Sony BDP-S490 review

The BDP-S490 is reasonably quick, starting up in around 10 seconds and loading Blu-ray discs in around 15. We experienced no problems with it, although we’d have liked a few more image quality settings apart from a choice of Standard, Bright Room or Theatre picture modes. You also have the option to set levels of block and MPEG noise reduction, but this isn’t necessary when watching Blu-ray discs. Instead, you’ll need to adjust your TV if you aren’t happy with colour or brightness.

Thankfully, we didn’t feel the need to make many changes. Our reference footage looked slightly lighter than it appears on other Blu-ray players, with the very darkest blacks losing a little prominence, but films looked great for the most part. It dealt with shadows superbly, bringing out every bit of detail in our chosen scenes. Colours were vibrant and images were pin-sharp, really bringing out the film grain of the 2009 Star Trek movie at 1080p.

Star Trek (Blu-ray) – A 100% pixel crop from the HDMI output of the player at default settings …

… and the same grab from a PlayStation 3 – click either to enlarge

The BDP-S490 coped reasonably well with DVD upscaling. There was an acceptable level of noise at standard settings and the film grain was mostly preserved after block noise and MPEG noise reduction had been enabled. However, we did notice some slight colour discrepancies with a slightly yellow colour cast that wasn’t present when watching Blu-ray discs. It wasn’t enough to stop us enjoying films, but when sat side-by-side there was a noticeable difference.

Apart from a few minor image quality concerns, which are even less of an issue if you stick to Blu-ray and avoid DVD, the only real criticism for the BDP-S490 is the omission of Wi-Fi. With so many online services, it would be a waste not to connect the system to the internet, but you might as well buy the more expensive BDP-S590 instead of buying a separate £62 Wi-Fi dongle, as it has built-in Wi-Fi. Even so, if you have yet to upgrade to a Smart TV but have an Ethernet cable wired into your AV rack, the BDP-S490 would make a comprehensive addition to your home cinema.