DVD player with streaming capabilities

In My Humble Opinion
1

Okay…here goes!

I don’t currently have a TV and watch all my TV shows on my PC. My parents, however, have a humungous flat screen and my Mom has long wanted to have a player that will allow them to stream…particularly Netflix.

About a month ago, unbeknownst to me, they purchased a DVD player (at least I think it was a DVD player) that supposedly had built in streaming capabilities. I am usually the one in the family that they turn to for help with their electronics issues, however, they never even told me that they purchased one.

So, they get it home and my father (who is 80 and can be VERY impatient with new tech) starts hooking it up. I guess he read the manual and found that it had to have blah-blah of space or it would overheat. They promptly returned the unit without consulting me. (The horror!)

My question: What kind of unit can I advise them to buy? Does it really have to have blah-blah space around it? They have a huge wall unit and have their cable, stereo, dish thingie, DVD player inside it and have never have any problems.

Since I’m so green in this area, I’m soliciting my Dopers help. I know nothing about new tech when it comes to streaming shows on a TV.

Thanks!!!

2

The Blu Ray player I just bought for $85 streams internet. There is a Netflix button right on the remote and internet options on the start-up screen. I think it’s a Sony or maybe a JVC. As you can tell I’m not really into the brand name thing. As far as the amount of space it needs around it I don’t remember reading anything about it in the manual.

3

Overheating is a lot more of a problem than I suspect many people realise. More modern electronics generate a quite a bit of heat when running, and it has to go somewhere. Witness the number of consumer entertainment devices with annoying little fans.

An overheating unit will typically misbehave - where misbehaviour can be almost any sort of weird action. I have seen ones that simply refuse to play disks, and spit them out, ones that just get increasing levels of visually apparent compression artefacts, or refuse to record something at a designated time, all the way to units that simply appear to have died. Yet when removed from the restrictive enclosure that was stopping them getting enough cool air, they start to work perfectly.

So, whilst the maker’s manual may tend to verge on the conservative side, don’t ignore the need to provide adequate air circulation. It can avoid a lot of pain and frustration. Usually making sure there will be good convection around the units is enough. If they stack things up in a wall unit, a good trick is to cut the back of the shelves out so that air can circulate up past the back. This makes running cables easier too.

4

For one thing, if they have a “humongous” TV they should get a Blu-Ray player, not a DVD.

5

Many BR players have built in streaming these days. DVD is so last century…:slight_smile:

6

I recommend not getting a Sony device. My Sony BluRay player can’t play Netflix for shit, and I’m not the only one. Some even think that for some ungodly reason Sony devices all route their Netflix traffic through Sony servers, creating a bottleneck. When I switched from the Sony BluRay player to Chromecast there was huge improvement.

The original web page where I found people speculating about Sony is gone, FWIW.

7

Here’s the original page from an archive:

8

I assume, given that you parents purchased a DVD player, that they need to actually play discs, and are not simply looking for a streaming machine? Because if i were just looking for something to stream services like Netflix, i’d probably go with a Roku or something similar.

My Blu-Ray player is an LG BD-670 (CNet review here), which i’ve had for almost three years now. I assume that it has since been superseded by a newer model.

This player does everything i need. It plays Blu-Ray (including 3-D), DVD, and CDs perfectly well, although, as the CNet review says, the load time for Blu-Ray is a little slow. I also use it to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, and MLB streaming, and there are a whole lot of other available services (Hulu, Vudu, etc.) that i never use.

About the only persistent problem with it is that the wireless simply won’t maintain a decent connection to my router. I’m not sure whether this is because the unit’s wireless receiver is weak, or because the player and my router are at opposite ends of the condo, on different floors. Either way, i had to abandon wireless because it was too flaky, and i use powerline ethernet adapters to maintain a wired connection.

In addition to online streaming, the player is also DLNA compatible, and will comfortably stream a wide variety of audio and video files from my desktop computer and from my network attached storage. It even has a USB port, in case you want to go old-school (:)) and plug in a USB key with a movie on it.

The player cost me about $150 in 2011. As i suggested, i’m sure there are newer, better-featured, and possibly even cheaper models available now.

9

Moderator Action

Since this is looking for advice, let’s move this over to IMHO.

Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.

10

My internet-ready Blu-ray player came with my internet-ready TV, so I never used the Blu-ray player for streaming. But I’ve seen many DVD players and cable boxes start having issues if not properly ventilated. I learned the hard way that if my cable box has vent holes on top, do not put the DVD player on top and keep it running for a few hours on a hot summer’s day.