Looking for Blu Ray player with smart features (1 Viewer)

I am looking to upgrade my Blu Ray player. Here is what I got:


Verizon FIOS

Denon AVR 1909 receiver

5 SVS speakers and sub (love'em!)

Samsung LN46A750 TV (not smart, but awesome picture)

Sony BDP S350 (pretty slow blu ray player)


I want to get "smart" features on my system. I am a subscriber to Netflix and Amazon Prime, so I want to be able to access both services. Option 1 is to just get the Fire TV ($99) and Option 2 is to upgrade the blu ray player.


Which option do you recommend and for Option 2, which player should I consider? I prefer Option 2 to avoid adding another box to the system, but I will consider the Fire TV. I would love to have the Apple TV (got mostly Apple products at home) but they do not offer the Amazon Prime TV service. Thanks!


Jorge

Blu(start using Blu before others get snippy...) Ray is not the same as DVD.

There is no BD player that going to equal a Roku/AppleTV/AmazonFireTV.

The manufacturers, outside Oppo, are notorious for orphaning the smart features in 18-24 months.

Amazon Prime and iTunes are competing formats. They will never coexist. Same with Google Play.

Roku is about the only device that "gets everything"...and if they don't get it...

Thanks for the correction suggestions.


I do not think that Oppo includes Amazon Prime Instant Video, and I also prefer to spend a little less than that for the Blu Ray player.

A Roku is probably your best bet as just about every streaming service other than iTunes is represented. If your Blu player is an issue, I'd suggest getting a newer Sony or Panasonic for disc plus a Roku for streaming.

How is Apple TV's Airplay? Is it fast enough to stream Amazon Prime Video with no pauses? Which Sony or Pana player should I consider? The list of Amazon Prime compatible players is outdated at the Amazon's site.

Apple doesn't do Amazon Prime, you knew that in your opening post.

Airplay is Airplay. It works. Amazon has been pulling back Prime to its own devices.

I don't think(outside Roku) anything does Vudu and Amazon Prime.

The streamers are everywhere (which I prefer Fandor and Acolyte). The problem is, you want "two walled gardens" on one device. Not. Going. To. Happen.

All I know is that my Panasonic Blu-ray players (one is at least four years old; it has dual HDMI outputs for use with a non-3D receiver back when I bought it) still support Amazon Prime (watched an episode of Inspector Lewis on it this evening) and Netflix. Picture quality is pristine and it does a fantastic job with upconverting DVDs.

I have 2 Sony S3200 Blu-ray players in my house. They are no longer sold being the model is over a year old now, but they include Amazon Prime and Vudu among many other services. Although, we only watch Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime on them..


I wish there was a way to delete services that we don't even use.

schan1269 said:

I don't think(outside Roku) anything does Vudu and Amazon Prime.

Click to expand...

The PS3 (and I'd assume PS4) has Vudu and Amazon, along with Netflix and Hulu. The Vudu app even lets you download movies instead of streaming, if you prefer.

schan1269 said:

Apple doesn't do Amazon Prime, you knew that in your opening post.
Airplay is Airplay. It works. Amazon has been pulling back Prime to its own devices.
I don't think(outside Roku) anything does Vudu and Amazon Prime.
The streamers are everywhere (which I prefer Fandor and Acolyte). The problem is, you want "two walled gardens" on one device. Not. Going. To. Happen.

Click to expand...

You can play Amazon Prime on an iPad and use AirPlay to stream it to an AppleTV / HDTV setup.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000798971

DaveF said:

You can play Amazon Prime on an iPad and use AirPlay to stream it to an AppleTV / HDTV setup.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000798971

Click to expand...

The sad part...I knew Amazon was on iPad and iPhone(still have an original iPad). But, I don't have(other than an iMac) devices for AirPlay. I don't use iTunes anyway.

Still a STREAMING device(where that is all it does) is not going to have iTunes and Amazon...outside Roku.

Tablets, gaming consoles and computers are "do more than stream" devices.


By the way...BD players are more and more becoming streamers with a disc spinner.

Peter Apruzzese said:

A Roku is probably your best bet as just about every streaming service other than iTunes is represented. If your Blu player is an issue, I'd suggest getting a newer Sony or Panasonic for disc plus a Roku for streaming.

Click to expand...

I only use a Roku for streaming now. I like having all my streaming choices on one device. This is not only simpler for me, but I like the interface of the Roku better than some of my Blu players. Rokus have gotten so cheap now I don't know why anyone would buy a new Blu player for its streaming features.

schan1269 said:

The sad part...I knew Amazon was on iPad and iPhone(still have an original iPad). But, I don't have(other than an iMac) devices for AirPlay. I don't use iTunes anyway.

Still a STREAMING device(where that is all it does) is not going to have iTunes and Amazon...outside Roku.

Tablets, gaming consoles and computers are "do more than stream" devices.


By the way...BD players are more and more becoming streamers with a disc spinner.

Click to expand...

You're completely right that AppleTV is not supported for Amazon Prime. But to the OP's question: he can get Prime to his TV via iPad -> AirPlay -> AppleTV if that's a desired option. (I considered this a while back, too.)


Conversely, TiVo (finally) supports Amazon Prime Streaming. But of course, there's no iTunes support. There's marginal AirPlay-ish support, as the Youtube app for iOS has the Chrome-style connection feature that works with TiVo. But I've not found this feature in any other app.


Netflix works with everything.


In the end, as you note, you need at least two devices to play both Apple and Amazon. The simplest solution is to go with Netflix and either Apple or Amazon. But using both of the latter increases the 'friction' in the living room setup.