Sony - Streaming Blu-ray Disc player with Built-In Wi-Fi and HDMI cable - Black

Because of the Pandemic and Self-Quarantine my wife and I ordered many full DVD series of our favorite shows to escape boredom. We ordered them 'on-line' from Best Buy and had them delivered to our home. Some of them included the complete DVD series of Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, Golden Girls, and Becker to name a few of our favorites. Our decade-old DVD player did a decent job of playing these DVDs for the most part, but would constantly skip when I least expected it. Even though I ran the sound through my AV Amplifier it was disappointing, not energizing or full-bodied. So, when I had an opportunity to review the Sony Blu-Ray Disc/DVD Player, BDP-BX370 in exchange for the actual product I was excited. What was interesting for me to note is that this Sony cost only a third of what my older DVD player did. And, it is a high resolution, Blu-Ray with numerous other features and updated sound codecs. We can now play Blu-Ray Discs, which would NOT play on our older unit. WooHoo! My wife bought the complete Downton Abbey series from Best Buy and all of the 21 Disc-Set was Blu-Ray. Our older DVD player read these discs as an 'error' in the reading process. This Sony allows us to play them in high visual definition (1080P) on our 'Smart-TV'. My wife is 'super-happy'. What is also impressive is that the sound connected through my high-end AV Receiver is dynamic, robust, and fully adjustable using my 'equalizers'. LOVE IT! The footprint of this Sony Blu-Ray player is amazing. It is a scant 9 1/8 inches Wide by 7 ¾ inches Deep, and only 1 and 9/16 inches High. It weighs approximately 1 Pound and 13 Ounces. The 'Learning Curve' of this unit is so intuitive and simple. It took me all of ten minutes to take this unit out of the box, read the directions, and hook-up. YooHoo! Here are the 'Other' Features this Sony Blu-Ray Disc/DVD Player, BDP-BX370 offers: * NETWORK CONNECTION– Using a Hard-Wired LAN connection from Sony unit to Home Router. * Wi-Fi CONNECTION – Using Wireless LAN built into this unit just follow the simple instructions in 'Settings' on the Home Page. Have your router password handy. This is ONLY a 2.4GHz Wireless connection. However, if you plan to do a lot of 'streaming' over the Internet using this Sony I suggest you hard-wire the LAN connection directly from this Sony to your Home Router for more bandwidth. * APPS– You can choose from a multitude of Apps categorized in 'Settings' on the Home Page. Nice! However, many popular Apps are NOT available at this time. * REMOTE – Easy to use and responsive. Can incorporate TV settings if applicable code settings are listed as 'controllable' TVs. * ENHANCED SOUND – I connected my Sony directly to my AV Amp through HDMI cables, but a coaxial digital cable can also be used. With the 'updated' sound codecs I am impressed with the sound reproduction. * SOFTWARE UPDATE – As long as this Sony is connected to the Internet through the 'settings' it an easily be updated. * CHILD LOCK – This is important to me concerning my younger Grand Children. * SCREEN MIRRORING – An image, video, or other media can be displayed to my Smart TV through this Sony from a compatible mobile device. How cool is that? In summary I highly recommend this affordable, feature-packed Sony Blu-Ray Disc/DVD Player, BDP-BX370. Outstanding video resolution and sound. You can spend a lot more money on a higher end Blu-Ray player, but in comparison for features this Sony is a bargain!

REVIEW: SONY BLU-RAY DISC PLAYER WITH BUILT-IN WI-FI BDP-BX370 GOOD THING (Sony Blu-Ray player) in a SMALL PACKAGE (bdp-bx370) The Sony BDP-BX370 is a solid well-built and easy to use blu-ray (and DVD) disc player, that also is a good all-around streamer. As physical media slowly goes the way of the dodo, it is important to have a reliable player for your existing (legacy) media as well as a device that supports modern streaming needs. Or another way to look at it, for less than the price of many dedicated media streamers, you also get a blu-ray player. One area where Sony has really come a long way is being able to support DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance), and MKV (Matroska Video) format for local streaming from my NAS (Network Attached Storage) server. My Sony TV, which is not that old, actually locks up when I play most MKV’s and has to be unplugged and rebooted to start working again. This is a must have for me, as I always watch my videos from my NAS and put the physical media away for safe keeping. Now I can play MKV’s and other formats with ease through the Sony BDP-BX370. PRO’s - Compact Design, yet sturdy enough - Compact but well organized remote (also can control Sony TV) - Fast Start Option (when enabled) - Included Cable - WiFi enabled (ALSO HAS LAN PORT) - USB Port for local media SETUP and TESTING The Sony BDP-BX370 was easy to setup, like any other device, just connect to your systems and configure your wireless network. The remote automatically recognized my Sony TV and soundbar so I am able to control both from the included remote. I was able to play almost anything from my NAS server, with the exception of UHD 4K (expected) and HD Dolby Atmos Tracks (hopeful, but expected). Music was fine, no issues but I would have liked a PLEX app. SUMMARY / CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATION The Sony BDP-BX370 does everything you need / expect from a name brand Blu-Ray Player as well as streaming most popular platforms and local devices through DLNA support. Do note that it is not a 4K device. This means that you are streaming at HD (not 4K) and that it is not upscaling to 4K, when connected to a 4K TV. For most people this does not matter, as your 4K TV will handle the upscaling for you. You just might not be able to stream “native” 4K content at highest resolution. However, also note that to get to a 4K UHD player you might need to invest 3X or 4X more. (I can also highly recommend the Sony UHD 4K player, which I also own). I could not think of anything more to ask from a blu-ray player at this price point. It does everything I can think of.

I got this to replace my old bedroom DVD player and to update to Blue-Ray. First of all, I really like the form factor. Its only about 6 inch by 7inch in size, so it’s very compact and fits nicely under the tv’s short stand. This ensures it stays somewhat hidden but also maintains a clear line of sight for the remote to function efficiently. As for the primary purpose here, I tried a couple Blue-rays and was blown away. I have Blue-ray on my primary TV but I guess not having it on the other TV makes the upgrade much more dramatic! Full 1080p HD makes a huge difference. I also put in a couple older Christmas movie DVD’s and wanted to see how well the upscaling was. It did make a significant difference on a few couple that I tested. On some of the others ( maybe older), there was less of an improvement. Sound quality was excellent. I tried it with the tv and also with my smaller soundbar and the soundbar definitely took advantage of the Dolby and DTS-HD. One minor thing, other than the HDMI for sound there is only a digital audio jack and not an optical connection. Not that big of a deal, just know that you will need that type of cable if you expect to use it. Streaming was as expected, smooth and simple. I tested both Netflix and Youtube without any issues. One thing to do during setup is make sure you select the “Quick Start”. It basically speeds up the power up and access to the menu. There might be a very tiny increase in power consumption but if you use this player frequently, you will want that turned on. Options abound in the setup menu, very customizable. You can set it to notify you if there is a software update. Mine updated at least twice I think after setting it up. It also comes with an HDMI cable that appears to be a good quality which is a nice feature, especially at the price point. I did try the “casting” from my phone. I am on Android and use chrome to “cast” to the blue-ray player. There were a couple glitches but after two tries, I was able to quickly cast a youtube video from my phone to the unit. That is always nice if you want to quickly take advantage of the big screen without having to stop, fire up the app, search and then display. Overall I am very pleased with the unit. Other than the casting and a couple times the menu seemed to pause, everything else worked as described. I would recommend this unit.

The Sony Blu-Ray/DVD Player model BDP-BX370 seems to be a great deal for the features you get at the asking price. I had no problem setting it up with my other hardware which includes my TV, soundbar with subwoofer, and Dish receiver. I was easily able to add it to my remote via my harmony hub by plugging it into my PC and adding the device into the Master bedroom setup using the watch a movie button on my remote to activate the necessary hardware. The Player comes with YouTube and is miracast capable which is great but when I tried using it from my wifes phone and casting to the TV via the Blu-Ray player the picture looked bad. I ended up just signing out from the phone and signing her into her YouTube account on the player and then used a wired connection for the internet. It should not have been a problem with wireless considering we have gigabit fiber service and Netgear Orbi’s all over the house. It could have been due to some type of interference, not really sure but I expected better. The Sony BDP-BX370 has a good user interface that was easy to navigate and it also has a nice controller as well as a decent assortment of available apps for streaming. My wife wants to use it for dance exercise videos and I was impressed by the picture it produced from a regular DVD. It was very sharp and clear! I did notice the sound was not as loud compared to when we are watching TV through the Dish system for some reason but we can just turn it up or I may be able to change some settings for that. I put it on surround so maybe I should set it to stereo and try that. It has other sound settings as well like PCM and Dolby so there is a comprehensive settings menu. I would say for the price you can’t go wrong if you are looking for a 1080p Blu-Ray/DVD player; it has to upscale built-in for older DVDs to make them look close to 1080p. Overall it is very feature-packed for an item at the price point it is set at and I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone.

For those of us that like to stream content, but still also like to enjoy our DVD and Blu-ray libraries, this is a great option. Pros: - Plays DVDs, Blu-Rays, and CDs perfectly well - Menus function well, with fairly low lag when going from screen to screen. Apps load well and function without issue. - An HDMI cable is included! Some manufacturers try to save a few bucks by not including them. - Disc tray is nicely hidden to give the unit a very sleek look. - Despite having a disc drive, the form factor is excellent. You can fit this device nearly anywhere. I've shared a photo with a deck of cards for scale. - Has a standby feature that helps you turn it on and off very quickly. I have not come across anything that I don't like about this Blu-ray player yet. It should come in nice and handy when we want to watch some of our old favorites or if our internet service ever goes down!

This affordable Blu-Ray player has great picture and sound quality in a compact size. I was impressed WPS as an option to quickly connect to the Wi-Fi. There are some down sides to a sub-hundred-dollar player, but I believe Sony hit the correct balance in giving the user the best experience for the price. Pros Easy Wi-Fi setup with WPS Fast bootup Compact size Netflix and YouTube app loaded Cons Lacks ability to add apps such as Disney+, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Disappointing app loading speeds If you still use Blu-Ray or DVD discs or do not have access to high-speed internet and are on a budget, I would highly recommend this player. If you are hoping that this player can add smart functions to an older TV and want to use many popular apps, I would first check to see if your desired app is included, or consider buying a Roku instead.

I would only recommend this player if you are looking to play CD, DVD or non-4k Blu-ray disc . If you own a 4k TV or 4k Blu-ray disc then you definitely want to pass on this model. Also the streaming capability is very limited due to the lack of common apps – no Amazon, Spotify, Hulu, Discovery, Disney or many other popular apps that you can find on the vast majority of streaming devices today. Because of this I would not recommend this player for streaming purposes. Setup And Streaming: Getting the player operational was fairly straight forward. Once I connected the hdmi cable and powered it up I was able to connect it to my wireless network without issue. This is where the disappointment started because the home screen has very few of the popular streaming apps and there is no way to add ones that are missing. I also noticed that the app selection process was slow and tedious, its definitely not in the same class as even the lower cost Roku or Amazon sticks available today. The remote control’s size and functionality were good and it worked well with the player. Playing: This is where this player really shined. The DVD and Blu-ray load times were very fast. I was able to play music CDs that were purchased as well as created on my pc. I was able to play every type of DVD including home videos I created on DVDs using my pc. The player did a reasonably good job upscaling the DVDs to HD but it was definitely obvious that it was being upscaled due to the clarity of the resolution. I was also able to play Blu-ray content and the HD resolution was fantastic. The clarity and colors were great and typical of what you would expect from a Sony device. The player has a USB port on the front of the unit and I was able to play music, display photos and play videos from a USB drive. The only downside of this player is that there are no controls (play, stop, fast forward, rewind, pause) on the front of the player so you are totally reliant on the remote control. If you ever lose the remote any universal remote should work but its definitely an inconvenience to not have the standard function buttons on the front of the player. Pros: - Played every CD, DVD and non-4k Blu-ray disc that I tried. - Played music files, photos and video files using the USB port - Compact design and small footprint - Fast at loading DVD and Blu-ray disc - Supports wi-fi as well as hard wired ethernet connections Cons: - Doesn’t support many popular apps and there is no way to add them - No front panel control buttons (Play, Stop, Fast Forward, Rewind, Pause) - Doesn’t upscale to 4k or support 4k content - Streaming functions were tedious and slow

I have to say when I opened the box I was surprised at how small this Sony Blue Ray DVD player is. It is real small and very light, but it packs a punch. It comes with all you need to get started in terms of a remote and an HDMI cable. It was very easy to set-up and the unit has the ability to connect by wi-fi. On the menu are a number of the well known apps. The DVD player plays all the standard disc formats and also offers screen mirroring which has become popular by way of the fact that it seems to be offered on many products these days. The wi-fi connection worked flawlessly for me. The unit and our wi-fi found each other without issue. Screen mirroring from the cell phone works quite well too. The DVD player starts almost immediately after the disc is inserted and the video quality is quite good, but remember video quality is also tied to the quality of your HDMI cable as well as the device. The remote is pretty standard no great features, but it works well and is responsive. Sound quality is also very good. If you are like me and you still feel the need for a DVD player and you have DVDs near and dear to you then this player is a very good choice. The Sony name and the Sony quality make this DVD very attractive. Small yes, but mighty indeed.