AVS discussion on blu-ray players w/ Netflix streaming? - Page 4

Is that something that is clearly called out in the specs of the DVD player or do they tend to hide that information? I don't think I've ever seen it listed before?

You're correct that it's never in the specs. But we have been keeping a list HERE, and it's very short. If you're talking only about blu-ray players, there is only one right now with DD5.1 on Netflix, the Panasonic 110/210/310 (the 210 and 310 are wi-fi). The panasonic also does Netflix captions which is a pretty rare feature too. You can find the 210 for $125-$140 new or around $100 used. If you sell the 3D Avatar disc you get with it for $100 or so, your net cost is around $25. My 3 110's were essentially free. Since I resold 2 of them and all my discs, I actually made money. But you better hurry because the window for outrageous prices for that 3D movie is closing fast.

The Sony BDP-S185 is an inexpensive player that can stream from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu and others: See this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1385000 to find a link to a video with detailed screen capture for different modes: BD playback, AVCHD playback, Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, AVI file.


10-12 Mbit/s with AVC encoding is roughly equivalent or better than over-the-air broadcast @ 12-16 Mbit/s with MPEG-2 (no one broadcasts @ 19 Mbit/s). This is definitely not a slap in the face and it looks much better than DVD-Video.

so it seems the bluray player with built in wifi, the best netflix interface, and best price/deal (free $100 avatar bluray) is the panasonic 210, is that right?

basically if u buy the 210 at $140 including tax, sell the avatar for around $100, you got the best option for around $50

is that logical?

And where can we find which players will do 5.1 with Netflix???

^^^
Link to list 4 posts up. But I can tell you it's a very short list consisting only of the panasonic 110/210/310.

Thanks. It looks like the 110 is a very reasonable priced unit. Is the 110 able to stream out the 5.1 audio from Netflix through its optical port or is that only limited to the HDMI ??

Yes, optical outputs 5.1 from Netflix.

And if you have an AVR that cannot decode the DD+ from Netflix, the audio gets down-converted to regular DD 5.1??

The new Sony BDP-390 and BDP-590 have a new Netflix UI (basically a port of the PS3 Netflix UI) and include support for 1080p netflix and dolby digital plus bitstream.

The new Sony's also include VUDU (1080p/DD+), Amazon VOD (720p/DD) and Hulu+ (720/PCM)

Worth taking a look if you want a decent Netflix streamer with Bluray drive.

Do you actually have this player? If you do, please tell me this. I have the BDP-S370 and it sucks for Netflix because it doesn't search by thumbnails like Roku or my Panasonic BD65 does, you have to use Rewind or FF and even if you press for a split second and then play right away, it goes like one minute back or forth depending on which direction you wanted it to go. So if someone interrupted you and you just want to go back ten seconds, you end up having to watch one full minute.

Does this work the same way in the new UI, or not?

Yes. I have this player. The netflix UI on the S590 is completely different to the x70 and x80 series. Its using one of the standard Netflix UIs. So when you hit the FF or RW button you get the video frame/thumbnail. I suspect it will work identical to youre Roku.

Thanks. Another question I forgot to ask. Both my Panasonic BD65 and my Roku player have the thumbnail search, but the Panasonic works much better. Not only it's faster to load when you click on the thumbnail you want, but it also loads the stream in HD from the start. The Roku is much slower to load the stream, and even worse, it loads it in a horrendous picture quality that lasts for about 30 or 40 seconds before going back to 720p.

With the Sony player you have, how does this work?

For Netflix or YouTube search, can you switch to another language / character set besides English / Latin ? My Panasonic S80 can do that, but the Sony S185 cannot.

I would say the HD stream either starts immediately or within 5 seconds. Note, hitting the display button shows the stream status ... X-high/HD ... high/hd ... Medium/SD ... etc.

I have a fast internet connection though ... 100MB/S down.

So take than info for what its worth.

Just took a quick look. I think you can with the Youtube app. It looked like you could change the input language, and thus would change the character set.

Netflix, I couldn't see anything. Perhaps someone else may know. After all, the S590 appears to be using one of the standard netflix UIs. So perhaps if it can be done on the PS3 ... or how would one do it on the Panasonic ..? Explain the steps, and I will see if I can see it on the 590.

I have been in the market for the best blu ray player for netflix.

These are my main requirements:
1. Netflix subtitles.
2. Browse by genre or the huge netflix catalog
3. Non-sluggish user interface
4. 3D playback nice to have but not must have

Many players have a netflix app which has preselected 50 or so titles in each category. There are a few players like the panasonic 110 which lets you browse by genre.

I have tried a few players (pana 220, pana 87, sony s580) etc and none fit the needs.

Any suggestions for me?

The apple TV (tried the latest 3rd gen) seems to have the best browsing capability for netflix. Also it has the best interface to jump to the middle of a movie or youtube vidoes... However sadly it went back to the store since it would cut the audio off every few minutes and picture quality was not as good as other blu-ray or Roku. The Roku is the clear winner in the sluggish category, so smooth and seamless...

Check out the Sony S390/590 or PS3.

Looking for full Netflix 5.1 hd support

Which BluRay players from pioneer elite, Panasonic and integra fully support Netflix hd 5.1 and wifi?

I have a 42" Vizio Smart TV in our bedroom we bought at Costco Black Friday last year. We love Netflix. Lots of movies we have never seen. Cheesy but fun. Anyway, in our little theater room we did have Blu-ray player, but gave it to my wife's dad. So we want to replace it with one that stream Netflix. We have been spoiled by the Vizio interface. We have tried a Samsung, Panasonic, LG, and even the latest Roku.
This is what the Vizio Netflix interface looks like:



Is there a streaming blu-ray player that shows more than the instant queue which has to be loaded from a computer or our VIZIO TV? at this point, I don't care if it's 3d or not since I don't have a 3d TV. Sony is the only Blu-ray left at Costco I have not tried.

Thanks
Edited by don nealious - 11/17/12 at 4:00pm

I have a Samsung Blu Ray player and a Vizio TV. I don't find one to be better than the other. They are both good to me.

I have a Panasonic DMP-BDT320. I have Subscription to both Amazon Instant Videos and to Netflix.
Both work well from this player. Many other services are also accessible from my player.
The player included an integrated wi-fi adapter. Set-up was simple.
The Amazon service has many videos that are free to folks who sign up for their PRIME service [$79/yr] which gives free 2 day shipping on Amazon purchases. However, it is difficult to know in advance which videos are not free [Can't tell until I select the video such as a particular episode of a TV series.
I prefer using the Netflix service. It has fast forward/reverse and pause functions. The Amazon service does not support fast forward/reverse with the BDT320.
The Netflix service with my player shows closed captions for all videos that have CC. The Free Amazon Prime streaming service does not support cc. I was told it does for paid rented streamed videos
The Netflix service supports my having a Instant Queue of videos I might wish to watch. I can populate that queue from my computer [where I can use the keyboard- much faster]
The Amazon service used with my player does not support such a function although Amazon does support it if you access via a computer. I was told by Amazon that some other vendor's TVs and Players do have a similar feature. They said Panasonic has not implemented that "yet".
I have a Panasonic TC-P50UT50 television. It has Netflix access but I don't use it. The TV requires purchase of a specific Panasonic Wi-Fi adapter. I tried several other adapters that I had-they did not work. FYI Skype the TV requires purchase of a specific camera too. The TV has other internet access-I don't use it however -same reason.
I am pleased with other features of the Panasonic player such as input of music or videos using SD memory cards and USB drives in addition to discs. I have even connected a external hard disk drive to the USB port of my player and watched videos store on the drive.
The only movie format that I wish the BDT320 supported is the.avi file type. I have an older Phillips DVD player that I use to watch .AVI files on my TV.

FYI: I use the term "videos" to include any streamed material-movies, TV shows etc.
I use my TV remote to control the BDT320. I dislike the trackpad remote that ships with the player.

Hi - new to this thread and I have a couple of questions related to streaming, Netflix in particular:

1. Although my BD player (Sony BDP-570) and AVR support the various Dolby digital formats, and are connected via HDMI, I can't get 5.1 output when streaming Netflix. Does that indicate that the BDP-570 uses a different codec for streaming than for playing BD? If so, I may want to upgrade my BD player to something that does support it. Just looking for confirmation that this is the case.
2. I recently replaced my old 50" Sony Grand Vega (1080i, rear projection LCD) with a Samsung 55" LED set that supports full 1080p. Now I'm getting a lot of buffering when streaming Netflix through the BD player to the point where it's basically unwatchable due to the constant starts/stops. I have 15Mbps download from Verizon FIOS and I believe my Wi-Fi router only supports 802.11 b/g. I'm wondering if the issue is the Wi-Fi and/or if the larger screen and 1080p might be causing this issue. Would getting a 802.11n-capable Wi-Fi router be a possible solution? Would connecting directly via Ethernet help? Or is it the BD player?

As an aside, I don't have the buffering issue in my bedroom. The BD player there (Samsung) is closer to the Wi-Fi router, and the TV is a 37" Toshiba LCD (also 1080p capable). The 5.1 issue is not an issue there, since the TV is not connected to an AVR there.

Any thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

How many of you see streaming video content as the wave of the future and otherwise the extinction of DVD's much in the way the DVD made the VHS extinct?

Streaming content and the quality thereof has improved dramatically since Netflix and or Amazon first introduced it. I remember a time one could not even stream HD movies, now you can stream 1080p movies. I am of the belief that inside 10 years BDP will be more-or-less obsolete - sorry elec turd.

Sony 570 does not support 5.1 audio on NF. The newer 590/790 do as well as 5.1 on Amazon Prime (when available).

S~

Certainly, the improvements in the quality of streamed content make it comparable - almost - to BD. But see my post above; it's still by no means perfect for most people. So it will take some time, but eventually, yes, streaming content will make discs close to obsolete. For that to happen, however, the content providers, ISPs, and AV equipment makers will have to make it easy to deliver equivalent or better quality, on a consistent basis and at a price point that makes it too compelling to resist for the majority of the populations in developed countries.

There will always be exceptions however - people without high speed Internet access, or without the equipment - that will help BD and DVD continue to exist for quite some time. And there will no doubt be continued improvements to disc or other local media formats as well. And the prices to acquire that technology will contine to drop over time. But 10 years for any technology is a long time in this day and age, so I tend to agree with you.

Thanks, teachsac. I don't actually need 3D so I'll compare the 390 and 590 to see what else the extra $10 gets me, then I'll decide. I just bought my Dad a 390 and thought the Netflix picture quality was amazing on his 50" Samsung plasma, although he doesn't have a surround sound setup. He didn't have any of the buffering issues I'm having with the 570.

Any thoughts on that issue? Wil the newer player alleviate that as well, and why?

TIA

There are too many factors to say yes or no. Internet speed, NF server usage, wored/wireless connection, etc.

S~

I'm looking for a br player that has WI-FI and streams netflix and amazon movies but sound is of no concern as its for my 80 year old mom and she will only use it through her 43 inch TCL tv anyways.


Any suggestions on some of the lower end (=cheaper but reliable) units that would accomplish this?




Maybe this belongs in the help me decide looking for a blue ray player thread but it is specific to the primary subject of this thread so I thought I'd start here

Either the Sony 390 or Panasonic 220 would be the best.

S~