There’s no difference between the two players other than the Ultra HD scaling which brings nothing to the party when compared to the processing capabilities of the 4K TVs from Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Sony, themselves. Perhaps the questions here are: Do I own or plan to own an Ultra HD TV? If yes, is it from one of the big-name manufacturers and should I just hold out for an Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray player? If the first answer is ‘yes’ proceed to question two and if that answer is also in the affirmative, you might as well save yourself a few pounds and get the Sony BDP-S5500 instead. Mac blu ray player reviews tv#It’s a well made, if uninspiring, unit with a good remote control and a great selection of major video streaming services and the unusual ability to detect and playback movies and TV shows at the correct framerates from some of them. It also handles DVDs brilliantly, too, with crisp, well defined scaling and, if you need it, the S6500 can also scale all the way up to 4K resolutions. The Sony BDP-S6500 is another excellent Blu-ray disc player able to handle both two and three dimensional Blu-ray discs with no issues whatsoever. We have no reliable way of checking Sony’s ‘Super WiFi’ claims but it was certainly rock-solid in even the most testing room in the house, which is three doors and three walls away from our router. It’s probably here more than any other area where the performance of the BDP-S6500 outstrips the budget Sony players with generally excellent playback from video streaming services, due to its ability to detect and play 24p correctly. There is no detail suppression or nasty ringing artefacts and when the source is good – particularly with high quality animated titles – the output of the S6500 is excellent. Scaling algorithms are clearly well established now and this is evidenced by the Sony’s ability to bring SD resolution content up to a very acceptable standard on even quite a large HDTV. It’s here that the opportunity for a players’ processing engine gets a bit more chance to shine and the BDP-S6500 is definitely not found wanting. Movies shot at 24p (which make up the vast majority) are handled flawlessly but even those rare 1080i60 discs provide lovely images, thanks to its excellent video deinterlacing capabilities It would be worth screaming from the rooftops if it were any other way but, as with just about every player we’ve tested, the video output of the BDP-S6500 was excellent, with no unnecessary processing, nor colour issues or unwanted noise reduction goings-on, provided its left at the default settings. So, it would probably be fair to say that if you’re the owner of a ‘top brand’ Ultra HD TV – Sony, Samsung, LG & Panasonic – you’re not likely to see any improvement using the scaling algorithms of the BDP-S6500 but if you own something more budget, you may notice a slight improvement. Using two different Ultra HD TVs to compare – a Samsung JS8500 and a Finlux 55UT3E242S-T – with slightly differing results whilst we could definitely see a slight benefit from the Sony scaling against the Finlux, if anything the Samsung TV made a better job of it than the BDP-S6500, albeit the differences were extremely minor. Since the Ultra HD ‘upscaling’ capability is the only differentiator between this model and the BDP-S5500, we thought we might as well start by testing it out. Mac blu ray player reviews android#You can use screen mirroring (Miracast) to send media from a compatible Android smartphone or tablet, should you wish. We were a bit surprised that there was no standard network media player on-board the S4500, instead you’re limited to accessing files via USB storage but at least file type support is very strong and it will play most of what you throw at it. There is a pointer mode that helps with browser navigation but little else to get excited over other than being able to directly launch apps. SideView’s biggest asset is it programme guide companion but that’s not needed here so you’re limited to using it as a network remote control. The BDP-S6500 can also hook up with Sony’s excellent SideView app, although its application is a bit limited for a Blu-ray player. To be honest, Opera doesn’t have much worth shouting about, in our opinion, but you may find something of interest if you look hard enough. There is also a rudimentary web browser which is near impossible to use with the supplied remote and there’s the Opera TV store, as well, to bolster the available content.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |