Great visuals, once you get past the “interesting”
outer casing
Even if this deck’s tinted, angular bodywork doesn’t float
your boat, its features are worth your attention. In addition to 3D playback and
conversion, there’s a wealth of free online content, piped in via Wi-Fi. The
only notable miss is no 4K upscaling, but then if you can afford a 4K TV,
you’re probably not interested in mid-range players like this. Oh, and there’s Super
Audio CD compatibility – score.
The
diamond-shaped body continues Sony’s “Sense of quartz” design concept
The, ahem “Sense of Quartz” design philosophy that runs
through Sony’s current home cinema components means you can forget about
stacking anything on top of the sloping surface. Still, its angular geometrics look
sharp in their own way and Blu-rays offer similarly crisp edges, with bold
colours.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey beguiles in 3D, with a
depth and accuracy that makes objects in the foreground appear solid, and the
background stable and unaffected by grain or flicker. Blu-rays in 2D also look
grand, and DVDs are smartly upscaled, despite some distortion around the edges
of moving images.
Sony BDP S5100
seen from the back
Sonically, the Sony impresses, with crisply decoded DTS HD
Master Audio via its single HDMI port; shame there ‘s only one, though. In
other respects the Sony is well connected with wide video-format support via
USB and, for serious cable-phobics, DLNA over Wi-Fi.
Extra viewing material comes courtesy of Sony Entertainment
Network, with its wealth of apps and Sony’s own films in SD and HD, plus the
usual on-demand content.
Remote:
It takes mere moments to get to grips with this
The onscreen menu is the now familiar Sony XMB cross bar,
which cleverly puts all of the options on a single screen, so you don’t have to
scroll through pages of options to find what you’re looking for. Completing
this deck’s all round appeal is a free mobile app, available for iOS and
Android devices, that looks very slick indeed on a tablet. A quartz-themed
diamond, in short.
Love: Vivid Blu-ray images and smooth upscaling from DVD. A
useful assortment of apps and features
Hate: The single HDMI port could be limiting. 2D to 3D
conversion is unconvincing. Aesthetically divisive
T3 says: The “distinctive” design houses an impressive
Blu-ray spinner that serves up striking 3D visuals and cinematic sound
Specifications ·
Smart TV Sony Entertainment Network ·
Video Up to 1080p 2D & 3D ·
Connectivity Wi-Fi, Ethernet, coaxial digital, HDMI, 2x USB ·
Audio Decoding Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA ·
Media Streaming DLNA ·
Height 43mm ·
Width 360mm ·
Depth 199mm ·
Weight 1.3kg
|
