i brought this player and the picture quality and sound quality is really nice and you get 9 blu ray films with it 5 comes from play.com and 4 comes from sony for only £280 and that is cheap compared to other blu ray players ok it does not come with a hdmi cable but you can buy one from play for £5 and ok it takes a while to warm up but a do not see anyone moaning about a pc warm up the only reason it takes a while to warm up is because the blue laser needs to warm up sony invented blu ray that means they know what they are doing when it comes to making blu ray players and blu ray movies i use my blu ray player every day because i love it and the player it self very nice and if you like your films get one well worth the money well spent so at this price you get not miss out on this if you miss out a this are silly

well done play.com

well done sony

I've had this machine since before Christmas (it came "free" in a package with my Sony 46W3000). BluRay discs are breathtaking (best so far: The Shining, internet purchase from the US - truly awesome). But I'm currently boggling at the picture quality of the DVDs of US TV series Arrested Development - it looks so amazingly crisp and detailed, it's difficult to believe it's not BluRay!

Must get round to doing the CD-R update thing from the Sony site...

There seems to be confusion over the different versions of bluray
Basicaly the current versions will play current and new future blu ray disks. However new interactive content in the future will mean to access this new content you need a player which has internet access. This is so you can download extra content.
However if you are not interested in this feature and only want to be able to watch films then any of the current blu ray players will be fine now and when the new updated discs come out.
Alternatively buy a Playstation3 console as it is the most future proof blu ray player of them all.

As a rule blu ray players do not have a scart connector because they are exclusively a hi-definition player.
If your tv does not have a HDMI or DV-I socket then it is not HD ready so a blu ray player would be absolutely pointless.
However if you do want a bluray player despite not having a HD ready set as you may buy one in the future then your only option is probably a Playstation3 although the picture on your non HD ready tv will be down scaled a lower resolution that the tv can display.

If you have a HD tv that does not support 1080P then you can still watch blu ray but at a different ressolution depending on what resolution your tv supports eg 1080i or 720p.

The other thing you have to consider is whether your tv supports a refresh rate of 24fps (frames per second). If your tv does not state this then you might experiance a slight picture judder when watching a fast moving image.
If you are unsure then i recommend borrowing a Blu ray player first and watching a high action movie.

Fantastic bit of kit as expected from Sony, then to top it all Sony threw in all three Spiderman movies and Pirates of the Caribbean Movies what a deal and what a price £249.99.
Thanks Sony and thanks Play.

Im seriously considering getting this as I have a HD tv which is not fullfilling its potential. Iv heard that 1.1 or 2.0 versions of Blu ray players will make these obsolete is this true? and what is the differece between the different versions? plus does anyone know what the free 4 titles are or if there is a list to choose from?

Having had this for a couple of weeks now, i can safely say this is a very good machine. Yes it takes about 50 secs to boot up, but PC's take alot longer and nobody seems to mind that........
As for picture and sound, 10 out of 10 for both.
Highly recommended.

There have been alot of complaints about the loading times and firmware upgradeabillity of this machine, It is slow (around 50 seconds) to boot up first time.....it's fully upgradeable via Sony's website....just download and burn a -cdr disc pop it in, Little warning I had problems with Window Vista as it rewrites a different file format to XP, but problem sorted in less than an hour!

Once firmware was upgraded.....takes around 40 seconds to boot.

Picture is crisp and clear and great sound, I bought this unit for the bedroom and compared to the PS3, I would say this has a slightly better pictue quality.

I recommend a PS3 if your looking for the full package, for gaming on online firmware uprade's etc, but if your looking for a second player this is highly recommended in build quality and picture over the Samsung player (I went through 2, both faulty).

If you have a Sony Bravia set it all works on one remote, pop a disc in and it turns on the TV and sourround system without touching a button, turn the TV off when you finish and the lot shuts down, awesome (lazy lol).

I give it 4 out of 5....only let down by the hassle to upgrade the firmware

No HDMI cable included I went for the Sony cable sold by Play for both PS3 and this player, very good cable for full HD!!!

I am seriuosly considering buying this machine, but notice it doesn't have a scart socket. I currently have an LG TV and Surround system at home, so I was wondering how I would incorporate this Blu-Ray player in order to get the benefit of my surround system. Thanks.

Sorry havent brought this yet but will be soon. Im buying it for my hubby and I havent got a clue about it but according to the reviews it looks good especially with the free DVDs etc.
Can someone tell me what HDMI cable I need to buy as I would like to get it all for him so come his birthday he can actually use it rather than having to go to the shops and buy extra bits. There are loads of different HDMI cables on play so havent got a clue HELP. Thanks x

i don't actually own this. trying to work out to get the Sony or the Samsung and save £50. But could people please stop moaning about not getting a free HDMI cable. if your serious about your video quality (which you should be if your going to spend over £200 on any home cinema component) then you will realise that all cables that come with DVD, CD or BD players are rubbish. i have got my XBOX linked up with an HDMI cable that i spend a good £50 on. it makes all the difference!

Anyway, can anyone tell me what the truth about the firmware etc is? some people say you just have to download it. some people say there isnt enough memory to do this. and some people say you cant do it at all! i think the answer to this will decide whether i go Samsung or Sony