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"Solid and fast loading Blu-ray player" on by glpatnode
Pros: This is the top of line of the BDP-Sx70 Sony Blu-ray players, the BDP-S770. This model feels more solid than its other models below it, less cheaply built but will the features of the BDP-S570 and more.
Cons: The manual has mistakes for the user, even after a quick setup, you can mess things up duing use. The "BD Audio Mix" should be turned off, not on, so the external decoding can taking place & turn off the HDMI control, not on as the manual indicates.
Summary: The BDP-S770 is a slicker-looking unit, more solid in feel than its BDP-Sx70 models. I had both in my hands and the S770 unit did not have the cheaper controls on it like the other models that were harder to operate, the S770 has a top bar set of push buttons with more tactile feedback on the for the more basic operations. The unit is more boxy, true, but it is less cheaply built in appearance, at least to me. The S770 has all the features of the S570, including 1GB of memory to load the BD faster and built-in Wi-Fi, but it adds already-loaded 3D capability without an necessary upgrade like the others do, a 3D Blu-ray movie and best yet, a lighted remote control, which only the S770 has. To sum up, I had both S570 and S770 and kept the S770 and it was worth it. The player does everything I ask it to and more. I got it on sale for $249.99, the regular price of the S570, too. Graphics are like the PS3 and the Wi-FI works good for BD-Live. Keep the HDMI control off so you don't turn your HDTV off when you turn the player off so you can watch your HD DVR or something else after BD watching.
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"Superb premium Bluray/DVD player" on by elixer2012
Pros: Excellent Bluray, DVD and CD audio performance; streams most files types reliably from computer when using good DLNA server software like TVMOBILI; backlit remote; virtually noiseless disc transport; more solid build than its cheaper Sony cousins.
Cons: Slightly limited functionality with streaming videos (eg. skipping back/forth is disabled); User Manual offers no setup advice on computer networking and DLNA streaming; MKV file support flakey but solved by M2TS remuxing
Summary: I've had none of the firmware upgrade disasters reported by some other s770 users here. My machine was bought In Australia and the problem may be specific to the units sold in North America.
This top of-the range isn't Sony's best value Bluray Player - the s570 has that honour and is almost technically identical to this 770. But it's superb nonetheless and its more solid build seems to have freed the s770 of the noisy disc transport problems experienced by owners of the cheaper Sony models in this series.
From a technical performance point-of-view the player excells at almost everything: disc loading time, Bluray performance, DVD upscaling performance and stereo CD audio. The player can play Super Audio CD's but I haven't tested these. 3D movies are also untested - I'll watch those at the cinema, thanks.
For CD's I would say that you should always use the player's digital output and let your amplifier/receiver do the D/A (digital to analogue) conversion. You can't expect Bluray and DVD players to have great onboard D/A converters for CD stereo music unless you're paying well over $1000 U.S. Of course, doing the conversion externally means you do need to have an above average home theatre receiver. I have a Cambridge Audio unit and it does a more than admirable job with stereo music.
The remote is backlit - of this series of players only the s770 has this feature - and its easy to use. I use a Logitech Universal remote anyway so a player's remote is no deal breaker for me.
Once you have your computer set up properly for streaming movies and music over a network then the s770 works just fine. My only gripe is that with playback of video files you don't have full fucntionality: the skip foward/back buttons are disabled.
Re. networking generally, if you're technically challenged then beware. Sony Bravia hardware can't simply "see" shared folders on a Windows XP computer like many DVRs and PVR's can. No, to play video and music files you have to deal with a maddening and still-immature streaming protocol call DLNA. No idea what is is? No, I didn't know either until I researched it - the manual was no help at all. I installed and tested various DLNA server software programs on my computer for the task and found that TV MOBILI works a treat. Apparently Windows 7 has a DLNA server built in but I can't vouch for its reliability.
The Sony Bravia internet TV services all stream well on the s770 - I watch mostly Youtube and ABC-TV iView. Everything seems to be Standard Definition only but that's not the player's fault.
MKV file support is a flakey - if you fast foward or rewind then it may never recover. But every problem I've had with MKV file playback/seeking over a network I've solved simply be remxuing it as an .M2TS file. A free program called TSMuxer will do this for you and it takes 30 to 60 seconds depending on file size.
Overall, very happy with this player and can highly recommend it. -
"Good Player" on by ohm777
Pros: Good picture quality and loading time. Varied internet options.
Cons: Ergonomics. Remote control.
Summary: Good product. Plays crisp pictures. Varied internet options (we use Netflix). Two [minor] complaints ... the ON/OFF button is on the left above the disk load tray and the OPEN/CLOSE button for the tray is on the right. Ergonomically speaking, I would have put the OPEN/CLOSE button on the left (over the disk tray). Backlit remote control isn't that great either. Yes, there is backlighting, but it only lights up the perimeter of each button and not the button itself. Consequently you can't "see" the buttons' functions. Buttons are black and not translucent. Thus, in a dark room, unless you have the buttons memorized, you can't see what button you're pushing. So there's no value added since you still have to turn on the light to read the buttons. Overall, I would recommend this product, but it definitely could have been designed better.
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"Plays discs but doesn't do much else!" on by airmanjack
Pros: Plays Blu Ray and upconverts DVD's quite well.
Cons: Can not dynamically stream Netflix
Netflix interface is pathetic
Can not stream most media from a PC
Can not access many external hard drivesSummary: I have been nothing but disappointed with the "features" advertised for this Blu Ray player. I am constantly frustrated in my attempts to play streaming media from a Media Centre compatible NAS, from my PC, or even from a USB drive. The Netflix interface is clumsy and hard to navigate, plus it takes on the scale of minutes for the player to buffer HD streams. It is NOT a problem with my network speed (30MBps, and it TESTS at 30MBps). This player is nothing short of a boat anchor if you bought it for the purpose of exploiting the advertised features. Even the YouTube application is a pain, it automatically starts playing the next recommended video at the conclusion of your selection.
The UI is pathetically overcomplicated. Multiple confirmations and button presses are required in order to do painfully simple operations. The iPhone app only helps when entering text, however you only see the text on your phone, it never shows up on the screen. You hit "done" and cross your fingers that the player received the command properly, which it frequently does not.
But yes, it plays Blu Rays and DVD's. -
"Should have checked.." on by okibum
Pros: Seems on par with most other BR players
Cons: Wont play DIVX or japanese DVD's(see summary for my reasons)
Summary: I know this seems like a bad review, but I bought this player so I could play BR disks and Japanese DVD's(wife is Japanese), only to find out that there is no region free hack for this player. In todays world there is no reason for every player not to be region free from the factory. Well after a few days I got over the fact that I dumped $300 on something that will only get used once in blue moon due to the fact that my wife really doesn't watch BR movies. Well I then tried to plug in my thumb drive to watch some DIVX files.. and low and behold it doesn't play them. This was the 2nd reason I had bought this player. Guess its to hard to ask for a region free BR player that can play all media formats and stream internet videos. I guess im the only one looking for that in a player.
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