Sony BDP-S4500 Blu-ray Player Review & Comments

Great review, very thorough.


I get really annoyed with these players having noisy drives. It's a fundamental requirement for playback to be silent in my opinion.
I've been through a couple of blu ray players that were noisy, I currently have a Sony bdps370 and it has a very distracting high pitched whine during playback. My slim PS3 does a much better job.

We barely have a one meg connection here, so smart tv features are of no interest!

Any recommendations for a 3d capable blu ray player that is mechanically quiet during replay for around £100 or less?
Smart features are not necessary but good reliable playback is a must!
 
Totally agree. All I want from a blu-ray player is great picture and sound quality and for it be be very quiet. Don't care about all the streaming crap as pretty much every other device I own already does that.
 
Why is it surprising that there is no built in wifi.

There is the 4500 with wired ethernet and the 5500 with built in wifi. If you want built in wifi then you pat a little extra for the 5500. If you don't want it then say a few piunds and get the 4500.

What does annoy me about all of these budget BDPs is the lack of memory for BD features. You have to provide your own using a USB stick - I'm more than happy with that but not that they don't provide a usb socket on the back for it. Instead you have to use the one on the front which means that (a) you have an untidy usb stick present for normal operation (b) you have to remove it every time you want to plug in a media drive.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I'm glad Sony didn't decide to 'texture' the surfaces of the player, like the LG BP450 , or texture & curve it like the Samsung BD-J5900.


Agreed - hate that. It's why I ended up with the Sony because I just wanted a clean looking BDP. The textures, one rounded corner, pyramids just don't do it for me. The previous Sony was a pyramid of all things!!!!

Even with this one they couldn't resist putting a needless strip of brushed black metal on the front top - what on earth for.

Is the target market for budget BDPs that shallow that they buy on shapes and textures.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I would be interested in finding out how these players handle mkv etc movie files from USB from a stick or USB powered hard drive
 
sometimes these players do not have the juice to power a USB powered hard drive resulting in juddering playback and poor motion tracking also can they handle HD audio formats a lot of media players fall down in this respect
 
sometimes these players do not have the juice to power a USB powered hard drive resulting in juddering playback and poor motion tracking also can they handle HD audio formats a lot of media players fall down in this respect


Just done a quick test. Bear in mind all my stuff in destined for my garage conversion so is in boxes at the moment until the main work is done.

But I hooked it up to my Sony 55W829 TV and connected my 1TB WD 'My Passport' USB 3.0 flash drive. The drive was detected straight away and the contents displayed. I did a few quick tests - The Interview (1080P MP4) and Game of Thrones (1080P MKV). Both appeared to play without any issue.

Caveat - these were quick 5 minute tests.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Thanks Nigel this is good to know I've been through a couple of media players that can't handle a USB powered hard drive and haven't found one that will pass through DTS MA and Dolby true but my Sony S5200 Bluray is pretty good at playing back files from my USB hard drive
 
Interesting, for built-in wifi you can opt for the Sony BDP-S3500, which gives you wifi INSTEAD of 3D for the exact same price. I guess they need to give people options. I personally would pick wifi over 3D every time, but I know others appreciate 3D presentations, so I won't judge.
 
I have this and would agree with the review. The player is usually pretty quiet when spinning a disc, but can occasionally be noisy. Taking the disc out and putting it back in again usually sorts it. A bit confused by the comment about no media server. I've played back stuff on my PC (once the appropriate software is put on the PC itself). MKV, AVI and MP4 files all seem to play well.

I use this for streaming, both Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video. One thing that bothers me is that the Amazon app takes a minute or so to get the picture into HD whereas the Netflix app does it within seconds. (I have fibre broadband of 30-35 Mb/sec so it's not the bandwidth. I also watch Amazon Instant Video on my PC and don't get the lag, so it's not the Amazon servers.)

Anyone else seen this?
 
I own this, bought in a recent 20% off plus cash back day from Sony £58 with free delivery its hooked up via Ethernet so no WiFi required, produces a good picture, is nice and compact has smart features that I don't use and does 3d (rarely used) it feels a bit flimsy but for the money very good.
 
Great review, very thorough.


I get really annoyed with these players having noisy drives. It's a fundamental requirement for playback to be silent in my opinion.
I've been through a couple of blu ray players that were noisy, I currently have a Sony bdps370 and it has a very distracting high pitched whine during playback. My slim PS3 does a much better job.

We barely have a one meg connection here, so smart tv features are of no interest!

Any recommendations for a 3d capable blu ray player that is mechanically quiet during replay for around £100 or less?
Smart features are not necessary but good reliable playback is a must!

Personally I find the PS3 Slim whiney while viewing and clunky for skipping/chapter menu selection.
 
Personally I find the PS3 Slim whiney while viewing and clunky for skipping/chapter menu selection.

It's nothing compared to my blu ray player!
 
Just watched a blu ray last night on my old PS3 fat...wow that was noisy!
 
Hi. I'd like to revive this thread and ask if the S4500 is really slower and louder than S5500, like the reviews on avforums claim. Or maybe they are just the same, but the S5500 has a built-in wifi?

Thanks.
 
Does anybody happen to know if the web browser on this (or related models) supports HTML5 video?
Thanks
 
Hi guys

I am looking to buy the remote control of this DVD.. If you have one to spare I will be happy to buy it of your hands.. many thanks!! David in London
 
Will this player stream from a Plex server on my Mac Server?
 

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