Sony® Blu-ray DiscTM Player BDP-BX2 Reviews
Other products by Sony Ratting 3.5 Out of 5.0 Special Offer Total New 25 Total Use 5
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Enjoy Blu-ray DiscTM movies in Full HD 1080p quality and upscale your existing DVDs to near high definition with the Sony® BDP-BX2 Blu-ray Disc player. Connect to the Internet and access bonus interactive features on BD-LiveTM enabled Blu-ray Disc movies [external memory (sold separately) is required], and experience stunning, high definition audio with support for enhanced audio formats including Dolby® TrueHD and dts®-HD Master Audio. HDMI cable included. Plays Blu-ray DiscTM movies in Full HD 1080p Plays DVDs and upscales them to near high definition via HDMITM BD-LiveTM ready (requires USB flash memory) Dolby® TrueHD and dts®-HD Master Audio decoding Deep color output and x.v.ColorTM support (HDMITMv1.3) Quick start-up mode (appox. 6 seconds) Xross Media BarTM (XMBTM) based menu system Manage compatible home theater devices with one remote HDMI cable included Audio Features: Dolby® : Yes & Dolby® TrueHD bitstream out over HDMITM (V1.3) Dolby® Digital plus Decoding : Yes Dolby® True HD bitstream output : Yes Dolby® TrueHD Decoding : Yes LPCM : Yes (multi channel decoder): Yes (HDMITM bitstream out) MP3 Playback : Yes (BD-R/RE/DVD+RW/+R/-RW/-R/CD-R,RW)5 dts® Decoding : Yes dts® HD bitstream output : Yes dts® Output : Yes, & /DTS®-HD bitstream out over HDMITM (V1.3)” Convenience: Menu Options : XMB® inspired media bar A/V Sync : Yes BRAVIA® SyncTM : Yes Bit Rate Indicator (Video) : Yes Child Lock : Yes Easy Setup : Yes FL LED Dimmer Off : Yes Multi Disc Resume : No Parental Control : Yes Quick Start Mode : Yes Startup Screen : Yes General:
Technical Details
- Enjoy Blu-ray DiscTM movies in Full HD 1080p quality and upscale your existing DVDs to near high definition
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“Fantastic player for the money” 2010-02-03
By Duke
Very satisfied with this purchase. The player has a sleek look and it is very quiet when playing blu-ray discs. Perfect choice for anybody who is interested in a more basic(not so many features) blu-ray player that offers top notch video and audio quality for the price. It worked perfectly right out of the box so I didn’t even bother connecting it to internet for updates. Highly recommended!
“Nice unit marred by audio/firmware and customer service issues” 2010-01-27
By Ross J. Berube
Sony does make good units (and this one basically is with one major problem), and Blu-Ray is still an evolving standard…
BUT:
I’m using an older Technics A/V receiver with an outboard Technics Dolby Digital decoder, that accepts coax, fiber, (both 5.1) and RCA (2.0) inputs, with 6 channel output to the receiver. So I don’t have an HDMI input/output loop in my receiver, mainly because I had been waiting for HDMI/HDCP to really settle down before retiring a [still-useful] A/V rig.
HDMI output of Sony Blu-Ray is going direct to TV. Unit’s oax output used to feed outboard decoder (decoder’s fiber input used by HD satellite box) for DD/AC-3 5.1 sound. Sony player is set to Coax/Optical Audio priority.
With the latest firmware downloaded and installed, I’m faced with a repeatable issue… Certain BluRay movies result in dead silence from coax output during the main program (with full sound present during all of the menus, previews, etc.). Note – not ALL movies.
I’m forced to exit the movie, change the settings to downmix the sound to basic stereo, and restart the movie – pain. And this incompatibility appears to be in contravention of Blu-Ray standards, as stated on http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/ – especially with a HDMI/HDCP compliant TV (heck, I get viewable signal from several other HDMI/HDCP devices…)
Some back and forth with Sony’s Tech Support via email finally got this response (verbatim quote): “I’m sorry that you are not completely satisfied with your Sony product. It is appreciated you’ve taken the time to share your comments with us. It is important to receive feedback so we may consider the needs of our customers in the future.” (My reading of the preceding: Thanks, go away, we don’t care.)
Barring a firmware update to fix this issue (or at least a polite lie promising one), I’m going to have to downgrade this unit rating to a failing grade and recommendation to stay away from Sony for the foreseeable future. Cheaper to change the player that the A/V gear…
“Works great! Slim on features and price!” 2010-01-24
By Trickster (San Diego, CA)
I bought the BDP-BX2 on sale at a depot store for a really good price. The Sony units are nice as they have both a Coaxial and a Optical digital audio out. I was hoping to use the Optical output to my older Kenwood receiver but was unable to. I could get no sound or the sound would come in and out. I thought it might be the unit so I exchanged it for a new one and had the same problem. The coaxial works fine though. The setup is fairly straight forward but you do have to be careful to set the audio settings to use the correct output. (HDMI, Coaxial/Optical, or Analog) You can even set the digital outputs to downmix to PCM format.
This is a basic unit and works perfectly for me. Component audio outputs would be nice, but the sound quality from the digital output is really good. Netflix capability would be nice but I can do that with my XBox. Load times aren’t that much longer than a regular DVD. Upgrading the firmware is a breeze when connected to a wired Ethernet. The unit looks great under my center-channel speaker on my entertainment center. I’m glad Sony started making black units instead of the original blue they were using.
I give 4 stars due to the lack of some features you get on more expensive units. The picture and audio are great!
“Sony Blue-Ray” 2010-01-14
By VIC
I received this player for Christmas and have now had time to watch numerous videos on it. This is my first Blu-Ray so I don’t have other to compare it to, only what I have read in other reviews.
First I will say this an inexpensive no-frills player. If you want bells and whistles you need to pay more and look elsewhere. On comparing the Blue-Ray format to the progressive scan (upconvert) DVD I find that the picture for most live action films is simply outstanding and an order of magnitude better. On animations such as the recent release of Sleeping Beauty to Blu-Ray the difference is only slight. However, I don’t see that as a function of the player but the actual film.
Setup for the machine was breeze and everything worked as advertised on setup. I am beginning to think that that is a rarity anymore. I haven’t had the machine long enough to testify to its reliability, but I have found Sony products to be generally reliable in the past.
There are only a few things that I have a problem with, and these are only small nits:
- I would prefer an eject button on the remote.
- I don’t like the idea of firmware updates. That implies they will be continually tinkering with this. Get the standard down and leave it alone. I have heard horror stories on these firmware updates. The other thing bad about this is the fact that you have to plug it into a network via a Cat5E cable. What do you do if you have no network?
- All of my other devices which use an HDMI cable allow me to have the sound through the TV or the Stereo amp at the same time. This allows me to choose how I want the audio with little effort. In this device you must set it up to play through one or the other. If you want to change it you must go back to the audio setup menu and reconfigure the device.
One other commenter said he experienced problems getting the cable TV remote programmed for this device. I use a Logitech Harmony 550 programmable remote for all my devices now and I had no problem getting this new unit programmed into that remote.
“My First Blu-Ray” 2009-12-15
By Watchluv (NC)
I purchased this player just to see the difference that Blu-Ray makes as to a typical DVD player. I was blown away while watching on my 1080p HDTV. The picture was mind blowing. I had no problems with it, everything works just fine. You will love it.
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