The Sony BDP-S1700 is a budget Blu-ray player that has been hardware-modified to play discs from any region, so US buyers can watch UK and other imported Blu-rays and DVDs. It outputs Full HD 1080p, upscales DVDs toward near-HD, converts PAL to NTSC in real time, and streams Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and other apps over Ethernet. It also plays PlayStation 3 games without a console and has a front USB port. Against stock players from other brands, its edge is the region-free playback and PAL conversion; the trade-offs are wired-only networking and a plain 1080p, non-4K picture.
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Owners rate it highly, with 4.9 out of 5 from 41 ratings. Buyers mainly praise the region-free playback and PAL conversion working as promised, and the fast startup.
The Sony BDP-S1700 is a Blu-ray player modified to play discs from any region. It plays Blu-ray discs from zones A, B and C, and DVDs from regions 0 through 9, in PAL or NTSC. It converts PAL to NTSC in real time, so PAL DVDs can play on US TVs without an external video converter. Firmware updates from Sony can be installed without losing the region-free capability.
It plays Blu-ray discs in Full HD 1080p and upscales DVDs to near HD quality. It also plays CDs. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding provide 7.1-channel high-definition sound. In Super quick start mode, it starts up in less than 1 second.
A network connection through Ethernet gives access to the Sony Entertainment Network and its 100+ apps, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Amazon and BBC iPlayer. The user interface lets you access and filter apps and functions. Gracenote provides detailed movie information. A front USB port plays videos, photos and music from a USB storage device.
