Sony 460

[Rich]

A couple weeks ago, I bought a Sony 460 BD player. That's the model with NetFlix and all the other Internet access. Fortunately I kept my Sony BX2. The NetFlix experience with the 460 was terrible. It kept trying to upscale the movies to 1080/60p instead of just letting the 720p stream play. Horrible PQ. My Roku puts out a better picture. Called Sony support (there's an oxymoron for you!) and got absolutely no help. I could tell they were reading the same manual I had in front of me. That support got escalated two levels higher with the same lack of results.

So, I kept the Roku, took the 460 back and hooked up the BX2 again. I bought that 460 with the expectation that Sony would do it right. Wrong.

Rich

[Rich]

I have to retract my opinion of the 460. There are settings that I wasn't aware of and I'm thinking of buying another one to see if those settings cure the problems I was having.

I will say this: The interface that Sony uses for NetFlix is not nearly as user friendly as the Roku's interface. And the Roku is wireless.

I think it was unfair of me to criticize Sony's tech support because I called them as soon as I got the download that activated the NetFlix function and they obviously haven't had the time to familiarize themselves with it.

Rich

[RobertE]

Let me guess, it was set to upconvert everything to 1080p vs playing native?

[Rich]

Let me guess, it was set to upconvert everything to 1080p vs playing native?

I don't remember if that model has a native setting on it. I do know that that is what it was doing, as I stated in the OP. I'm thinking about getting another one tomorrow and trying it set on a 720p input. Don't see any advantage that the Sony has for $229 that the $99 Roku doesn't have. The user interface on the Roku is certainly simpler and easier to use and the Roku is wireless and a whole lot smaller. But it won't cost me anything to try it. I'll post again after I try it. Native, I could live with, but if I have to keep changing resolutions I'm not gonna be happy. My BX2 functions as well as the 406 does when playing BD and upscaling and costs a whole lot less.

Rich

[RobertE]

Honestly, I wouldn't waste your time getting another 460.

From scanning through the manual, it looks like you set the output resolution and thats that. So, of course for blu rays, you going to have it set for 1080p via HDMI. It will then upconvert everything to 1080p. My S350 does the same thing. The only way I see to avoid it would be to change the resoultion each time.

To much of a PITA.

I'd stick to Roku for the netflix streaming.

[Rich]

Honestly, I wouldn't waste your time getting another 460.

From scanning through the manual, it looks like you set the output resolution and thats that. So, of course for blu rays, you going to have it set for 1080p via HDMI. It will then upconvert everything to 1080p. My S350 does the same thing. The only way I see to avoid it would be to change the resoultion each time.

To much of a PITA.

I'd stick to Roku for the netflix streaming.

Yeah, I looked again last night and I don't see an automatic way to do it, but each model is slightly different. On the BX1 you have to select the audio settings you want if you're not using HDMI and on the BX2 it does it for you automatically. The 460 is Sony's first foray into NetFlix and other streaming and I think they'll get it right a few models down the road. And the Sony NetFlix UI sucks compared to the Roku.

Rich

[DCSholtis]

Yeah, I looked again last night and I don't see an automatic way to do it, but each model is slightly different. On the BX1 you have to select the audio settings you want if you're not using HDMI and on the BX2 it does it for you automatically. The 460 is Sony's first foray into NetFlix and other streaming and I think they'll get it right a few models down the road. And the Sony NetFlix UI sucks compared to the Roku.

Rich

http://www.macworld.com/article/144032/2009/11/rokusoftwareupdate.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+macworld%2Fnews+%28News%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

Roku will announce on Monday a major update to the software powering the company’s Roku Player models. As part of that update, the company will also introduce the new Roku Channel Store.

Last month, Roku expanded the company’s streaming-media player line to three models: the $80 Roku SD, the $100 Roku HD (formerly the Roku Player, originally called the Roku Netflix Player), and the $130 Roku HD-XR. All three models, which work via a wireless or wired Internet connection, inherit the functionality of the original Roku model: the capability to stream to your TV video via Netflix’s Watch Instantly service, Amazon’s Video On Demand service, and Major League Baseball’s MLB.TV. The SD model offers standard-definition video and analog audio; the two HD models provide high-definition video and optical-digital audio, with the HD-XR adding 802.11n wireless and a mysterious USB port “for future use.”

With Monday’s announcement, Roku has updated the Player software with a new Channel Store, including ten initial channels, that lets users easily add additional content sources. These channels, focusing on independent and user-created media, are blip.tv video publishing, Facebook Photos, Flickr, FrameChannel photo sharing and viewing, the Mediafly podcast aggregator, MobileTribe, Motionbox video sharing, Pandora Internet radio, Revision3 Internet television, and TWiT.TV.

[Rich]

http://www.macworld.com/article/144032/2009/11/rokusoftwareupdate.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+macworld%2Fnews+%28News%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

Thanx for the links. Now to see if anything interests me. :)

Rich