Sony BDP-S185 Blu-ray player
A little gem
Review
The BDP-S185 is the latest entry-level player in Sony's standalone Blu-ray range. It’s also the smallest and lightest model, at a mere 290mm wide and 1.15kg. With these reduced dimensions, comes a similarly diminished specification: the player isn’t DLNA compliant and can’t stream content across a network.
Entry-level entertainer: Sony's BDP-S185 Blu-ray player
It’s not 3D capable either – I can hear your wails of anguish – and lacks Super Audio CD compatibility too. But given it sells for £90 or less, such omissions are forgivable. The good news is that it still offers full access to the Sony Entertainment Network IPTV portal.
Sony’s little space saver comes in a choice of two finishes, silver and black. And with a distinctive brushed-aluminium top plate, it certainly doesn’t look cheap. Much of the player’s size reduction is due to the fact that the power supply has been outed to an external brick, but there’s also some admirable construction at work here.
Bare essentials on the back
Connections include a single HDMI, phono AV and coaxial digital outputs, as well as Ethernet. There’s no integrated Wi-Fi. A front facing USB port is provided for local media playback. The zapper is an economy grade version of Sony’s usual remote. Multimedia playback support from USB is excellent. MTS, MKV, AVI, WMV and MP4 video files all unspool, while audio support covers MP3, AAC, WMA and LPCM.
Significantly, for some users at least, this player does not support Cinavia copy control. Cinavia’s arrival on the PS3 kicked up quite a stink, and it’s become common on other Sony hardware. However, a video file dowsed in the offending DRM played quite happily on the BDP-S185. In every other respect, the player behaves much like its highly regarded stablemates, sharing the same distinctive XrossmediaBar UI and intuitive usability.
Next page: Network niceties
COMMENTS
"So long Sony, you make Stalin look like a saint."
I'm fairly sure Sony have so far failed to kill 20 million people, so on balance, they don't make Stalin look like a saint.
The USB port won't directly provide enough power to support an external hard drive. My work around was one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003HHK576/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnk with the red USB port connected to an iPhone charger.
This is my only minor gripe, other than that think this is very good value and have been pleased with it
Blimey.....
.....reading through some of these posts either some folks are trying too hard or living with Blu-Ray is a real struggle.
What happened to the simple 'open close play' of DVD?
Step backwards me thinks.
To be fair…
…they seem to have been quite good at providing firmware updates for the Blu-ray player I have (BDP-S370) and haven't removed any functionality, instead adding extra IPTV options.
Don't make the mistake I did though - be pessimistic not optimistic
I bought an earlier one of these Sony players. While it is good hardware, the net services have never lived up to expectations. Mine has BBC IPlayer on and Demand 5, which run really well on it.
When I bought it though I was expecting ITVPlayer and 4OD as well, to arrive as future updates. Updates do arrive, but they are generally for obscure German golfing channels and other rubbish.
There's even a Facebook campaign for similarly let down customers called "COME ON SONY, when is ITV Player and 4OD coming to Sony Bravia Internet TVs", for example, a recent post from there is:
<snip> but why oh why have Sony just given us access to Wired, Epicurious.com, Concierge.com and Style.com et al? It's like they've looked at the half empty shelves and decided to fill up the gaps with whatever they could pick up at the local car boot sale. Do Sony ever discuss with their customers what they'd like to see/ recieve/use their equipment for? Please, please, talk to your customer base and make this a two way process. If Sony are paying for the above content I'd love to meet the exec who made the choice for their short list"... a german golfer maybe...
So, when deciding what to buy, don't make the mistake I did though - be pessimistic not optimistic if your interested in things like 4OD, ITV Player, NetFlix etc.
Mine does do LoveFilm now (after 3 years).
