Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Player Steams Netflix, YouTube & Slacker

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Consolidation of functionality is where the money is these days and to that end its hard to think anything other than that Sony’s (almost) onto a winner concerning their just unveiled BDP-N460 Blu-ray Player which, thanks to boasting optional wireless network connectivity, not only potentially serves as a full featured BD player but an entertainment hub taking in the likes of Netflix (billed for later this fall), YouTube and Slacker courtesy of Sony’s Bravia Internet Video platform.

If you sensed a fly in the ointment, so to speak, top marks as whilst the Sony BDP-N460 is billed as a networked BD player there’s a catch (and quite a catch at that). Instead of the player coming with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity instead you’ll need to fork out separately for a Wi-Fi dongle that ‘helps ease the connection between the Ethernet-enabled player and a wireless router in either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz radio band for optimal streaming’ and that’ll set you back an additional $100. So far, so very, very disappointing.

At this juncture you’re probably already loosing interest and, frankly, who can blame you. Sony have missed a trick here (hell, its not even a trick) and we simply cannot fathom why Sony have decided, in their infinite wisdom, that this is the way forward when, patently, offering wireless connectivity via an optional upgrade instead of integrated Wi-Fi for out of the box home network hook up is beyond us. Still, that’s the deal – take it or leave it.

In terms of other (any) key highlights the Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Player, which is BD-Live friendly, from the Blue-ray angle naturally offers up Full HD 1080/60p as well as 24p true cinema output whislt in terms of audio you can factor in 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS-HD Master Audio and 7.1 channel L-PCM via HDMI (post encoding).

By way of a redeeming feature the Sony BDP-N460 , as well as supporting BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), AVCHD, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on BD/DVD/CD recordable media also comes with USB connectivity allowing you to hook up USB flash drive to view content such as digital photos – but, in honesty, whether the above serves to remedy the lack of Wi-Fi on a player touted as network friendly remains wholly open to question.

The Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Player is set to release in October at which juncture it’ll set you back some $250 but, of course, if you want that network connectivity remember that the Wi-Fi dongle will set you back an additional $100.

We always have high expectations of Sony but there simply no way we can dress this up – however much we’d like to. Disappointing.