Sony BDP-S590 3D Blu-ray Disc Player with Wi-Fi (Black) (2012 Model)

Comment

[added a "6 moths later update at the end] This isnt a super in depth review, but will give you more info that most will in a fairly brief summary: First off, I am a Sony TV guy who bought TWO Panasonic Blu-Ray players last year due to their seeming superiority(reviews, pro and online stores). First step for any modern electronic device, update your firmware. My initial update took over 5 minutes. I also recommend registering at internet.sony.tv as in the past some Sony products wont connect to certain services until you do. I connected to AmazonVideo on Demand and Netflix, BEFORE I registered it, so they may have responded to complaints and dropped the requirement, but incase there is a service that require it get it out of the way, it only takes a minute if you have a Sony account already Netflix app(they upgraded! Sony fans rejoice!): One glaring fault with (past/pre-2012?) Sony visual products is their Netflix app, as for years Sony decided to have a proprietary interface, and if you have researched it, a LOT of people had Netflix streaming issues. I guess Sony finally took note, as the new interface is like a across between the Wii interface and the Panasonic interface, as in it looks like you avgerage Netflix app now. I watched the Norwegian film TrollHunters, and it took about 15-20 seconds to load the movie, 10 seconds for the Netflix stream to stabilize to the bandwidth( this is mostly on Netflixs end I believe), with the unit 10 feet from my router. For the entire movie, it never reloaded or refreshed, or froze, and was in 1080 with 5.1 sound. I also paused the movie and rewound several times with no reload or delay. Truly the smoothest Netflix experience I have had yet on any of my devices. If your getting the S590 I assume this will be important to you. And yes, it has a dedicated Netflix button, and the app loads faster than my Wii or Panasonic Blu Ray players, and my Sony TVs, so I assume they have "fixed" it, but I havent done a lot of viewing yet. Blu Ray performance: Another reviewer said it wont play Disney movies, but I didnt have a problem, more later. First I put in the Star Trek (2009) Blu Ray, which has great visual beginning. I didnt have any performance issues that I could tell, and the menus are VERY fast and responsive, almost to a fault as there was a bit of shutter on the pop up menu, but unless you watch the movie with the pop up constantly going up and down I dont see this as a big issue. It was roughly 30 seconds from hitting the eject button to close the tray to the Paramount intro screen going, not bad. I then tried a 3D Disney Blu Ray (Tangeled, a true Disney made film), as one reviewer had said Disney BR does not work. Seeing as how this player is VERY new( a few weeks to a month on market), My guess is there was a firmware issue, disc issue, or user issue. That said, Tangeled played flawlessly in 3D as I skipped around chapters trying to cause an issue, but it all worked great. Also, this player, in my opinion, works very fast when skipping chapters or loading a scene from menu, where some playera seem to pause or lag. It was also quick to fast foward and "rewind", with little to no pause when hitting the button. A noticeable leap over my 2011 model panasonic bdt-220. Network set-up: As usual for modern Sony products, if you have a WPS router, took roughly 2 minutes, from the time I started the set up on the TV, walked to my router in the next room and hit the WPS button, and then walked backed to tell the TV to begin connecting. The Media Remote app for Android worked very well, but you must first go to the settings menu on the TV and scroll down to the Media remote section, and "register"(aka activate, a button push) the feature(an unnecessary step IMO but I guess they are worried about people with an unprotected router have their TV taken over by pranksters?). Now some people are complaining about build quality. Its true it doesnt feel as sturdy at the Panasonic Players I bought last year, but is by no means flimsy. Unless you are planning on dropping it regularly, or letting your dog chew on it, I dont see a problem with this. It does look nice, with a brushed metal "look" on the case. As with seemlingly EVERY Blu Ray player, it does not come with an HDMI(which baffles me, it isnt expensive to make a high quality HDMI cable, dont get fooled by the HDMI cable prices). 6-Month Update I have now owned this product for 6 months. If I were to again compare it to the Panasonics , although they are a generation older, the Sony absolutely blows them away. It loads movies faster, it streams Hulu and Netflix faster, it updates firmware MUCH faster, and I have not had any streaming or Blu Ray video problems at all. I have encountered one issue, but wont change my rating. On Fast Boot mode, while the boot is nearly instant, I did encounter an odd issue where it boots itself. If you have your TV HDMI control function, it will turn on the TV also. Its a bit unnerving when you are asleep and you are awoken by your TV turning on and seeing a Main menu. This COULD be an HDMI control issue with my TV though. There are two ways to solve it: Turn off fast boot(its still much faster than most Blu Ray players), or turn off HDMI control so it cant turn on your TV itself. Also, while some Sony TVs do not, this player will also auto zoom/strech the screen when you are watching a 4:3 format video on netflix, to fit your widescreen, so there arent any bars on the side. I know many people want to use every inch of their TV screen. Also, Sony has been fairly quick lately to keep the Internet Video Apps up to date/ recent versions, So no TiVo-style glacier slow Internet Application User Interface updates to worry about.

Show more

Comment

This is a awesome Streamer/Bluray/DVD player. I havent experienced any issues whatsoever playing back Bluray disks. Boot times are very good with the disks I tested. Everything played back perfectly with stunning picture quality. However, I really purchased this player for its streaming abilities. Sony players were dinged in the past for a poor Netflix experience. Sony have fixed this with a updated Netflix interface that supports 1080p and Dolby Digital+ streams. Similarly Amazon VOD supports Dolby Digital bitstream audio, and VUDU and HULU+ are unchanged from the 2011 players, but work fine. Its also nice to have "crackle" on there so you can watch the odd Seinfeld episode when you fancy. I also tested the player with a DNLA server. Sony seem to recommend Serviio (free) so I think they must test the DLNA features of the player with this software. I tested photos, music and video and everything played back perfectly. Anyway, a great streamer/disk player. Highly recommended !! ** update ** Had a need to play a Disney BD disk on this player the other day. A comment here suggests that Disney BDs wont play. Complete nonsense. They playback perfectly. ** Update (8/27/12) ** Sony added support for watch lists with the amazon Vod app. Cinema NOW is now supported.

Show more

Comment

In April I decided that although I loved my LG blu-ray player for Netflix and watching blu-rays, I wanted a new player that would let me watch Amazon streaming and have an updated and easier to use Netflix interface. My old player worked perfectly for what it did, I just wanted something that did more. First, based on my great experience with my LG player, I ordered the LG BD670. I liked the interface, liked how it played blu-rays, loved that I could search Netflix from the blu-ray player itself (the old player would only let you view your queue and a few of the specific categories that it chose, you had to go to another device if you wanted to search or even browse beyond that) and I loved Amazon streaming. But it did not play Netflix well: during the course of pretty much anything Id try to watch, whether it was a 2+ hours movie or a twenty minute tv episode, it would lose the sound and have stuttering picture for anywhere between a few seconds to several minutes. After less than two weeks I contacted Amazon and sent it back. I put my old blu-ray player back and it worked with no problems, for Netflix and blu-rays both. Then, based on glowing reviews, I tried the Panasonic DMP-BDT220. Initially it seemed great. I liked it even more than the LG. Then it started having connection issues. Actually, it started having connection issues the first day, but I didnt realize right away that it was going to be a *constant* problem. There was not one day that it did not lose the internet connection. Granted, where it was set-up is as far away from my wireless router as it can be while the two devices are still the house, so some connection issues are understandable, but it would lose connection when nothing else in the room it was in had lost their connection and beyond that even, it would not reestablish its connection until Id cycled it off and on, sometimes several times. I really wanted it to work, since when it was working, I loved it. I did not contact the company, in fairness, so I cannot say if they could have helped me or comment on their customer service. I did check online reviews and message boards and found that I was not alone in having internet connection issues with it. I tried some fixes that were posted but nothing worked. I read more than one person complaining that they *had* contacted Panasonic and were told that the wireless in the player just wasnt that strong, and the only real cure for connections issues was to move the player closer the router. That wasnt an option for me so, incredibly frustrated, after almost a month of it, I contacted Amazon and sent it back. Again I put my old blu-ray player back and it worked with no problems. Finally, as a last resort, I tried this player, the Sony BDP-S590. Tentatively, hesitantly, I would say it *seems* Ive found my player. I admit, I held off on the Sony because it was more expensive than the LG, and at least at the time I was first looking, the reviews werent as good as for the Panasonic. But for me, its working. It sits where the Panasonic sat (and where the LGs sat) and doesnt have any connection issues except when there is genuinely an interruption that is affecting everything else thats connected to the router--and even then as soon as the router is doing its thing again, all I have to do is hit "Retry" and the player is connected again, no turning it off and on repeatedly. It has no problem playing Netflix, or Amazon streaming, or Crackle, or Youtube, or good old blu-rays. I appreciate that its got the only remote that actually controls my not-that-old Toshiba tv, which isnt a big deal, but its nice. Im not an audiophile or videophile or whatever, so I cant comment on the technicalities of the sound or picture; it sounds and looks fine to me. The loading times arent long enough that I get impatient, but Im not the sort of person who times those things as long as they arent long enough to make me take notice. As far as Im concerned, if you just want to watch stuff, it works. And if you have any sort of distance constraints on where you can place it (like if you dont want to/cant put it in the same room with the router) this is your best bet. I waited to write this review, paranoid after the first two blu-ray players, but after about a month of this, Im still pleased with it.

Show more

Comment

I was hesitant to buy anything by Sony. They use to provide very good mid-level consumer electronics. Now they are just resting on their name recognition. "Its a SONY!". While setting up the player I found that the supplied remote control was defective. Contacted Sony support. They suggested resetting the remote by removing the batteries and pressing each button twice. Miraculously it worked, but only for a short time. Called Sony support back. They said that I had to send the remote to Texas and that it would take 7 - 10 days, not including transit time. I would be without the use of my new BD player for at least 2 weeks. I asked if I could purchase a new remote and send the malfunctioning unit back for a refund, but that was against their policy. I just told them that it was easier to return the whole player for a refund and then buy one from a manufacturer who actually cared about customer service. Thank God for Amazons great return policy. No more Sony products for me.

Show more

Comment

So I was looking for a device that could replace my home theater pc since I was not using it much for TV anymore. My main goal was to find a product that I could use with Netflix, Amazon, etc. but even more so, was the fact that I needed to be able to play all my home movies. I have a NAS device with a DNLA server where I store all my movies, videos, and photos so I needed a device that could play a various amount of file formats. After doing much research online in my price range, I narrowed it down to The BDP-S590 and an LG BP620. I chose Sony for two reasons even though the LG had a much larger file format support. 1) It had support for Amazon Instant Video, and 2) It supported Divx and xVid. I have to say that I was VERY disappointed with one aspect of the Sony, and this is not stated anywhere on any product info pages. The file formats supported do not work via all mediums. All of the listed formats are supported ONLY via a USB drive connected to the back of the player. DNLA only supports a few of the listed ones, so your option is either to encode all the videos in one of those supported formats, OR use real time transcoding software like PlayOn or TVersity. For me, since transcoding is very CPU intensive I have chose to re-encode all my videos, but this is not feasible for a lot of users so it may be easier to just dump them on a local USB drive. I will provide more details on specific codecs below. One last thing to note is that you had to enable "Internet Video" before it would see files on the network, took my a minute to realize that. UNBOXING: Not much to say here. Very clean box with just the DVD player, Remote, Manual and Cables. I was mildy disappointed that it only came with composite cables. Would have been much nicer to come with HDMI. INSTALLATION: Again pretty simple. Just plugged in to the wall, plugged my network cable, and plugged my HDMI cable into the TV as well as my optical audio cable to the receiver. SETUP: Initial setup was pretty simple, most of the menus did everything automatically; HOWEVER, since I was using a wired connection with easy network setup, it already pulled an IP address and was working perfectly. I did not test configuring a wireless connection. INTERFACE: I have read some reviews online that complained about a laggy interface or some lag when playing videos etc. I have not noticed this as of you. Everything has been blazing fast. I personally do not care for the Playstation/PSP style layout as I like Eye candy, but its very clean and easy to navigate. DVD/BRAY: Oddly enough, I have yet to test Disc playback, and do not own any blu-rays yet. There is no reason to believe this would have any issues but I will edit this review if it comes up. FILE FORMAT SUPPORT: This is taken from the manual, and as you can see is a bit convoluted. You need to make sure you encode your video as well as the audio portion of the video in a format that is supported if you want to use it over DNLA. *1 The player does not play coded files such as DRM. *2 The player may not play this file format on a DLNA server. *3 The player can only play standard definition video on a DLNA server. *4 This player can play AVCHD Ver.2.0 format. *5 The player plays AVCHD format files that are recorded on a digital video camera, etc. The AVCHD format disc will not play if it has not been correctly finalized. *6 The player does not play coded files such as Lossless. *7 The player does not play animated PNG or animated GIF files. *8 For MPO files other than 3D, the key image or the first image is displayed. Audio: MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) ".mp3" AAC/HE-AAC *1 *2 *6 ".m4a" WMA9 Standard *1 *2 *6 ".wma" LPCM ".wav" Video: MPEG-1 Video/PS *1 *2 MPEG-2 Video/PS,TS *1 *3 ".mpg," ".mpeg," ".m2ts," ".mts" MPEG-4 AVC *1*2 ".mkv," ".mp4," ".m4v," ".m2ts," ".mts" WMV9 *1*2 ".wmv," ".asf" AVCHD *2 *4 *5 Xvid ".avi" Photo: JPEG ".jpg," ".jpeg" PNG ".png*7" GIF ".gif*7" MPO ".mpo"*8 SUPPORTED DISC FORMATS: I will update my review with this info, but here is the list of playable disc/formats Blu-ray Disc*1 BD-ROM BD-R*2/BD-RE*2 DVD*3 DVD-ROM DVD-R/DVD-RW DVD+R/DVD+RW CD*3 CD-DA (Music CD) CD-ROM CD-R/CD-RW Super Audio CD *1 Since the Blu-ray Disc specifications are new and evolving, some discs may not be playable depending on the disc type and the version. The audio output differs depending on the source, connected output jack, and selected audio settings. *2 BD-RE: Ver.2.1 BD-R: Ver.1.1, 1.2, 1.3 including organic pigment type BD-R (LTH type) The BD-Rs recorded on a PC cannot be played if postscripts are recordable. *3 A CD or DVD disc will not play if it has not been correctly finalized. For more information, refer to the instruction manual supplied with the recording device. Discs that cannot be played * BDs with cartridge * BDXLs * DVD-RAMs * HD DVDs * DVD Audio discs * PHOTO CDs * Data part of CD-Extras * Super VCDs * Audio material side on DualDiscs OVERALL: I would give this unit a 7/10. Mostly because of the file format issues, to support a format but only allow it via usb and not DNLA is absurd to me. I also think the interface could look a little more "Casual" and less "Business". For the money I am not sure you will find anything better. There are only about 3-4 other competing brands for the price/features, and they all excel in other areas while falling short in others. This Sony was the best all around one of the bunch.

Show more

Comment

It crashes a lot when Im watching YouTube TV. Its like clockwork. After about 4 or 5 videos, it locks up and I have to exit and go back into the application. After it does this about 3 or 4 times, it locks up and I have to turn off the power to shut it off and reboot it. Its also very slow to respond to the remote. It takes a while to boot up and then its slow. So for instance, when I hit the pause button, it can be 15 seconds before the video actually pauses. You have to be very patient and wait. Sometimes I wonder if it didnt get the signal but usually it did and I just have to wait patiently for it to respond. EDIT: As of about March 1st, YouTube videos are now completely broken. They play audio but display a blank screen. Ive connected with many other uses of this device and theyre all having the same problem. There appears to be a bug in the latest update to the software. Sony seems to remain unaware of this bug somehow. No response yet.

Show more

Comment

Pros: - Great image quality - Improved look to interface from previous Sony models (still not great) Cons: - Load times slower than my older Sony S570 - Remote is small and not very ergonomic - User interface is slow - Issues loading some discs (multiple tries required - same as an older Sony S570 Blu-ray player I own) - Noisy when in use - sometimes audible even over home theater system - Player feels cheap and flimsy - Failed in less than a year! Failing in less than a year is why I gave the BDP-S590 one star. I have an older Sony S570 Blu-Ray that started to make a terrible noise within a year (so loud as to be distracting over even high volume levels) but at least it kept working. The BDP-S590 was unable to load any disc in less than a year. Sony is sending a refurb S590 replacement but having experienced disc load issues on both the S570 and S590 Sony Blu-Ray players and a complete failure on the S590 means I will be looking for another company for my next blu-ray player. ********************************************************************************* Update 1: The first refurb S590 Sony sent as a replaced was DOA. After multiple calls Sony agreed to (at least!) pay shipping to take the dead refurb back but still waiting on second refurb replacement. Will post another update when receive second replacement unit. On a plus side for Sony I bought a 2013 LG only to return it as my old (noisy) Sony S570 had a noticeably better picture (color and sharpness) with less 3D crosstalk. (lg had some - Sony had none on same content). S590 picture (when it worked) was as good as the S570. *********************************************************************************

Show more

Comment

I recently bought this blu ray player to go with my 3d projector. I have not tested the 3d on it yet, but I did stream a movie last night on VUDU. The movie looked great and played great. One big difference I noticed with this over my previous blu ray player, was that this was the first blu ray player I was able to steam a movie in HDX on VUDU without it stopping and buffering alot. In fact, it didnt stop at all. Now alot of factors could play into that I guess, but I thought it was worth noting. When I first opened the box I was very disappointed with how cheap and flimsy the player looked and felt, I even commented that to my girlfriend before i read reviews on here saying the same. The blu ray player we replaced is a Sony as well, and the one replaced feels alot tougher and looks tougher too than this one (last years model blu ray player). I guess it shouldnt be much of an issue since I dont beat up my electronics. I just hope the inside of it is good! The remote is fine and is comfortable in the hand for the few seconds it might be held. It does its job well, but I am replacing it with a Logitech Harmony 700 remote, to eliminate 5 remote controls, so the remote wont be used by me once that arrives. The player discovered my wireless network fine and was easy to setup. As stated above, the streaming was excellent. I watched it on my 106" screen with 3d projector and the picture looked amazing with no skipping, buffering or any other annoyance. The update to the player once connected wirelessly to my internet did take quite a long time. I did not time it, but Id wager a good half hour. You will need to do the update if you plan to stream, because the player did not have vudu/netflix/etc preloaded, and only came up after I updated, which is expected with electronics now a days. Why do Blu-ray players not come with an HDMI cable? They cant be that expensive to produce with the players. It seems like they would be standard on a blu-ray player, but it isnt. You will probably want to buy a cable to go with it if you dont have spares. Rating a 4 so far because for the price I would have expected it to feel a bit more sturdy. Will update later when i watch a 3d movie. *UPDATE* Updating review to add the 3d movie experience. I purchased Polar express 3d that came with the red/blue glasses. The 3d looked good, but the glasses were uncomfortable so i stopped watching. Yesterday I watched Avatar 3d with the active glasses and the experience was awesome. I am not sure what kind of role the Blu ray player plays in 3d quality, if any, but the quality was great. My girlfriend usually gets bored during a movie and will read her Nook, but this movie she actually watched all the way through and stayed attentive. She has seen Avatar before, so that impressed me as well. She commented several times how amazing the 3d was. Well, thats it for now, my review.

Show more

Comment

This is the fourth Sony product that I have bought in the last five years to fail miserably. My experience has been that they initially perform well and then they become bricked. Unusable and cannot be fixed for a reasonable sum. As a former big fan of Sony products, I now will buy nothing. from them. I bought the very expensive early monitors from them. A recent Sany TV failed shortly after warranty expiration. My first DVD player from Sony failed and that was an early high-end product. My Blu Ray players from Toshiba and LG perform very well and are as old and older than the Sony. Granted this was an inexpensive product but it received very little use in the bedroom, was electrically protected,and as such should not have failed. I wont try another Sony product.

Show more

Comment

This is my first 3d blue ray player and I am so happy with it I dont know how to convey in words how good it is. I just have a 46" Vizio HD Tv and the picture display from the player is so beautiful. I was watching Aliens 2 from my bue ray DVD collection set and it was something to see.. Also included are the added apps that you can view like Netflix, Amazon streaming movies and TV shows,Hula,Vudu, YouTube live from the internet,Crackle,Horror movies apps and many more.The apps alone will put a smile on your face for years to come.You cannot view YouTube on the Roku player, only on the Sony 3d blue Ray palayer. Also the remote is very easy to use and the buttons are identified on the remote so you know just what one does what. Imagine what this baby would do if I owned a 3D television? But I will have to wait awhile to get that.But I am as happy as a kid in a candy store with this player for all that it does.Also Amazon delivery was spot on and neatly packed.

Show more