It doesn’t include wireless network connectivity, only wired. Rather than run another wire or add an expensive wireless router option, I just took advantage of the fact that the kids’ XP machine is close, and has both wireless and wired ethernet ports. Hooking it up as a bridge was pretty easy – the downside obviously being that the PC needs to be on for wireless to work. But I’m OK with that, because I think the majority of our viewing will be actual discs for now.

I have it hooked up in Component mode at 1080i. HDMI supports 1080p, but my current A/V receiver doesn’t, and my TV doesn’t support discrete device selection. I’m keeping my eye out for a good 7.1 A/V receiver with HDMI switching support.

So far, I like the device overall. I’d heard some bad things about start-up time, but I haven’t really noticed any issues with this so far. I have these gripes with the system:

1. The “Home” button on the Remote takes you to the DVD configuration screen, and pressing “return” does NOT take you back to the place where you were; instead, it takes you to the start of the disc. Who the heck at Sony thought that THAT was a good design?
2. The Blu-Ray DVD’s that I’ve watched thus far have the “unskippable” movie previews. I HATE this feature. A friend at work told me that Samsung players ignore that setting on discs, but Sony (being in the media & hardware businesses) does not. I’m hopeful that this doesn’t happen on other discs from other studios.
3. The “tray” on the device is hidden behind a large movable faceplate. While this LOOKS cool, I suspect that it’ll wear out prematurely.

I still wish that HD-DVD had won the format wars. But, hey, this is coming from the guy who still has a collection of Laser Discs!