Pros: I recently purchased a refurbished Sony BDP-S1500 Blu-ray player as a replacement for the Sony BDP-N460 player which I had owned for several years.

So far, I am really enjoying the S1500 a lot. It’s a big improvement over the N460. Specifically, Sony finally improved the user interface on their Blu-ray players. For years, they used what they called the Xross interface, which I really disliked. All the apps included in the player had to be accessed by scrolling up and down a long vertical list, at least in the video apps, to find the one you were looking for. It was clumsy and non-intuitive.

The S1500, along with Sony’s other players in this generation, uses a grid-style interface, which not only looks a lot nicer but is much easier to use. You can also move apps around on the home screen which is great because you can put the apps you use most often in the top row of apps.

Additionally, there is a larger selection of apps than what was available on the N460. Especially nice is the addition of the Opera TV store, which itself has a nice selection of apps including Plex, which allows you to access your own media on your home network. This is especially nice because the S1500 doesn’t have DLNA, the ability to access your local media, built-in. Other apps included in the S1500 are AmazonVideo, Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube, and Pandora along with quite a few lesser-known apps. It doesn’t have Slacker Radio, which I really love and was included in the N460, but I guess you can’t have everything!

Hardware-wise, the S1500 is very compact and light, some may think too light, but as long as it works and works well, who cares, right? The remote control that comes with S1500 is also very compact, much shorter that what most remotes are, but very functional and easy to use. It has two dedicated app buttons, one for Netflix and another which you can assign to your favorite app, a really nice touch. The remote can also be programmed to control your TV’s basic functions like on/off, volume control, changing channels, etc.

Everything I’ve mentioned so far relates to the S1500 as a streaming media player, but it IS a Blu-ray player first, and is excellent in that role. I put in one of the Blu-ray discs from the Planet Earth set, a visual and audio feast, and it looked and sounded fantastic played on the S1500. I tried several other Blu-ray discs including James Bond Casino Royale and they also looked and sounded great. The disc load times are also much quicker than the N460.

The S1500 does not have Wi-Fi built in, just an Ethernet port. I have it plugged in to a Powerline adapter to connect it to the Internet, which works great. If you need a player with Wi-Fi, Sony’s next player up in this generation of players does have Wi-Fi built in.

I’ve only owned this player for about a month, but so far, I give it two thumbs way up. And, the fact that I bought this player from Newegg for only $27 after rebate makes it an especially sweet deal.

Cons: No built-in Wi-FI.

Other Thoughts: I highly recommend this player.

Pros: so far this player is perfect for me. i replaced my older Sony blu-ray player, AND my older media player with this unit. i just wanted it to play blu-ray / dvd discs, along with movie and tv files from a flash drive. it has worked perfetly so far for this. setup is very easy with no problems.

Cons: none, but i don't use it with my internet or network, so can't comment on that.

Other Thoughts: it's much smaller than my older Sony blu-ray player, but larger than my older media player, and it replaces both. easy to fit in my tv cabinet and eliminates the need for two remotes. I'm storing my older players as back-ups, just in case.

Pros: Small and simple. Low price due to being refurbished and had a rebate.
Able to view DVDs in hi def with the upscale ability
Built in apps are a nice extra I would not have normally opted for, but came with this low cost model.
I like the ability to watch You Tube with this, have not used the other apps.

Cons: No cons

Pros: - It works as expected, including the remote
- Fast, loads and boots quickly
- Simple setup, and a good set of available apps for internet access via the wired only connection
- Simple connections

Cons: - Nothing really since the thing works OK as expected
- I was hoping the network ability would include DLNA support but not on this model, only the higher versions/models. Not really a con as a check of the specs would have told me this wasn't supported

Other Thoughts: - There is a description of "refurbished" on the page that's probably fair, but I would say this is more of an open box/returned item
- Mine came with no batteries for the remote at all, although there was the wrapper for the batteries in the bottom of the box!
- As I was checking the rebate, it turns out the SKU on the box doesn't match what the rebate form and online submission system are expecting. Online chat with support confirmed the SKU on the box is correct, so I am sending a copy of that chat in with the rebate submission

Pros: Fast shipping

Cons: Simply doesn't work. Powers up OK, but remote is 100% non-working. (Yes, I *did* check the batteries on my battery checker. They are good. The remote is just 100% DOA.) Also, even the front panel open/close button only worked 1 out of 5 times times I tried to use it.

These units are clearly NOT "refurbished" in any real or meaningful sense. They are clearly just customer returns that nobody even bothered to check before shipping them back out again.

I am VERY disappointed at Newegg for selling these. I've been buying stuff... LOTS of stuff... from Newegg for years, and until quite recently I've been 100% satisfied with the products they sell and/or their customer service (e.g. the occasional return), and of course, their fast shpiing and friendly & helpful custonmer support people. Newegg still a great company, but this is the second product in a row that I've bought from them that turned out to be absolute useless junk. (The other was a set of three ADATA UV128 USB flash thumb drives, which were also junk.) I hope that at some level their management gets the message that when they sell junk products, even if it isn't their fault that the products are junk, it reflects badly on them (Newegg). In this case, it REALLY reflects badly on them because since these things are not listed as "manufacturer refurbished", then it must have been Newegg itself that "refurbished" them, and it seems like that really only amounted to putting the thing back in the box and back on the shelf (after it was returned as DOA by some prior customer).

P.S. Here's just one more final free clue for the Newegg "refurbishing" staff: New Blu-Ray players come with a pair of batteries for the remote. In addition to not even checking this unit to see if it was DOA (which it is) you also didn't bother to make sure there were batteries for the remote in the box. Deduct another egg for this, so now, actually this product deserves -1 egg. (I would have given it zero to begin with, but Newegg doesn't alow that, apparently.)

Other Thoughts: I still like Newegg and will continue to buy stuff from them, HOWEVER...

Unless it explicitly says "MANUFACTURER refurbished" on the listing, I'll never buy another "refurbished" product from Newegg. Just putting the thing back in the box and back on the shelf (after the first purchaser returned it as DOA) doesn't actually count as "refurbishing".