The Sony BDP-S560 Review Thread

[markel253]

For the last few years I have been using a Samsung BDP1400. It worked fine, but was a profile 1 player, so no BD Live material.

Since my router is so far from where my main Blu Ray player is, I really didn't want to upgrade to a Profile 2 player until there was one with WiFi.

Well, when I spotted the Sony BDP-S560 I decided it was time. I checked it out at Amazon.com and it was $219. A visit to Best Buy on Black Friday showed that they were in stock, but selling for $299, so I decided to go with Amazon. When I went online to order it, it was $199, so I was happy. (It has since gone back to over $200)

It arrived a day earlier than originally projected, and in a moment or two, was installed. The first thing I noticed was what I didn't notice. You do not see the disk tray, since it is covered with a front panel, giving the Sony BDP-S560 a very sleek look. When you press the button to open the tray, the front panel opens revealing the tray which itself now opens. When closed, the front panel moves back into position.

I turned it on and was guided through the initial set-up. Including the WiFi set-up, within 5 minutes the unit was up and running and connected.

A word on the Wifi on this unit. I was happy to see that it has 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity. I have a (finally approved) Wireless N Dual Band router, so I was happy to see the newest standard included. When I got to the set-up I was further surprised that it recognized BOTH the 2.4 and 5.6 GHz bands and was able to connect it using the 5.6 GHz 802.11N band!

In order to take advantage of the BD-Live capabilities, you will need to insert a USB memory device (at least 1Mb) into the USB port on the back. There is also a USB port on the front to which you can connect a USB storage device to play MP3's or JPG's.

The WiFi can also be used to update the unit's firmware, and once the set-up was complete it informed me that a new firmware was available and did I want to install it now? I said yes and very quickly I was running with the most recent version. You can also set the device to inform you whenever a new firmware is available.

I'll be honest and let you know that I am not a audio-videophile so I won't talk to the issues of picture or audio features and quality, but for me everything is quite good, and the BD-Live features work as advertised. I am happy with it.

Now I have seen others complain about the remote and its lack of an open/close button. Is this really a big deal? Are your arms long enough so that you can remove the disk from across the room? And if you can, can't you just push the unobtrusive button on the front of the unit?

So if you are like me and have been waiting for a WiFi blu-ray player ... consider the Sony BDP-S560.