Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The BDP-S6200 lives at the top of Sony's North American bluray players range for 2014. This player is essentially a replacement to the well liked 2012 BDP-S790 Sony BDPS790 3D Blu-ray Player with Wi-Fi with a few features removed, but a few features added. More on that in a moment. The player keeps the familiar XMB (Cross Media Bar) interface just like its previous players. Its functional but I can't help feel its days are numbered since Sony has done away with it on their TV range. You can choose to start the player in the Sony Entertainment Network portal if you wish ... but it really doesn't offer you anything different from starting the player normally within the XMB. This top player gets a dual core processor (like the BDP-S790) so disks load fast and app navigation is zippy. A good test is to use the Youtube app that seems pretty CPU intensive. You can normally weed out under performers with that app .... but the BDP-S6200 handles YouTube very well. App support is solid enough, with new a new Crackle app that supports Crackle favorites. There is a new Hulu app too, but that was released across last years players too. The player also sees the new Netflix interface which is very nice too. The player also features a new Amazon App for 2014. It's certainly more visual than the older one but I think it's going to take a few software updates to get it tweaked just right. The player also has the Opera TV store with a bunch of apps in that too ... so you should be well supported for apps. Note, often asked but there is no HBO Go app on this player. The player itself, I think looks very stylish ... however if you are looking for more conservative styling, you may want to pick up a older BDP-S790. It doesn't seem as solid as the older BDP-S790 ... but it seems many mass market electronic manufacturers are heading in this direction as a whole, so I'm not really surprised here. Please note though, that despite Amazon's or Sony product description, there is only 1 HDMI output on the player !! Now, if you already own a 2013 x100 player from Sony, such as the BDP-5100 Sony BDP-S5100 3D Blu-ray Disc Player with Wi-Fi, what does this new player offer? You will get the benefit of Super bit mapping (SBM) which improves color banding evident on internet video, improved DVD upscaling with additional levels of picture adjustment, IP Noise reduction pro for internet video, new audio enhancer, the new Netflix app, a new Crackle app and maybe a new Amazon app once it comes on line. For 2012 owners that have the BDP-S790, upgrading to a BDP-S6200 they get the benefit of the new audio enhancer, the new netflix app (with 5800kbps support), a new Crackle app and maybe a new Amazon app. They also get improved codec support in MKVs with MPEG2 and VC-1 video codecs. If they have a 2013 or above Sony TV, and appropriate BD media, they can take advantage of extended color (Triluminos). They also get screen mirroring with Android phone and tablets. They loose the extra HDMI output, Skype support and arguably less solid build. Again the player does not include a HDMI cable so buyer be pre-warned. Also, as with new bluray players, there is no analog outputs on the player so you're TV must support HDMI. There is a digital coaxial output for receivers that dont support HDMI for audio. If you do buy one of these and can't figure out how to get HD audio (DTS-MA or Dolby TrueHD) output from the player be sure to switch off BD-Audio mix AND the audio enhancer in the audio settings. Overall, its another solid Bluray player from Sony with some marginal improvements over last years player ... but nothing earth shattering. Recommended. Thanks for reading. - update 3/22/14 The new Amazon App is now up and running, as is VUDU on the BDP-S6200. You will need to download a firmware update to enable these apps.