Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc Player
- BRAVIA Internet Video: Access movies, music, videos & more
- Built-in Wi-Fi & Blu-ray 3D playback capability
- iPhone/iPod touch BD Remote
- Quick Start/Load to watch movies faster than ever
- DLNA wireless streaming of photos, videos and music
Product Description
Begin enjoying Blu-ray 3D movies in Full HD 1080p or DVDs in near HD quality faster than ever with the Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc Player. Wirelessly stream photos, videos and music or instantly access a wide variety of entertainment apps including: Netflix, , Pandora, Slacker, Picasa, YouTube and more. You can also turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control by downloading a free app…. More >>
Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc Player
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This player is a great improvement over early generation players. It takes up considerably less space than a lot of earlier models, has a simple face with no ridiculous looking flip-down panels, and delivers a great image. The start-up is quick, even if you opt not to use the feature for “quick” start. I choose not to use this feature, since the warning says that it continues to use power, and the fan will run when the unit is “off”.
Actual loading of discs doesn’t take long, either. This changes if you decide to use the player’s Gracenote feature, because it will call up the title of each movie from an online catalogue and the title will not play until this is completed. It’s only a minor inconvenience, and it can be shut off, which is nice.
Wireless worked without a problem. I was able to update the firmware wirelessly, and access content with ease. I do wish that the catalog of available online content was more customizable. If I don’t want to listen to NPR, or use dailymotion, or the still unavailable Qriocity, I should have the option to remove these from my view. As far as I can tell, there is no way to do this, and no way to even rearrange it so that items I use most can be near the top.
The player also seems to autoplay when a disc is placed in it. If you let it load and then press the home key, you’ll return to the menu, but what if I don’t want the playback to start right away? These are minor quips, but they don’t ruin the overall experience.
A major complaint, however, is the subpar implementation of Netflix. I certainly hope this is remedied in an update. You see, I have access to netflix’s instant viewing feature on 4 devices: My computer, my Xbox 360, my Wii, and now this blu-ray player. The interface on every device is superior to this one. The problem is that you can only view your instant queue. Considering that the Xbox 360 and Wii both allow you to queue new items and view lists by category, as well as seeing suggestions for new viewing, just being able to view your own queue on such a new device is disappointing.
Pandora was not available at the time of purchase, but there is an option to update internet content, and that added Pandora. You can import your existing account, although you need to do so via your computer. There was also a weird issue with the orientation of the screen shifting between songs, but I’ve only had that happen once. Sound quality was good, and everything played like it should. You can create new stations from the player itself, which is great.
I’m a little bit annoyed about the online experience and the lack of customization with content, but I can’t complain about anything else.
Rating: 4 / 5
I have the blu ray DVD, it is awesome, it was easy to set up the wireless connection, and all in all it is an awesome machine. Alas, the description here, and all the reviewers online, even CNET, say it has Pandora radio, and it doesn’t. In fact most of the online stuff is useless, not even their NPR content is good (all disorganized and not current). The only good online thing is their netflix. As a straight player it is awesome, if you want all the other internet options, including accessing extra content from your own blu rays online, look elsewhere.
Rating: 3 / 5
My Panasonic DMP-BD10AK cannot play the Start Trek Original Series season 2 Blu-ray. Panasonic also has no plans for a firmware update to correct this. Since I will no longer be buying Panasonic products due to this continuing problem with their hardware (which also couldn’t play Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring – Extended Edition for years after the player was released, until a firmware update finally was released in 2008), I had to find a replacement.
I read some reviews of this brand new Sony BDP-S570 player, and took the plunge. Thank goodness I did, because this player is FAST! No more turning on my Panasonic piece-of-junk and then going to the fridge, bathroom, etc. before the disc would even eject! No more waiting four minutes for Blu-ray discs with heavy BD Java content to load. And now I’ve got wired or wireless Internet access for BD-Live content, Netflix, YouTube, free Sony content, etc. that is just fantastic.
My only gripe is that the player doesn’t seem to consistently remember where I left off on a disc. For example, I was in the middle of (finally) watching one of the Start Trek TOS episodes when my wife reminded me we had dinner plans. So I turned off everything and went to dinner. Three hours later, I came home, turned on the system, and the player DID NOT pick up from where I left off. Rather, it started the entire disc up again from the logos, trailers, non-skippable worthless FBI warnings, etc.
And yet, just the other day, I turned off the South Park season 13 disc mid-way through an episode, and when I came back and turned everything on, it picked up right where I left off. The user manual (joke!) doesn’t address this, and I can’t find any additional documentation online.
If this feature is made consistent and controllable with a future firmware update, this player will be five instead of four stars.
Rating: 4 / 5
The sony S570 is a great player. The fast load system is excellent and much faster than the older 300s models. The setup was easy (it walks you through each step) I use the wireless N router and the speeds are awesome. Seamless integration with our Netflix account and the ability to watch Youtube videos is a great addition to what the player can do. Great 1080p picture and good upconversion of dvds. Do not be afraid of this player. If you have a netflix account or would like to watch youtube videos on your TV- this is your player. Also on a side note- you have several other choices besides Netflix and youtube. You have Amazons video on demand service and several other free video services.
Rating: 5 / 5
OK , got my S570 and tested everything I could. This is not a professional review since I’m not a pro.
-UNPACKING AND INSTALLING:
The box is very small, half the size of the 460 box. The player is also much smaller than the 460. The installation was a breeze because I basically removed my 460 and replaced it with the 570. I don’t need the wireless, just hooket it to my Ethernet switch and set a fixed IP address like I do on any device I have.
The eject button on the player is almost impossible to find. Bring the remote.
The activation of both Netflix and Amazon can be a real pain and I had to register both again.
I changed the following settings from the default:
.Audio Mix to OFF
.Gracenote to AUTO
.Network settings to manual IP address.
.SACD to DSD
.IP Noise Reduction to zero
As soon as I turned the player on, a firmware update came up and its now version 315.
-BLURAY/DVD PICTURE QUALITY
Nothing new here. Bluray is great as it is with any other player and DVD is OK, nothing to brag about but decent. Professional reviews will give more info about cadence and other things, I spend my time watching movies not calibration disks.
Only thing new is the Gracenote that gives some info on the title but will interrupt playback and return the movie to start position.
-AMAZON/NETFLIX
If you know the 460, the interface is the same (very basic) but with an interesting difference on the audio side. With the 460 I can get DD 5.1 from Amazon and only get audio from Netflix if I set HDMI AUDIO to PCM. With the 570, all the streaming comes in PCM even if HDMI AUDIO is set to AUTO. I think it’s a bug with the 460 that happens only with few receivers (no audio unless PCM is set) that is now fixed with the 570. I know, a little confusing.
There is an IP video noise reduction that defaults to 2. I set it to zero because I hate any kind of NR. Picture gets softer in most cases.
Picture quality with Amazon is good and so-so with Netflix but nothing that can be blamed on the player. BTW, my Internet connection is good, 18 Mbps hard-wired.
Gracenote doesn’t work with Netflix or Amazon, but you don’t need it.
-OTHER WEB SERVICES
There are 1 or 2 services not present on the 460 and few “coming soon”. The most important is the Qriosity, from Sony, that promises to rival Netflix/Amazon. There is a Qriosity icon as a placeholder on the menu axis. More info here: [...].
-DLNA
Doesn’t exist. Firmware upgrade ? Shame on you Sony.The Sony website is now updated and has a footnote about the upgrade but it wasn’t there when I bought the player.
-USB DISK AND FILES SUPPORTED.
I used a pendrive to test quite a few file formats. Here is the result:
.M2TS Both movies recorded from my Canon Camcorder and the Hauppauge HD-PVR played perfectly. Great !
.MPG No problems, as expected.
.WMV Played without a glitch.
.MKV The video recorded with Makemkv didn’t play at all (msg about corrupted file). The video recorded with Handbrake played but with a lot of pixelation.
.M4V Same as above. Also created by Handbrake.
.ISO Not recognized at all. Didn’t show up on the playlist.
.MOV Same as above.
.AVI Same as above.
I think the only good news so far is the flawless playback of the 2 M2TS files.
-SACD
This is the Grand Finale: Absolutely fantastic . My Pioneer 94 can take DSD direct (no PCM conversion) and the sound is great. I set the receiver to “pure direct” and the sound was warm, tube like, beautiful. Obviously the receiver plays the big role here but the 570 did everything you could expect.
MY SETUP:
.Panasonic P65V10
.Pioneer 64 receiver
.Sony BDP S570 player
.U-Verse 18 Mbps Internet Service
.Everything through HDMI links.
I hope I gave you some highlights on the 570. Overall it’s a great deal and a bargain considering what it can do. Let’s hope the DLNA upgrade comes soon and works as expected.
Rating: 4 / 5