Design
Sony's budget line Blu-ray player, the BDP-S480, certainly revels in its low price if the size of the player is a core criterion of yours. At 430x36x199mm and 1.7kg, there's not a whole lot to the BDP-S480. Its curved front is slightly deceptive, as it gives the appearance of being a front flap, but is instead effectively a resting shelf for the power, eject, play and stop buttons.
Every other control you'll want to use with the BDP-S480 is found on the short, stubby remote control. It's not quite at the easy-to-lose-behind-the-sofa level, but it's close.
Features
The BDP-S480 is priced as an entry-level player, and the standout feature that it carries at this price point is that it supports 3D Blu-ray titles. That's still a niche within the Blu-ray market as a whole, but even if you don't have an accompanying panel that'll support 3D, it's not a bad capability to have.
Sony touts the BDP-S480 as being "Wireless LAN Ready", but that's rather evasive marketing talk. You might think this means that Wireless LAN is built in, but it's not; it's simply that you can add an optional USB Wi-Fi adaptor at an additional cost. The model that comes with inbuilt Wi-Fi is the BDP-S580, and that's a scant AU$50 more. We know which way we'd tilt if Wi-Fi was an essential component.
As with many of Sony's A/V products, the BDP-S480 uses Sony's XrossMediaBar for navigation. Amongst its goodies you'll find DLNA streaming, a web browser, access to Sony's Qriocitymusic service and online video streaming, including local services such as ABC iView, PLUS7 and SBS.
The remote might be a bit on the stubby side, but it can also be complemented with Sony's Media Remote application for Android and iOS, which gives you a touchscreen remote and what turns out to be a highly useful onscreen keyboard. More on that shortly.
Discuss Sony BDP-S480