Sony BDP-SX1

 

 

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This product is a fantastic add-on to SONY's product range, the new BDP-SX1 is a top of the range portable blu-ray player that will not fail to please.

Just the look and feel of it gives off a very good first impression, it has a nice pattern on the top and a really smart look to it, the size is decent (like a small laptop) and most importantly is it's very light in weight!

It features a high quality 10.1" LCD screen, touch buttons just underneath and below them you have some really good built-in speakers.

On the side you have a varied choice of ports:
- Two audio ports, so you can have up to two headphones plugged in at the same time! This is a fantastic idea.
- USB 2.0 port; Put your own pictures, music and video onto a USB flash drive.
- Audio & Video In/Out; Either connect this player to a bigger TV, or connect devices such as camcorders to the player to view them on it's screen.
- HDMI out; If you want to connect this to a bigger High-Def TV, use this port to use this player as you would a normal blu-ray player.
- Ethernet; connect this device to the internet to get updates for the player or use the BD-Live feature.

This product also comes with it's own little remote (small, but comfortable to use). You don't really need to use this remote if your viewing this on your lap or somewhere arms length as the touch buttons are really easy to use, however if you have the player out of reach, then this remote is very responsive and works really well.

The main feature I love about this player is how adjustable the screen is, you can turn it round up to 180 degrees, then to top that off you can push it down so it's like a tablet!

The only downside is that it doesn't come with a carry case, this would be great add-on. Sony don't currently offer one to buy separately, however their are other brands out their you could buy, just make sure you get the right measurements. If you want to mount it to a car seat their are also some universal mounts available from other manufacturers that should be compatible.

Overall, I cannot fault this product and couldn't be happier!

I originally bought the LG BP691B 9-inch Portable Blu-ray Player. Scanning the Sony BDP-SX1 user manual and speaking to Sony support suggested the Sony didn't have the features I wanted.

In fact the manually is poorly written in places in the sense its ambiguous or sometimes misleading.

However speaking to another owner of the Sony I realised it did in fact do the things I want and which were important:

* Resume playback from the same position on the disk after switching on/off
* Connect via the audio out to an external amp/speaker without downgrading the image to low resolution as the manual seems to hint at.

So I bought the Sony portable blu-ray - with the plan of the LG going in to the car and the Sony being used at home as something to stop me getting bored when on my exercise bike!

This review is a comparison of the two machines....

The LG is actually a very good player. But looking at the screen specifications it seemed clear the Sony - with its larger and higher resolution screen - would blow the LG player out the water in terms of screen image quality. Oh how wrong I was!

If you don't have the LG to compare with then I have to say the Sony screen seems perfectly fine. I had to adjust it a slightly as colours a little over saturated - for example faces a bit too pink!

So as long as you never see the LG portable blu ray screen you'll be quite happy with the Sony. Unfortunately I have the LG and did a side by side comparison of the screens. The LG image is amazing - with high definition discs and movies its so sharp and colours are bright and punchy. I think LG are actually cheating - LG must have an image processor inside that sharpens images and makes them more vibrant. Because when I look at the same HD home movie clip on on high quality PC screen it looks nowhere near as good! The PC screen looks more like the Sony screen.

But hey - I don't care if LG cheated - the images it produces are not only amazing but also more natural than the Sony - particularly the colours. Sky graduations are better on the LG and it seems to be able to display subtle details better. For example the a HD home movie on the Sony clouds were barely visible and the sky slightly overblown. On the LG the clouds were clearly defined.

So there's no real downside to the image processing as far as I can see.

For HD material - the LG is unbeatable. My plan now is to use the Sony for low resolution stuff and DVD disks. And the LG portable for blu-ray and my high definition home movies.

Ok so in terms of the screen its no contest.

But there are other areas the Sony does win.

Firstly the Sony is much quieter than the LG machine. Sony has no fan as far as I can tell - but the LG has a fan inside to keep it cool and you can hear the fan. Its not overly loud but can be heard in a quiet room.

Also the Sony is quieter playing back DVD disks. The LG does seem to make a lot more noise with DVDs but strangely much quieter with Blu-ray.

So the Sony wins on noise - but I have to say in a car the background noise would easily drown out the LG players noise.

In terms of usability its a close call. I find the LG player's software easier to use and has more functionality. For example a quick menu function lets you select an exact time you want to skip to. Also it lets you set things like screen sharpness and has a Standard, Vibrant, Movie and user mode for the digital processing. Standard is very punchy and sharp - vibrant even more so!

But the Sony has much better controls on the screen. So if you have the screen turned 180 around you can still easily access almost all buttons and functions via the excellent buttons on the screen. The buttons are easy to use and easy to find - nice and clear even in a dimly lit room. In contrast the buttons on the LG are limited to things like stop, play and fast forward/reverse. And until you activate the buttons by touching them they are actually invisible! So you have to guess and touch where you think the buttons might be - which causes them to light up. Then press the button you want.

Overall a close call but the Sony wins due to its excellent on screen buttons.

The LG has better networking - for example you can play YouTube movies via the wired network plug. The Sony networks seems to be just for updates and I guess Internet functions on movies - though I've never tried it. So points to the LG.

Both players support USB drives. So far I've only connected USB flash drives ( both USB 2 and 3 drives work ok ). File support - the LG seems to have a wider file support. For example the Sony supports just JPG images - the LG supports JPG, PNG and I think also GIF files.

Both players also connect to external amps/speakers via an audio out. Generally you'll get better sound quality connecting to an external amp via the audio out than you will using a headphone output - as that's already amplified. The Sony uses a bog standard 3.5mm socket for the audio - which is easier to use than the LG's combined audio/video out for which they supply an adapter. But not much in it really.

Battery run time - the Sony wins hands down for battery stamina. They claim a 5 hour battery life. Whereas the LG machine is 2 hours 30 minutes.

Other than the differences above there's not a whole lot of other major differences - for me at least.

I would personally say that if you plan on playing a lot of high definition movies ( blu-ray or your own HD home movies ) then go for the LG machine.

If however mostly you play DVDs and low resolution image files go for the Sony. Its on screen controls are better and its a quieter machine. The image quality difference is less marked between the two on low resolution movies.

i received my portable blu ray player in good working order and i must say it is a
great machine and the quality is fist glass i would recommend this player to any one top notch machine

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