Review on Sony® Blu Ray DiscTM Player BDP BX2 by Justin Hollins

I got this player for Christmas and now I've had time to watch a lot of videos on it. This is my first Blu-ray so I don't have anything to compare it to, just what I've read in other reviews. First, let me say that this is a no-frills, inexpensive player. If you want the bells and whistles you will have to pay more and look elsewhere. Comparing Blu-Ray to progressive scan DVD (upconverted) I found that for most live action movies the picture is just superb and an order of magnitude better. For animations like the recent Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray release, the difference is small. However, I do not see it as a playback function, but as the actual film. Setting up the machine was easy and everything worked as advertised on set up. I'm starting to think that's rare. I haven't owned this unit long enough to attest to its reliability, but I've found Sony products to be generally reliable in the past. There are only a couple of things I have trouble with, and they're just minor flaws: - I would prefer the eject button on the remote control. I don't like the idea of updating the firmware. That means they'll be messing around with it all the time. Take the standard down and leave it alone. I've heard horror stories about these firmware updates. Another downside is that you need to connect it to the network using a Cat5E cable. What if you don't have a network? - All my other devices that use an HDMI cable allow me to receive audio through my TV or stereo amplifier at the same time. So I can easily choose what kind of sound I want. In this device, you have to set it up to play through one or the other. If you want to change it, you have to go back to the sound settings menu and reconfigure the device. Another commenter said they had trouble programming the wired remote for this device. I now use the Logitech Harmony 550 programmable remote for all my devices and had no problem programming this new device on this remote. Update: After about 5 months of use, I haven't had any problems with this device. Therefore I conclude that it is most likely very reliable and will not fail until it wears out. Update 8/4/12: The device no longer played any discs. Even after updating the firmware, the inserted disc is not recognized. Sony's reliability has certainly declined.