darnreny veston chitey
Arabella Kochanski
The VBR200W is VIZIO's third foray into the Blu-ray player market. But this unit is VIZIO's first to offer Internet apps like Vudu, Netflix and Pandora and access to services like flickr, Picasa, facebook, twitter, and Wikipedia.
Before I get carried away with all these added Internet goodies, let me state that when it comes to spinning Blu-ray discs, VIZIO has constructed a solid performing Profile 2.0 player with 7.1 digital audio output (through HDMI) with built-in Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD capabilities.
Profile 1.0 provided playback and basic interactive features. Profile 1.1, (also called BonusView), players added the capability for displaying Picture-in-Picture (PIP) and playing secondary audio tracks available on BonusView discs.
For example, to turn this Blu-ray player on, you touch the left front of the machine and the controls light up. To eject the disc, tap the Eject icon. Of course, you can always go couch potato and use the remote control.
On the back of the VBR200W, the connection panel supplies one HDMI out and one set of Component Video (YPbPr) outs. The Component shares a pair of analog audio stereo outs with the Composite video out. Please do not you use the Composite for anything other than troubleshooting.
The panel also includes both a coaxial and an optical Digital Audio out. The VBR200W does not provide 7.1 channel analog outs, which are not necessary for many of us who normally use the HDMI cable to transport both video and audio.
Some players contain internal storage for the BD-Live content, others like this VIZIO use external flash drives, which attach to the USB port. VIZIO does not package an external flash drive in the box.
Therefore, if you are a fan of BD-Live material, you need to buy a separate flash drive, at least 1GB. Luckily, they cost around $10, but it would be more neighborly if VIZIO would just drop one in the box.
With that said, VIZIO is truly magnanimous to integrate an 802.11N wireless dongle which protrudes about a half an inch out the back of the player. If you decide to take the wired path to connecting to the Internet, then you plug the cable into the Ethernet port on the back.
I am a fan of Netflix and am pleasantly overwhelmed by the thousands of movies and television shows that you can stream from their website. After you subscribe to Netflix, unlimited streaming is free. All you have to do is activate the VBR200W on the Netflix site. The process takes a couple of minutes.
Vudu also provides streaming movies. The difference from Netflix is that with Vudu you rent or buy the movies individually and there is no monthly subscription. Most standard definition movies rent from 99 to $3.99, high definition and HDX movies from $3.99 to $5.99.
A feature that has been added to Vudu's arsenal since I reviewed the Vudu XL Internet Movie Player last year are Vudu apps. When you select the Vudu icon on the VBR200W's menu, you discover that Vudu no longer just furnishes movies.
Vudu is also the conduit to flickr, Picasa, facebook and twitter. The biggest drawback to using these services is that all the text must be entered on an onscreen keyboard using the arrow keys on the remote, which does not facilitate quick tweeting.
Pandora Internet Radio is a slick free music service. You create your own personalized stations like Leonard Cohen or Lady Gaga and Pandora assembles a collection of music by that artist or songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice.
When I first played with this player, I thought that the remote was very unresponsive. Before passing final judgement, I decided to replace the new-out-of-the-wrapper Desay batteries. Et voil, the remote perked up like a hound dog catching the scent of an escaped convict.
The EPA is now publishing a list of ENERGY STAR qualified TVs. (You can find it here.) But the EPA is still in the midst of setting testing procedures for the ENERGY STAR Audio/Video Specification, which includes devices like Blu-ray players and AV receivers.
During playback, the meter bounced between 18.6 to 19W, which is in the upper range of players that I have reviewed recently. When it was streaming video from the New York Times site, the reading lowered into the 14.9 to 15W range. When it was idling, it only sunk to about 14.7W.
When I turned the power off, the meter dropped like an anchor to 0W though it would occasionally bubble up to .1 or .2W. This low rating is important since your Blu-ray player will be off most of the time and it doesn't need to be slowly slurping electricity.
About the only task that you need to perform to set up this player is to make your Internet connection. I have a network switch four feet away from the player, therefore making a wired connection was easy.
As I was writing this review, I decided to try to hook up a wireless connection. The process was a little more complicated since I had to locate my wireless password and then hunt and peck to enter it on the onscreen keyboard.
I finally connected but the result was not pretty. First, my wireless router is upstairs and my signal was not strong. On top of that, the router is not an 802.11N and my bandwidth suffered. Vudu didn't even want to load up and Pandora just kept paging.
The VIZIO manual states that to achieve the best quality streaming from Netflix, your connection speed should be 4.0 Mbps. On the Vudu website, they say that HDX (1080p) playback requires 4.5 Mbps. I recommend at least that, especially if you have more than one active downloader in the house.
After connecting to the Internet I normally on the manufacturer's website to see if there is a new firmware upgrade for the Blu-ray player. With the VBR200W you can check for updates from the Settings menu. At the time of this writing, the player has no update.
Next, I spent a few minutes registering the player on the Netflix and Vudu sites. You basically, get an activation number from the player's menu and then go to the Netflix website and activate your machine. Obviously, it's handy if you have your computer near your player for this process.
To repeat my statement from previous Blu-ray player reviews, even though there are differences between models, most average once a week DVD viewers will not notice a picture quality disparity when playing a Blu-ray disc.
Now, some manufacturers of higher priced players may brag about this video processor or another. And I'll grant that the technology might give an edge over the competition, especially when upscaling standard definition DVDs. But the VBR200W performed admirably with SD DVDs.
I have a few Blu-ray DVDs that can throw players into a tizzy. For example, trying to connect to the Transformer's BD-Live site can cause player paralysis. And the Maximum Movie Mode on the Watchmen Blu-ray has made even expensive players cry.
The VBR200W, without a hitch, handled them and every other Blu-ray DVD I threw at it - except for one. I use the Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray DVD to set up TVs. For some reason, the VIZIO player had an impossible time advancing through the test patterns. I could play the first four, but it never could access the ones after that. I don't know why.
As I finish this review, VIZIO, on their website, lists the VBR200W as "Coming Soon," with an MSRP of $199. But I find that the player is beginning to roll out at retailers like Walmart, Amazon, Dell and BJ's.
What I can say is that at $199, VIZIO has produced a compelling product, especially if you are a film fan that loves to stream movies on to your big screen TV. Just remember that you should have a fairly robust and fast Internet connection.
In this marketplace, I would like to see the price come down before I could give the VBR200W my Value seal of approval. But knowing VIZIO, I assume that you will be able to find it at an irresistible price point soon.
I asked for your help when I first wrote about the growing number of people who stream video from the Internet to their big-screen TVs, in some cases cutting ties completely with cable and satellite providers.
It seems like a shift in technology that's going to be a big deal. But it's hard for me to even come close to sampling all that's out there or to know about the varied methods readers use to become their own programming directors.
Today, I'll use what I've learned from you, and what I've discovered myself, in what I think will become a continuing conversation about this major shift in how we watch TV. I'll keep trying new content providers and testing the hardware needed to put that content on big screens in our homes.
Let's start with what I'm doing. I use both an Internet-enabled Blu-ray DVD player as well as a device called Boxee (www.boxee.tv) to stream video to my HDTV. In both cases, these devices connect to the Internet wirelessly. Both also can be connected by ethernet cable. It's an even better way to go than wireless.
If you're interested only in connecting to some of the big-name players in this new field - maybe sampling the Internet-based content from Netflix, YouTube and Hulu Plus - then a DVD player with Internet connectivity has powerful pluses.
It's easy to set up, easy to use. And DVD players like this aren't expensive. I found the Sony BDP-S570 I use on sale for $140. There are several other DVD players that do the same thing. You'll find reviews of Blu-ray players here: tinyurl.com/4mqglk3 (just make sure the players you check out offer Internet connectivity).
Getting my own DVD player working with my wireless router wasn't challenging. I just followed the on-screen prompts to connect it to the Internet. Within five minutes, it was working. The picture quality is very good - about like what I experience when watching a regular DVD. I just scroll through the list of content providers available and click a button to watch.
With a built-in Web browser, Boxee broadens the amount of video I can watch, stuff I can't get on the DVD player. For instance, I can use the Boxee's remote - it has a tiny but complete keyboard - and type in www.rte.ie and sample Irish television programming streamed right off that website.
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