Sony BDP-S185 Blu-ray player

IPTV Week logo 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. …

[dotdavid]

Hmmm

"the player isn’t DLNA compliant and can’t stream content across a network ... The good news is that it still offers full access to the Sony Entertainment Network IPTV portal."

So what you're saying is that the software (probably the same base build as other Sony devices) has been crippled so other devices can be sold at a higher price point?

God I hate it when manufacturers do that.

That said, it looks a nice bit of kit otherwise.

[Darren Barratt]

Glass half full

Well, if it's been crippled in software, there's always the likelyhood that someone'll unlock its full potential with a firmware update

[williemaykit]

This BD player works really well. It would have been nice if it had wireless but it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

I grabbed it off Amazon for £74 as they included a 3 month 2 disc and unlimited streaming package.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a Sony

1) They will change the firmware on you to remove features (PS3)

2 ) Tell you what you can and can't watch on a PS3

3) Never Update driver and block you from doing so (Vaios)

4) Crippling drivers on purpose so you can't use stereo mix record (Ha Sony, Linux to the rescue)

5) Screw you the purchaser at some point in the future in some way that we haven't yet thought of.

So long Sony, you make Stalin look like a saint.

[Bit Brain]

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.

[Alan 6]

"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.

[Sean Key]

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).

[Greg 16]

4OD is a P2P service afaik and isn't supported on smart TV's or any devices like this.

ITVplayer is still in beta and is hardly supported on anything yet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Have one

It is a great wee player does exactly what you would expect for the price. Prefect for someone who is looking to get into BlueRay but not look to spend big money or like me, I got for the TV in the bedroom. Getting my Lovefilm account running on it took a whole 3 mins...WOW.

Yeah it does not have Netflix or DLNA but the American spec. for the S185 does mention them, so I'd say it is more than likely in the next software update.

As for the 4oD and ITV Player is this not more down to ITV and Channel 4. As they have to be willing to provide the content and have different tie-ins with different manufactures, that is why there is very few out there that do come with the full range of on demand services.

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a great wee player does exactly what you would expect for the price. Prefect for someone who is looking to get into BlueRay but not look to spend big money or like me, I got for the TV in the bedroom. Getting my Lovefilm account running on it took a whole 3 mins...WOW.

Yeah it does not have Netflix or DLNA but the American spec. for the S185 does mention them, so I'd say it is more than likely in the next software update.

As for the 4oD and ITV Player is this not more down to ITV and Channel 4. As they have to be willing to provide the content and have different tie-ins with different manufactures, that is why there is very few out there that do come with the full range of on demand services.

[Anonymous Coward]

FAT32 only? or NTFS also?

As above, was put off ordering one due to the lack of confirmation if it is NTFS capable from USB or can only read FAT32?

[tibor_g_balogh]

ntfs no problem

ETFs no problem for USB, only noticed that either long file-folder names of spaces in folder names a problem...

[Smint]

Major let down for me :(

I bought one of these via Amazon as a Xmas present to replace a DVD player during the festive season but had no end of trouble with it. Setup was all easy enough but it regularly gave a completely blank black screen together with sound cutting out for a few seconds while watching both on-line content and movies from discs. This would happen between 4 or 5 times an hour which really killed the immersion for watching something. After a few days the problem escalated where frequently the device would randomly completely switch itself off during movies too.

Returned to Amazon and got a new one sent out, very first film and it's still cutting out with the same blank screen during movies (still both streaming and from disc). Not tried it any further.

Nothing else plugged into the TV has any problems (Sky box via HDMI, Wii & previous DVD player) Have tried switching HDMI port & cable, firmware is updated. Guessing I'll need to return it for a refund :(

[Soundburst]

Hey!

I got the blank screen too! I was using a cheap hdmi cable I bought at the time from Argos.

As a last resort before getting an exchange I used the hdmi cable that I use with virgin media hd box and it worked perfectly!!

Perhaps it needs a specific cable specification or something?

[tibor_g_balogh]

Sony Blue-Ray player

Fantastic! Streams audio/video from USB connected hard drive, from internet, Pandora, Hullu... At $89 it was very reasonable, someone could add shoutcast podcasting capabilit, but already a very good usefull device!

-tibor

[Matt_Lohr]

fatal flaw: no long-term pause

My PS3, which I primarily use for BD playback, started blinking red after four years, so I bought the BDP-S185 as a replacement. I generally approve of this unit, but it has a fatal flaw: After 30 minutes on pause, the unit automatically shuts down. This setting cannot be changed.

As we know, most Blu-rays are deliberately mastered to force viewers to watch or skip through minutes of junk to get to the feature. Because of this, and generally long disc load times, I want a player that I can pause and walk away from indefinitely (perhaps this is why my PS3 died).

Rather than buy another standalone BD player with long-term pause, I will pay Sony $99 to repair/replace my PS3. (Plus, this will let me play Uncharted 11: Drake's Arthritis in a few years.)

[DanielFriedrich]

Powered USB?

Can the USB port power a 2.5 inch hard drive?

[robstok]

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

[jason 7]

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.

[Citizen Kaned]

IT DOES THIS...

its just that some disks take longer to initially load with all the menus and java crap they have on. i have never had a BR disk not load etc. i once had to update my firmware to play avatar but thats not a big issue

oddly the ps3 is instant but my pioneer takes a while on some disks.

[Bronek Kozicki]

Panasonic's BD player I have is very much like "open close play" DVD. I also upgraded it with ICOS chip to support all BD regions and dread the moment I will have to replace it with newer unit, since dust in my area is killing all types of disk players after few years of use. Newer unit is also going to sport ICOS chip, that's for sure, and most likely will be a Panasonic. That's my way of showing middle finger to Sony, in recognition to their efforts to DRM cripple everything I want to play.