Sony BDV-E380 review

Take one look at Sony’s BDV-E380 and it’s clear to see the influence of a certain games console on its design. The curved main unit, touch-sensitive buttons and glossy black finish are all reminiscent of the PlayStation 3. The minimalist design and glowing white LED strip look fantastic, and the speakers aren’t far behind.

Each one stands vertically, with a slight tilt that looks great from almost every angle. The provided speaker cables plug into the main unit using proprietary connections, but end in regular speaker wire so you could extend them without too much hassle. However, with the rear satellite cables measuring 9.5m, you probably won’t need to.

There are plenty of other sockets on the back of the main unit, including two HDMI inputs for connecting games consoles or a set-top box, optical and coaxial digital audio, analogue phono, composite video and a single USB port. A radio antenna lets you listen to FM stations, and a calibration microphone helps to set up the speakers correctly for the best possible audio. There’s an external iPod dock included, and it’s used to play videos and photo slideshows as well as music.

At the front, a second USB port to the right of the disc tray can be used to connect a flash drive or external hard disk for multimedia playback. All the image and audio file types we tried were supported, but our MKV and DivX files refused to play.

As well as local playback, the E380 can also stream content from a PC or laptop using DLNA. There’s no integrated wireless adaptor, so you’ll either have to connect to your router using the Ethernet port or buy the optional Wi-Fi dongle (part number UWA-BR100, £47 including VAT from Amazon).

Once connected to a display, the PlayStation influence continues with the XMB interface. It’s incredibly straightforward to navigate but it can make finding a particular item slightly tedious if you have to navigate through the whole stack. Ironically, this issue only occurred to us because the E380 has so much extra content. As well as a web browser, FM radio, YouTube video streaming and catch-up TV from BBC and Channel 5, you can also stream movies from LoveFilm and watch the headlines on Sky News and Sky Sports. As far as online content goes, Sony is the clear leader right now.

Sound quality was impressive. Positional audio was highly accurate, although the centre speaker felt slightly overwhelmed in more explosive action sequences as we occasionally struggled to hear speech clearly. Bass was satisfactory, but not strong enough to match the active subwoofers in pricier systems.

A dedicated AV amplifier and passive speakers deliver superior audio quality, but many people will prefer the simplicity and lower price of an all-in-one system. With the BDV-E380, Sony has created a fantastic set that does everything you would want from a Blu-ray player, along with great audio from its 5.1 speakers. If you want something that does it all, this is a superb choice.