GizmoSpy » DVD Players

Sony BDP-S360 Blu-ray DVD player

GizmoPaul — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:06:14 +0000

Sony have come up with a great entry level Blu-ray player which is a great way for someone new to Blu-ray who wants to try a box at the budget end of the market. The BDP-S360 may not have the extended features of a more expensive player but the sound and vision that is on offer makes up for this.

The player doesn’t look anything remarkable on the outside. It comes in an all black finish with a blue light which look ok. It’s quite slim and only a few buttons on the front keep it clutter free. On the rear are an array of sockets which are fairly basic with this being an entry model. You get the important HDMI socket and with it being a version 1.3 socket you get the HD audio bitstreams, Deep Colour and x.v.Colour support. Component and composite ports offer further video output options should they be required. For audio the best option is the HDMI output which will play Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio bitstreams as well as the standard Dolby Digital and DTS soundtrack. If you do not have HDMI then also available are and optical and coaxial output which allow Dolby Digital and DTS output.

Unfortunately because of the limited options on this player the only web connectivity is via an ethernet port and this will also require at least a 1Gb flash USB drive connected to the USB port to store any movies downloaded. Speaking of the USB port this is only used for the DB Live Storage and cannot therefore be used to playback other digital forms such as MP3 and JPEG. The only option to play these is via the CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs.

With these limitations aside this Blu-ray player does offer some good options. It offers 1080/24p output, DVD upscaling to 720p, 1080i and 1080p. It also offers BRAVIA sync if you have a Sony Bravia television. Another neat feature is the Precision Drive which can handle scratched or damaged discs much better than other Blu-ray players.

The operating system and menu controls are some of the best around and are based on the same operating system for the PS3. It’s intuitive and graphical which again for an entry level player make it appealing. The main menu system is horizontal with drop downs for sub menus using big icons. There are some sound and vision options available to change the modes for different environments. There are 3 available for video, Standard, Brighter Room or Theatre Room and on the Audio side there are 3 noise reduction modes. To compliment the easy to use menus there is an easy to use remote control. The buttons are sensibly positioned.

The Sony has two boot up modes, Standard which takes around 22 seconds and Quick Start which takes just 6 seconds to boot although the power consumption is higher when in this mode.

The Good
For an entry level box the Sony BDP-S360 offers great sound and vision which gives a good feel of the quality Blu-ray can offer. The operating system and ease of use is great for those looking for an entry to the Blu-ray market. There are some neat options and the remote control make the BDP-S360 easy to use.

The Bad
The lack of connections let this great product down a bit. The lack of wireless and reliance of Ethernet and USB to download and store movies are disappointing especially as the PS3 offers this so would have been good even on entry level. Although the boot up time is good the time taken to load discs can be slow to get to the initial menu screen.

Conclusion
This is a great product for those looking for their first Blu-ray player. For the money it offers good quality sound and vision and whereas compared to more expensive products the spec is basic, in the lack of WiFi, built in memory and USB media playback, for the price you can’t expect these features to be standard. We think this product is great for those on a budget and Sony do know who to do great quality audio and visual.

Toshiba SD290EKB

GizmoStu — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:34:44 +0000

We got our hands on a Toshiba SD290EKB as we had heard some good things about this low budget model. Toshiba are renound for their quality products so we were exciting to give this DVD player a test run.

The Good

Pulling the SD290EKB out of the box we were pleased to see it was a proper full size unit, unlike some of the others at the low budget end of the market which are dinky little boxes. One of the first things we noticed was the USB connector on the front which allows connection of an external hard drive or memory stick, which when combined with the SD290EKB’s built in Divx playback capabilities allows you to transfer divx movies from your computer onto your memory stick and play them directly without the need to burn any discs at all, very nifty for a DVD player in this price range in our opinion!

It played every single recordable disc we threw at it without any problems, DVDR/W +/- CDR/W. The SD290EKB also has the ability to play MP3 and JPEG files, while we don’t particularly use these features very much there are probably many that do and it’s nice to have as a free extra. Dolby digital support is also included as well DTS.

Picture quality is excellent, it even blew our Sony PS3 out of the water in terms of clarity on divx playback. It also supports multi region playback, if you want to make the SD290EKB fully region free we managed to find the following way to unlock it:

“First of all turn on the dvd player, open the disc tray and then enter 98790. It will now change to region 0 making it able to watch all regions.”

The Bad

More of a little gripe really but there is no HDMI connector on this model, even though there are some stores quoting that there is, so if that’s your only option for hooking the unit up to your telly then the SD290EKB isn’t much use to you.

Conclusion

The Toshiba SD290EKB is almost perfect for the amount of money it costs, very simple to use and supports pretty much everything as long as you don’t need a HDMI connection. It has a multitude of features that a lot of the more expensive models have at a fraction of the price. An absolute bargain.

Technika HDMISS09 DVD Player

GizmoStu — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:09:53 +0000

If you are on the market for an affordable HDMI upscaling DVD player then the latest offering from Technika may well be the one for you, it may not be the belle of the ball when it comes to looks but it more than makes up for it in functionality.

For those who have a modern HDTV the HDMISS09 has a HDMI output positioned at the rear and will upscale the picure to 1080p HD quality ensuring you get the best clarity from those old DVDs, it also has a standard scart connector so no matter what type of TV you have you can rest assured that Technika’s latest offering will work for you.

The Technika HDMISS09 has the ability to playback numerous types of media, CD/R/RW, DVD/-R/+R/-RW and is MP3, JPEG, MPEG-4, Xvid compatible. So really makes life easy without the need to do any of that pesky converting before burning your discs off. It also plays both NTSC and PAL without any problems.

Even though it isn’t the prettiest standalone we have ever seen, it is reasonably small and lightweight, plus with it’s price tag and features it will be hard to beat.