Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
- Plays Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p
- Instantly streams online entertainment from leading providers
- Upscales DVDs to near high definition
- BD-Live ready
- Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio decoding
Experience Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p quality with stunning HD sound that supports enhanced audio formats including Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio. You can also play and upscale your DVDs to near high definition. Connect to the intern
Rating: 
(out of 251 reviews)
List Price: $ 249.99
Price: Too low to display
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Review by GrafZeppelin127 for Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
Rating:
I’ve had this player for several days now. Blu-Ray playback appears to be good, although I don’t really have anything to compare it to. But so far its other attributes leave a great deal to be desired.
Netflix playback is especially poor. I waited to buy this unit for its Netflix capability to kick in, and was using the Roku HD player in the meantime. Even with a wired connection, the Sony’s Netflix HD content playback is noticeably sluggish and jerky, almost to the point of being unwatchable, compared to the Roku player connected wirelessly to the same router. I watched parts of the same video on each player and the difference is not subtle; it is pronounced.
Also, the upscaled DVD picture on this player is very, VERY soft, almost to the point of looking out of focus, even with the TV’s Sharpness setting turned up to maximum. This is in comparison to the Sony DVP-NS700H upscaling DVD player I had been using previously, which appears to have a sharper, crisper image; again, the difference is noticeable.
I’m going to try a few more DVDs and see if Sony and/or Netflix tech support can address the streaming problem, before I give up and return the unit. I had hoped this player would be a nice addition to my BRAVIA setup (46″ Z4100 LCD TV), but so far it’s let me down.
UPDATE: I called Sony and went through three levels of support. They agreed with my description and assessment of the Netflix HD picture quality and told me there was nothing that could be done about it. I also called Netflix and they couldn’t help either; none of their suggestions worked. If I can’t resolve this myself I’m going to have to return the player.
UPDATE 2: Amazon on Demand HD video looks fine; very good, actually. Looks like this is a Netflix issue (probably the onboard software, not the stream, since Netflix still looks fine on the Roku) that will have to be fixed with a firmware update sometime in the future.
UPDATE 3: CNET has now reviewed this product. From their review of the player’s Netflix performance: “We also noticed that the overall streaming video quality seemed to be slightly worse than we’re used to seeing. We saw more “jerky” playback than we’re used to seeing on other players”.
UPDATE 4: The Sony firmware update issued on December 22 has had no effect on the Netflix HD streaming quality. It looks the same as it did before.
UPDATE 5: For reasons unrelated to this issue, I upgraded my cable internet service to Cablevision’s “Optimum Boost,” which among other things is supposed to more than double Internet speed. Indeed, I’m now seeing over 20 Mbps on [...]. Nevertheless, the problem remains; the Netflix HD video is still “jerky”. Apparently the problem is not the network. I think it may be that the Sony does a poor job handling the Netflix stream compared to the Amazon stream, such as, e.g., upconverting from 720p to 1080p.
UPDATE 6: I did some more experimenting with the player, this time removing the HDMI connection and using component instead, setting the player’s component output to 720p. This did not correct the jerky motion problem; it looked essentially the same.
UPDATE 7: The June 14 firmware update (version 146) has had no effect on resolving this problem. I think it’s officially hopeless.
Review by Sean Solo for Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
Rating:
I wanted a Blu-ray player for two main reasons, 1) to watch Netflix on my TV, and 2) to watch Star Trek: The Original Series (Enhanced) on Blu-ray. I returned an LG BD 390 because a stupid icon kept popping up every time an “alternate angle”/enhanced scene appeared during an episode. This was many times during each episode. It’s only on the screen for a few seconds, but you can’t turn it off. Contacted LG and they said you can’t turn it off and they weren’t planning a firmware update to fix it – unacceptable. So now I have the Sony and I am thrilled. No more icon, and I like the option of turning off other icons like “play” and “pause”. I think the load time is fine – fast enough for me. I’m anxious to get the Netflix firmware update to try that out. I don’t need a wireless Blu-ray as I have wired my basement to get more reliable video streaming. I am very satisfied with this player.
Update as of 11/11/09 – Netflix enabled! Works beautifully so far. Watched a bit of “The Office”. Video quality very good. My TV says it was 1080p – cool. I’m guessing that most of the Netflix content will be standard def., though. I watched a few minutes of Enemy Mine and the quality was OK – about like Netflix is on my computer. I’m getting pretty spoiled by hi-def. video after watching Blu-ray movies. Anyway, Netflix is easy to do. Just add movies to your Watch Instantly queue (on your PC), and they’re there on TV. Brilliant.
Review by Kaushik Dwarakanath for Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
Rating:
Bought this player last week along with an Sony Bravia Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL-46V5100 46-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black LCD HDTV. I have the home theater setup using an Onkyo TX-SR605 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) AV receiver. Although the receiver is 2 yrs old. I was fortunate to choose that model as it had HDMI inputts (just 2 for that time). I have assigned the two HDMI inputs to this blue ray player BDP_N460 and the HD sat receiver. It would have been a great player if they had an integrated WIFI . Guess Sony has their price point all worked out.
Nevertheless the user manual says it strongly recommends Linksys Linksys by Cisco WET610N Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge with Dual-Band Wi-Fi bridge. I have this unit configured to work with less expensive TRENDnet Wireless N Gaming Adapter-Black (TEW-647GA) (V1.0R). All I had to do was to manually configure TRENDnet Wireless N Gaming Adapter-Black (TEW-647GA) (V1.0R) using my laptop initially (due to my secure wireless network configuraion).
Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) was able to connect to the network and with in minutes
Please ensure you go through a system update after your unit is able to connect to the network. Since this was my initial setup. It updated my firmware to the most current version (ver. 120 as of this writing).
Netflix Works!! – Sony has fixed a lot of issues previous reviewers experienced. such as lack of Netflix connectivity etc. Plus they have added a few more online portals you can connect to for video downloads than printed in their user manual. I was pleasantly surprised.
To get Netflix to work, you will have to register your player at internet.sony.tv/netflix (which is a sony style website). When you do this, they give you another code to register wih on [...] telling them you would like to stream movies to your Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) player.
Assuming you have an account with netflix, you would be able to do the above step.
At this point, i was able to watch Netflix movies from my instant queue. The movies i chose were fairly new and hence i was able to get HD versions of the same streaming in. I was amazed at the quality of the feed and the speed.
However, I do have to mention that I did use a 8GB USB drive in the EXT slot at the back of the unit.
Although the user manual recommends 1GB or higher. The bigger memory offer better buffering capacity I think. Since price of USB drives are more affordable/GB. It would be advisable to get 2GB+.
Surfing other portals was not that complicated such as You tube. Although beware that not all vidoes on you tube offer HD content. Some of they are plain pathetic, although they look great on you PC monitor, it is a whole another playing field watching it on your HD tv. it would also be nice if sony interface let you search video based on a search engine instead of their listed portals (perhaps in the future….Hope sony hears us out).
I have not figured this one yet. I wish BDP_N460 would let you surf and choose other video media (such as .wvmv/ .rm files on an external Hard Drive) on a connected devise through front side USB port. It would be nice if sony would come up with this feature using a firmware update in future.
The only downside or negative I can think of is to get it working as advertised, You need to spend additional $60 + to get the Wireless Bridge and a USB drive.
On the positives Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) is a top notch DVD player, i loved the fact the regular DVD’s were upconverted to near HD (it may be my receiver doing it, i cant say for sure).
Blue Ray – play back was mind blowing.
Bottom line is that you get quality video/audio on your TV from this player.
Review by J. Ledbetter for Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
Rating:
This player is everything the PS3 should be, just without the games. The PS3 was a constant annoyance with the Bluetooth remote, poor game choice, and the lack of any service such as Netflix (the PS Network seemed to have a rather limited selection)… So I decided to liquidate the system and get back in the blu-ray player market.
When this unit loads up, you might think that it is a PS3–the menu is almost exactly the same. The relevant difference is the video options. This is where that laundry list of online video service providers is found. What a list! If all this player could do was play Netflix, it might not be such a compelling player–but it does a lot more than that. What convinced me to buy this unit was it’s ability to play Amazon On Demand. It seemed ironic to me that this was not originally an advertised feature on Amazon’s website. I had to do some research to verify this capability. In fact, it was a deal-maker for me.
If the PS3 did everything this player does, then I would say to pay a little more and enjoy the near-zero load times and wireless–but it doesn’t. Not even close. The PS3 is currently locked into Sony’s limited first-party services. This player hopefully signals the future for players, by adding every provider available.
Pros:
- Bravia sync (if you have a compatible Sony television)
- TONS of providers
- Load times are nominal
- Firmware updates were quick out of the box
- Excellent up-conversion of DVD titles
- Lights on player are not at all distracting (and can be adjusted)
Cons:
- Even though I am 1080p resolution, the xcross (system) menu looks low-res.
- Netflix is “coming fall 2009″, so there will be a wait on that for now
So far this player highly recommended!
UPDATE: As of 11/11/2009, Netflix is now available. Works flawlessly!
Review by C. Gibson for Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
Rating:
I am using this BD player to replace a Samsung BD-P2500 which for whatever reason just doesn’t want to play nice with my Pioneer receiver. My purchase of this unit was motivated by the reviews here on Amazon. Unfortunately, this has been nothing but a disappointment so far.
Once I had the unit connected my first concern was getting it activated on my Netflix account. I powered it up and it informed me that there was a firmware update available. I thought that was a cool feature, my Samsung never gave me a heads up. I ran the firmware update which went quickly, and proceeded to attempt to stream from Netflix. All I could get out of the unit was an error message; “connection status could not be verified.” After messing around for 30 minutes I called Sony and worked my way through Tier 1 and on to Tier 2 technical support. The conversation ended 1 hour and 15 minutes later without the issue resolved. I was told “it looks like our server might be down so just try again tomorrow.” Now that’s customer service.
I attempted to connect it about 8 hours later and it worked. With my Bravia Internet account now in full effect I added my Netflix account. One thing I must give kudos to Sony on is the interface they are using for Netflix. Instead of giant sized pictures of DVD covers they are using thumbnails for the shows in your queue. Much nicer to navigate.
I want to interrupt my review to give you some background information on my Internet connection. I have Verizon FiOS which is about as good as it gets in the United States at this point. I pay extra for a 20Mbps symmetrical connection. For the uninitiated, that means 20Mbps downstream and upstream. I have used my Samsung BD-P2500 and my Playstation 3 to stream HD video from Netflix for quite a while now. Both work flawlessly over my connection. On to the test…
I started playing a movie in my Netflix queue which was in HD. The video looked great then 2 minutes into it the movie just stopped for about 30 seconds and resumed. Apparently the buffer is inadequate on this unit. I fired up the same movie on the Playstation 3, and it worked fine. I then went to the Samsung BD-P2500 (which I moved to a different location) and opened the same movie; also perfect.
I gave this unit 1 star because when you purchase a product you expect all of the features, especially one this important, to work. This Blu-ray player simply does not work. Sony appears to be on a downward slide in the electronics industry and unfortunately it continues with the BDP-N460. It begs the question, “Is Sony even trying anymore?”
I have a support ticket open with Sony and will attempt to get this resolved through them. If they can’t work it out next week then I will unfortunately have to return this unit to Amazon and try an LG BD370.
If Sony is able to provide a solution, I will happily update this review and change the rating.
Update: Sony has released another new firmware version which claimed to help with Internet streaming. At first it did not but over the past several days my Netflix streaming has been flawless. I will continue to test over the next several days and if everything goes smoothly I will probably keep this unit and increase the rating.
Update #2: Netflix has work perfectly since the previous update. I have decided to keep this item. I have upgraded it to 4 stars (leaving off one star for the initial problems.)