Nick Fedrick from Athens has sent in review of Sharp BD-HP50 Blu-ray player

May 28, 2008

I bought this player with the1.1 firmware and it was great. Yes, it did take a very long time to load Pirates of the Carribean - almost 3 full minutes. That is due to the disc heavily using Java (BD-J) for interactivity. Few days ago I flash updated the firmware to 2.60 in about 10 minutes. See manufacturer's web site for the firmware and carefully follow the instructions. They will even provide you with the disc.
I purchased a 46" HDTV and a Toshiba HD-A20 1080p HD DVD Player player along with this Blu-ray Disc Player. I wanted to see the results of both Blu-Ray and HD DVD before investing in more expensive units. Setting up was quick and straightforward - no problems here. I noticed that this Sony player weighs much less than the Toshiba HD-A20 HD DVD player. There needs to be a ethernet port or some other way to access updates online direct to this player, a wireless method possibly? My Toshiba HD DVD player has the CAT-5 ethernet port and it makes updating (not exactly simple) more flexible. Manufacture's website offers the image (ISO) burn to DVDR method for updating, but this seems not convenient at best. One other thing I immediately noticed is how whisper quiet this player is. There is no noticeable fan noise whatsoever. Compare this to the Toshiba HD-XA2 fan, which has a sound resembling the whine of a tiny fighter jet.

The remote control seems to be totally out of sync with the unit - making the entire thing very sluggish. Mine failed to work after 5 months of ownership. I had it replaced under warranty with a refurbished one and that one does not work either. I have a 60inch 1080p Sony tv and a decent 5.1 home theater-in-a-box sound system.After doing research I bought a (too expensive) "high-speed" monster HDMI cable rated to handle 1080p audio/video. There is slight fan noise during dvd playback, which was only audible with the tv turned off. While the movie is playing, I couldn't hear the fan at all. The display on the front is a gray-blue. There are 4 brightness settings (High-Med-Low-Off), which can be accessed with one button on the top bottom of the remote. Very convenient. With the display turned off, this is a very nice viewing experience. There is also an additional display button on the remote, which tells you the TRT of the disc, which chapter you are watching, time remaining in the chapter, and bit rate.

Find the lowest price on Sony blu ray players at Ebay.com

Click here to buy Sony Blu-Ray Player and save up to 25% off NOW!

Rating: