Best Bluray Player

Sony Bluray Players

Sony BDPS550

Sony BDPS550When you take the Sony BDPS550 out of the box, the first thing you'll notice is that it looks and feels like a good quality bluray player. The shiny blue fascia really does make a good impression, and you can't quite get a sense of it from the pictures you might have seen. It also has a sturdy, solid feel to it. While it's worth reading the instructions with the Sony BDPS550, as there's a lot of cool things it can do, if you just want to plug it in and get a movie on, you'll be able to do that in no time. It's very quick and easy to set this player up.

Sony's BDPS550 is a full HD bluray player that delivers both high quality pictures and sound. Let's just talk about the sound for a moment, as it's often overlooked with all the talk about HD picture quality. The sound is 7.1 channel surround sound and it's far superior to that of even a high end DVD player. The sound is crisp, sharp and as good when there's a quiet scene, as it is with roaring explosions and orchestral scores.

A lot of people invested in PS3s when they came out specifically to get a bluray player. However, the quality of the Sony BDPS550 is noticeably better than the PS3. The HD images are nothing short of incredible. Sharp, fluent and highly detailed.

There's a massive range of connection options at the back, with support for older AV receivers, and of course HDMI, which is what most people will want to use. The Sony BDPS550 also features Profile 2 technology so you can get access to all kinds of extra interactive content, interactive menus and so on.

This player has got very high reviews at Amazon from other users too and is a staggeringly good player.

Click here for more info on the Sony BDPS550

Sony BDPS350

Sony BDPS350I bought this bluray player for £220 at my local Blockbuster video. As you can see, the price has fallen way below that now. I'm just a regular sort of movie watcher, upgrading from DVD to Bluray, and here's my experience with the Sony BDPS350.

On taking it out of the box, the first thing I noticed was how good this unit looks. I'm not really a hi-fi geek and don't especially care how DVD players, TVs etc look - as long as they work. However, I have to say the design on the Sony BDPS350 is just beautiful. A shimering metallic blue. It looks solid and feels like a real quality product when you hold it. It's also got a very slim profile.

Turning it around, you can see there's a simply insane amount of audio and video ports on the back. And there's a network port too - although I haven't connected it to the web yet.

My only interest with the connections was HDMI. I've got a 40" Sony Bravia and couldn't wait to see what an HD movie would look like! As with pretty much every other bluray player, you've got to buy an HDMI cable separately. The one I got was a meter long and DIDN'T go anywhere near. So make sure you get a decent length.

Getting the BDPS350 setup was very easy. I can't remember what I've done with the instruction manual, but you don't really need it. I just plugged in the power, plugged in the HDMI and was away. The remote is excellent - the same shape exactly as the Bravia remotes, only cool BLACK. You can even set it to control your Bravia TV from one remote.

What can I say about the picture on this player? It's absolutely stunning. If someone told me there's a player with a better image quality, I wouldn't believe it. Details, colour, and movement could NOT be any better. I was completely blown away by the images from my Sony BDPS350, and continue to be each time I rent a Bluray movie.

The sound is something I hadn't expected. I thought it would be the same as a DVD player, which always sounded good to me anyway. But it's a world of difference, just like the picture. The Sony BDPS350 produces incredible quality audio. Better than being at the cinema - and I don't have a fancy audio system. Just the TVs stereo speakers.

Review Verdict: I'm guessing that you can see what my verdict about the Sony BDPS350 bluray player is. It's fantastic! Go and get one today. You will not regret it! They're cheap now and you'll love this player.

Click here for more info on the Sony BDPS350