I'm looking to get a new blu ray player that has built in wifi for streaming netflex. Nothing very expensive, under $200 would be sweet.

I think my Panny Bluray from costco does all of that, of course, I don't use those features. can't remember the model, but it was like $150 I believe about a year ago..

I have a Panasonic BD60 but it is not capable of steaming Netfix as far as I can tell. I was just looking at the LG BD570, it looks promising.

Check out the Sammy Bd-P3600. I have it and it works flawlessly on wireless, streaming netflix, pandora and youtube (it also comes loaded with Blokckbuster software). I would also chekc out Insignia's offerings from Best Buy (they offer netflix, pandora nad CinemaNow). I have an Insignia player that performs exceedingly well, with fast load times and great picture/sound.

I've read good things about the Insignia's. I'll take a look at both.

I have the same player - and the same experience with it - as Adrien.

I read a ton of reviews and finally picked the LG-BD570.

Capn,

I've fallen behind in all this wireless and streaming technology. Tell me: Do you use the Sammy to wirelessly stream Netflix to your TV display? Does it do it in HD or just Standard Def? Do you get Dolby Digital 5.1 or just a stereo soundtrack?

Thanks,
Alan

Alan, not sure about the specific model in question but netflix streams are available in HD (up to 1080i) on many TV's, bluray players, etc. Currently, PS3 is the only device to allow streaming of movies in 1080p and in dolby digital surround sound, but the selection is pretty limited.

XBox is supposedly to offer Netflix in HD in the very near future last I heard. The Wii will also stream Netflix but with it you are limited to stereo and SD only.

Alan - Netflix lets you stream some material in High def - it's a little better than DVD quality, not as pristine as a blu ray. Audio (for now) is in stereo, although Netflix has recently gotten a license to stream Dolby Digital plus with some oftheir high def offerings.

The Insignia Netflix interface is better than the Samsung interface (strange, given the "budget" nature of the Insignia players). But, the Samsung also lets me stream audio and video from my home PC to the TV, wich is neat, but a little cumbersome.

The stream from both players is as good as what I get from the computer. It's definitely a mature technology, and very effective, even with wireless.

I'm not sure if Alan's question was answered.

The various BD players with WiFi and Netflix, must be physically connected to the TV, but connect to the local network wirelessly so they can stream the video from the Internet. It's not wireless from the player to the TV (yet).

Of course, if you just want streaming movies straight to your TV without a hard wired Bluray player or other device you can just buy one of the TV's with built in WiFi and netflix streaming.

I use streaming to have a giant selection of movies and TV shows but I still go back to bluray for the best PQ and SQ.

Hi terzaghi (David) and Jakewash,

Thanks for the info. I find Wii amusing (I play it when I visit Axiom. . .) but not enough to own it. Likewise PS3. I'm just curious to see how Netflix streaming in SD compares to SD DVD playback. I wonder if it's free of glitches--of course this may depend on how busy the bandwidth pipe is from my cable company.

Regards,
Alan

Netflix SD looks like SD cable. Netflix HD looks like HD cable. So the SD is not as good as DVD, and the HD is not as good as BD.

I have a 25 Mbps connection to my house, and everything is glitch-free, but I'm not typical. I don't know if Netflix has ever said exactly how much bandwidth is required for HD streaming with 5.1 audio, but the rough number they give is 5+ Mbps. I've seen other people state the required range is 7-10 Mbps.

I Typically have DL speeds ranging from 8-12 mb/s, sometimes less and sometimes more. I have no problems streaming HD (Which looks like HD cable as neon mentioned). I have not tried anything with surround sound yet as netflix just made this available on select titles and I have been too busy lately for movies.

I think that the Wii-streamed Netflix looks very good. Not quite as good as the HD through the Samsung, but much better than anything I stream over the internet directly. Perhaps the scaler in my TV is really the bees knees.

Great! Thanks, Neon (Chris), Capn, Tom Tuttle and all for the excellent detail and advice.

That's OK if I have to connect a BD player directly to the TV (an aging Samsung DLP that's still cooking on the original bulb).

Now I have to figure out the wireless routers. There seem to be several types at increasing price, the basic one (150 mbps), and then a "Wireless N Gigabit" router with 300 mbps (IEEE 802.11n) transfer.

Thanks,
Alan

If the cost of the N with a gigabit interface isn't prohibitive, that's the way I'd go (make sure it has 3 antenna, or you're not getting real N). If it is dual band 2.4/5.2 GHz, even better That type plays well with older G gear (when set to 2.4), and if you're running all 5.2 GHz N equipment, you can move to those relatively interference-free bands (of course once everyone is doing that, the same problem that 2.4 has now will show up again).

After having the LG for a couple of days I can say I am very pleased so far. Regular dvds look amazing. The Netfix streaming has worked great, no glitches. I really like that it has Pandora radio. It's nice to listen to your favorites with out any commercials.

TiVo now offers Pandora, and I'm loving it as well.

Pandora does have commercials. The lil' missus and myself were listening to Pandora through our system last night whenever a Glade air freshener commercial played immediately after a song on one of the stations, and it would not allow me to skip either.

Congrats on the new LG big fella!

Rick(F), I have intermittent commercials on Pandora on my computer, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any on the TiVo Pandora... so there may not be on Wid's player either.

I just popped it on and will make myself listen for the sake of science and report back.

I listened to it for a few hours yesterday and there were no commercials.

From Pandora's site ... Pandora and advertisements.

I'm understanding that as long as you have a free account you'll see/hear the advertisements albeit very few and sparse. I have several hours on our system using Pandora and have only seen the one ad so far and it really didn't bother me.

I only hear commercials when I use my computer. I have never heard a commercial using any of my blu ray players. There is probably a difference license associated with the various portals - Pandora gets a piece of revenue from LG, Samsung, etc. for allowing their widget be placed on the players. This pays for the service, I am sure, obviating the need for advertising.

Yep, you are probably right Adrien.

Are you using any Panasonic blu ray players? We were using our Panny BD-85 last night whenever the commercial ad popped up and that only happened after several hours of listening.

Nope. Only a Samsung and an Insignia.