Sylvania NB501SL9 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player

• Full 1080p Resolution Output With 24/60 Fps
• CEC Deep Color Control With Advanced User Interface
• Inputs: HDMI, Component; Digital/Analog Audio Output
• DTS, WMA, MP3, Dolby True HD, And Linear Pcm Audio Options

This is the Rodney Dangerfield of Blu-Ray players: it gets little or no respect. Most people don't even know that this player exists. They would prefer to spend the extra money and buy a Sony/Panasonic/Samsung Blu-Ray player. But this player does a comparable job.

Set up was simple. I just connected a high powered Mediabridge HDMI cable (which I bought through Amazon) from my Sony Bravia Z series 40" HDTV to the Sylvania 501SL9 and then connected the Sylvania adapter from the back of the player to a wall outlet.

Initially, I had a problem getting the remote to respond. But once I put in the included Panasonic batteries properly, the remote responded well. Load times are quick (10 to 15 seconds). I pressed the set up button on the remote to configure the player properly for audio and HDMI resolution (1080p24). It is important to go into the settings and make this change as the default HDMI display resolution is 720p. I also changed the audio to deep surround sound, which I like better.

The only thing I did not like about the Sylvania remote was that I had to use my Sony remote to change the sound volume. I could not find that feature on the Sylvania remote.

It should be noted that this player does not have an ethernet or USB port so if you need to upgrade the software, you will have to call customer service at Sylvania to send an upgrade disc unless you already possess some advanced CD burning software for a bin file.

I've only had the Sylvania Blu-Ray player for 4 days, but I've already watched 2 blu-ray movies and loved it; it was a tremendous experience with no problems whatsoever.

So, if you want to pay considerably less than the name brands and get a great Blu-Ray player, consider the Sylvania 501SL9.

Update 5/19/09:

I've watched about 15 Blu-Ray movies over the past 3 months and this player has performed flawlessly. Moreover, I finally was able to update the firmware (1.108) for this unit. The program that allowed me to do this was gBurner. I downloaded the bin file from the Funai web site and burned it to Disc (DVD+R) and couldn't believe it when it worked. I followed the instructions from Funai (on the web site) very carefully. Prior to gBurner, I tried so many different programs, but just got error messages. Very few programs support burning bin files and the ones that do are so complicated. At one point I had given up. But I finally did it, thanks to gBurner.

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This was my first (and only) Blu-Ray Player, which was purchased last December (2008). Overall, I was very pleased with the picture and sound quality. It was easy to use and other than the occasional "skip" on a dirty disc, it worked fine. The time to load a Blu-Ray disc was quite good for a low-end player (at least from what I can tell compared with the specs and reviews of other players).

The SD slot was a nice additional feature and since my DSLR uses an SD card, I was able to quickly show high-def slide shows.

Unfortunately, just after 6 months of use, it stopped reading discs. Initially it would say "no disc" after loading a CD, DVD, or Blu Ray disc. Eventually, the problem changed and after saying "Loading" for a long time it would display a disc error with a message the disc might be unplayable. Note that the parts warranty for this player is a full year, but for labor it is only 90 days.

Oh well. Perhaps I just received a lemon or had bad luck, but I'd be reluctant to buy this again and will stick with a more well-known brand next time.

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I have had this player now for 3 months, it works well. Excellent picture and Sound, very good up conversion. No problems, until I tried to upgrade the firmware. This unit is made by Funai. The Funai site asked me to check the upgrade version. No number, Funai said that I needed an upgrade. So I downloaded the file, unzipped it, burnt it to a cd, it did not work. I had also downloaded the upgrade instructions and followed them to the letter. So I called Funai, I was told that I had probably made an error. I tried again, same result. Called again, told that I had to burn it to a DVD, I explained that the site said I could use a CD. This was wrong, DVD only. Once again I tried, didn't work. To cut a long story short, I was told to change the CD burner, CD burning software, CD + R, CD -R, and so on. So after 5 CD's, 2 DVD's (+ and -0), it still will not up grade the player. If anyone else has had this problem please let me know. (nbailey005@cfl.rr.com) I'm still trying to make the file work

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Purchased the Sylvania Blu-Ray player Model NB-501sL9 today at Radio Shack for pus tax. I truly wanted to purchase here at Amazon.com or their affiliate Buy.com for the much lower sale price of with NO TAX and NO SHIPPING!! Why didn't I?? Well, for the past 3 weeks I have been getting UPS delivered packages to my door that belong to neighbors and I end up delivering them in person. They have the same 2 last numbers for a street address but the 1st 2 numbers are not even close. I guess it's the Holiday rush or these UPS guys can't read very well. The last straw was 2 days ago when they left a package at my door for a neighbor 2 houses down with our house numbers NOT similar at all! So I paid about more but at least I carried it out of the store!

Anyway, back to business Last month I purchased the Insignia NS-BRDVD, which is BEST BUYS house brand. It had received excellent reviews from Consumer reports (not quite as flattering from CNET) so I purchased it on sale for The unit is fanastic! It plays everything I feed it! Excellent Blu-ray Picture quality and VERY good upconversion on my old DVD's. I wanted to purchase another for our den but they were sold out at BEST BUY. So, after doing a lot of searching I discovered (also through Consumer Reports and some Video Forums online) that the Sylvania NB-501SL9 is a clone to the Insignia Model. Actually there are 3 alike-The Insignia-Sylvania and Magnavox (NB500MG9).

The load time are much faster than the 1st generation blu-ray players. It took about 30 seconds to get to the blu-ray screen and another 15 seconds to be able to click on play (provided you don't have to fast forward through a lot of previews). Start-up for regulas DVD's are like any other regular DVD player-fast. I do a lot of recording from DISH NETWORK-especially HDNET, TNT, and MGM Hi definition movies. They look fantastic on the Sylvania/Insignia. The only disappointment is the fact that on some (many actually) Blu-Ray discs you cannot RESUME when you hit STOP to take a break. It will start again and go through all the previews. This is NOT the fault of the Player. The resume function works on recorded DVD's and most standard DVD's.

I will provide updates as I view more Blu-ray DVD,s as I just received my first 3 Discs from NETFLIX. UH-OH,the DVD MAMA MIA was freezing/skipping during some parts of the movie as my wife just now informed me. I just restarted it and it played through with no more freezes/skips. Could be the way the rentals are handled (dirty/hard to see scratches etc.)

I am backafter viewing "Chronicles of Narnia/Price Caspian", and "HANCOCK". They both looked fantastic and played without a problem. (both NETFLIX rentals). I have aso viewed 5 other Blu-ray Discs that I purchased from Amazon (great discounts) that I was "lucky" to have correctly delivered to MY address. Although they were viewed on the Insignia, I would expect identical results from the Sylvania. To further identify them as clones-the Manuals are the same and the face of the units and remotes are identical. We are completely satisfied with our purchase of the Sylvania NB-501SL9. As of today 26 Dec 08 Amazon still has it on sale for . I wish I could have taken advantage of that deal!!

I got this Blu-Ray player in a bundle deal on a whim at my local Blockbuster for $199 about a year ago. They had it packaged with The Dark Knight and 4 free blu-ray rentals. As far as Blu-Ray performance goes, it's great. It loads a little slow, but so do just about all Blu-Ray players under $500. Picture quaility is brilliant in 1080p on a Toshiba Regza 42" LCD. It outputs Dolby TrueHD and DTSHD Master Audio just fine to my 7.1 Surround system, but if you have the settings off just the wrong little bit you can run into trouble with the audio not coming out as pure lossless. Make sure you have Downsampling turned off and the BD Audio out set to HD (not mixed) otherwise it'll just downsample everything to 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Now, the DVD playback sort of sucks. The upconversion is so-so but while the player has NO issue outputting Dolby and DTS via blu-ray it WILL NOT output DTS or Dolby Digital via DVD's. All it does is downsample everything to a 2.1 Mix, giving you a huge loss in audio quality when watching DVD's.

One final note, many people have said you cannot update the firmware on this player due to a lack of ethernet. This is not true. There are firmware updates available on Sylvania's website and it's easy to due by simply burning a CD.

If you are simply looking for a cheap way to watch blu-ray movies, look no further. I've had the player for nearly a year, and have had no issues at all. I'll admit I was heasitant at first due to the lack of a name brand (I could have gotten a Panasonic, Samsung or Sony player for $50 more) but I am very pleased. Great player for someone who knows what they are doing but wants something cheap. Would also work great as a second player to watch BD's in a bedroom or something as well.