This is a Review for Kogans “Kogan Blu-Ray Player Wi-Fi BD 2.0 Full HD 1080p”, more specifically the current modal (mid 2010). If you want to buy or look at the product- check it out here on the Kogan website.
Quick Look
What’s Hot: Wifi, Appealing Form Factor, Great Price, Region Free (Blu-Ray with Code, DVD built in)
What’s Not: Hardware menu isn’t my cup of tea, For most users the Slim Model from Kogan would be enough.
Final Score: Thumbs Up (scroll down for full Final Score Blurb)
Overview
The player boasts a bunch of awesome specifications which would blow anyones minds to consider something like this would have something like that. Like any good Blu-Ray player the main requirement I dare say is to have a HDMI comparability of some sort. Outside of that- its anyones race, and Kogan has turned the Blu-Ray player of theirs into a media power house- it features playback for many common forms of files as well as having a USB on the front.
It also is 7.1 sound compatible. And a bunch of other tech based stuff which I’m to lazy to list.
Packaging
The Kogan Blu-Ray box contains nothing pretty much, they have slimed down most “rubbish” you would find in a package to “help save the trees” or something like that- oh and that keeps costs down too most likely. The box itself is nice, with it been Blue and White- how err…pretty?
Testing
For my test, I watched the Movie Triangle. Which was a Blu-ray title, I haven’t played any DVDs in the system- but it does boast Region Free playback for DVDs. I also wasn’t originally planning to watch a movie on the system- as I hooked it up to one of my more “dodgy” TVs – a random Dick Smith CRT with inbuilt sound etc. So while I didn’t get the full experience Kogans player could offer, I was able to experience the system outside of visual and audio restrictions.
I’m under the backwards assumption that if its on a disk then it plays like that- if the NES magically was capable of playing Blu-ray titles- I doubt they would magically appear all Retro and 8-bit on me now- that’s a fair assumption isn’t it?
I was impressed with the quality of the image even with it connected to my TV which I had it on with the basic cable which comes with the device (didn’t test it on a HDMI compatible TV- lazy me).
I also besides watching a movie, went through the menu and looked at all the pretty options. The Kogan player has many user friendly options for users to customize their experience, though in some regards I think the menu might be a bit confusing to some people. I set up my Wifi with no troubles, but didn’t test out any Blu-Ray Live features.
Final Score
Thumbs Up
I couldn’t find any major faults with the hardware or software which would ruin the viewing experience. Though I possibly am basis with my little tested.
For a “no name” brand it works well- defiantly worth the investment if you want a Blu-Ray player, or can’t afford “known brands”- but does that really matter?
Oh and I kind of think this review was pointless- what about you guys?