CEDIA Sees Sony's BDP-N460 Networked Blu-ray Player
In the wake of several new Blu-ray players unveiled this week, Sony have waited until the CEDIA show in Atlanta to give the public their first official look at the BDP-N460, a streaming Blu-ray player. Although this isn't a new feature to the industry - as both LG and Samsung produce players which have the same functionality - it marks Sony's first step into the world of Blu-ray combined with online streaming media.
The BDP-N460 will provide viewers with the chance to watch content over Sony's own Bravia Internet Video service and also stream video from YouTube and Internet radio from Slacker. There is also word of a firmware update sometime later this year which will add NetFlix support too. Getting connected will involve an Ethernet cable or the purchase of a Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge, and only a specific model made by Linksys, as the N460 does not have built-in Wi-Fi.
Otherwise, it's business as usual on the Blu-ray side, with BD-Live support, a USB socket (which will have to be filled to make use of any downloadable content), 1080p, upscaling DVD and onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding. The BDP-N460 will be on sale in the USA in October and will retail for $250. We wonder though, at this price point, how many Sony fans will decide to splash out a further $50 and pick up a PS3 Slim instead?
The Sony BDP-N460's attractive mix of Blu-ray performance, relatively low price, and streaming media options--including Netflix--make it a solid midrange pick, despite some missing features.
Posted by: 32gb micro sd card | February 08, 2010 at 06:18 AM