Sony BDPS480B.CEK 3D Blu-Ray Disc/DVD Player BRAVIA Internet Video (Wireless LAN Ready)

Bought this to reduce the amount of stress we were putting on the PS3 by constant use for watching films & I have to say I'm very impressed.
Picture quality is excellent on my Sony Bravia 40" LED screen and the unit performs much better than the PS3 did. I personally find the unit whisper quiet during normal operation, the only noticeable noise comes when first loading a disk.
Those of you using a PS3 for blu-ray...buy this instead, it's worth it.
Also worthwhile noting for those of you with a separate home cinema amp- the dolby signal 5.1 or 7.1 is now (like other modern HDMI connected equipment) sent down the HDMI cable. This makes cabling and connecting to the TV far less fussy & much neater.

After owning a DVICO TViX media streamer since 2006, I was in need of an HD upgrade. As a Mac owner most of my DVDs now exist as digital files on the Hard Drive so really I was buying this solely for its Network Streaming capabilities.

Sony recommend a free dlna media server software called Serviio for use with this BD Player. This unit paired with Serviio on my Mac does everything I need it to and more. Serviio also runs on PC & Linux.

Plays
Video: H264, MPEG, DIVx Video Codecs across M4V, MKV, AVI, MP4 Video container formats.
Audio: The only issue I've found is playing anything above DD / DTS 6.1 but you can set Serviio to downmix the audio to force it to play.

I THINK from my observations that not only does the Player Up-scale DVDs, it also up-scales Standard Definition Media files streamed from Serviio, which was an added bonus.

SPDIF optical IS missing however the SPDIF coaxial through a cheap converter to optical is perfect (I don't have coaxial on my amplifier).

Internet streaming on my 30 Mbit Virgin Media Broadband is excellent, even if the choice of "channels" is limited - again here though Serviio allows addition of extra internet streams via the dlna functionality.

Music and pictures stream again via Serviio and the player will play Super Audio CDs (SACDs).

The media remote (iPod Touch) works great and media info IS displayed on that BUT ONLY for Blu-ray discs, not the streaming media (Plus you have to have the player on before you can use the media remote i.e. no power button but as it works over wifi, I'm not sure how this could work anyway - just a little frustrating).

So to the things I'd change if I could (Hence 4 stars and not 5)-
The media browsing presentation from the dlna server is purely in a textual driven menu, no Media covers or information is displayed on the BD Player as with some slicker media streaming implementations.
The remote control has TV functionality buttons for Sony TVs, which I don't have so there are unused buttons which cant be used for anything else.
The built in web browser is shockingly awful, but good enough to check Facebook or web email if REALLY necessary. Personally having tried this I'll not use it again.

Generally though for the price I'm over the moon with it and fully recommend it to anyone after a Blu-ray player that also makes DVDs look Superb.

Fantastic picture quality with Blu-Ray and DVD discs.
Whirrrrs a bit when disc is first inserted, but quiet as a mouse during playback.
Network set up using a wired connection to a router is simple. Wi-fi connection is possible by purchasing an optional dongle, but I haven't used this so can't comment on ease of set up, etc.
Sony interface is intuitive, easy to use and the Bravia Internet Video content is excellent- especially since the video on demand is live again.
BBC iPlayer is on board - handy if your TV doesn't have it built in.
Playback of online HD content via a Virgin Media connection is smooth with no glitches.