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Sony BDV-E380 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £350
inc VAT

The smart design, excellent interface, superb sound quality and extra features make this the ideal all-in-one system for anyone who wants something straightforward and compact

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.

Sony BDV-E380 front

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.

Sony BDV-E380 rear

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.

Sony BDV-E380 set up mic and ipod dock

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).

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Details

Price £350
Rating *****
Award Best Buy

Connections

HDMI inputs 2
HDMI outputs 1
Component inputs 0
Component outputs 0
Output resolutions 480i, 480p, PAL (576i), 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Total SCART sockets 0
SCART socket type N/A
S-Video input 0
S-video output 0
Composite inputs 0
Composite outputs 1
Stereo phono inputs 0
Stereo phono outputs 1
Coaxial S/PDIF inputs 1
Coaxial S/PDIF outputs 0
Optical S/PDIF inputs 1
Optical S/PDIF outputs 0
Multi-channel input yes
Speaker configuration 5.1
Main unit end speaker connection type proprietary
Speaker end speaker connection type spring terminals
Other connections 10/100 Ethernet, 2x USB2, FM antenna, Calibration mic
Wired network ports 1x 10/100
Wireless networking support optional 802.11b/g/n

Playback

Surround sound formats Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-ES, DTS 96 / 24, DTS-HD HRA, DTS-HD MA
Optical drive yes
Supported playback disc formats BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, CD
Audio format support MP3, AAC, WAV
Video playback formats AVCHD, MPEG-4, WMVHD, XVID
Image viewing formats JPEG, GIF, PNG
Radio FM

Speakers

Speaker configuration 5.1
RMS power output 1000W
RMS power centre 167W
RMS power front 335W
RMS power surround 335W
RMS power subwoofer 165W
Wall mountable yes
Centre speaker cable length 2.0m
Front speaker cable length 3.0m
Surround speaker cable length 9.5m

General

Extras Remote control, external iPod dock, FM antenna, calibration mic
Size 430x320x75mmmm
Subwoofer dimensions 380x191x330mmmm
Centre speaker dimensions 315x53x59mmmm
Front speaker dimensions 96x96x245mmmm
Surround speaker dimensions 96x96x245mmmm
Power consumption standby 0W
Power consumption on 22W

Buying Information

Price £350
Warranty one year RTB
Supplier http://www.directtvs.co.uk
Details www.sony.co.uk