Yamaha BD-S473 Blu-ray Player Reviewed

Published On: June 26, 2013
Last Updated on: October 31, 2020
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Yamaha BD-S473 Blu-ray Player Reviewed

Blu-ray players are everywhere. Every manufacturer has a slew of models to compete. Alex Lezcano takes a look at the Yamaha BD-S473 to see how it stacks up against the offerings of the market.

Yamaha BD-S473 Blu-ray Player Reviewed

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Yamaha-BD-S473-Blu-ray-player-review-small.jpgYamaha introduced three new Blu-ray players last year (all of which are still current), with the BD-S473 being the least expensive at $229.95. All of the new Yamaha Blu-ray players are up to date technology-wise, yet the BD-S473 takes a more minimalist approach in terms of features. The BD-S473 is 3D-capable and offers access to Netflix and YouTube, but it lacks the wireless network connectivity that you get in the other two players in the lineup, the BD-S673 ($329.95) and BD-A1020 ($449.95). Yamaha's Blu-ray players are DLNA-certified, and the BD-S473 supports playback of many media formats, including AVCHD, MKV, WMV, AVI, MP4, JPEG (HD), MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, FLAC and more. If you have SACDs or DVD-Audio discs in your library, you will be disappointed, because the BD-S473 does not support these formats; for that, you have to move up to the BD-A1020 universal disc player at almost double the cost.

Additional Resources
• Read more Blu-ray player reviews from Home Theater Review's staff.
• Explore more reviews in our HDTV Review section.

The BD-S473 is designed to match Yamaha's new line of AV receivers in its appearance. It weighs a hair under 4.5 pounds and measures 17.13 inches wide by two inches tall by eight inches deep, making it a pretty small player - especially when compared with players from Oppo, Cambridge and even the other Yamaha models. The BD-S473's pop-out disc tray is located on the left-hand side of the player, and part of the fascia moves out and down to allow the disc tray to come out. The front faceplate contains a power button, an eject button, a USB connector, a front-panel display and buttons for play, pause and stop. The back has a power cable, one HDMI output, a second USB connector, and a network terminal for an Ethernet cable. It lacks the dual HDMI outputs you'll find in some 3D players, as well as analog outputs and a dedicated digital audio output. The player has internal Dolby TrueHD (7.1) and DTS-HD Master Audio (5.1) decoding.

The player's disc tray is fairly quiet when loading or ejecting discs and is quite fast in doing so. In terms of overall playback, everything went well and without a hitch. Setup was easy, and I encountered no stuttering or other issues during disc playback. Blu-ray video and audio quality was great; however, with SD DVDs, the picture quality was just okay. DVDs lacked a bit of detail, and I did notice jaggies and other artifacts while watching Gladiator (DreamWorks) and Lord of the Rings (New Line). I connected to the Web via Ethernet, and getting on to YouTube and Netflix was a cinch, proving to be a fast and fairly intuitive process. I wish the remote control had the alphabet attached to the numbers on the keypad to make searching more convenient via YouTube.

The BD-S473 is compatible with Yamaha's SCENE mode with HDMI CEC, which is available on most of the company's AV receivers. SCENE will automatically power on the BD-S473 to play back content by pressing a single button on the receiver. This is a rather convenient feature if you're looking for press-and-play simplicity. The player also works with Yamaha's AV Controller app for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire.

Read about the high points and low points of the Yamaha BD-S473 on Page 2.Yamaha-BD-S473-Blu-ray-player-review-small.jpgHigh Points

  • The BD-S473 performs at a high level with 1080p content on Blu-ray discs. 
  • The player supports 3D playback.
  • The BD-S473 is DLNA-certified and compatible with a lot of media formats, including MKV and FLAC.
  • The Yamaha player is nice and slim, so it won't be a rack-space hog. 
  • I like Yamaha's AV Controller app for iOS. The app was easy to set up;
    all I needed to do was to allow "Network Control" in the setup menu,
    and my iPad Mini was able to locate the BD-S473 over Wi-Fi. I enjoyed
    walking into my kitchen while playing a CD and being able to control the
    player from any room. 

Low Points

  • The BD-S473 does not
    come with any legacy connections, so you must have HDMI-compatible gear.
    The BD-S473 also does not have dual HDMI outputs to send separate
    signals to your 3D TV and AV receiver.
  • Yamaha's Web platform is very limited compared with other Blu-ray manufacturers.
  • The BD-S473 does not have wireless connectivity.
  • The iOS app does not have a virtual keyboard to enter text in Netflix of YouTube.

Comparison and Competition
Compare
the Yamaha BD-S473 to its competition by reading our reviews of the
Sharp BD-AMS20U
, the Sony BDP-S790
and the Samsung BD-E6500. Learn more about 3D Blu-ray players by visiting our Blu-ray Players
section
.

Conclusion
With
the BD-S473, Yamaha has created a nice Blu-ray player that does a good
job in the performance department and keeps it simple and sweet. I
really enjoyed using the player for Blu-ray/CD spinning. However, the
BD-S473 faces some pretty stiff competition from lower-priced players
that offer more connection options, more Web services, and built-in
WiFi. If those are not features you require and you're looking for a
good Blu-ray performer to mate with your Yamaha receiver, the BD-S473
will fit right in.

Additional Resources

  • Theo Jacobs
    2021-05-25 03:12:05

    De blue ray discs doen het niet, zelfgemaakte wel.

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