Thumbs Up:

Perfect picture quality on Blu-ray movies; video streaming services such as NPR, Slacker, YouTube, Amazon VOD and Netflix; budget-friendly price tag; onboard decoding for DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby True-HD; Profile 2.0 compatible.

Thumbs Down:

Lacks onboard Wi-Fi and internal storage for BD-Live; no eject button on remote; outdated contents on some Internet channels.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Sony BDP-N460 is Blu-ray disc player that supports Profile 1.1 (Bonus View) and Profile 2.0 (BD-Live). It features 1.3a HDMI and up-scaling up to 1080p. The Blu-ray player has tray to load media. It supports audio formats of PCM and MP3, and AVCHD video format.

Sony BDP-N460 supports media types of BD-R, BD-RE, BD-ROM, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL. For connectivity options, it has one Ethernet port that supports IEEE 802.3u (Fast Ethernet). The internet streaming video services include Slacker Personal Radio, BRAVIA Internet Radio, YouTube and Netflix.

Sony BDP-N460 provides stereo sound. Its supported digital audio formats are Dolby True HD digital output, Dolby Digital Plus output, DTS-HD digital output, Dolby Digital output and DTS digital output. The additional features are x.v.Colour Technology, Progressive scanning, BD-Java, JPEG images playback and parental lock.

The connector set of Sony BDP-N460 includes 1×USB ( 4 pin USB Type A ) – Front, 1×SPDIF output ( RCA phono ) – Rear, 1×Ethernet ( RJ-45 ) – Rear, 1×Audio line-out ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Rear, 1×Composite video output ( RCA phono ) – Rear , 1×Component video output ( RCA phono×3 ) – Rear, 1×SPDIF output ( TOSLINK ) – Rear and 1×HDMI output ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) – Rear.

Sony BDP-N460 is EPA Energy Star certified. It needs 120V AC power supply and consumes 26 Watt. Sony is providing one-year limited parts-and-labor warranty on its BDP-N460.

Razzle Dazzle:

Sony BDP-N460 has similar design to previous BDP-S360. The most part of front panel is made up of black glossy plastic. It has sleek look and the disc tray is not easily noticeable. The two buttons of play and stop are raised above the surface. Front panel will flip down automatically when you press the eject button. This design is less clumsy than flip-down design of Samsung BD-P1600.

Inside Dope:

Sony was the pioneer of the Blu-ray technology but now they have been surpassed by Samsung, LG and Panasonic. The company makes another attempt with BDP-N460 to top the Blu-ray player market. It’s streaming services including NPR, Slacker, YouTube, Amazon VOD and Netflix and challenges LG BD390 at low price. There are a few shortcomings though, the BDP-N460 does not have inbuilt storage, Wi-Fi, network media streaming and multi-channel analog outputs. These drawbacks make the BDP-N460 a poor alternative to other players like LG BD390. Moreover, the PS3 Slim is available for $100 more and it offers media streaming and high-definition gaming experience. Sony BDP-N460 offers a good combination of Blu-ray playback and streaming functionality at a budget friendly price.

Although the LCD display of Sony BDP-N460 is small in size, yet it is readable from distance. You can dim and turn off the LCD display while using the Blu-ray player. USB port located at right bottom corner routes out the front panel design.

The USB port at the back panel is deep-set inside the unit and completely surrounded by black plastic. It offers small opening for accessing compact USB external drives. So, you cannot use large external drivers for more storage space.

The remote control of Sony BDP-N460 has simple design, but it lacks the eject button for disc tray. It means that you have to manually press the eject button the player, which is quite frustrating. We will prefer Sony to include the eject button on remote like its competitors.

Sony BDP-N460 has XMB based interface that is identical to PS3. Main categories include Network, Video, Music and Photo. The interface is not completely straightforward. The media streaming services are categorized under Media, instead of Network.

The Netflix interface on Sony BDP-N460 is different as compared to other Blu-ray players. At a time, it shows small 18 movie covers. You can easily move through the titles to select the favorite one. In addition, the rewind and fast-forward options are different. It minimizes the paused movie in bottom scrub bar without any thumbnail, but other Blu-ray players shows thumbnail of paused scene. While testing, the overall streaming video quality of Netflix was not good like other Blu-ray players.

YouTube application has included some premium TV shows and movies. We played a movie and observed that image quality had to be improved, whereas image aspect ratio was better than that of LG BD390 and Panasonic DMP-BD60.

Sony BDP-N460 has also included some movie titles from Sony Movie Studio. The image quality was perfect on this streaming service. Sony also had included some movies such as “Steamboy”, “Muppets in Space”, “Ghostbusters” and “Cloudy With a chance of Meatballs”.

Sony BDP-N460 also features video contents from Wired, FEARnet, Crackle and blip.tv. We agree that it has impressive number of channels, but does not have admirable user experience because some contents are outdated. We loaded Dignnation channel at blip.tv and got that it did not have latest episodes. We appreciate the Sony to increase the numerous streaming video services like NPR, Slacker, YouTube, Amazon VOD and Netflix.

Like all Blu-ray players of 2009, Sony BDP-N460 is compatible to Profile 2.0 to access BD-Live playback features on Blu-ray movies. You have to connect USB external drive to store BD-Live content because the BDP-N460 does not have inbuilt memory.

For Internet connection, Sony only included Ethernet port and forgets to use Wi-Fi. This omission is acceptable only at this low price tag. The company suggests using Linksys WET-610N Wireless Ethernet Bridge for wireless networking. Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray player has inbuilt software for easy wireless setup.

Sony BDP-N460 has inbuilt decoding for Dolby True HD as well as DTS-HD Audio Essential. It can easily decode sound formats for playing back on most of the HDMI capable AV receiver. Also, the BPD-N460 supports bit stream output that allows decoding in AV receiver. DVDs with DTS formats including Neo:6, ES Matrix, ES and DTS 96/24 could not be played on the BDP-N460 because DTS-HD Mater Audio Essential does not have all necessary decoders.

Sony BDP-N460 has HDMI output connection for high resolution multi-channel audio and 1080p video. The component video output supports the analog video. It can also output standard-definition composite video, DVDs at 480p and Blu-rays at 1080i. You will get both coaxial and optical digital audio outputs for multi-channel support, but it does not support full resolution of both DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD. Stereo analog output supports analog audio. The connectivity options are limited to USB and Ethernet ports.

We tested Sony BDP-N460 in 1080p/60 and Oppo BDP-83 connected to Samsung PN50B860 through HDMI. We played HQV (Hollywood Quality Videos) on both Blu-ray players.

Sony BDP-N460 provided pure image quality with complete 1080p resolution without moiré pattern. Its performance was well comparable to Philips BDP7310 and Samsung BD-P3600. However, it could not beat Oppo BDP-83 that is expected at this cost difference. On the contrary, the disc loading speed of the BDP-N460 is much better than other Blu-ray players, but slower than that of Oppo BDP-83.

There are more movies available on DVD as compared to Blu-ray. We also played some DVDs on Sony BDP-N460 and Oppo BDP-83. The DVD performance of the BDP-N460 was not comparable to that of Oppo model. If you are not choosy about DVD playback, then Sony BDP-N460 will be the good choice.

Nitty Gritty:

Sony BDP-N460 offers impressive mixture of low price, streaming media options and good Blu-ray performance. The BDP-N460 player does not have eject button on remote, onboard Wi-Fi and internal memory. If you need budget-friendly Blu-ray disc player and do not mind above drawbacks, then you can purchase Sony BDP-N460.

Random Posts