The promise of zipping music, movies, and TV around the home has been a chief selling point for many electronics gadgets in the past few years. Cables create clutter, and the relatively recent Wi-Fi “n” flavor offers home networkers improved data speeds and coverage area. In other words — let that content flow wirelessly. At least that was my thinking when I expanded my home network’s utility by hooking up the latest Blu-ray offering from Toshiba.
Toshiba has been playing catch-up. Parent to the rival high-def format, the now-defunct HD-DVD, Toshiba didn’t release its first Blu-ray player until September 2009 and has been selling a standard “upconversion” DVD player aimed at consumers who want simulated high-def picture but may be reluctant to take the Blu-ray plunge. Toshiba’s initial Blu-ray player was sold largely as a product for retailers to bundle into high-def TV packages and did not receive much of a marketing push. Fast-forward to summer 2010, and Toshiba is selling two new Blu-ray players, the WiFi-ready BDX2500 and the WiFi-enabled BDX2700. A third model sporting both WiFi and 3D capability, the BDX3000, is to be introduced later this year. The players also stream video from Netflix, CinemaNow, and VUDU, and music from Pandora.
I chose to review the middle player of the pack, the BDX2700, which lists for $249 but is easy to find online for around $170. The first thing you notice is how petite this machine is: less than 4 pounds and just 8 inches deep. Light as a feather, it’s a breeze to fit in most equipment racks and to reposition, which you may find necessary depending on your WiFi coverage. I discovered this right after completing the simple set-up: A weak network connection makes the player freeze and behave disagreeably, inducing frustration. Pandora would usually play one…