works great

After decades of paying exorbitant monthly fees to my local entertainment provider (satellite or cable), I have finally "cut the cord" and miss very little as a result. My girls don't miss at all because virtually everything they desire to watch (or hear) can be accessed with a few key components for a one-time total cost equal to 1-2 months of cable service.Here's what I've done, noting there are countless ways (technologies) that can be combined to achieve the same or similar results. Final configuration will always come down to personal preference. Here is mine as it is for now, with the most important first:1) Flat Screen TV: but the best you can afford because it is the one item of them all you will be using the most. For our master bedroom set-up we have a Sony Bravia Sony KDL-40R450A ($499, but this will not be factored into the cost since it's assumed you already have a TV, if not this one represents great cost-quality value.)http://www.amazon.com/Sony-KDL-40R450A-40-Inch-1080p-Black/dp/B00AWKBZQQ/2) DVD Player w/ Internet: Sony BDP-BX110/S1100 Blu-ray Player - $77.00http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BQ3EGPU/The extra-short response time, coupled with HD upscaling and Internet connection make this a wonderful choice for the price. The Internet connection gives you access to a large number of content providers found on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. Those on a shoestring budget can get away with this single item if you are not too picky about missing the benefits provided by these other options.3) Roku 3 - $95http://www.amazon.com/Roku-3-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00BGGDVOO/As much as I adore my Amazon Fire TV, I'd be lying if I put it before Roku. The main reason is its vast channel offering. Period. Ultimately out of the thousands of channels offered on Roku, I have settled for only about 50, but they have added immensely to the pleasure I derive from the content accessible. I love that all of my Spotify Playlists are accessible and which I love getting lost in through the excellent speakers on the Sony as well as the TDK SoundCube, which is a non-essential add on that has taken the overall audio experience to a higher level. There are movie channels (both free and pay), but since I can pay only for the exact ones I wish to see, if they're not available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV or Netflix, there's no reason to pay for a monthly service. I have taken Qello up on their free offer as I love live concert movies. If it's actually worth the $5 per month, time will tell. There is no doubt that anyone serious about Cutting the Cord, would be well served by a Roku.4) HDTV Antenna: AmazonBasics Extreme Performance Ultra Thin Amplified Indoor HDTV Antenna - $58http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DIFIP06/This ultra-thin antenna allows you to pick all of the free HDTV over-the-air channels broadcasting in your area. We have access to scores of channels, but when I whittled them down to the ones that we would actually want to see, we ended with about 15, including, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and others. It really boils down to spending a few dollars to ensure HD reception of the major networks, which is a definite must-have and well worth the cost.5) Amazon Fire TV - $99http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-CL1130-Fire-TV/dp/B00CX5P8FC/A wonderful product. Amazing. However, ultimately it is a nice-to-have...a luxury. That said, I LOVE this product and am grateful that something inside me was compelled to get one. So what is it about Fire TV that moves me so much? There are only a few, but they are powerful persuaders:> Voice Search works PERFECTLY and allows you to say a word, name, genre, title, director. Anything. In return you easily find what you're looking for.> Amazon Instant Video and Netflix are delivered, accessed and resumed perfectly. The picture is immaculate. The quality, undeniable. It is just such a joy for these two reasons that unless you have used it, it's virtually impossible to convey the exquisite usability of Fire TV.The only downside at this point in time with respect to Amazon Fire TV is that it has few content providers on board as compared to Roku or even Apple TV, but this is changing as Amazon is in the process of adding content apps and seems committed to continue to do so into the future.6) Apple TV - $93http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MD199LL-A-TV/dp/B007I5JT4S/The only reason and yet the best reason we have an Apple TV is that we're an Apple family and it makes zero sense NOT to own an Apple TV. It's just the way it is if you are committed to Apple, as it also has a highly intuitive and polished user interface as well as a number of desirable content providers. Apple TV remains the easiest way to share and access your Apple content across the members of your family.7) Google Chromecast - $35http://www.amazon.com/Google-Chromecast-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00DR0PDNE/This HDMI stick simply and easily allows you to "cast" ANY and ALL internet content from any PC or Mac that is running the free Chrome browser onto any TV with a HDMI connection. Think about that for a moment. Anything you can access on the Web, you can view on your TV. YouTube viewing through the Chrome browser has been optimized for Chromecast and is a far, far better YouTube viewing experience than watching them any other way. All for $35. Talk about value!8) Rabbit TV - $8http://www.amazon.com/Telebrands-Rabbit-TV/dp/B00AWC51DW/One can only be disappointed by this small and powerful little USB stick if they have not properly managed their expectations. Coupled with Chromecast, Rabbit TV is in essence a meta-search filter to access thousands of Internet content providers, representing a gargantuan amount of audio and video at one's fingertips. When you put it in perspective, $10 to effectively and efficiently search for anything you can think of, is a major advantage. Despite being at the bottom of the list, Rabbit TV is a must-have by any measure!The final optional item that may be necessary in order to hook all of these HDMI cable into your TV is a Fosmon HD1831 3-Port HDMI Switch - $13http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GVOVK0/This allows one to expand a single HDMI port into three and it works perfectly.CONCLUSION:The bottom line is that for around $400, one can feel good about Cutting the Cord to your cable or satellite company. You get access to virtually any programming you wish to consume, albeit some you might have to pay for either through a service like Netflix, Amazon Prime or pay-per-view/rental. When one looks at the cost vs. cable fees it does not take long to realize that it makes a lot of sense to save the money and enjoy your shows and movies just as much for a tiny fraction of the cost.There are always disappointment when one finds a compromise and no doubt you will too, as I did with ESPN which one can't receive unless through cable or satellite, but in the end it is still a small price to pay as far as I'm concerned. One thing is for certain, it is possible to say goodbye to cable fees and not look back!

I check out a lot of movies at the local library, which carries both DVDs and Blu Rays. In order to get a movie as quickly as possible, I will often grab whatever version happens to be in at the moment. Since I previously only had one Blu Ray player (my PS3 hooked up to a projector in the living room) this sometimes meant that a Blu Ray would sit unwatched until I had to take it back simply because I wasn't in the mood for a big-screen living room experience. In order to alleviate the problem I suggested to my darling wife that we somehow acquire another Blu Ray player on the cheap, and put it in the bedroom to hook up to our plasma TV.After looking around for a nice higher-end Blu Ray player, I ended up settling on this one. Partly because it was cheap (less than 50.00), partly because I had such a wonderful experience with the SONY DVD player we were using previously (which would play library DVDs that were really badly scratched without a hitch). Upon opening the packaging I discovered that the unit was refurbished...but it also came with an HDMI cable (I guess I can always use a spare).Picture quality, sound quality, overall qualityIf you've ever used a modern Blu Ray player you know the score. Pretty much everything post-PS3 and from a major brand is going to be a decent Blu Ray player with great picture and sound. This unit does not disappoint. Blu Rays load pretty fast, audio is mixed properly on my stereo TV (the DVD player had previously had problems with volume levels when dialog switched sound channels on a 5.1 master that played on my TV's stereo speakers). There are the usual options, but you probably won't need to play with most of the ones that effect playback of DVDs and Blu Rays.Just like the SONY DVD player we bought, this one's drive mechanism makes a bit of noise when switching tracks, and makes clunking sounds when loading discs. I don't mind that because everything else absolutely rocks.Features, features, featuresIf you've ever used a Playstation 3 console you will be familiar with the interface, because it is almost IDENTICAL to the Playstation 3's. If you aren't used to that interface...it will probably feel like a bit much due to all the lists of options. The flip-side...is what those options can do...Previously I was using a DVD player, a WD Live USB-to-TV player (that I hooked up to a terrabyte hard drive), and a Roku for streaming. This device replaces that ALL and, amazingly enough, also plays Blu Rays.DVDLike the SONY DVD player, this machine seems to be able to play DVDs in just about any condition except completely broken. It also is whisper-quiet most of the time it's operating.Picture quality is good if not mind-blowing (what do you expect? An Oppo?) Subtitles and audio switching work fine. Fast-forward and rewind are smooth. And importantly, there is the same awesome disc memory from the SONY DVD player which allows discs to resume after you turn the machine off, swap discs, etc.Blu RayBlu Rays CAN resume if the Blu Ray supports it (I hear that some features can turn this off so do your research). I have yet to find any discs that the machine had trouble reading and everything is up to spec.USB PlaybackMy WD Live was a great little machine, wrecked by an unfortunate lack of firmware updates to keep up with new and emerging formats (specifically, MKV files made it choke). In contrast I have yet to find any video files that this Blu Ray player cannot play (except for ISO files). Granted, I had already converted quite a few videos to make the WD Live play them back... But still! This thing handles subtitles perfectly, and browses video files very quickly. Pausing, fast-forward, rewind all work just fine, and playback is very smooth. Awesome.StreamingI was previously using a Roku for streaming Amazon Prime and Netflix, and I like this machine better. The interface is a bit different and episode information is not displayed when watching Star Trek on this player. The first 10 seconds or so of the image will also be a black blank when you start streaming (which doesn't generally bother me because in most shows that's a bunch of logos). Where this device makes up for these shortcomings is the general snappiness of the interface. While the Netflix interface takes a bit to load (10 seconds or so) it is incredibly responsive after that (as opposed to the incredibly sluggish Roku, which kept jumping around because it would load things 30 seconds after I started browsing). Overall, I like this device much better than the Roku for streaming. Rock solid and very responsive.OverallI replaced: A fifty dollar DVD player, a fifty dollar streaming device and a fifty dollar USB video device, with a device that also handles Blu Rays. I paid fifty dollars for it (give or take). THAT'S what I call a good deal! Not only was it a substantial upgrade, but now my TV is far less cluttered and I don't have to switch inputs every time I want to go from Blu Ray to DVD to USB to streaming.A lot of the things others think are hassles are actually features. The Ethernet is 10 times faster than wifi and doesn't suffer from awful signal drop-out the way my Roku always did (and the Roku also would always start in standard def and then improve picture after a few minutes). The remote control is almost identical to the SONY DVD remote I had formerly used, so it was simple to adjust to. The remote, like the drive mechanism, seems a bit flimsy and mushy, but it's comfortable to use and I've never had any issues with it (unlike the roku and WD Live remotes). Naturally, it's also nice that it replaces three other remotes, and has buttons to jump back to the main menu or to Netflix.Honestly, with the price that's charged even for a brand new unit, this is a bargain. The only way I can POSSIBLY see someone not liking it is if they absolutely MUST use wifi and RCA jacks. This device has neither and HDMI and Ethernet are required. If that's where you are at...UPGRADE! Ethernet is faster and far more reliable than wifi (if distance is an issue, I recommend a powerline to Ethernet adapter). And HDMI is better than any other available video standard in pretty much every way.10 out of 10.

As has been noted, this unit is nice as a bluray player. It is no frills in that regard, but that was what I was after. Nothing fancy, just does its job.IF you are looking for a streaming player, look elsewhere. As has been noted, this player is awkward in its streaming implementation. It requires ethernet connection, no built-in wifi. There exist MUCH better streaming units...MUCH better in implementation and convenience. There are also HDMI output issues (reverse compatability) when one attempts to stream. My projector (2 yr old) and our TV (3 yr old) cannot display the menus that the unit attempts to output for the main menus (also an issue for sound/output setup on playback, but nothing earth shattering). Hence, one cannot navigate effectively to use the streaming features. Basically, the streaming component of this is going to be hit or miss.Also of note, this unit has very limited outputs. Only HDMI video output, so if you have an older projector sans HDMI, this is not for you. It has a single option for audio output besides HDMI: coaxial digital audio. Make sure your amp/tuner or other sound system is compatible with coaxial dig audio. If it is not (as mine is not) and it has the more common optical digital audio, then a converter (~$25) is necessary. Cheers.