Sony BDP-SX1

Sony BDP-SX1 review

With Blu-ray finally on the verge of superseding DVD as the disc format of choice, Sony reckons the time is right to get it on the move and in the car too. Enter the BDP-SX1, the company's first portable Blu-ray player. It's available for around £300. Here are our first impressions. This transportable debutant is large but posh, and comes with a charmingly patterned lid. The player is surprisingly heavy, at 1.5kg, and feels like a netbook in the hand, but its build quality seems good. When snapped shut, it measures 259 by 40 by 204mm. The 10.1-inch TFT LCD screen swivels 360 degrees on its hinge. It has a resolution of 1,024x600 pixels. On a display this small, that resolution could make for quite a sharp picture. But there are caveats, which we'll mention later. You can prod these controls with your fingers to control the BDP-SX1, or use the remote instead. Not only is the BDP-SX1 portable, it can also function as a source player within a larger system. On the right of the clamshell case, you'll find an HDMI output, as well as a power supply jack, dual headphone outputs, a USB connector, input/output mini-jacks for sound and vision, and an Ethernet socket. There's no integrated Wi-Fi. A dumpy remote control is provided in the box.