AVS Forum banner
49K views 127 replies 71 participants last post by  amenda8998 
#1 ·
I'm looking at getting my first blu-ray player and I'll be honest in that I'm mostly going to use it to watch Netflix streaming and DVDs, so Netflix quality and DVD upconversion are important to me. Having blu-ray capability means I can finally jump on the blu-ray bandwagon and start getting blu-rays from Netflix instead of regular DVDs when available.


I've been researching a number of blu-ray players, namely the LG BD550, Panasonic DMP-BD65K, and Sony BDP-S370. These all appear to be comparable players with some trade offs, however, as far as I can tell, none of these players have a full Netflix interface and require you to use a PC to put programs in the Instant Queue.


This isn't a huge deal really, but are there any blu-ray players out there that have a full Netflix interface that aren't limited to just the Instant Queue? I don't need wifi, which is why I haven't looked at more expensive models, but I may consider getting a higher end model with wifi if it included a full Netflix interface. I just want to see what my options are.


Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Im in the same boat. Looking for a DVD player for the bedroom, with the full Netflix interface, I will never use it for blu-rays, just DVD and Netflix. If there's isnt a Blu-ray/DVD player out there with the full Netflix interface, I will probably just buy another Roku.


Currently using an xbox360, but my free year of xbox live is about to end, and I am not renewing it. (only used it for Netflix).
 
#3 ·
I see this is becoming a common problem around the home theater market, and it disturbs me. All I see mentioned on this and other forums is netflix, netflix, netflix. I currently have an Oppo 83 and I have a Pioneer 52fd sitting in a closet, I was going to sell it to a guy I worked with. His very first question was "does it play netflix?"not how good is the picture quality. Is the market getting mis-guided with netflix? I certainly think so. For anyone to buy a Blu-ray player primarily for netflix is a slap in the face to the quality of Blu-ray. Wake up people and enjoy the best home theater experience yet and treat yourself to a great presentation the BD will give you, dont short change yourself with streaming. When you stream you are missing key elements to what make movies great. A key example is CNET (i know, dont say it) they reviewed the Oppo 83 which may be one the best home theater devices made. The gave it a damn near perfect score at first, they then lowered it because of changes in the market? Personally I think lowering a score based on that is crazy. But I read why they changed it..........netflix wasnt on it. I personally feel that is all people care about anymore, am I alone? Sorry for ranting.
 
#4 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by electric turd /forum/post/0


I see this is becoming a common problem around the home theater market, and it disturbs me. All I see mentioned on this and other forums is netflix, netflix, netflix. I currently have an Oppo 83 and I have a Pioneer 52fd sitting in a closet, I was going to sell it to a guy I worked with. His very first question was "does it play netflix?"not how good is the picture quality. Is the market getting mis-guided with netflix? I certainly think so. For anyone to buy a Blu-ray player primarily for netflix is a slap in the face to the quality of Blu-ray. Wake up people and enjoy the best home theater experience yet and treat yourself to a great presentation the BD will give you, dont short change yourself with streaming. When you stream you are missing key elements to what make movies great. A key example is CNET (i know, dont say it) they reviewed the Oppo 83 which may be one the best home theater devices made. The gave it a damn near perfect score at first, they then lowered it because of changes in the market? Personally I think lowering a score based on that is crazy. But I read why they changed it..........netflix wasnt on it. I personally feel that is all people care about anymore, am I alone? Sorry for ranting.

It's called consumer demand.


You're assuming that everybody has enough money to fill their library with mass quantities of $30 Blu-ray discs and that no one ever decides to watch a movie at home on a whim. Like everyone else, I too enjoy a quality Blu-ray movie, but there are also many nights I want to venture outside my own DVD library without leaving my couch.


As far as the "slap in the face", it's called diversity. Why not buy a player that does both of what you want instead of being concerned about insulting an inanimate object?
 
#5 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by electric turd /forum/post/19322994


I see this is becoming a common problem around the home theater market, and it disturbs me. All I see mentioned on this and other forums is netflix, netflix, netflix. I currently have an Oppo 83 and I have a Pioneer 52fd sitting in a closet, I was going to sell it to a guy I worked with. His very first question was "does it play netflix?"not how good is the picture quality. Is the market getting mis-guided with netflix? I certainly think so. For anyone to buy a Blu-ray player primarily for netflix is a slap in the face to the quality of Blu-ray. Wake up people and enjoy the best home theater experience yet and treat yourself to a great presentation the BD will give you, dont short change yourself with streaming. When you stream you are missing key elements to what make movies great. A key example is CNET (i know, dont say it) they reviewed the Oppo 83 which may be one the best home theater devices made. The gave it a damn near perfect score at first, they then lowered it because of changes in the market? Personally I think lowering a score based on that is crazy. But I read why they changed it..........netflix wasnt on it. I personally feel that is all people care about anymore, am I alone? Sorry for ranting.

As Brian said, it's diversity. While I have quite a collection of Blu-Rays now, there are a LOT of movies I'd like to see but don't really want to plunk down$15-30 for the Blu-Ray disk. So Netflix, VuDu and Amazon on Demand fit the bill for these movies for me. If I can get a player that not only plays Blu-Rays, but also can handle the times that I want to stream something from these services, then I am all for it and would be all set.


As to the original poster, I thought the new LG, namely the BD550(which you mentioned) BD570 and BD590 all had the newer Netflix interface that allowed you to browse more than just your Instant queue. I dunno if it allows you to browse the entire streaming catalog, but I'm pretty sure it goes beyond just the instant queue.


If that doesn't suit you, maybe think about a combination of a simple/cheaper Blu-Ray player and a Roku box. Netflix on the Roku is pretty much as good as you are gonna get at the moment, in terms of an advanced interface.
 
#7 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by YTV /forum/post/19322819


Im in the same boat. Looking for a DVD player for the bedroom, with the full Netflix interface, I will never use it for blu-rays, just DVD and Netflix. If there's isnt a Blu-ray/DVD player out there with the full Netflix interface, I will probably just buy another Roku.


Currently using an xbox360, but my free year of xbox live is about to end, and I am not renewing it. (only used it for Netflix).

just an FYI, when the dashboard updates on 360 11/4, they are adding search to add titles.
 
#8 ·
looks like-


insignia

xbox 360(coming and not blu ray, but DVD)

PS3(kind of)

Sony players(some have a movie wall format, but I don't know if it has search)



if you just going for streaming then I would go


cheap dvd or blu ray player with out streaming

+

$59 Roku



probably cheaper plus the Roku interface is superior to any other netflix interface IMO
 
#10 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by electric turd /forum/post/19322994


I see this is becoming a common problem around the home theater market, and it disturbs me. All I see mentioned on this and other forums is netflix, netflix, netflix. I currently have an Oppo 83 and I have a Pioneer 52fd sitting in a closet, I was going to sell it to a guy I worked with. His very first question was "does it play netflix?"not how good is the picture quality. Is the market getting mis-guided with netflix? I certainly think so. For anyone to buy a Blu-ray player primarily for netflix is a slap in the face to the quality of Blu-ray. Wake up people and enjoy the best home theater experience yet and treat yourself to a great presentation the BD will give you, dont short change yourself with streaming. When you stream you are missing key elements to what make movies great. A key example is CNET (i know, dont say it) they reviewed the Oppo 83 which may be one the best home theater devices made. The gave it a damn near perfect score at first, they then lowered it because of changes in the market? Personally I think lowering a score based on that is crazy. But I read why they changed it..........netflix wasnt on it. I personally feel that is all people care about anymore, am I alone? Sorry for ranting.

Some of us are blessed in that we either see no quality difference in a blu-ray disc vs. Netflix HD streaming or we do not care. Infact I think its the vast majority of people who feel this way, no offense. I have a 500 collection of DVD's, I haven't bought a new DVD in 5 years, and probably have only watched ones that I own maybe 5 times in the past 2 years. I simply don't see blu-ray ever gaining ground or even coming close to becoming a standard.


To be honest I wish I could just find a DVD player with Netflix streaming (full interface). I have been with Netflix since the day the Roku came on the market, so I still only pay $8.47 a month with taxes, this included 1 DVD mailed at a time, unlimited. The DVD I have now, I have had since November 16th, 2009. I don't even bother sending them back. If there is a movie I want to see, I walk a block to the Redbox and pay a dollar for it, which is maybe once a month. On the other hand my family combined probably watches a good 50+ a month movies and TV programs streaming.


I may just end up buying another Roku and selling the 360 on craigslist (it sounds like a jet engine when playing DVD's anyway), as it doesn't sound like a blu-ray player with full netflix interface exists. On the occasion that I do watch a DVD I will just watch it in the living room or family room.
 
#11 ·
Does any external device (besides the computer via the web) support full Netflix access?


I know my Xbox has the ability to select movies beyond what is in my queue, and quite honestly, it does a pretty good job. Several times I've found movies that was picked for me that I didn't even know or even seen available for streaming. IMO, it's a toss up between watching movies via my Xbox or my HTPC. Both look great. Streaming via by Samsung BDP-3600 to my Epson 8100 PJ looked bad, so I moved the player to the living room and plugged it into my LG 42" and it looks great on the smaller screen - via an red,white and yellow cable hooked to the component jack of the TV, too! (I couldn't get the HDMI working anymore with this player, and I couldn't find my component cables).


Anyhow, Xbox 360, seems to be the only choice, besides the Windows 7 Media Center application, that has access to the Netflix database. However, both products does not have FULL access as they are still limited with the selection. I'm not sure why this is. If these devices have access beyond the regular queue, then why not show all the available streaming movies?


Yes, it's too bad that the only real way to have FULL access to Netflix's streaming database for now is via the website and through your computer. I also found it ridiculous that you have to log in to your computer to activate these external devices first (xbox, BD player, etc), but I guess that's better than having to call and talk to an operator. The Windows Media Center app is ok, but I find it funny that it's so limited and yet, I could easily switch over and access the real Netflix site via the web browser on the same computer. I think it was a cool idea and I'm glad they finally added this app to the Media Center, but after installing it and seeing how limited it was, I found it useless.


One thing I forgot to add - to have access to the Netflix option via Xbox, you must have the Gold Membership, which is another $50 or so a year. Whatever the cost, it's extra, on top of your Netflix monthly charge. The other devices (BD player, Media Center, etc), do not charge anything extra (not sure about Roku, never used it), hence, they are limited in their access to the Netflix database. Now, back to the Media Center app I was talking about. The only way I can see this app being useful is if I decided to cancel my Gold Membership from Xbox. For those that don't have an Xbox 360, the Xbox can connect to your PC through the home network via what's called an extender (just an app basically). However, you must have your PC running and I believe, the Media Center program must be running on the PC first --- then you go over to your Xbox, turn it on and tab over to the Media Center extender area and you're now able to access all the Media Center apps on your computer - including the limited Netflix app. I just checked Google and you can buy external devices that are MC extenders, too, made by company's like Linksys and Cisco. The downside to running extenders to your computer's Media Center... you need to have the computer running as well as the extender device (e.g. Xbox). That's using up twice the amount of electricity. I never use the extender because my Xbox is right next to my HTPC. The extender works great if these two devices were in separate rooms, but if they're right next to each other going to the same TV/Projector, then what's the point of using an extender?


I would suggest building a HTPC (w/BD Rom). Use the TV as a monitor. I did that for a couple years before upgrading to a PJ.
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by gmanhdtv /forum/post/19323512


Insignia bluray players have what the op is looking for. I would not use for reference player, but as a bedroom or secondary player it is fine. They also carry a full 2 year warranty.

From the Netflix blog site ( Here
Quote:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Insignia Blu-ray players now instantly stream

Hi, this note is from Paul Oeschger, Director of partner management. Best Buy has released two new Insignia Blu-ray players that instantly stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix. The models are the Insignia Advanced Series Blu-ray Player NS-WBRDVD, which has built in WiFi wireless networking, and the Insignia Connected Blu-ray Player NS-BRDVD3. Insignia brand products are exclusively available at Best Buy stores and through the Best Buy web site. Netflix members can use these products to play titles from their instant Queue, and they can browse titles by genre from personalized lists and then play those titles immediately or add them to their instant Queue for easy access later.

Sounds a lot like the current Xbox 360 Netflix access, where they say "personalized lists". What this means is that based on what you watched/streamed previously, Netflix will give you access to similar movie titles, however, you won't have FULL access as you would by logging into the website.
 
#13 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott /forum/post/19323737


just an FYI, when the dashboard updates on 360 11/4, they are adding search to add titles.

You are correct!
http://igxpro.net/2010/09/29/xbox-li...nect-and-more/
Quote:
Netflix has been an enduring staple to the Xbox 360′s entertainment side, and for a long time one of the biggest non-gaming reasons to pick up the console. The only problem was that you still needed another device altogether to explore the library, as the software limited you to a pre-selected array of films (organized by category) and what was already added to your Instant Watch queue. Thankfully that's all been changed with this update.

In addition to eschewing cascading navigation in favor of something on the same plane of depth (notice a trend here?), search has now has been added. It works well, opting for a line of letters instead the classic Xbox 360 virtual keyboard, and the results update with each letter added. If a selection isn't available to watch instantly, it'll still show up on the list as DVD Only and offer suggestions to similar titles. Needless to say, this still remains one of the best Netflix experiences out there.
 
#15 ·
LG updated their full line of TVs yesterday to a new Netflix interface with full search capability, not just instant queue and suggestions. I'm hoping their blu-ray players will be updated soon. The LG blu-ray player updates from yesterday did not update Netflix.
 
#16 ·
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I was pretty much set on getting the LG BD550 after reading good reviews on it, but was turned off by the reliability issues being reported here when it comes to playing blu-ray. I still am leaning towards it and hope that LG will fix the problems in the near future.


I am curious now about the new Insignia NS-BRDVD4. Anyone have any experience with it? I'm skeptical about getting an Insignia. I did work at Best Buy for a year and a half (in computers) and while I know Insignia products are better than Dynex, I still never thought very highly of them.
 
#18 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by BishopLord /forum/post/19325682


Does any external device (besides the computer via the web) support full Netflix access?

Yes, Roku. The New Rokus are able to stream 1080p as well(whenever Netflix decides to go that route). The Roku interface allows for searching and browsing of not only suggestions but the categories as well.


Beyond the initial cost of the box, there is no other fees associated with the Roku box itself, only the normal costs associated with each service. I just recently bought one and like it so much I'm debating returnin my Sony BDP-S470 in the bedroom and just going with another Roku. If I wanna watch a Blu-Ray, I already have an LG BD390 and PS3 to playe them, in other rooms.
 
#19 ·
This isn't a huge deal really, but are there any blu-ray players out there that have a full Netflix interface that aren't limited to just the Instant Queue? I don't need wifi, which is why I haven't looked at more expensive models, but I may consider getting a higher end model with wifi if it included a full Netflix interface. I just want to see what my options are


What is a full interface when you are stuck with using a crappy remote to navigate?
 
#21 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by fuddvd /forum/post/19337139


PS3(Sony PlayStation 3) Netflix 1080p(subject to availability of content) and 5.1 Dolby digital plus surround, and search of movies by text. No disk needed.


story here. http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/14/n...-and-5-1-surr/



...This is great news to me! My 60GB fat PS3 finally bit the dust a couple of weeks ago. P/U the new PS3 360GB Move bundle a week ago.


I was always turned off by having to use a disc to stream where my Xbox 360 was power on and go.


1080p & DD is the icing on the cake!



THX for the tip
 
#22 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by electric turd /forum/post/19322994


I see this is becoming a common problem around the home theater market, and it disturbs me. All I see mentioned on this and other forums is netflix, netflix, netflix. I currently have an Oppo 83 and I have a Pioneer 52fd sitting in a closet, I was going to sell it to a guy I worked with. His very first question was "does it play netflix?"not how good is the picture quality. Is the market getting mis-guided with netflix? I certainly think so. For anyone to buy a Blu-ray player primarily for netflix is a slap in the face to the quality of Blu-ray. Wake up people and enjoy the best home theater experience yet and treat yourself to a great presentation the BD will give you, dont short change yourself with streaming. When you stream you are missing key elements to what make movies great. A key example is CNET (i know, dont say it) they reviewed the Oppo 83 which may be one the best home theater devices made. The gave it a damn near perfect score at first, they then lowered it because of changes in the market? Personally I think lowering a score based on that is crazy. But I read why they changed it..........netflix wasnt on it. I personally feel that is all people care about anymore, am I alone? Sorry for ranting.

No your not alone and it's thanks to people and posters like you that bring this problem to the fore front. Anyone else remember Circuit Citys boondoggle DIVX? They were, at the beggining of DVD trying to shove this down consumers throats and call it DVD while DVD was trying to take off and take over the VHS market, just like Blu Ray is today (but taking over standard DVD obviously). I can't count how many times I was in CC telling people it was a waste of money that it was doomed to fail (like I tell people at BB when they are looking at 3D). Thank you for your post! Consumer demand? Ha what a crock! If they were trying to tell the masses that you should buy a Rolls Royce instead of a Toyota would people bite? Probably...


Jeff
 
#23 ·
I hope bumping a 10 day thread is alright, but I'm looking at buying a blu ray / netflix streaming player as well.


Looking at options of devices I can buy for my parents, so something easy to use is most important, price is next. I started looking at the roku and a blu ray player might be a better option.


They are not as discerning as many avs members, but it doesn't need to be the best blu ray player, sorry electric turd...


I'm currently stuck on figuring out what netflix streaming libraries are available to which brands/players. Having to setup a queue on a computer is out of the question, my parents won't do that. are there any players will the full streaming library? I'm not even sure if the roku has the full library?
 
#25 ·
Interesting thread.. I just picked up an LG BD590 (flagship non-3D BD player) and was disappointed to find out that it didn't have a more robust Netflix interface. I have been using a Roku, and more recently PS3 without disc - based on the latest update, and was spoiled by them since they both had search functionality (typing in words and getting back results from the Netflix streaming library).


Never having used any other devices for Netflix except for the Roku and PS3, I assumed all Netflix widgets on all media players supported the search feature, but I was wrong. Hopefully my BD590 gets Netflix search capability with a future firmware update, but along the same lines of the original poster, are there any BD Players out there aside from the PS3 at this moment with a search capability already built in to the Netflix widget?
 
#26 ·
The new Samsung interface is very good. It has:


- Suggestions for you (based on previous viewing/ratings)

- New Arrivals

- Genre

- Instant Queue

- Search


You can add movies to your instant queue but not to your DVD/Blu-ray queue.


You can also rate your movies.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top