. It lets me examine the output of a Blu-ray player on a per-pixel level and make sure it’s outputting the correct values. If a player didn’t pass this test, we would knock it off our list, but our picks all were perfect in this regard. The important tests from the that all the players needed to pass were: • Clipping: Are all 1,920 by 1,080 pixels of a Blu-ray disc visible? Some players crop a few rows of pixels, but most are perfect. • playback: Does it play back Blu-ray discs encoded at this popular cadence correctly?

(99% of Blu-ray discs run at 24p). • 60i pulldown: Documentary, concert, and some TV discs are interlaced, so seeing how well the player handles 60i video is important. • (DVD): All DVDs are interlaced, so films need to use 3:2 pulldown to get the 24p cadence correct again. Without this, DVD movies will look choppy and have artifacts. • Luma resolution: Is all the black-and-white detail there?

Blu-ray and DVD discs actually have color overlaid on black-and-white data. If the luma information is incorrect, you’re losing detail.

• Chroma resolution: Is the color detail there? Some players rebuild the compressed color information incorrectly, losing details. • Chroma upsampling error (CUE): Is chroma information scaled correctly? If not, you get jagged edges with DVDs and streaming content.

• Diagonal filtering: Does the player reduce jagged edges when dealing with interlaced content correctly? • Color space decoding: The bits on a Blu-ray are converted to a format your TV can handle when they are output. Does it perform this conversion correctly? I do many, many more tests, but these are the key ones.

Note: The updated version of our favorite Blu-ray player, the, can now usually be found at a better price than the. Although we haven’t formally tested the S3700, we think getting the newer model is worth it for most people. The Sony BDP-S3500 is the Blu-ray player you should buy, because it has all essential features and the best interface while correctly outputting Blu-ray discs. Prior Sony players had a long, confusing list of services and features. This year’s Sony models are clear and easy to use. The S3500 includes Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections for getting online, has a compact form factor, does not feel laggy when using the interface, and plays back content perfectly.

Sony’s interface. Making it easy to access discs or streaming services is the most important feature of a Blu-ray player. Past Sony players used the media crossbar interface first introduced in the PlayStation 3, which offered lots of streaming services but organized them in a huge list you had to scroll through.

This was inconvenient. The new front page gives you an area to add your favorite apps and sources (including local media storage) and fast access to Blu-ray discs. LG’s interface Samsung and LG players also offer some customization, but not as effectively.

LG lets you pick some favorite apps, but you can’t add as many to the front page as you can with the Sony. Many of the featured services, such as Amazon, are hidden on another layer behind the main page and can be tricky to find. Samsung has a custom screen that gives you recommendations, but it only works some of the time in my experience.

Neither interface is as simple and easy to use as Sony’s. Samsung’s interface Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections make it easy to get the BDP-S3500 online. The Wi-Fi only supports 2.4GHz bands but has a two-by-two MIMO antenna setup that allows for stronger signals and faster speeds than the more common one-by-one antenna designs. The extra speeds offered by 5GHz Wi-Fi aren’t needed for streaming content, since it maxes out around 8 Mbps. Though 5GHz would improve signal reception in some situations, we didn’t feel this lack was an issue.

The BDP-S3500’s compact size makes it easy to put into an AV cabinet or smaller space. Previous Sony Blu-ray players had an angled top that made it impossible to put a remote or other device on top of it. This year they went to a plain box design that solves this problem.

Other players we tested had a texture to the top and weren’t as easy to place things on top of. The BSP-S3500 is relatively responsive to your actions when you use the remote. On the cheapest Blu-ray players (the ones without Wi-Fi), the interface drags. Netflix images will be slow to load as you try to navigate. The time between button-press and an action is longer than we’d want, and load times for apps are slow.

The BDP-S3500 isn’t as fast as the most expensive players (or a media streamer), but it’s fast enough to not make you annoyed while using it. Pull Quote It does what every well-designed Blu-ray player should do: output the contents of the disc without harming them in any way. The BDP-S3500 is also accurate when playing back content. The image output over HDMI is identical to what’s on the disc.

Prior Sony players had an issue here, but they’ve fixed this and now it’s perfect. It passed all the essential tests I gave it, so film and non-film content will look very good. It does what every well-designed Blu-ray player should do: output the contents of the disc without harming them in any way. DVD performance on the Sony is as good or better than the other players as well. It has no issues handling the 3:2 interlaced cadence of films on DVD and does not suffer from the CUE issue many old DVD players did. The LG and Sony both look virtually identical on DVDs, while the Samsung has a slight bit of edge enhancement and ringing and is not quite as good. Flaws but not dealbreakers.

The Sony remote is nice and compact but not backlit. Since we often watch movies in the dark, a backlit remote would have been nice. I also wish some of the featured apps on the main page could be removed. Some of these are for Sony’s PlayStation Now streaming service, which has been very laggy in our testing. Some of the feature channels are for streaming channels that might be sponsored. This isn’t as bad as the video ads Panasonic started including a couple years ago, but it still isn’t ideal. Sony (top) and Oppo (bottom) remotes in a lit room and dark room.

Sony also has a strange setup quirk where the player checks in to a Sony server for authorization every so often. A benefit is you can use their website to check the status of your player and revoke its online credentials for Netflix if necessary. The downside is that if the Sony servers are down, as has happened before, and you need to check in, you might not be able to watch Netflix. This drawback makes the authorization process not worth its small potential benefit, though in reality it’s not a huge deal. I’ve been using a Sony Blu-ray player in one room for years and have never been unable to stream content, though for serious streaming we’d still recommend getting a Roku, where this wouldn’t be an issue. There’s also no longer a front panel interface on the BDP-S3500, just a single LED indicating if the player is turned on. Displaying the current time or status of a disc can only be done on-screen.

Maybe most people don’t care anymore, but some will miss the readout. If you want the best Blu-ray player out there, the is the pick. It lacks the wide variety of streaming options offered by most other players, instead placing all the emphasis on picture quality. Scaling of DVDs is superior to other players, with no artificial ringing around edges and no jaggies thanks to superior anti-aliasing. The 4K scaling is also top notch and better than the scaling built into almost all Ultra HD TVs. It’s the only Blu-ray player on the market (for now) that can upscale 4K content at 60 Hz. There’s a reason Oppo players are usually the benchmark units of AV reviewers.

The specialist features go on, including HDMI inputs to apply its scaling abilities to your cable box or streaming device, analog audio outputs for use with a soundbar or speakers, dual HDMI outputs, and support for the more obscure film cadences found in Anime and other foreign films. The integrated, which you can enable or disable, enhances the inter-pixel contrast to provide more pop and apparent detail to an image without the usual drawbacks like halos around objects. Reviewers agree that the Oppo BDP-103D is the best player out there. In, Kris Deering declares that “Oppo once again raises the bar for what we expect from a Blu-ray player in today’s landscape”. The Darbee processing is one feature that really sells him as it “increases not only perceptual resolution but also perceived contrast” which “creates what looks like a more defined image.” Adrienne Maxwell of that the Darbee processing is something for “the serious videophile who is looking to eke out that last bit of depth and detail from the image”. If you don’t care at all about streaming or you’re fine with wired Ethernet, the offers the same interface we like on the BDP-S3500.

However, it lacks Wi-Fi, which makes firmware updates harder for most people. It also has a slower processor, so the user interface can really lag at times. All the budget players we tested have this same issue, which applies mostly to streaming services.

For most people, spending just a little bit more for the S3500 is the best option. If only watching movies on discs, though, the BDP-S1500 will be fine. Care and maintenance. The is the successor to our pick last year. This year, the BP550 is virtually unchanged from its predecessor, while the Sony got an improved UI and design to make it our pick. The LG has support for most streaming apps and an okay interface; it just isn’t quite as good as the Sony.

The lacks many of the features of the BP550, and at press time, it was going to save you a few dollars at the most. The is their base-level player and costs more than the equivalent Sony or Samsung models. A version with Wi-Fi is almost the same price. The has 4K upconversion and every other feature, but is expensive, and most people don’t need its extra features (as we discussed). The has a worse user interface than the Sony and a ridged top surface that makes it hard to place anything on it. The curved design is meant to match their curved TVs and sound bars, but it also looks funny in a cabinet.

The is even slower to load images and icons than the Sony BDP-S1500 and lacks the Sony’s smooth user interface. The is feature-packed, but most of those features aren’t things you need. It’s too expensive as well. All the Pioneer models cost too much. The doesn’t offer anything you need over the Sony models. The and are meant to compete with the expensive players from Oppo.

They offer better analog audio output, but most people don’t need that. The lacks Ethernet, which many people might want for streaming online content. The offers no improvement over the BDP-103D in picture quality—just better analog audio. Wrapping it up. I realize this is a bit old but I recently have been looking into replacing my Blu-ray and have some personal insight to share.

My first Blu-Ray unit was an LG, it worked fine but was lacking a lot of features and at the time some of which I did not need such as a wireless NIC. I ended up replacing it with a Samsung (cannot recall the model off the top of my head) and this is where I started seeing features and performance concerns being of concern.

The Samsung (I still have this upstairs in my bedroom) does it all but very slowly. Every part of using the device is slow from watching movies on disc to scrolling through Netflix; the killer for me was the fact the player cannot stream Netflix in HD very well at all. Don’t get me wrong I have watched a whole movie in HD on the Samsung and never seen the dreaded “buffering” message, more often than not it runs into that issue however and so for my third try finding the Blu-ray that would work best for me I did a lot more research. Sony was the brand that kept coming up so I ended up purchasing a S590. Speed wise it is considerably faster that my other Blu-ray players by a fair amount and has no issues streaming Netflix in HD at all.

I realize a couple others have mentioned this already but it seemed it was never properly addressed. When you use a Sony Blu-ray (and likely the same for any other Sony product) to watch online streaming, it first goes out to Sony provisioning servers, this is not a onetime thing and contrary to the response they sent Chris it is not something the end user hardly notices. That part where they say “for a given amount of time” must be 24-48 hours or based on your IP address or something else that is likely to change often because I see my Blu-ray authenticating to Sony provisioning servers frequently. Chris, I have personally seen days go by where I am unable to access any online streaming content on my Sony Blu-ray player, where every other device is working fine but those provisioning servers were not.

What is worse is that it happens often enough that it starts to feel very cumbersome to use the device. I go to use it and randomly 1-3 times a month (or sometimes every couple of months) it is not working where everything else in the house connects just fine. But don’t just take my word or a few others that posted here, go to your favorite search engine and look for “Sony provisioning server”.

I think you might be shocked if you delve into some of the hits you will get. To be fair it would be highly unlikely that you would encountered this over a simple testing period as I have seen periods of 3-4 weeks roll by where it was a not an issue. I think the Sony Blu-ray player(s) development has been pretty good, the hardware, apps and overall general feel has been really good. The issues they have with online connectivity due to provisioning server issues (way too many issues and way too often) severely detract from the product.

I would be remiss if I did not point out, why exactly do I need to connect to a Sony provisioning server before other online services anyway? Just to be clear I have multiple other devices that do not require this. More and more people are going to be looking for online connectivity these days, it is a big deal. It makes sense to seek this technology in a Blu-ray player as they are something typically in the $100-$300 price range (though some are quite a lot more) if better hardware is introduced it is not as difficult to replace the unit when comparing to replacing a TV. Sony has some good hardware going for them but I suspect they will hurt their reputation (historically not the best to start with) if they do not get on top of their connectivity issues. I found this article mainly as I am a bit fed up with my Sony BDP and was thinking about replacing it. I might just have to wait a bit longer.

Sharpening is bad. If you want something to be sharper (though you really don’t), use the sharpness control on your TV to adjust that. Looking at Chroma test patterns, I can see that the Panasonic is sharpening the Cr channel (though not the Cb one), which it shouldn’t do.

It isn’t as bad as with the Luma (black and white) channel, but it can lead to ringing around objects and other issues. Sharpness was nice when we had analog signals and had to worry about a signal being 95% or 96.5%. With digital signals like Blu-ray, there isn’t a need for it, and players that have it by default (LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, and others) are doing it wrong. I also had nothing but trouble with the BDT-220 (not the same model, but still) freezing, rebooting, uninterested customer service, PAINFULLY slow navigating the apps selection, slow INSIDE the netflix and HULU apps and, a small looking but HUGE problem (That I believe is common across Panasonic players based on web surfing) no access to your “Watchlist” on Amazon.

That means that there is no way to “save” a Prime-eligible show on Amazon to view on the player. You MUST search/browse for it every time. This is insane given that the watchlist feature is no longer new. CNet added their review of the Pioneer DMP-BDT230 today: The quote that’s related to this: “The worst thing about the menus is the advertising that appears, and it’s not subtle — from startup to the Viera Connect interface, to the Marketplace banner, ads are everywhere, and in the latter’s case you even have to put up with an undefeatable video ad. While it’s possible that Panasonic could remove this capability with later firmware, the latest version seems to have added more ads.” So it looks like that ad is still undefeatable in the marketplace, and the issue is getting worse and not better. The word from Sony: “Sony does not buffer anything for Netflix and the connection is a direct one with one slight caveat. When you use Netflix the BD player communicates with Sony to get an authentication key for the Netflix servers.

This authentication key allows the player to talk to Netflix for a given amount of time. Assuming that a customer has gotten this key, they probably would never notice if our server went down.

The only customers that might notice would be the ones that try to access if our server is down. That would be a very short time and probably would happen less often than Netflix’s own servers going down.” •. Let me check my bank account again quick. (Looks) Nope, still no payment from Sony. Or anyone else. I had to go out and buy all the Blu-ray players I reviewed myself since I couldn’t manage to get review units of them.

I’ve reviewed a lot of Sony equipment over the years, but never been given any money by them, nor kept anything I’ve reviewed past when I’m done writing about it. Sorry you’ve had bad experiences with their products, but out of all the Blu-ray players I reviewed this year, they had the top one. If you disagree with the reasons I used to determine that, feel free to let me know. And don’t accuse me of taking payoffs again. I’m sure that this is way too late to help you, but in my experience, better to keep is separate, price-wise, quality-wise, and performance-wise.

We’ve had good mojo with a $95 Apple TV unit for Netflix and all other streaming needs (except for Amazon Prime, which is not compatible) – and then we’re using the PS3 for Blu-rays right now, excellent quality, regular software updates and access to Amazon Prime. We’re just in the market for another Blu-ray player for the bedroom and were looking for a less pricey option than a second PS3 for the spare TV. Hoping the SONY BDPS3200 will work out, but awaiting more reviews before taking the leap. Best of luck to you! After using just about EVERY media streaming box known to man over the last couple of years including a mini Dell PC, a Boxee Box, different Roku devices, an Android mini-PC, a Sony PS3, a Sony NSZ-GT1 and most recently the latest Google TV box from Sony the SNZ-GS7, I’ve once and for all ditched them all for the Sony BDP-S5100 for my main home theater system (which is 3D) and two Sony BDP-S3100s for the other two TVs in my home (which aren’t 3D), but with one essential addition, 3 Hausbell (TM) Mini H7 2.4GHz Wireless Entertainment Keyboard with Touchpads to use with the Sony Blu-Ray players. This move has been the most satisfying setup in years of searching for the holy grail of ease of use, and plug-and-play media consumption.

Minuses for the Sony’s, they don’t include Spotify support but they do support Slacker and Sony’s Music Unlimited which I get for $50+$12 a year as a Sony Playstation Plus member, Amazon Cloud Player isn’t supported, though Amazon Video (including Prime) is available and pretty much every other streaming service I use is included as well. Simply put a very strong mix of streaming services and of course the ability to play Blu-Ray disks. Every other solution either involved too much complexity (input switching which has always confused family members, now we only have 2, TV and the Blu-Ray player) and tweaking, maintenance, upgrading, etc. Versus their intended purpose, enjoying media.

The wireless keyboard works great for those times you want to easily key in a song name, album name, etc. Or search for a specific movie or actor/actress and the cursor keys on the remote also work on Sony’s menus but it’s worth noting not every key on the wireless keyboard works on the Sony’s. Performance has been very good, video very good, wi-fi reliable, but don’t get too excited about the Opera browser. I’d tried working around lack of Amazon Cloud Player support (pretty much unusable without a keyboard) using the browser with no luck. But with that said, this setup is more reliable than any other solution to date, is faster to get up and running watching content and is just a few dollars more than a dedicated media streaming box while eliminating another input to switch. So I just returned the Sony BDP-BX57 to Costco, somewhere around 1 year 9 months its begun to freeze periodically and just short of 2 years it froze again so I figured why bother. Based on your review of the Sony BDP-S5100 I picked it up its identical twin Sony BDP-BX510 $89.99 plus tax down from the $114.99 for the BDP-BX57 almost 2 years ago.

While it has a significantly better picture when streaming (thank you Sony), there’s little difference that I’ve noticed from the 57 to the 510. Sony now requires you to link on their site to receive service from some of the stream providers. Annoying if you ask me, it was required in the past. In my opinion the Amazon Instant Prime and HuluPlus menus are still annoying, (they haven’t changed). The menus of my Panasonic TVs VT30 and ST30 are much more user friendly.

I like the smaller unit, but every time I turn it on the DVD disc draw opens. I’ll take it there’s a setting I’ve missed.The picture quality from Amazon Instant through this unit is quite impressive. Since I have a spare BDP-BX58 still brand new in the box I may return that and try that Panasonic DMP-BDT230, just because now I want to compare the picture and the menus. I returned the Sony BDP-BX57 (I paid $114.99) to Costco yesterday since short of 2 years it began freezing.

Based on your review I purchased the Costco BDP-BX510 ($89.99 plus tax) which is the identical twin of the BDP-S5100. The picture of the BDP-BX510 is much improved, but little else has changed that I’ve noticed in my 24 hour test. Set up is still easy. Since I find the menus of Amazon Instant Prime and HuluPlus through this device most annoying (hasn’t changed from the BX57) I’m sorely tempted to take a gander at the Panasonic DMP-BDT230. I want to look at the picture of the Panasonic as well as the menus.

I have Panasonic Plasma TVs which stream (VT60 and ST30) the provider menus on the TVs are superior. Can someone put in the steps to disable the ads? First of all, ads??

On my DVD player?? Secondly, the box and marketing material clearly states that I can get Pandora. But there is no big disclaimer. If you want to use Pandora and almost all the other streaming content, you have to set up a Panasonic account so that they can track you. Part of the set up requests all your credit card information so they can store it on their servers “just in case you decide to buy something”.

What a monstrous joke!! I packed up the player, returned it and got a Samsung.

The reason Panasonic is doing this is that the consumers lay down and allows corporations to roll over them. Everyone justifies it as “it is just the way the world is now”. It is this way because consumers allow it. If no one purchased Panasonic products because of their sleazy business tactics, it would stop. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS DVD PLAYER! Very good review!

I’m always impressed when a reviewer departs from the status quo and justifies his conclusions right down the line (OK, I do it that way, myself;)) This kind of review, though rare, gives me confidence that the reviewer knows what he’s about and that fills me with confidence in his conclusions. It’s kind of ironic that just this evening I had already been paring down a list of prospective players and was down to the choice between the s5100 and the BD-F5900! I was leaning toward the Sony mainly because I kept reading that the Samsung was the better player because it had more “bling,” essentially–about as shallow a reason for making a choice as I’ve heard. And then your review popped up in a search and cinched it for me. I agree with you! Thanks for taking the time and energy to write a diligent review as opposed to a convenient one.

Such efforts are always appreciated! I bought this At Xmas, love it! Until yesterday when I started playing GoT, anyway. I bought S3 on Blu-Ray and on the second side of the 1st disc, in the second episode, around 34:30 it freezes. The timing seems right in the middle of the 3 episodes on that side, which seems odd to me. The GoT BluRay was new, so I thought the disc was defective and exchanged it today. And the new one does the same thing, at the exact same spot!

All firmware is up to date. Anyone have any ideas why this is happening? Two notes about Sony software (I have the BDPS5100, so I’m assuming the functionality/apps are the same): 1. While Sony has most of the apps people are looking for, the Netflix & Amazon apps are not the most up to date versions. I actually find the Amazon app to be almost unusable because the UI is so bad (the Amazon app on my Samsung is 1000x better). The Netflix app, while still very usable, is not the most recent version with the giant splash/info screen on the top half of the app (a la Samsung TVs/PS3). If you choose to use a streaming app through the video menu (not using a dedicated app button on the remote), sometimes there is an aggravating 2nd step to opening the app.

Instead of just opening the Netflix app after you select Netflix, it will “check your network connection” and you have to hit “OK” after it tells you the network connection is ready to use. Just gets frustrating. The BDP-S3200 has the current versions of those apps.

Netflix has the large splash screen at the top as you mention. Sony used to do their own custom app versions, but they are not doing that anymore, which is good for everyone. The issue you mention on the Network Connection was there on some older models, as Sony will authenticate credentials. Andres Jimenez El Jibaro Disco Grafia De Diomedes.

Now if it has to do that (and it shouldn’t have to all the time), it just has you hit enter again to say OK. Still not perfect, which is why I don’t like the Sony UI as much at this point, but not awful. Can anyone comment directly on what the best Blu-Ray player for streaming services is? I see the Samsung player mentioned above, but for $150 you’re already approaching PS3 pricing. I have a Panasonic DMP-BDT220 (an old Wirecutter recommendation), and the Netflix app is painfully slow.

It takes forever to launch, the interface is slow (to the point where you’re not sure if it’s registering button presses), etc. I basically want the PS3 Netflix experience (fast, responsive, fluid), but without a game console. The Apple TV comes close, but doesn’t have a Blu-Ray player. Does what I want exist? Titanic is a bit of a torture test of DVD upscaling. It’s a non-anamorphic transfer so it has less resolution, and all of the cables on a ship create angles that are very prone to jaggies.

The Oppo is better at this, as is the (now discontinued) Sony BDP-S790. Without doing an A-B comparison I couldn’t tell you how the Sony BDP-S5100 does in comparison, and I don’t have either of them here to do that with.

I’d rather get the BDP-S5100 for $80 than the BP540 for $100, as those were the common Amazon prices for them. The interface of the BP540 is a little nicer, but not worth $20 to me. If it is a hassle to get the Sony, or it costs more, than I wouldn’t bother. If it was still being made, and selling for the same $80 it was last year, then I’d still get it, but it isn’t anymore.

Matrix Karaoke Keygen Free. Thanks for the response. We were able to pick up the BP540 for $80 at a local Frys store (had it marked $79.99 and $89.99 in two different aisles – they gave us the lower price!). The BP540 works very well with our TV, which is ancient in today’s technology (Sony 55XS955 LCD RPTV @ 1368×768).

But given that 99.9% of our viewing is upscaled DVDs and 720p/1080i cable TV, it’s sufficient. We only needed this player because our even more ancient Integra DVD player finally started failing.

Not sure with our viewing habits if we would see much improvement with a 1080p TV. We actually tried our daughter’s BDP-S780, the model prior to the S790. Both my wife and I thought the BP540 produced a better picture with DVDs than the S780. Not a huge different, but noticeable in the details. We always thought the 55XS955 had a very good built-in scaler, but the BP540 easily tops it •. I bought your best pick from last yearthe Sony BDP-S5100. It has been ho-hum in my opinion.

The most frustrating feature is the giant HOME button right above the pause button. Press it accidentally and it takes you out of whatever you are watching and brings you to the home screen. Several times when trying to return to a disc, the player forgot I was watching it and started all over with previews etc. Talk about frustrating. Another feature, or lack thereof, is inside the Amazon streaming service, which I use a ton.

With this Sony, there is no way to see what you previously viewed. Why is this a problem? Sometimes I browse through the movies.pages deep I might find one to watch.

If I don’t finish it, the next day I have to search for that movie again. On a Samsung (accessing the same account) there is a “Previously Viewed” tab. Goodbye Sony. It was a short affair I’m afraid. I am switching to a cheaper Korean brand. Every Blu-ray disc is encoded as YCbCr 4:2:0 data.

Every TV, in the end, displays data in RGB format, so at some point everything is converted from YCbCr to RGB. The Samsung converts Blu-ray discs to YCbCr 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 correctly, but it converts them to RGB incorrectly. If your TV handles YCbCr 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 fine (most do, but the only way to test is with a test disc and a Blu-ray player that handles them all correctly like the Oppo) then it isn’t an issue. However, if your TV asks for RGB, or handles it better than YCbCr, than the Samsung will have some issues and display content incorrectly.

It’s a really small, technical issue but also one that almost no one looks for or knows even exists. Good article and useful comments. That’s article would really be good if not some strange inconsistencies. For example, after stating that ‘the picture from a cheap player is 100 percent identical to an $8,000 player’s’ we go into discussions what video flaws different players have (?). Like emphasizing that Oppo’s video processing is superior to others. Then this inclusion of price difference in player rating – I may not understand why anybody would pay $1200 for a player (does it also wash dishes?) but saying that LG is better than, say, Samsung, because it cost 40 bucks less I think is ‘bitching’. At least up to $200 mark I think the price difference is not important.

Considering you buy player for at least three years you are talking about saving what, 15-20 bucks per year? For getting maybe ‘shakier’ player which you use at least several times every week, if not daily? But to consider a build quality I would think should be very important. Too bad its not considered in the article. According to user comments the LG has problems with wireless, intermittent streaming problems and heating problems (its getting very hot very quickly). Sony has its own quality problems and so does Samsung.

Its seems to me the quality is commensurate with price (no surprise here). More costly models (even from the same Sony, for instance) at least felt as better built when in hands. I may not worry about having all the possible streaming providers (I only need one or two) but I want a solid appliance. So after seeing all the pro and users reviews I’m setting on not even looking at anything cheaper than $150, its just junk.

And it looks like realistically a good player would still be over $200. You get what you pay for. So while Oppo seems a little too much to swallow it looks like Pioneer or even upper end Samsung might be an option. While Pioneers never had all the bells and whistles and could have some oddities now and then, in the end they are solid performers in my experience and are built with better components.

At least without particular purpose, just doing thorough research before buying and in some cases comparing bought components side by side, when I look around I see I ended up with Pioneer plasma, Pioneer DVD, Pioneer wireless earphones and been sorry I chose Denon receiver instead of Pioneer (after 3 year I already have problem with one channel on Denon). Still thanks for the article as it did help in making my choice (even if I would hardly be going with LG 540). As I mention, the picture will be identical when playing a Blu-ray movie. When dealing with upscaling DVD content, or foreign films with a strange cadence, it can differ. With standard movies, which are encoded at 1080p24 on a Blu-ray disc, most players are identical. None of those issues came up with the LG in testing. WiFi worked fine on the 3rd story of my house with the router in the basement, so I don’t believe it to be an issue.

Heat never posed a problem during my time with it either. None of the players have the build quality of the Oppo, but but cost far less so that’s expected. Pioneer players were ruled out because the picture isn’t as good as the other ones. Even with those standard Blu-ray discs, it adds extra sharpening which introduces artifacts and you can’t turn it off. A player can provide that option if it wants but it needs to provide the option to turn it off as well. Chris, thanks for response.

Appreciate the explanation, though still can’t but notice some inconsistencies. While saying ‘Pioneer players were ruled out because the picture isn’t as good as the other ones’ you also notice in review itself that ‘I used these reviews as a starting point but did a hands-on evaluation with four players myself for our final testing.” Seeing that you talk about LG, Sony, Samsung and Oppo I would assume that’s the models you tested personally, not Pioneers. Besides, contrary to your statement that “Pioneer 62FD does not have.

The high end processor the Oppo does” the Pioneer 62FD actually DOES have exactly the same (Qdeo) processor as Oppo (which was mentioned elsewhere and is stated on Pioneer site) and so provides pretty much identical to Oppo images (for about 20% less price). I’m not fighting to announce that the Pioneer is the best player, merely like to stick to the hard facts.

In fact, actually wanting a region free player, I need to buy a modified version which would cost a whooping ~40% or so more and Im unwilling to spend over $400 on video player and so in the end I might just end up with LG540 you recommend. Mostly because indeed it seems impossible to figure out based on reviews what is indeed a better player (if any) – each reviewer seems find flaws in the models that pushed by other reviewers on the top. You state the best is LG540, CNEt thinks its Samsung, yet another states its Panasonic, etc.

They probably all very similar, anyway, and all have some performance flaws and commonly build quality problems. At least, until you cross $300 line.

So for me its seems just ‘forget reviews, grab $200, go to the store, find the one that looks good and cost close to you price limit and be done with it’. Unless you demand something beyond just watching movies from your player you’ll be happy. I brought those models in for testing for this piece. I’ve previously tested and reviewed the Pioneer BDP-62FD for a different site, so I’m very familiar with it.

Additionally, the Oppo BDP-103D does not have the QDEO Kyoto processor in it. The BDP-103 does, but the 103D does not as the QDEO is not compatible with the Darbee processing, so it is using (I believe) a Mediatek solution. The Mediatek provides less in the noise reduction realm, but actually does a better job with 1:1 scaling and not introducing softness. The QDEO processor is just a spec, it doesn’t indicate anything about performance in a unit. Before data even goes to the QDEO there is an MPEG decoder, which can vary from machine to machine. After that, you are able to customize the functionality of the QDEO and what controls you allow end users to have access to.

Two machines can have the exact same QDEO chip and have completely different performance because of how they are implemented, the MPEG decoder, and so on. The Pioneer is one of only two Blu-ray players I’ve tested (out of at least 30 at this point) to fail chroma decoding on a Blu-ray disc. I made Pioneer aware of the issue, but they never updated the firmware to fix it. It isn’t something that most people would ever notice, but it’s a flaw in the firmware and another indication of how you can have the exact same chipset in two players, but very different performance. The Oppo also gets the nod because it has the Darbee processing (usually a $300 box) and dual HDMI inputs to apply that processing to other devices you might already own. It also has analog outputs, which the Pioneer is completely lacking, so it can be used as a universal audio player in an analog system if desired.

It costs more, but offers more for the money. The Pioneer fits into a middle point where it doesn’t offer better performance over the cheaper units (it actually has that bad chroma bug) and has lower streaming features, but costs far more while it doesn’t offer all the features that the Oppo does. If you want to ignore reviews, that’s fine, but unless you really need a digital transport for SACD and DVD-Audio discs, there is really zero reason to pick the Pioneer over the LG, aside from looking nicer in an AV rack.

Chris, I really like the interface on the Samsung BD-H5100, but I do watch a lot of DVDs. If I set the 5100 to 480p (it doesn’t have direct or 480i) and let a receiver (Elite VSX-80) do the upscaling to 1080p do you think that would work better?

I know there is still the RGB issue as well. Would the receivers Chip (QDEO) help with that or not? BTW, my display is a Samsung PN60f5300. Please elaborate on the RGB issue as that and the poor upscaling is what I wish this Samsung did better.

The receiver can’t play any part in the RGB conversion issue. That happens inside the Blu-ray player before it goes out over HDMI and once it is done, nothing would know what has happened or how to correct it.

It’s really impossible to correct as it just does the math wrong and you can’t undo it easily. However, if you just set the player to be YCbCr 422 or 444 (I can’t recall the options it offers, I think just 444) you will be fine. You might be able to use the QDEO to get some improvement, as some versions of it offer better block noise reduction and other scaling issue corrections. It could also do that on 1080p content as well, so the only way to be certain would be to experiment on them. I don’t have that exact combination here so I can’t test to see. Bought the LG BP 540 based on the review here. Returning it today.

It’d only playback half of the Netflix Blue Ray discs (made sure they were cleaned). Streaming was horribly slow. My connection speed is fast. Streaming barely worked on ethernet. Oddly it worked better on Wifi, but still excruciatingly slow. Perhaps, LG routes through their own servers or something.

But it’s much slower than my computer or iPad. In short, this player is slow, slow, slow. I wanted to through it threw the window after giving it a solid go. I purchased the LG BP540 from Best Buy, twice, and was very disappointed in the streaming video quality. I own a LG BD390 and was attempting to replace it with the LG BP540 because my LG BD390 cannot stream Amazon. I used the exact same setup for both players (same wireless network, HDMI cable, HDTV, Netflix movie, etc).

The video quality of the older player was excellent and the video quality of the LG BP540 was choppy and grainy. VERY DISSAPPOINTED. I have returned the LG BP540 to Best Buy and will buy a recommended Sony or Samsung instead.

I bought the LG BP540 today based on this recommendation 🙂 But I’m uncertain if it’s defective or just behaves differently than I expect. Does it power on to a blank white screen by default? Can this be changed? When I turn it on, with a disc previously loaded, it comes up to a blank white screen.

I have to press the Home button to bring up the master screen. Then arrow down to the Blu-ray function, and select it. Then the disc will load. I’m uncertain what’s going on. It’s locked up once on me.

Seemed to be locked up a second time, I pressed the “Home” button. A third time it loaded the disc without intervention. For an otherwise user-friendly device, its power on behavior is inexplicable so far. I just want the player to auto-load / play the disc in the tray. If mine isn’t defective, is there a recommended Blu-ray player that just goes to the disc straight away? If you value a quality user experience, I recommend against the BP540. While the setup menus are nicely made, the start-up behavior of my BP540 is unpredictable.

On power up, with a disc in the try, it’s done all of these on different tries: * Lock up, requiring unplugging * Blank white screen; waiting without indication that the Play button must be pressed * Load the disc straightaway * Go to the player’s Setup/Home menu, requiring navigation to start the Disc * Eject the disc I have no idea what the player is going to do when I turn it on. This is frustrating, because what it should do is obvious: start the disc and go to its main menu (if not resume play from last position). My previous Blu-ray player did this. Previous DVD players did this. I wish this user-hostile behavior had been described in the review, since I wouldn’t have bought the player had I known. (If I have time, I’m going to exchange it for a different unit in case it’s defective.) •.

I got a new LG. It hasn’t crashed.

But the confusing boot results are now evidently by design and/or glitchy LG software. Put a disc in, the player loads the disc With a disc already in, power on, and it loads to the LG Home Menu.

A design decision since everyone is buying blu-ray players not to watch blu-rays, but to stream Netflix. Pushing the Play button on the remote seems to launch the disc. But in some cases, the player doesn’t display the home screen correctly and only shows an all-white screen.

Pushing Play still launches the disc. I almost bought the Panasonic BD91. It’s $75, and my other blu-ray player is panasonic. But the boys at AVS aren’t showing it much love.

There are complains that its ethernet hardware is low quality, with intermittent connections. And it shows ads on screen by default. So I’ll stick it out with the LG. We have the LG BP540 paired up with the Samsung UN55H7150. We were noticing with Blu-Ray movies there was quite a bit of motion artifacts, mostly during panned scenes but not exclusively. Based on an article on cnet.com ( ), we changed the BP540’s 1080 setting from 60Hz to 24Hz.

Lo and behold, the motion artifacts went away. Does this indicate that the BP540’s 2:3 cadencing is to blame for our original issues? I have read that some 1080p and 4K TVs have the ability to pick up the 2:3 cadence in a 60Hz stream, and if the TV is capable of displaying in multiples of 24Hz (120Hz, 240Hz, etc) will rebuild the stream and remove the 2:3 cadence (I hope that makes sense). If so, is it possible that the extra processing done in the BP540 to output 24Hz films in 60Hz and the extra processing done in the UN55H7510 to remove the cadence (if it does in fact do that) would cause these motion artifacts? My significant other is technically inept.

As a result, I have the same remote programmed for the three main systems and identical Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray players. We signed up for Netflix streaming and the Sonys have buffering issues (even with a wired network connection) – it can take an hour to get through a half hour show. I have read reports that our issue is not isolated and Sony will not resolve it (). This is not due to our network or internet as other methods of streaming are flawless.

I can’t do Roku as one TV has only two HDMI inputs, unless I add an HDMI switch. Both LG and Samsung owners have issues with their players. Can anyone tell me if they are having issues with current Sony models streaming?

I didn’t do the full suite, because it wasn’t important for this piece. For the important tests (color space conversion, pixel cropping, 3:2 cadence on DVD, 1080i60 cadence on Blu-ray, etc.) it passed just fine. The fine detail is lacking compared to the Oppo, as mentioned in this piece, and it might have failed some weird flag things, but those are rare on Blu-ray content. As long as it did the essentials correctly, I focused more on responsiveness, features, streaming content, and so on that apply more to real-world use. Last night Sony’s “provisioning server” broke which meant no one using a Sony device for streaming could access any streamed content. Do LG and Samsung also route all streaming traffic through their own servers in the same way?

It seems like an idiotic way to do things as last night exposed. But I don’t know if they all use the same model or if Sony is on its own in that regard. I have the BDP-S3200 (a modded all-region version) and have loved the streaming capability until last night when it didn’t work.

Having hundreds of content options is nice but I don’t use most of them. I see a newer crop of BluRay players is starting to appear, including the LG BP550 and higher end models like the Sony BDPS6200. I’m curious whether there are any material differences in the LG BP550 vs the BP540.

And, based on some other reviews, it seems that some people favor the speed increases in the latest Sony and Samsung models due to dual core processors. Any opinions on these items? Or a timeframe for an a general update to this article? Thanks for the helpful information in the base article. Looking forward to seeing it updated when possible. I noticed the sony BDP-S3200 can not playback audio in.mov files over 2GB (files from my Canon SX-230HS), tested using USB memory.

I hope Sony corrects this in a future firmware update. No problems with shorter.mov files. Unfortunately, It does not recognized my 2 USB wireless keyboards, It could only work with wired standard USB keyboards as specified in the specifications. It would have been a plus if wireless ones worked, more useful for the living room or bedroom. Overall, I like this model, a good upgrade from my faulty old Samsung BD-P1600. The 2GB file size limit appears on a few different devices.

That’s a FAT16 file format limitation, while FAT32 supports 4GB. I wouldn’t expect Sony to update a device at this point to fix that if it can’t already. When it comes to wireless keyboards, the problem is that each different wireless USB adapter needs its own USB driver. On a PC this is easy, you just download it online.

On a Blu-ray player this isn’t possible (and just opens up the player to software issues). Wired keyboards have a universal driver so they will just work. For what it’s worth, I just tried to play a Blu-ray disc in my Sony BDP-S5100, and found that my player no longer plays any of my Blu-ray discs (“Cannot operate this disc”), even though all the Blu-ray discs have previously worked in this player, and DVDs continue to work. Also, one thing I’d find helpful for future recommended players is consideration of whether they support converting closed-captioning into subtitles, as modern discs tend to have English subtitles, but many older DVDs have English closed captions and foreign language subtitles (or no subtitles). The Sony BDP-S5100 appears not to support captions. Yes, on some devices it’s faster than on others.

For example, the streaming channel navigation on my PS3 is so nice, fast & crisp vs on my Roku. Don’t get me wrong, the Roku is great, but not as nice as on the Playstation for some reason. Sounds like you might benefit more from a standalone media streamer.

It all comes down to which is more of an inconvenience to you – laggy streaming or multiple remotes/devices. FWIW, our updated media streamer guide has the Roku 2 at the #1 spot. It’s a fantastic device for ~$70. Hope this helps! Yes, many are faster. That’s why the Roku Stick last year, for all the nice features it has, wasn’t a great deal because it was so much slower than the Roku 3 was.

Now the Roku 2 is just as fast as the 3 and makes for a fast experience. The same with Blu-ray players.

This year the Sony BDP-S1500 is very slow to launch anything, and Netflix images take a long time to appear, while their high-end model responds much faster. They just have more powerful CPUs and GPUs in the upper-end models, so they will be better.

But the Roku 2 this year is very quick. This is a brilliant guide and most appreciated by someone trying to navigate the sea of blu ray players. I’m eagerly waiting for the 2015 update. I need a new player, but everything seems like complete junk these days. Can anyone offer any suggestions based on these criteria: *A player that upscales DVD well (I watch 99% DVD’s) *A quiet player!

I had a phillips that worked ok, but man was it noisy. In scenes without music or dialogue it used to drive me mad. Are they all this noisy? Sadly, I can’t afford an Oppo •.

I recently replaced my Blu-Ray player (an old broken down BD60) with a Philips model, and bought the Star Wars Blu Ray set (the old one with the yellowy cover, although I think the discs are the same in the newer release so enh). I noticed the extras disc is super slow — every menu selection action takes 10-20 seconds, which is really annoying on a disc with lots and lots of little short videos. Is it possible for different players to have significantly better or worse speed when navigating blu Ray menus?

BD Audio Mix is only needed to be turned on if you aren’t getting certain sound effects where they are mixed into the main audio. For example, if you have menu sound effects that play over a soundtrack, those menu sound effects might be missing. Or if you have a PIP commentary track (these are pretty rare) instead of a dedicated commentary track it’ll combine that audio into the main soundtrack. The issue is that in doing this, it often converts the lossless TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio track into a lossy soundtrack because it has to compress it on the fly. BD Audio Mix should be off by default, at least it was on all the Sony models I tested. The PS4 will likely out-perform any of the non-Oppo Blu-ray players.

The Oppo will be better at certain video processing features, but you won’t run into those all that often. The PS4 has a much faster processor so streaming services will perform better, and is likely to have better long-term support since a PS5 is years away while Blu-ray players will be replaced next year. That said, a PS4 costs a lot more so no one it just buying it as a Blu-ray player, and you are giving up that dedicated remote control that many people want to have with their player. If you have a PS4 and are fine with it, there’s no reason to get another player really. There is no issue which hinders its use in any way whatsoever. Mine has frozen about ten times in the six months its been around. I suppose if I was too dumb to try turning it off and back on again, I might dump my purse out on the internet about it.

But really, if the unit had issues that weren’t effortless to deal with, I would be typing something to Sony, not Amazon. I’ve seen it lock up while streaming Netflix, sluggishness here and there and casting to it from another device is not as quick as I was used to with a Chromecast these issues are so minor it’s pointless to even explore them. The time I spent typing this to you took more time than these issues will collectively take through the unit’s entire life. It’s a great product and its quality is excellent. I’d say there will always be at least 20% 1-2 star reviews so long as there are dumb people trying to use technology. These problems do not exist, you should buy it because it’s actually probably the most trouble-free unit out there. It’s your one opportunity to get something the Koreans didn’t design – with the way they’re taking things, your other options probably have “selfie cameras” on them.

I enjoyed the fact that Sony made this since the moment it came out of the box. I have this unit and it has one more feature I do not need or care about – the BluRay reader! While that may sound funny, it just goes to show the capabilities of this thing. It plays the old DVDs, streams from every service imaginable, plays CDs and can be “casted” to using Google Cast enabled applications.

When the DVD player needed replaced, this was a significant upgrade. Of course, when you consider when the television itself needs replaced, it would pick up the internet-enabled stuff itself and essentially render this thing useless for the purposes which we currently use it for. But the television should have many years left in it at least, it better! This was the perfect way to modernize the setup without replacing anything more than the piece of crap DVD player. I have only minor complaints about this unit.

It is intermittently sluggish and it is not uncommon for it to completely lock up. This issues do not occur often enough to cause concern. The problem I had was lack of component video output. That’s more so due to my setup.

I have a Yamaha amp that was purchased just one year before HDMI swept through. I decided to just plug everything into the television, with digital audio output from the TV to the amp. The little remote that comes with this thing controls several functions on the television, and does it well. However, it does not work to select sources, requiring the giant TV remote be available for the single purpose of switching to a different source. So very annoying. Not as annoying as trying to get a universal remote to work. I still don’t understand why they haven’t thrown IR sensors in smartphones yet so I can throw the four remotes out.

Would be interested in the quality of the Samsung, mine arrived and simply does not work, plug in, press eject no response tried turn on with the remote, no response, plugged into another outlet via a Kill A Watt meter, shows normal voltage at outlet, plug in the Samsung, not drawing any current at all, press eject, no movement, no reading on he meter. Informed Samsung, no response. This unit was ordered with a Samsung TV, which arrived with cracked screen unuseable, (packaging unmarked but screen clearly showing impact damage, missing parts & instruction manual for TV as well. Samsung have failed to respond adiquately, e-mails unreturned, multiple dropped phone calls, inaudible operators with less than fluent English. So I suggest anyone considering a Samsung might want to consider again.

Web search Samsung Reviews. I’m baffled why you continue to recommend the Sony players despite their horrible reliability reputation. Every one of the Sony players you recommend has 15-17% 1-star user ratings on Amazon, based on hundreds (or even thousands) of total reviews, with many reviews reporting repeated issued after multiple exchanges. Poor reliability has been a long-term trend with Sony Blu-ray players. Granted, you may not have experienced any issues with your test units, but this many problems with *any* electronic device is a red flag that shouldn’t just be ignored. I also realize that it’s just about impossible to find a blu-ray player of any brand for under $100 that doesn’t have high negative ratings on Amazon.

Still, they can be found. In short, what’s the value of getting the “best features” or “best value” if you’ve got nearly a 1-in-5 chance that’s it’s going to be DOA or die within 6 months? Because of the widespread reliability problems in this product category, I recommend purchasing a player through Costco, if possible, in order to have their “lifetime satisfaction” guarantee in case the player dies right after the warranty ends (and for that matter, why mess around with warranty service, if Costco will replace or refund the unit at any time, for just about any reason?). I’ve made use of this Costco service on other electronics, and wouldn’t think of buying a device from a problematic category (home theater receivers and coffee makers are others that come to mind) from anyone other than Costco for this reason, even if there’s a sale or online price that’s 5-10% lower.

Do note that this policy doesn’t apply to high-price items like TVs, digital cameras, or computers; even there, though, Costco will usually include an additional year or two of warranty coverage. As another data point, I purchased the Sony BDP-S3500 after reading this (and other) reviews. It’s kind of cheap looking/feeling, but that’s not a big deal. Not fancy in any way, but it did what it was supposed to do. However, after 22 months of very light use (maybe twice a month), the audio from the DVD player section malfunctioned and now it just emits a clangingly loud stutter static sound instead of whatever sound it should be playing. Strangely enough, streaming services as well as CD playback work fine.

I tried different HDMI cables, different inputs on the TV and got the same result. I’m disappointed in this product; it turned out to be as cheap as it looked.

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