Smart bluray player with Netflix, Now TV, Amazon etc

[colin_p]

I hope someone can help and rather than joining a hi-fi forum to ask a single, which would be quite rude, I'm sure someone here may know this.

I've got a gracefully aging home cinema system which works very well. A few years ago I upgraded the what was DVD player to a Panasonic smart bluray on which the remote has a dedicated Netflix button. It is brilliant Netflix with an HD picture with Dolby Digital sound.

In the same vane, does anyone know of a do-it-all smart Bluray that has the ability to connect to Netflix, Now TV and Amazon TV ?

The obvious answer is to buy the respective boxes for each provider but I have limited connectivity on the AV receiver and with it being old it does not have HDMI pass through or the like. I don't really want or need to replace it so the obvious solution is to look for a one box solution.

The one box solution is also preferable as I only have a single network cable to plug into the back of whatever smart device and don't want to use wireless if it can be avoided.

Any thoughts, advice or remcommendations most welcomed.

[blurry]

I recently bought the Sony BDP-3500B http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/blu-ray-disc-pla... which did all of this. But after about 2 weeks I had some issues. It wouldn't always boot up. You would get a splash screen and then nothing. Or if you had been watching a DVD, you couldn't get back to the menu for selecting something else.

In the end I took it back for a refund. Did a little more research and found that for these features I was restricted to Sony or Samsung devices. I had read quite a few reviews of similar issues that I had experienced with the Sony so settled the Samsung BD-H6500 http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/tv-audio-video/... had it about 5 weeks and so far its reliable, intuitive and the quality seems good.

[colin_p]

Thanks for that.

I'm non the wiser though. It seems that the hardware makers have specific deals with the serive providers where;

Amazon are tied with LG
Netflix are tied with Panasonic
Samsung are tied with .....

All ties above imagined but it seems that you cannot easilt find out if everything is available in one box. I suppose the best way would be to go to a shop and have a chat.

But I think I may end up having to upgrade my amp and purchase additional hardware from the providers so what I'd end up with would be something like...

Network / internet splitter (as I don't think wireless would be up to it)feeding;
Existing bluray player which does Netflix
Now TV box (to be purchased)
Amazon box (to be purchased)

And then a new AV amp with a HDMI passthroughs for;
Bluray / Netflix box
Now TV box
Amazon box


I might pop down to Richer Sounds and have a chat but that always ends in disaster with the credit card taking a huge whack! It has been almost ten years since I last did it though.

[BJG1]

Expensive option but a PS4 has all 3 of those services plus it plays Blu-ray

[colin_p]

BJG1 said:

Expensive option but a PS4 has all 3 of those services plus it plays Blu-ray

Intersting.

We have a PS4 already but it is in the other / front room where the kids use it. I don't want to bring it into the room where me and Mrs watch TV as that'd mean the kids would be in here and no telly would be watched.



Since my last post, I've been looking online about stuff. It seems that NowTV only pipes out 2 channel sound so that might be a big nope right off the bat. I only want it to watch game of thrones. The only reason I want amazon is for the new top gear but alas I also think that is going to be tricky.

Quite happy with Netflix streaming though the Panasonic bluray in HD and 5.1, why the hell Clarkson couldn't have signed up to Netflix is a huge dissapointment.

Off to look at fire sticks or whatever they are called now.

[RizzoTheRat]

BJG1 said:

Expensive option but a PS4 has all 3 of those services plus it plays Blu-ray

Cheaper option might be a PS3, I assume prices dropped a fair bit when the PS4 came out. We use ours as a Blueray/DVD player and Amazon Prime, it can definitely+ do Netflix, not sure about Now TV though.

Really cheap option for Amazon/Netflix/etc would be some form of Kodi box, and presumably a USB Blueray player hooked up to a Pi would do the job, but I'm not sure if you can get multi channel sound out of a Pi.

[gmaz]

We do all that on a ps3 slim and it works very well.

[gareth_r]

Roku handles Netflix, Amazon, and Now TV (entertainment, movies, and sport), I believe.

[colin_p]

gareth_r said:

Roku handles Netflix, Amazon, and Now TV (entertainment, movies, and sport), I believe.

Good call but I think i'll struggle to get 5.1 sound with my existing AV amp which doesn't HDMI pass through.

[gizlaroc]

colin_p said:

Good call but I think i'll struggle to get 5.1 sound with my existing AV amp which doesn't HDMI pass through.

Can't you plug it into your TV and send the sound back to the amp?

Many TVs send 5.1 back out of the optical, although many don't either.

[colin_p]

gizlaroc said:

colin_p said:

Good call but I think i'll struggle to get 5.1 sound with my existing AV amp which doesn't HDMI pass through.

Can't you plug it into your TV and send the sound back to the amp?

Many TVs send 5.1 back out of the optical, although many don't either.

Another good call but sadly my ageing AV amp only has one optical input which is used by the virgin box.

I'm leaning towards a newer AV amp with HDMI pass through and as suggested Roku having read up on it but i'll wait until the Roku 4 comes out.

[gizlaroc]

colin_p said:

Another good call but sadly my ageing AV amp only has one optical input which is used by the virgin box.

I'm leaning towards a newer AV amp with HDMI pass through and as suggested Roku having read up on it but i'll wait until the Roku 4 comes out.

But if all your inputs go into the TV, and the TV optical goes back to the amp, then you do all the switching on the TV.

That is how I have it set up on my system. The amp is simply there to decode and for volume.

[Dolf Stoppard]

gmaz said:

We do all that on a ps3 slim and it works very well.

I have one of these sitting around that I'd let go nice and cheap. Need to get rid of stuff to keep Mrs Stoppard happy as I've spent the whole day rearranging the lounge to make room for my new turntable. And the rack it sits on...

[Cybertronian]

Sony PS3 definitely does Now TV - have mine for all the major streaming apps from the different channels (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc), along with stuff like Netflix. Also does a fine job of upscaling downloaded media from less kosher sources...