SONY BDPS3500: BD Player with WiFi

[Wanderlustus]

Hi folks. Been a long time since I've been in, and was hoping for some help on a possible new purchase issue.

I've been considering some type of media box to stream my stored movies/shows/music from my external HDs through the router. Bear with me as I'm new to most of this stuff. I also like the idea of being able to browse the web through my 32" telly, and perhaps access stuff like Netflix and YouTube, but my own stored stuff is of most importance.

Recently I started looking into a new BD player with WiFi instead of a (for lack of a better term) media box, and a friend in Scotland mentioned this one: SONY BDPS3500

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1121746-REG/sony_bdps3500_blu_ray_player_with_super.html

Sorry about posting this in the newbie section but I didn't see it listed in the players, and couldn't sort a more appropriate spot for it. If anyone knows anything about this player and could provide some input I'd be forever grateful. Cheers.

[SameSelf]

Since you said that your own stored stuff is the most important, here are some important questions to answer first before plopping down money on a new Blu-ray player hoping you will be able to happily stream your personal video library across your Wifi to it:

1. What WiFi standard is your router? 801.11g, n, ac? The more common standard of 801.11g only supports up to 54 Mbps. 801.11n supports up to 500 Mbps, and 801.11ac theoretically supports even more up to Gbps speeds.
2. How many users/devices and what kind are currently on the router? 54 Mbps may sound like plenty of bandwidth for even blu-ray content. But, a) the theoretical maxes are never realized in the real world, b) multiple users cuts the real world bandwidth even further, and c) even if you have an 801.11n router, you need to see if it is the kind that runs at g speeds if g devices are hooked up to it.
3. What is the max bit rate of your personal library? Netflix has made us all spoiled, but bear in mind, Netflix streams at ~3 Mbps for SD content and ~5 Mbps for HD content, well within most peoples routers.
4. How is the video library communicating to the router? If the video library is streaming to the router and the router streams to the blu-ray player, you now need 2x the bandwidth.

Bottomline, if your router can't handle the required bitrate, you will see stuttering and be watching a loading wheel most of the time. Thus, you may need to upgrade you router if you want to stream your personal library. This can easily cost more than the blu-ray player as 801.11n or ac routers aren't cheap, especially the ones that can support g devices without dropping down to g speeds.

[Wanderlustus]

Well, thanks for that . . . a whole lotta stuffage I never knew packed in there, SameSelf. Many thanks for the info. I guess my next step is checking that router, but I'm thinking already that I'm outta luck on this front.

I have a desktop (hardwired) and my lass has a workstation (wireless) on the router now. I've never actually tried viewing Netflix through my existing BD player though it is set up for it.

I've two external HDs plugged into my desktop and it is hardwired into the router. Hell, my top download speed (DSL) is 5.1 Mbps. I know folks watch Netflix on my wee island but I can't imagine how that happens if anyone else is on their network at the same time.

Almost seems I'd be better off just plugging the damn externals directly into my existing BD player. Just for shits'n'giggles though I'll see what I can find out what I can about the router.

Thanks again for your speedy reply.

Edit: Ok, here's what I have from my router, and it is 802.11n

http://www.actiontec.com/215.html

I've no idea what the max bitrate of my library may be. How would I go about finding this info?

Edit #2: What are g devices?

[SameSelf]

First, congrads! You have an 802.11n router (thanks for reminding me that it is 802.11 not 801.11!).
Second, g devices are any sort of device, e.g. smart phone, tablet, laptop, your lass's workstation, gaming consoles, etc., that connects to the router using the 802.11g protocol because the device is not 802.11n capable.
Third, your router supports 802.11 b/g/n which means it is backward compatible to g and b devices.

Now, where this gets tricky is when you need to support both g and n devices connecting to the router (there aren't really b devices anymore unless you have a really old laptop). 802.11g runs at 2.4 GHz only. 802.11n can run at either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz. However, running an 802.11n router at 2.4 GHz (which is only done when you need to support g devices because those devices can't get on a 5 GHz network) cripples the router to g speeds. But your router supports MIMO (multiple in, multiple out). So technically speaking, you might be able to assign one of the antennas to 2.4 GHz and the other antenna to 5 GHz. It all depends on what you need to support and what your router is capable of. Practically speaking, it is best to have two routers if you really need to support g and n devices: one old g router plus your current router that is configured to only support n devices (you can lock out g devices).

As far as your download speed from your ISP is concerned, that is completely unrelated to the router's Wi-Fi capabilities. Your download speeds are dictated by the modem which is integrated into the router.

Since your computer is ethernet into your router you should be good to go since you will only be streaming to the blu-ray player. Streaming from your lass's computer would be harder especially if she doesn't connect at the 802.11n protocol. But, you should be able to stream content from your computer/router easily without having to move all the external drives to your existing BD player. I say "should" because it also depends on the distance from the router, number of walls between the BD player and the router, etc. And lastly, how the BD player connects to the router. Device manufacturers are notoriously cagey about what protocol the device is using. Sony seems to use the terminology "Super Wi-Fi" and advertises the fact when it is 802.11n capable. So I would expect that the one you are looking at is probably 802.11g.

I would just make sure to check the return policy in case you find it doesn't work.

[Wanderlustus]

Ok . . . phew! That's a lot more than I've ever known about any of this stuffage. :<>

This is a wee cottage, so while there are two walls between the router and my telly/player it's likely less than 20' apart. I've played tunes via blue-tooth from my externals through my tablet (which is but 6" from the router) to stereo, and encountered no problems. Oh, stereo is virtually in the same spot as our player/telly.

No need to stream from the lass's workstation as she does the bookkeeping for the biz, crackbook, e-mail on it, and little else. Likely scenario is me in the sitting/telly area buggering with the player, her on her lappie, and my desktop connected to the router at the same time. I'm a tad confused though about the 2.4 (g?) speed: If that's what the router is running at for the sake of her lappie, does this mean stuttering when I stream from my externals via WiFi to the player?

Cheers again for all the help, and I can see I need to do some (a lot!) of reading on this subject. Hell, configuring one antenna for 2.4 and another for 5??? I wouldn't know where to begin, and I'm in no way buying another router. BTW, this one is supplied by my IP and all but brand spanking new.

Best to you, SameSelf!

[SameSelf]

I wouldn't dare extrapolate to any conclusions based on your music streaming experience. The bit rate for music is probably at most 320 kbps, or 0.3 Mbps, a tenth of what video streams at.

It is hard for me to assess what your needs are. You want the ability to stream video from your deskptop/router (ethernet connection) to a wifi capable BD player. But even then, that is highly dependent on how the BD player connects up to the router and the bit rate of your personal library. Are we talking about SD/DVD content? or HD/Blu-ray content? And even then, what is the average size of a movie file? For example, a 1 hour movie at 1 GB equates to around 2 Mbps. But that is assuming a constant bit rate. Most video is variable bit rate which means slow scenes are lower while fast scenes might spike to 4 Mbps or higher. It is those spikes that get ya when you are watching a show which at the same time make watching the show painful. Most people don't encode their personal library at such low bit rates.

Like I already said, you should be fine. Your router is 802.11n. The two antennas likely means it is dual band and supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels. But ISP routers are all bespoke to a certain extent. You will just have to go into the configuration screen for yourself and see what you can change.

I am not sure I can add much more to what I have already said. But there are some great guides out there on the web.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/technology/personaltech/if-your-wi-fi-is-terrible-ch...ur-router.html

[Wanderlustus]

Cheers, once more, SameSelf. I'll grab that link and do me some readin'. Thanks much for all your help.