Short version: Although this is an old model (from at least 2015), it was still being sold in stores when I wrote this page in 2022. It has some seriously annoying problems, don't buy it if they're still around. There's an on-going problem in this country (Australia), virtually everything is imported, and we often get devices at the end of their support cycle, and often still being sold past the end of their support cycle.
Over time I've bought three of these units. The first one worked fine, at first, then started to go wonky after I bought the second. Unfortunately my first one was either out of warranty, or the warranty couldn't be found, and other competing similarly featured and priced models looked far worse. Considering its cost and that I had it for a year or so, I took a punt and bought another Sony player as its replacement (in 2021).
I first bought the simpler model (BDP‑1500 without WiFi), found it quite good, so bought the slightly better model (BDP‑3500 with WiFi) for another TV set in the house. Later on, the WiFi‑less model was the one that went wonky, so I replaced it with a new purchase of the better model. And this new one (the third purchase) started to go just as bad not long after. Oddly, the second player I bought (with WiFi) hadn't behaved badly, so far, although I don't use it as often. But years later, it decided to fail fairly frequently when trying to watch YouTube on it, complaining the app is too large for the available memory. I suspect that the app really needs updating, but there's no update for it.
The original problem with first faulty one was that it started to lose internet connectivity (its own fault, not my network, my network is fine *). Then, because of that, it erases its configuration settings and switches off all its networked features (almost like a factory reset). While you may think “so what” if all you want to do is watch DVDs or Blurays, some of the settings that it won't keep relate to trying to watch 4:3 TV shows properly on a 16:9 set instead of being stretched fat‑and‑wide (including ones that are properly identified as being 4:3 video), not being able to watch various 24 frame-per-second video sources at 24 frames per second instead of the wrong frame rate (which can cause annoying motion judder), inter-control settings between TV and the Bluray player changing, and other audio settings with annoying defaults (such as compressing the audio dynamic range when I don't want that). And why shouldn't you have full access to everything that you paid for? Especially if you want to use those features, or to be able disable some of the stupid ones. Of all the dumb default settings to have, Sony, DO NOT make showing 4:3 video stretched fat‑and‑wide onto a 16:9 set. It looks like shit! Show video correctly, and let the uneducated masses choose to stuff‑up the aspect ratio if they can't handle the black bars either side of the picture.
And in yet another pain in the arse by this player, if it can't connect, it won't let me go into the settings for an annoying length of time, telling me it's initialising, just adding to the lengthy wait forced on you when you just want to watch your damn video that you've paid for.
There's no good reason why I should have to have something connected to the internet all the time when I don't use any of its internet features (they're rather dire, and have better ways to watch YouTube, for instance, on the television). And it's an unnecessary potential exploit waiting to happen.
When the thing fires up it tries to connect home to Sony to authenticate itself. If it can't manage that (over ethernet or WiFi), and all too often it can't, it goes into broken dumb mode. My guess the Sony server is part of the Bluray authorisation scheme (yes, they can remotely turn off players that breach their rules), and it may also be a proxy server for some of the internet media player functions, and it's probably also the server that the players check on for software updates, too.
They're a Bluray player and an internet media player, it can turn your TV into a smart TV, allowing you to watch YouTube and iView, and a few other streaming services. The trouble is that many of those services don't work any more, or don't work with the device any longer. That could be because they've rescinded the deal, the service, or the apps are no-longer compatible. You cannot update the apps on the device, they come pre-loaded, you're stuck with them, and it's never found any updates for itself. All you can hope for is that Sony releases a complete update to the player, but they're far more likely to abandon the product and expect you to buy a new one. Looking at the player's own information, and Sony's website, it already does have the last firmware made available for it installed.
Having to replace a device every year or so is annoying, and a waste of resources, as well as your money. It's bad enough if it's a $100-$150 player, but if you had to replace a smart TV worth several hundred dollars (or much more) after a few years due to this kind of design mentality, it's unacceptable.
Another annoying problem is it frequently complains there's no disc in the drive when there is. I've heard it whiz up, I've even heard it focus on the disc. Yet it complains there's no disc, then some annoying amount time later it suddenly starts playing the disc that it complains isn't in there. I suspect this is another delay due to it trying to authenticate with Sony to be allowed to play a disc. I still have much older DVD players that turn on in the moment you pressed the on button, and are ready to do something by the time you've taken your finger off it.
It's a right pain to have it delay things by a minute or more when you just wanted to stick a disc in and press play. The compact audio disc was a revolution in convenience for playing music, but DVDs and Blurays have been a backwards step into inconvenience, even worse than my old VHS VCRs for playing videos (which started playing quicker, and let me fast-forward or rewind anywhere, at any time, and I was never forced to sit through unskippable content).