Advice on Blu ray with WiFi

Sony's Playstation 3 has wi-fi built-in, and for the most part is a fairly solid Blu-ray player that upscales DVD nicely. It can be used as a media hub in your home theater, storing music, photos, and videos. Netflix streaming is also now available, and, depending on your internet connection speed, it works quite well and the selection isn't bad. Another plus is that it is still the only future-proof Blu-ray player on the market, with 3-D capability to be available soon via a firmware update.

The downside is that the internet browser is lacking (although that may change with a future firmware update), and Hulu has successfully blocked their content from being accessed directly on the PS3.

I highly recommend picking up the Sony PS3 Blu-ray remote. Navigating with the game controller is cumbersome, at best, and the third party remotes don't have all the functionality.

[EDIT] The PS3 is also one of the fastest loading Blu-ray players on the market.

If you're not a gamer, and therefore wouldn't use the PS3's primary function, you might want to check out the Insignia WS-BDRDVD.  Insignia is Best Buy's house brand.  (Also carried by Future Shops in Canada.)  I've had one since last November and really enjoy it.  The Netflix streaming is a nice way to catch up on older titles and TV series (new titles I prefer to get on BD disc from Netflix.)  Unlike a lot of "wi-fi ready" units, the Insignia does not require an external dongle (purchased separately) to work.  The wi-fi NIC is built-in and works fine.  It can also expand its feature set via firmware upgrades, although I haven't heard any plans for 3D as yet.  Finally it sells at a reasonable price.  The standard Best Buy price is $179.99, pretty good for a solid BD player with wi-fi included.  But it is when it goes on sale that it really stands out.  I bought mine for $129.99 the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  (On Black Friday the player went back up to its normal price while Best Buy dropped the version with a wired network port from $149.99 to $99.99.  Go figure.)  

Regards,

Joe

I believe some of the new Sony models include built-in WiFi. Sony makes some of the most solid players on the market, and will come out with timely firmware updates when required.

I just got the new Sony S570 with built-in WiFi for $250 and really like it.

I have to respectfully disagree with Scott Merryfield.  And to SteveA, I really liked my S550 at first.  Until it died after just 13 1/2 months of moderate use (always plugged into a good surge protector).  Hope you get better life out of your S570.

So, my personal experience has been that Sony's Blu-ray players are anything BUT solid.  When Sony refused to offer a reasonable price on a repair or exchange for a unit that just barely made it past the warranty period, I went on the internet to research the problem, and it took me less than 5 minutes to find several other people whose Sony players experienced premature deaths. 

I have had other products from major manufacturers (my Samsung 46" DLP television for example) in which the manufacturer provided free repairs for an out-of-warranty product when they realized that the problem I was experiencing was not an isolated incident.  I wasn't expecting a free repair from Sony, but did expect them to offer a repair or exchange for a small fraction of the cost of replacing the unit since it clearly did not last anywhere near as long as it should have.  I could have bought several brand new entry level players for less money than they wanted to exchange my barely out of warranty unit.  Stay away from Sony unless the store wants to throw in a good extended warranty for cheap.

Joe, you got my attention with the recommendation of the Insignia.  I want to find a cheap BR player to test the waters of both BR and Netflix streaming.  I have wireless hubs all over the house, either AppleTV or AirportExpress, so a wired player should be just fine.  I can plug them into those.  At only $100 that Insignia really is tempting. Is yours still holding up?

My Insignia is still going strong.  Better than ever, in fact, since the last firmware update.  (There was a handshake issue with my 6 year old JVC 720p TV's only HDMI port, so I had to use component cables initially.  Now it works fine.)

 

Love the Netflix, love the wireless, love the picture I get from my BD discs.  The wired version is indeed $100 at the moment, and the wireless is $150.  The only problem I'm having with the thing is resisting the temptation to buy more BD titles than the budget will allow. 

 

Regards,

 

Joe

Well, I pulled the trigger.  I'm not sure why I haven't gotten a BR player before now, except that I really want the Oppo BD-83, but I'm not wild about dropping $500 on it, especially when it doesn't do NetFlix.  I had been thinking about getting a Roku, but this player makes so much more sense.  So, I got the wireless model, partly because my local Best Buy didn't have the other one in stock, but I also find it hard to believe the only difference is the wireless.  I've bought the super cheap model before and wished I'd just spent a little more.  Even though I don't have anything with hdmi audio, it still sounds very good, what little I've heard so far.  My first 3 discs are Spartacus, 2001 and Master and Commander.  The first one I actually watch will be M&C, which I will be doing shortly.  Yes, I will be burning a couple $ on new discs too.  I will avoid double dipping for the moment, but I'm fairly certain The Proposition, 9 and Let the Right One In will be last minute purchases on the DDD sale.

 

 

That was my intention, too, and yet here I sit with more than half my BD collection consisting of titles I already own on DVD. 

 

There are two factors that make it is so hard to stick to a "no double dipping" resolution.  (A problem I also had, at frist, when transitioning from laserdisc.) 

 

1)  The only films worth owning are the ones you know will stand up to repeated viewings, the ones you want to have "on hand" for when the mood strikes or a chance comes up to share a favorite film with someone else.  Everything else can be rented.

 

2)  The best bargains tend to be on catalog titles. 

 

Because of (1) the films we'd most like to have on BD, if money were no object, are precisely the films we already own.  Because of (2) any given big sale at DD, Amazon.com or Best Buy is likely to offer the best prices on older titles. 

 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't get out to the movies very often anymore.  I love film, but I hate the experience of trying to watch one in a theater filled with people yacking on cell phones, socializing with their neighbors, kicking my chair and just gnerally making it impossible to watch the damned movie.  (Having said that, I will add that I'm going to see Toy Story 3 this weekend, because I cannot not go to see Toy Story 3.)   Having not seen most new BD and DVD releases, I'm not that eager to buy anything on its release date.  I don't know what I'm missing, so I'm willing to wait for the price to come down.  I usually rent films I'm interested in from Netflix, and then decide which ones might be worth owning.  Even then, I'm trying to build my BD collection up slowly around a core of "must own" titles and classic films.  This means putting off more recent titles - and, again, skews the buying towards titles I already own. 

 

So my limited movie buying budget tends to go towards double dips like Heathers on BD for $5.99 or Blazing Saddles for $9.99 than towards a "new" title at $20 to $25 dollars.  (And, in fairness, I also got the previously un-owned The Searchers for $7.99.)  Of course, some films also undergo serious remastering or full-on restoration prior to a BD release, and that also makes double-dipping more appealing.  The upcoming Forbidden Planet, King Kong and Citizen Kane releases should all be more than worth the second (or third, or fourth if you count VHS and LD) of these films.  (I've bent a rule and actually pre-ordered Forbidden Planet, rather than wait for it to go on sale later. Hey, I never said I was consistent. )

 

Regards,

 

Joe