Sony BDPS6700 4K Upscaling 3D Streaming Blu-Ray Disc Player (2016 Model)

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Product Specifications

Inputs/Outputs: 1 HDMI, 1 USB, 1 Coaxial, 1 Ethernet
Smart Functionality: With built-in Wi-Fi you can wirelessly access popular streaming apps and services including Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video & more.
4K Upscaling: Get the most out of your 4K Ultra HD TV by upscaling the quality of your Blu-ray movies to near 4K quality. The upscaling chip also improves the quality of online content, and upconverts DVD’s to near HD quality for an improved viewing experience
Sound: Experience HD sound with Dolby and dts-Master Audio. Enjoy multi-room streaming capabilities with the SongPal Link Apps, and connect via bluetooth to enjoy wireless listening.
Screen Mirroring: View your Android mobile devices’ content on your TV with Miracast screen mirroring technology.
Front USB Port: Enjoy your videos, photos and digital music with USB connectivity.

Product Description

Stream from 300+ entertainment services and upscale your content to near-4K quality. Even connect wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones, wireless speakers, game controllers and more. Play music from CDs and other formats via USB in multiple rooms, enjoy stronger, faster Wi-Fi and mirror your smartphone screen on TV. You’ve never watched, listened or connected quite like this.

Product Reviews

Great Unit for the Money

Short Version: I use this unit primarily for streaming but I also wanted blu-ray/dvd/cd capability in a single unit. It excels at all functions. While my wireless signal is strong, I prefer wired connections for added stability - another feature of this player. Performance is very good all around and I recommend the unit as a great value for the money. Details and minor flaws noted below:Compatibility: First and foremost understand THIS IS NOT A 4K PLAYER. It uses “4K upscaling” which is of limited value unless you have a 4K (UHD) display, and even then you’ll be disappointed. Here’s why: The BDP-S6700 HDMI output is version 1.4a which meets some, but not all, of the minimum requirements for 4K video. Of particular note is color depth. HDMI 1.4a displays a maximum 8-bit color depth (256 colors) which is VGA quality. For full 4K color resolution you need a player with HDMI ver 2.0 or better to get the 10-, 12- or 16-bit colors that really make the new 4K displays shine. I knew this going in so the BDP-S6700 was a perfect match for my “older” (2012) Samsung HD plasma display and Denon AVR-591 receiver.CAUTION: If you set your BDP-S6700 to a color depth greater than your display can process, you will get screen flickers, interference bands and blank screens. The BDP-S6700 will auto-detect your display and adjust color depth appropriately most of the time. However, if your A/V receiver is rated for 4K - but your display is not - then the BDP-S6700 will pass the high-bit color on to the receiver. Your receiver may or may not scale this back when sending it to your display. This was my experience and it took some hours (and copious cursing) to figure it all out. I offer that experience here to save some of you some frustration. In the settings look for HDMI Deep Color. It defaults to “Auto”. Set this to “Off” if you have anything less than a 4K display. Trust me and just do it. You won’t see any difference (your display can’t resolve it, remember?) and you will save yourself headaches when random artifacts and flickers occur.Performance: The interface is quick and intuitive. Discs load reasonably fast. Network connection was flawless - the BDP-S6700 detected the network, obtained an IP address and accessed the internet within seconds. Network connections have been rock solid since I connected it. Screen mirroring with my Android phone works very well (IOS users are SOL - I tried 14 different apps with no joy). I don’t use Bluetooth devices with it but they are detected without issue. Supposedly upscales 2D-3D (yawn).Streaming: BDP-S6700 offers 75 streaming apps, most of which are of no interest to me. They’ve got cooking channels, shopping channels, sports, movies, TV, news. There’s even an app in Russian. The most useful IMHO are: Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, YouTube, Pandora and Spotify. All of these work flawlessly with one caveat - the search functions using the remote are tedious in every case. Otherwise, they are great. The Home Screen lets you customize 10 - and only 10 - of your favorites. You can’t change the “Featured Apps” so half the Home Screen is useless.Screen Mirror: The BDP-S6700 uses Miracast so if you want to display your Android content you are in luck. It utilizes the Wi-Fi function of your phone to stream directly to the player. No lag. Sound is perfect. One flaw I noticed is that the wired connection to the BDP-S6700 is disabled while mirroring and doesn’t automatically switch back when I’m done. Have to power cycle the unit every time. Only mildly annoying. As mention above, IOS AirPlay doesn’t play. You can set up your IOS device as a DNLA server and play media that is physically on the device but you can’t stream from the internet nor can you see the IOS device screen (think Facebook, emails, etc). Ironic, since Apple pioneered the technology but then they locked it all up with their proprietary Apple TV system. Oh well…Remote: Small enough to easily fit into the cracks of your couch or recliner and lodge deep in any moving mechanisms. Just sayin’… I actually like the remote for it’s simplicity. One of the better device remotes I’ve used. It is IR directional, so you have to point it at the player with a clear line of sight. You can also download an Android app and control the unit with your phone which is great for entering data in app search boxes.Conclusion: If you just bought a shiny new 4K (UHD) display you are NOT going to like this unit so start shopping for a $500 UHD player. If you just want to stream internet then get a Roku, it’s faster with more customization and 2000+ apps. If you still have HD equipment and want to play all those Blu-Ray/DVD/CD discs you’ve accumulated for the past 20 years, as well as stream the major providers (Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, Pandora, Hulu), then this unit is for you and it’s a terrific value for the money.

A few bugs. Better than last years models.

A nice streaming player. Colors are vibrant, Wi-Fi connection works well. Mostly, not too much lag time when pressing buttons. The Blu-ray/DVD player work as they should. I am really reviewing the streaming. I have YouTube, Netflix, Vudu, and Amazon Prime. I have a Roku 3, and this BDP-S6700 video blows that away. The BDP-S6700 also supports 24p on Vudu, Amazon, and Netflix.Bugs:1. Pandora forgets the user name/password after shut down of the unit.2. YouTube search and settings get cleared after a few shutdowns. I don’t like the audio “bloop” noise on YouTube when navigating, and out of the blue, it will start up again where I have to go back to the settings inside YouTube and shut off the noise. It also clears my search history on YouTube after a few uses. There is no apparent pattern on when it will do this.3. (biggie) After playing Vudu or Amazon Prime at 24p, and exiting to the home screen, the 24p does not reset to 60p. This causes issues with playing YouTube after using Vudu or Amazon, because it will keep YouTube at 24p. Sounds good perhaps, but YouTube at 24p is choppy ( produces judder). The fix for that is to play Netflix at 24p, and then go to the BDP-S6700’s homepage. For some reason exiting the Netflix app, resets to the default 60p, if you play a few seconds of video on Netflix first. You can also shut down the unit, and it seems that after a while of it being shut down, will reset to 60p when restarted. Not a quick shutdown and restart for some reason.All in all, this is a better streaming player than the Roku 3 because of the better video, audio, and 24p support on Vudu, Amazon, and Netflix. Just wish they would fix the bugs.Just FYI, I also have a BDP-S3700 and the 24p does reset properly on that unit. However, the BDP-S6700 has slightly better video and audio. And I had a BDP-S3500 and BDP-S6500 from last year, and those did not support 24p on Netflix, and had lock up problems, where I had to pull the cord to reset. This years models ³⁷⁰⁰⁄₆₇₀₀ are better in that respect, so far.

Finally, the right all in one player for me.

Given that this is a Sony, it’s fast with great video and audio quality for BluRays and DVDs, so I’ll leave that to other reviews. Here I’ll cover the extra features important in my house. One simple device for everyone in the house to learn and not have to flip between devices and learn different controls is a helpful beginning. The interface is simple and easily customized with the streaming services and NAS connection I want to see. It’s a little annoying that the left hand ¹⁄₃ of the screen has Sony’s “Featured Apps” and they can’t be removed, but I’ll live with that.Playing a variety of file types from my NAS (or PC at your house) is important to me. My SiliconDust HDHomeRun DVR is recording over the air TV shows (original format MPEG-TS to .mpg for full original quality), the kids videos are pass through of a variety of original formats to .mkv, and the music is FLAC. All these formats are common, but rarely all supported on the same device. Success on all counts for this player!As a frustrated former BDPS6200 owner, the next thing I tested was a 2 hour long Amazon Instant Video to make sure this unit didn’t go haywire, lock up and start flooding my home network with traffic. Success! No freezing up on the video services.I am very happy with this new player.

Love this unit, upscales to HD on large TVs. Must have.

Really nice. Watching old DVDs on this on my 70” Vizio, like watching Blu Ray disks now. And the features of the Sony are excellent (Internet Streaming features)

I hate it.

No fault to the seller; this DVD player frequently goes offline and is unable to connect to Sony’s server for periods of time. Has limited apps. I hate it.