Toshiba BDX6400 Symbio Media Box and Blu-ray Player Review

While 1080p and Blu-ray are the current standard in high definition, 4k or "Ultra HD" is on the way. While 4k displays are currently so expensive that not many people have them, manufacturers are already selling Blu-ray players and other devices that will upscale your movies to 4k. Toshiba's new Symbio BDX6400 is promising not only a 4k upscaling Blu-ray player but a WiFi enabled media box that will stream content from the Internet or your local devices.

To start with, the Toshiba BDX6400 has a single HDMI output and coaxial digital audio output. There is a power cord with a wall-wort plug for power. A rear USB port can be used to stream video or audio or to update the unit. Those with legacy connections will need a different player but those people aren't looking for 4k upscaling anyhow. The Toshiba BDX6400 has a side stand so all your friends can think you have a Wii. The unit itself is very handsome with a brushed aluminum top and glossy plastic sides. It has rounded edges and a single power button and no other controls on the unit - a bold choice for Toshiba as most usually include at the very least an eject button.

The Toshiba BDX6400 was really hit or miss for us in our review. First the hits. It passed just about all the HQV tests with flying colors. Noise removal was lacking but that's par for the course with Blu-ray players that don't often come across the issue. The SD cadence tests and jaggies tests in particular were some of the best results we've seen. There was a bit of stair-stepping on the flag test but in real-world use, we didn't see any problems (see below for test results).

Toshiba promises not only 4k upscaling but also an enhanced 1080p picture. Honestly, the Toshiba BDX6400 gave us one of the best pictures we've seen with DVDs. The picture was crisp and clear, motion blur was non-existent, and the colors were vibrant. Like most of you, we don't have a 4k display to use to test the upscaling but if the 1080p performance is any indication, you're in for a real treat.

The Toshiba BDX6400 came preloaded with all the usual apps including NetFlix, YouTube, Vudu, Hulu and more. At the time of testing, there weren't any additional apps to download, but we expect that their app store will expand to include all your favorites. We tested the NetFlix performance and found it to perform as good or better than other devices. 

Now we need to step into the "misses" territory of the Toshiba BDX6400. One of the claims to fame is that it has WiFi to connect to your home network. While this is true, and we connected it to our network, we couldn't get it to access any of the apps or connect Toshiba's control app to the BDX6400. We tried for a couple of hours before we gave up and used a wired connection.

After connecting to the network, the first thing the Toshiba BDX6400 wanted to do was update. We did that but then it immediately forgot the settings we'd selected (including the WiFi password). It seemed like the BDX6400 punishes users be making them re-select all their settings each time it updates. Hopefully this won't be a recurring problem.

The remote for the Toshiba BDX6400 is fairly standard and works okay though it seems to miss every third or fourth button push. Toshiba has an app to control the BDX6400 from your smartphone or tablet and we tried it out on an iPad and a Samsung Galaxy phone. The apps look similar and function fairly well with a few exceptions. The eject button didn't work, there wasn't a dedicated "Netflix" button like there is on the remote, and there was no keyboard. The iPad version had a button that looked like it would show a keyboard but we could never get it to work. Basically, if you want full control of the Toshiba BDX6400, you're going to either have to switch between your phone and the non-backlit remote or just scrap them both for a universal remote.

Oddly, the main menu of the Toshiba BDX6400 needed network access to display, so if you aren't connected, you'd have to manually exit that to get to the settings menu (where everything aside from the apps are available anyhow). We could stream content from our network, but there were some oddities here as well. If you went to the "Play Music" menu, music would play fine, but you couldn't switch over to photos or videos (those folders were displayed as well). You'd need to back all the way out to the main menu and select the Photo or Video option before those would work. The videos, in particular, were troublesome. We accessed our phone from the menu and it would play some videos but not others. We couldn't figure out why as they were all the same file type and the size or length of the video file didn't seem to make a difference.

The Toshiba BDX6400 has a web browser but it was nearly useless. Arrow up and down was the only way to control it and it was nearly impossible to see where you were on the page. With a smartphone or tablet likely in your hand, we can't see why anyone would need this.

Bottom Line

Again, we have to say that the video quality of the Toshiba BDX6400 was stunning - and if you looking for a Blu-ray player that can upscale to 4k and you've got $300 to blow, the Toshiba BDX6400 is a great option - though you can find other 4k players for less. If you also want it to be easy to control, stream content from your network, and connect via WiFi...you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

Video Benchmarks for the Toshiba BDX6400

HQV SD Tests

Toshiba BDX6400 Benchmark total score: 100/130

*All tests were done with the HDMI outputs at 1080p. 

HQV HD Tests

Toshiba BDX6400 Benchmark total score: 100/100

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Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.