Blu-ray Player with Netflix and Good USB Playback

I am trying to find a good blu-ray player with internet functionality/apps (for Netflix, Pandora, etc.) and a reliable, user friendly UI for USB playback.

I have a Sony Bravia KDL40EX700 that I am going to give to my parents, but the USB functionality on that is terrible (hard drive needs to be formatted a certain way, with a specific folder structure, doesn't support most file types, etc.).

For example, with my Samsung TV (UN46EH5000), I just plug my hard drive into the USB slot and all files seem to work. A blu-ray player with an interface like that would be great for my parents!

I am not looking for anything top-of-the-line - just something that will serve these purposes.

Thanks!

Quote from thykra6 : I am trying to find a good blu-ray player with wi-fi functionality/apps (for Netflix, Pandora, etc.) and a reliable, user friendly UI for USB playback. I am not looking for anything top-of-the-line - just something that will serve these purposes. Thanks!

Okay so I have to start by saying that I don't actually have a definitive suggestion of a specific Blu-Ray player for you to purchase, but I think I have some info that will be helpful in your purchase process...

First off, Do you absolutely have to have Wifi capability on the Blu-Ray player? I only ask, because pretty much every single Wifi-Ready Blu-Ray player I've seen reviewed in the past 6 months gets really low marks for connection speed. For example, it seems like every review I saw, people would state that they had a wired connection to their home with speeds of say 10 Mbps, but that their Wifi Blu-Ray player could never seem to connect to their home network with a speed greater than 1-2 Mbps. Those reviews also usually stated that if the Blu-Ray player was connected to the person's home network by ethernet cord, then they got the full network speed. That's why I would say that you could totally still purchase a Wifi-Ready Blu-Ray player, but that I highly recommend that you hook it up to your home network with an ethernet cord if at all possible. Another thought is that If you can hook an ethernet cord to the BD player, you could buy a substantially cheaper Blu-Ray player that doesn't have the Wifi-Readiness and then just upgrade in a few years (hopefully once the technology improves) to a Wifi-Ready BD player.

So, besides that little bit of unpleasant info about wireless streaming speeds, the only other thing I have to add is that I own a Panasonic BD65k Blu-Ray player (internet capable but not Wifi-Ready/Wifi-Accessible) that I bought about 2 years ago and I absolutely love it. I bought my specific model because Panasonic's BD players had about the highest ratings for Picture Quality out of all the BD player manufacturers at the time and that was the most important attribute to me. IIRC, Panny tied with Sony with like 4.5/5 stars in the Picture Quality category. I think maybe Oppo was also rated there (or higher) but I don't remember for sure and Oppo's entry-level player costs like $400 or $500. So, I bought the Panny for the PQ, but honestly every aspect of the player has been great. The interface for getting online is stupid-easy to figure out too, which really comes in handy if you live with people who are electronics-stupid, as even they will be able to navigate the menus with ease. Finally, the player itself always manages to get the IP addresses and other networking crap correct, no matter how many times I move the player from house to house and network to network and that makes setting it up anywhere just a breeze. It literally takes like 2 minutes to get the BD player set up somewhere new. Bottom line, Panasonic makes some really quality BD players, and they sell them without a ridiculous markup (I'm looking at you Samsung and Sony) so you should be able to get one at a good price. Good Luck and let me know if you have any questions about any of my other experiences with my Panny BD player.

Currently out of stock, but keep checking the following link for the Sony NSZ-GT1 Blu-Ray player with Google TV. Its a great entertainment hub.

Sony NSZ-GT1 (Refurb)

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/...GT1/BSTOCK

Thanks for the advice! You are right, I probably do not need wifi for them as I could just feed an ethernet cable up to their room and get better connectivity. I guess I just need internet connectivity of some sort.

Does the Panny player that you bought have good USB playback? I have a drive with a ton of media content on it, so that is important to me.

Thanks again!

Quote from colgancm : Okay so I have to start by saying that I don't actually have a definitive suggestion of a specific Blu-Ray player for you to purchase, but I think I have some info that will be helpful in your purchase process... First off, Do you absolutely have to have Wifi capability on the Blu-Ray player? I only ask, because pretty much every single Wifi-Ready Blu-Ray player I've seen reviewed in the past 6 months gets really low marks for connection speed.

I second colgancm's suggestion of the Panasonic BD players - specifically the DMP-BDT210.

It is a fantastic BD player with great internet functionality. I use it with an ethernet cable so I can't speak to the WiFi capability. The load times are extraordinarily fast. I also can't speak to the USB capability of it.