Connect BR player to PC by USB?

[Starman*]

I just bought a Sony BDP-S590 player which does everything I wanted. However, I want more!

The player is connected to my home network with Ethernet but in the player setup it is configured by default to connect to the Internet. I don't actually need the Internet connection and the player seems quite dumb with no firewall. Is it a security risk to the network?

I have set up the player to stream media files from my PC using WMP11 (easiest to setup and free) but it will only do so if the files are in the Library. I don't use WMP normally and don't particularly want to waste time adding files to it. I would prefer to remove the Ethernet and stream via USB because that removes the player from Internet access. The player can play media from a USB thumb drive and you can browse at will through the thumb drive file system. Is it possible to connect the PC to the player via USB and have the same browsing capability of the NTSF file system? Either end is a female connector so I assume there could be hardware and software issues.

I should add that my PC graphics are not HD so I am streaming via the BR player which is connected to my monitor's HDMI input.

[jman98]

I just bought a Sony BDP-S590 player which does everything I wanted. However, I want more!

The player is connected to my home network with Ethernet but in the player setup it is configured by default to connect to the Internet. I don't actually need the Internet connection and the player seems quite dumb with no firewall. Is it a security risk to the network?

Theoretically it could be, but the odds are low. If your network is firewall protected then someone would have to breach that (which means you're already screwed) and get on the player and then exploit something on the player to cause problems for you. I really think the chances of this are low, but I work in IT and I do read security related articles all the time. I can tell you that I've seen crazier methods of attack than this one. Keep in mind too that Sony is pretty stupid when it comes to security because they have no respect for their customers, so if there was ever a machine that could be hacked and used to cause mischief for its owners, Sony would be the guys who would make it. Keeping it off the network could enable you to prevent unwanted firmware updates, and ALL of Sony's firmware updates are consumer hostile, but then again I've heard that Sony players will sometimes refuse to play discs until you upgrade the firmware so you may have no choice but to put it on the network just to get new firmware updates. Most of the other manufacturers don't force you to upgrade firmware, but again, Sony is pretty consumer hostile.

I cannot answer your USB question due to my lack of familiarity with the player, but what you propose is very unlikely to be supported.

[Starman*]

Thanks for the response on security. I've never relied on my router firewall - it's set at default values. My PCs on the network have their own firewalls of course so have an acceptable level of protection. Even if the BR player could write to a thumb drive and infect that, the AV in my PCs should detect it when the drive was inserted in the PC. I'm not a big fan of Sony for the reasons you described.

My first reaction when setting up the BR player was that, unlike my PC, you have no idea what the player is doing behind the scenes.

[usually_quiet]

I just bought a Sony BDP-S590 player which does everything I wanted. However, I want more!

The player is connected to my home network with Ethernet but in the player setup it is configured by default to connect to the Internet. I don't actually need the Internet connection and the player seems quite dumb with no firewall. Is it a security risk to the network?

I have set up the player to stream media files from my PC using WMP11 (easiest to setup and free) but it will only do so if the files are in the Library. I don't use WMP normally and don't particularly want to waste time adding files to it. I would prefer to remove the Ethernet and stream via USB because that removes the player from Internet access. The player can play media from a USB thumb drive and you can browse at will through the thumb drive file system. Is it possible to connect the PC to the player via USB and have the same browsing capability of the NTSF file system? Either end is a female connector so I assume there could be hardware and software issues.

I should add that my PC graphics are not HD so I am streaming via the BR player which is connected to my monitor's HDMI input.

Connecting your Blu-Ray player's USB port directly to a PC is unlikely to work. I looked at the manual, which indicates the Blu-Ray player's USB connection works with USB memory card readers, USB flash drives, USB hard drives, USB connections on cameras and USB 101 keyboards, but mentions nothing about connecting a PC via USB.

[Starman*]

Connecting your Blu-Ray player's USB port directly to a PC is unlikely to work. I looked at the manual, which indicates the Blu-Ray player's USB connection works with USB memory card readers, USB flash drives, USB hard drives, USB connections on cameras and USB 101 keyboards, but mentions nothing about connecting a PC via USB.

I read that too. I know that connecting two PCs with USB requires extra hardware and software. In the scenario I have, the main problem is that both devices would be trying to supply 5V to the other, not the best idea. If one device is dumb and powered by the other there is no problem. I don't know why two USB devices can't automatically detect if the other is powered (such as the one with the highest voltage becomes master and the other emulates a dumb device) and sort out the communication. That would be the "universal" in USB.