If you have a Playstation 3 or have even seen the interface then you know exactly what the Sony SMP-N200 will look like on your big screen. Knowing what it will look like and knowing what it will do are two different things, normally, in this case it is not. The video and file sharing capabilities of the N200 mimic the Playstation as well, just not done as well. The device comes with the prerequisite capabilities such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and YouTube. It also has an extensive array of file sharing capabilities. It easily connects with your home computers running Windows 7 granting you access to your music, pictures and video files.
During my use of the Sony SMP-N200 I found that it had a little trouble starting up shared media content in particular from a WD Live TV Hub where I store several of my movies. I often stream these movies as test for other devices such as my Roku, Windows Media Center and others. When attempting to stream these same files from the Sony media player I found the load times to be horribly slow and in some cases other features such as rewind and fast forward to be disabled during playback.
If there is one thing the Sony gets high marks on, its the remote. While not backlit as I would prefer, it is a simply, light weight and stylish looking remote. It has a natural and comfortable feel in my hands and is easy for me to use.
The Sony SMP-N200 is a good box for the most part but it is flawed (like all the media player devices) in one way or another. Unfortunately the flaws in the Sony SMP-N200 prevent me from getting this device a top notch review. While it certainly finds its way into the bottom half of my Top 10 Media Player devices, it is a distant 5th or 6th place at best. Check out the video review to see more on the Sony SMP-N200
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