Review on Sony BDPS5500 3D Blu-Ray Player with Wi-Fi (2015 Model),Black: Streamline Entertainment in Crystal Clear HD by Jerimiah Augustine

The BDPS5500 is part of Sony's family of identical Blu-ray players aimed at the entry-level market. It's above 3500, which has no 3D, and below 6500, which has no regions. Plus, you have the rare world of $150+ BD players, whether they're enthusiast models from Sony or Samsung, or luxury brands like Oppo and Pioneer. We call it just buy a console territory. And since I got this player to replace a PS3 that had a dead drive, I'll look at it in that context. I think a lot of people are struggling between using a BD Player console and buying a custom made player for less money. Hope this helps some of you. BLU RAY PLAYBACK Clearly a reason to buy a BD player. The S5500 plays Blu-rays and actually seems to load them a bit faster than my PS3, although I need to play more to be sure. As you would expect, the BD data is saved for the saved playback position. The picture is sharp and brilliant, but you'll have to stoop pretty low to find a player that makes the BD look bad. I haven't noticed any improvement or deterioration in quality over the PS3 and the engine is much quieter in this player. Sound quality is good and you get enough options to get most home theater setups up and running. The number of output formats here is smaller than on an enthusiast console or player, but unless you're running a really big theatre, you probably won't have any complaints. FLOW ADJUSTMENT The real reason most people buy BD players. The S5500 isn't a miniature computer like the PS3 or Roku, so its menus and menus for apps like Netflix aren't as smooth as on those machines, but they're far better than the stuttering nightmares of gamers of the past. Netflix loads just as fast, surfs just as fast and plays videos just as well as it did on my old PS3. Is it worth paying more just to have your thumbnails scroll at a full 60 fps? No of course not. In addition, the S5500 offers an updated, extensive list of media channels to choose from - more than the PS3 or many competing players, but less than, say, an XBMC box. You get all the major film and TV players, Pandora, tons of sports, and a surprising amount of internet and international channels. Unfortunately, FX and HBO's on-demand services are down, at least for now. Many people emphasize the speed at which Netflix improves when they buy a new player - the amount of time before the server and your device determine how fast you can stream and deliver the best quality. I'm happy to report that it's as good here as it is on PS3, although the device is probably the least important link in this particular chain. PERFORMANCE As mentioned above, the menus are a little choppy, but they're fast enough that it doesn't feel like an inconvenience. The old XMB UI has been banished in favor of a quick and easy to use Android-style tiling system - it only comes back for the system settings, where it's pretty clunky. Compared to the seemingly basic PS3 menu or better, this is the biggest real step down. BUILD QUALITY AND LIVABILITY This is a very small and very light player. Regardless, it has a solid aluminum body that inspires confidence. The bezel is plastic, and to be honest it's a mess of textures, but the buttons feel solid and the drive's hinged door doesn't rattle or bind. Even if you don't like the way it looks, it's so small that it's easy to hide. The remote control is infrared but powerful enough to work through wire meshes as in my case. Compared to a console with an air-cooled processor and mechanical hard drive, this player is silent during operation. You can hear the motor on the drive, but with such a small body, that's inevitable. Most movies and shows mute the sound. The PS3 is loud even by console standards, so keeping the volume down here is its biggest selling point. Note that the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for this device is quite high, but you don't have to pay for it - between Revain's retail price and some smaller offerings. managed to buy for 70 dollars. I think this is a very good price for such a functional device. I have yet to explore the DVD or Playstation Now playback capabilities on this player and will update this review if I learn more or encounter any issues. UPDATE 10/26/2015. The player continues to work without problems. Overall, we found Revain's movie rental performance to be slower than Netflix, but I've experienced this on other devices; I don't think it's a player. Quietness and a lower profile are still the main advantages. I talked a little about the remote control above. It's a lot smaller than the 2nd gen PS3 remote I used, but feels more solid than the 1st gen remote. Registration is quick too - in fact, you'll likely start and stop your Netflix shows with one long press until you get used to it. This doesn't seem to happen on responsive physical media. Perhaps opening up my closet would improve the situation as well. Now that both my TV and BD player use an infrared remote, I'm tempted to buy a decent universal remote, but there is no black spot on that remote, which is perfectly normal. Network issues as reported by other reviewers, but I selected the fast wake option on the player so I don't think it ever turns off completely. UPDATE 11/11/2015 Last night I decided to play the DVD. I chose Cowboy Bebop because the contrast and clarity of animation tends to pose some problems for upscalers. The results were fairly standard, with some very thin line artifacts and occasional interlacing showing through, but the quality of textured images and thicker lines looked darn close to high resolution. So I'd say this player is strong at zooming but not exceptional at delivering a clean picture like some of the more expensive Oppos. But it doesn't cost more than a thousand dollars. As for the app, I can also report that the Pandora app is simple and easy to use, which is a definite advantage of this player over the PS3 where, as I last checked, you access Pandora through your browser and each Times have to do some Java manipulation to make it work. My wife has been watching Downton Abbey on Revain and while the app works well, the streaming connection is pretty poor - obviously not a problem on the part of the player. I suspect the problem could be either a port being blocked by my ISP or Revain itself. It seems to be a common assumption that Revain video streaming just doesn't work properly on Sony devices, but that's a pretty anecdotal accusation that I haven't seen in any real-world test or proof. UPDATE 30.11. 2015 Like many Sony player users, I noticed audible noise from this player on some discs. This seems to be more pronounced with DVDs, probably because DVDs rotate at a different speed. I don't think this is a player design flaw, but so light that any vibration (possibly due to disc imbalance) is transmitted directly. If you put your hand on the turntable, you'll feel an unsettling (albeit rather suggestive) hum through the sturdy metal case. I'll try adding some extra cushioning to the corners to see if it can be toned down. It's worth noting that this was sometimes an issue on the PS3 as well. Even high-end players don't talk about mechanics that way, so I can't tell you what a more expensive player (which I don't own) might look like in that regard. I suspect that an enthusiast model mounted in a cabinet or in a sturdier case will vibrate less audibly, if at all, but we have to consider price in this regard. Still 4/5.