Sony BDP-N460

DVD players are going Blu, and the Sony BDP-N460 is a nice example of what is on offer at the moment. And, as its Sony you know it is going to be quality through and through. Blu-ray is the latest in DVD technology, offering a new level of viewing experience, which means you get clearer images, brighter, crisper colors and a cinema type experience in your own home. However, there are literally hundreds on offer so how do you know which one is for you and which is going to offer the best value for money? We review the Sony BDP-N460 so that you can see what this particular one has to offer, and whether it could be the player for you.

Sony BDP-N460 | Player Details

Design

The Sony BDP-N460 is sleek and black, which is a classy look. The glossy black gives a really expensive looking finish, which is just as well as it isn’t cheap. However, the look certainly is going to grace any home entertainment unit and look great. There is very little on the front in terms of clutter, which we like, and the LCD screen is a nice size with clear white lettering, which again is a nice touch. The unit is a good size. We have seen some horrible chunky ones; however, this is not too deep but probably just about perfect in terms of size.

Actual user review:
“The Sony BDP-N460 Blu-Ray Disc Player delivers on price and performance. It’s picture quality is amazing, upconversion from standard DVD content flawless, and Netflix Instant watch, though dependant on our internet services quality as well as demand on Netflix servers, approaches DVD quality and beyond at times (does not happen often but a treat when it does.) The internet setup is a bit complicated with the entry of various parameters and addresses, and is not plug and play but once setup delivers a variety of internet entertainment sources. A computer network savvy installer is necessary to hook it up without frustration, failure, and a great deal of hassle. Bottom line: excellent price and performance!” – R.Mizushima (CA,USA)

Functionality

This Blu-ray player is just packed to the hilt with technology, and we really were quite excited and didn’t know what bit to play with first. We settled on the basic DVD player functions of this unit. Now obviously you have the technology here to play the latest Blu-ray DVD’s and we were impressed by the picture quality that was displayed on the screen. What we also like is that we can play our massive collection of standard DVD’s too. Nothing too impressive there, you might think. It is well known that new technologies are backwards compatible, so as you were already expecting this why are we so excited about it? What the clever people at Sony have done is add DVD upscaling 2 technologies to the box, which means that you can play your old DVD collection and the gadgetry cleans up the images and makes them almost full high definition quality, which really is very clever.

Now what is also very clever is that the Sony BDP-N460 is network ready. There is an Ethernet port on the back which means you can use a CAT5 cable and connect the DVD player into the Internet connection, and as if that isn’t clever enough you can also purchase the wireless bit as an additional piece of kit. Now you don’t even need the trailing CAT5 cable; it wirelessly connects making location of the router and the DVD easy. Anywhere in the house will do. This is geek heaven, so we apologize for being quite so excited. What this means is that you can now access one of over 25 content providers and stream Blu-ray movies directly over the internet, meaning you don’t have to buy the DVD’s, just pay the streaming rate, which is cheaper. And, should you not like the movie, you are not stuck with it on your shelf forever – ideal! The only thing you will need to do this is a 1GB or bigger USB memory stick, which is the minimum requirement for the streaming. We guess a company like Sony could really have included one in the box, as you are looking at about $5 to buy, which means on the scale Sony would buy them it would cost them cents rather than dollars. But hey, we will forgive them, because we love the functionality it gives.

Conclusion

The more we test the more we remember why Sony are one of the market leaders for all this home entertainment. They really do just seem to know what to do, and doing it well seems second nature. The other features that you would expect to find are here: the support for all the main surround sound providers that you may be using via your television set, or your AV receiver, and the picture quality really is true high definition too. We just struggle to find fault here. There wasn’t anything we didn’t like or that didn’t perform well, as it really was all good, so we can find little reason for you not to want this DVD player. The only issue is cost, as with Blu-ray technology generally you are looking at spending over $200 to get a decent player, but that isn’t just Sony that’s across the board, so if you can afford it – go for it.

Average User Rating:

• “After much research I decided on the Sony BDP-460. Set up was super easy due to reading previous reviews. Hooked it up to Apple Airport express bridging to my wireless network. The N460 went to the internet without any problems, got the firmware update in minutes. Blue Ray disk loaded in 45 seconds. The image quality is of course unbeatable. Having tested both Netflix and Amazon streaming, I much prefer the Amazon signal. The Amazon HD stream is very impressive on this machine via HDMI! Overall it’s an awesome Blue Ray / Internet media center.” – H.Tomasi (USA)
• “I finally bit the bullet and went blu with this player, my first blu experience. It was extremely easy to set-up out of the box and integrate into my system – and there was no problem networking via a network cable and router into my existing ISP. I haven’t yet gone wireless so cannot comment on those capabilities. The system upgrade process via the network connection was also easy to set-up and activate. I found the operating manual to be particularly lucid – rare with most electronics. Immediately downloadable were Youtube content and dozens of other internet channels. It is true that Netflix is tantalizingly “Coming Fall 09″ – but there are hundreds and hundreds of movies already available via download from Amazon, including a huge assortment of HD titles. The overall picture quality has been superb from bluray discs – and the upconverting on regular DVDs seems significantly better than my existing upconverting DVD player. Loading time is very, very quick — there have been no stalls or quirks in audio or visuals in loading any of the dozen or so discs that I currently own. As a first time blu ray user, this player has performed flawlessly thus far and it seems to deliver exactly what it promises!” – Amazon Verified customer (NY,USA)

Click Here for Latest Offer on Sony BDP-N460
Enjoy Free Shipping & Secure Shopping