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Post by kauai82 on Oct 12, 2017 12:13:56 GMT -5
I have just purchased a refurbished Sony UPH-X800 4k Blu-ray Disc player for $160 from Best Buy. I am not that much of a video guy and bought it with the idea of watching the occasional 4k disc that I can rent on the net for $9 a month subscription that gets two titles sent to me a month from a place I think called 3D discs. It works like the original Netflix subscription from many years ago. I chose the Sony because on top of having HDR capability, it will also play SACD's. I don't have a lot of SACD's but I like the ones I have and pick up one's used eBay occasionally. The Sony also plays DSD discs over HDMI which I also have a few. I upgraded from a Sony BDP-6500 that is a couple of years old.
My 4k TV in my music room (man cave bedroom ) is a 43 inch M series Vizio from 2015. My current Vizio does not have HDR so I was wondering how much better the Sony x800 would do than the 6500. I could not justify the price of the Oppo 203 because I don't watch that many movies in a year. The x800 retails new for $249 to $299 and I have seen it on sale for as low as $229. That was still to high for my limited needs. I am sure that for the Holiday season the going price for the Sony will around $200.
So how does x800 do on a non HDR TV ? At first out of the box horrible. The picture was a helter-skelter of over blown highlights and to dark blacks. Wrong hues and tints. Keep trying to adjust the TV and got it looking even worse. Was about to throw in the towel and send it back to Best Buy when I went back and looked at some of people on various video forums and had some ideas of what was wrong. First off I reset the Vizio to factory defaults and then selected the calibrated screen mode. I then went in to the Sony video sub menus and set the HDR to the Auto 2 mode and then went and turned off the HDR to SDR (standard definition range) upscaling. That fixed my picture. Although the Vizio is not a HDR set, the picture on a 4k, with these settings are very good. The Blu-Ray discs I have look great, better than the BDP-6500. I have seen the x800 demonstrated on a mid range price 4k TV with HDR and was very impressed with the picture quality. I am looking forward to up grading to a mid priced HDR 4k 55 inch TV and seeing the improvement. I hope to save my pennies and with a few gift cards and hopefully a sale or two I can get the set around Christmas
So if you are on the fence on what to do about a 4k disc player I hope this post helps. I am glad that I took the plunge and am enjoying the improved video experience that the x800 gives me. Matt
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Post by creimes on Oct 12, 2017 12:34:20 GMT -5
I'm still under the impression that 4k would be most beneficial for something along the lines of my setup being a 100" screen from 10ft viewing distance but 4k projectors are still very expensive for most wanting to upgrade their projector.
Chad
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Post by drtrey3 on Oct 12, 2017 13:31:41 GMT -5
The proof of the pudding in in the eating.
You came, you saw, you liked, and wrote it down. Thanks!
Trey
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Post by Casey Leedom on Oct 12, 2017 13:50:49 GMT -5
See this article for an interesting take on visible artifacts with HD images which can be helped with UHD images, even though individual HD pixels fall below visibility ... Casey |
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Post by novisnick on Oct 12, 2017 15:45:49 GMT -5
thanks so much for your thought! Greatly appreciated!
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Post by garbulky on Oct 12, 2017 17:13:16 GMT -5
kauai82Thanks so much! This player looks appealing to me because of its price point. I have a Sony BDP 5300 regular blu ray player which I really like its use of smooth realistic playback. It does 24 hz playback rather than the 60 hz upscale that I'm sensitive to. So my question - do the 4k discs represent an improvement on your 4k tv even without the HDR over regular HD? My TV is HDMI 2 and has HDCP 2.2 but it is NOT HDR. It came out during those in between years when things were being figured out. So it's also not a full 4 k display. It has a fourth color that provides some form a higher resolution than 1080 p but not quite native 4k. So I'm not entirely sure if 4k will be worth it. It's really a fantastic looking tv with huge contrast ratio and stunning colors. It's a Sharp Aquous. I just don't know if not having HDR would sort of just make things only as good as regular HD.
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Post by doc1963 on Oct 12, 2017 21:57:37 GMT -5
..... I just don't know if not having HDR would sort of just make things only as good as regular HD. Considering that approximately 90% of the currently available UHD Blu-ray Discs were derived from a 2K source, the only thing that makes them a noteworthy upgrade from their 1080p counterpart " is" HDR. From a visual perspective, without the HDR color grading pass, you'd gain almost nothing from these "2K > 4K" discs. A UHD Blu-ray derived from a "true" 4K master will produce a different result (a true "wow" moment), but as of now, there's only a few of them. "Lucy", for example, is a truly stunning presentation on 4K UHD Blu-ray. Unfortunately, it doesn't make it a better movie, but it's really nice to look at. The studios really need to get serious about how they master the DI for UHD. A 2K DI should be considered a crime. In your situation, having an earlier generation 4K display that's not HDR capable, I don't see where this player (or UHD Blu-ray in its current state of availability) would be of much benefit to you over the player you already have. If it were me, I'd take a pass... For now...  |
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Post by 405x5 on Oct 12, 2017 22:58:07 GMT -5
I have just purchased a refurbished Sony UPH-X800 4k Blu-ray Disc player for $160 from Best Buy. I am not that much of a video guy and bought it with the idea of watching the occasional 4k disc that I can rent on the net for $9 a month subscription that gets two titles sent to me a month from a place I think called 3D discs. It works like the original Netflix subscription from many years ago. I chose the Sony because on top of having HDR capability, it will also play SACD's. I don't have a lot of SACD's but I like the ones I have and pick up one's used eBay occasionally. The Sony also plays DSD discs over HDMI which I also have a few. I upgraded from a Sony BDP-6500 that is a couple of years old. My 4k TV in my music room (man cave bedroom ) is a 43 inch M series Vizio from 2015. My current Vizio does not have HDR so I was wondering how much better the Sony x800 would do than the 6500. I could not justify the price of the Oppo 203 because I don't watch that many movies in a year. The x800 retails new for $249 to $299 and I have seen it on sale for as low as $229. That was still to high for my limited needs. I am sure that for the Holiday season the going price for the Sony will around $200. So how does x800 do on a non HDR TV ? At first out of the box horrible. The picture was a helter-skelter of over blown highlights and to dark blacks. Wrong hues and tints. Keep trying to adjust the TV and got it looking even worse. Was about to throw in the towel and send it back to Best Buy when I went back and looked at some of people on various video forums and had some ideas of what was wrong. First off I reset the Vizio to factory defaults and then selected the calibrated screen mode. I then went in to the Sony video sub menus and set the HDR to the Auto 2 mode and then went and turned off the HDR to SDR (standard definition range) upscaling. That fixed my picture. Although the Vizio is not a HDR set, the picture on a 4k, with these settings are very good. The Blu-Ray discs I have look great, better than the BDP-6500. I have seen the x800 demonstrated on a mid range price 4k TV with HDR and was very impressed with the picture quality. I am looking forward to up grading to a mid priced HDR 4k 55 inch TV and seeing the improvement. I hope to save my pennies and with a few gift cards and hopefully a sale or two I can get the set around Christmas So if you are on the fence on what to do about a 4k disc player I hope this post helps. I am glad that I took the plunge and am enjoying the improved video experience that the x800 gives me. Matt I have the Sony UHP-H1, which I think, is the model just before this one? This model upconverts to NEAR ultra HD, plays SACD discs, and has bluetooth audio out, which is VERY handy. Works great for everything, including my modest 3D collection which I enjoy. Bill |
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Post by vcautokid on Oct 13, 2017 2:03:24 GMT -5
I am on the fence since the Oppo and Panasonic and Sony are very competitive. I think ultimately the Sony will win out. I have a Sony 4K UHD HDR TV anyway, and if the player is the real deal it will integrate well with my Sony control system. We'll see. Thanks for your thoughts and review kuaui82.
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Post by AudioHTIT on Oct 13, 2017 12:48:59 GMT -5
I’ve had 2 or 3 Sonys BRPs, they always have a great feature set at a good price. However, I’ve had reliability problems or operational issues with all of them, most often the transport locking up which has required unplugging the power to get it back up again. One just became so unreliable we got rid of it. You get a lot for the money when they work, but I don’t think I’d buy another Sony.
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Post by gus4emo on Oct 13, 2017 13:06:31 GMT -5
I'm still under the impression that 4k would be most beneficial for something along the lines of my setup being a 100" screen from 10ft viewing distance but 4k projectors are still very expensive for most wanting to upgrade their projector. Chad Exactly. ... |
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Post by 405x5 on Oct 13, 2017 15:10:04 GMT -5
I’ve had 2 or 3 Sonys BRPs, they always have a great feature set at a good price. However, I’ve had reliability problems or operational issues with all of them, most often the transport locking up which has required unplugging the power to get it back up again. One just became so unreliable we got rid of it. You get a lot for the money when they work, but I don’t think I’d buy another Sony. You are right about the infamous SONY LOCKUP.... I nearly bailed myself on the UHP H1 for that very reason, however the newest firmware release from May, cleared the problem and it’s been awesome ever since. Bill |
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Post by kauai82 on Oct 13, 2017 19:02:33 GMT -5
kauai82 Thanks so much! This player looks appealing to me because of its price point. I have a Sony BDP 5300 regular blu ray player which I really like its use of smooth realistic playback. It does 24 hz playback rather than the 60 hz upscale that I'm sensitive to. So my question - do the 4k discs represent an improvement on your 4k tv even without the HDR over regular HD? My TV is HDMI 2 and has HDCP 2.2 but it is NOT HDR. It came out during those in between years when things were being figured out. So it's also not a full 4 k display. It has a fourth color that provides some form a higher resolution than 1080 p but not quite native 4k. So I'm not entirely sure if 4k will be worth it. It's really a fantastic looking tv with huge contrast ratio and stunning colors. It's a Sharp Aquous. I just don't know if not having HDR would sort of just make things only as good as regular HD. I believe that the Sony x800 would give you a slightly better picture in 4k than an ordinary Blu-Ray player, but would it be worth the cost of the upgrade? I am not sure that it would be worth the approximately $225 to do so. I do believe that if you bought the x800 you would be upgrading your set with in a year to a HDR model. Of course you could buy the x800 and try it and see and return it if your not satisfied with picture quality. Just my thoughts. Matt |
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stiehl11
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Posts: 7,269
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Post by stiehl11 on Oct 16, 2017 12:04:23 GMT -5
I just purchased this player for $125 at a local shop. It had a scuff on the front fascia that can't be seen at a distance. Other than that it works and plays just fine. I agree with other reviews that its picture quality is no different than the Oppo 203. I think the major price difference comes from the chassis not being as nice, no front display, minimum buttons (on/off, eject), no analog outputs (no DAC), and no pre-amp capability. On the upside, it does come with a reduced set of streaming options. Playing through those offers a good picture (similar to streaming through my Sony Bravia).
So, if you're looking for a "spinning disc" player/transport the Sony x800 is just as capable as the other, higher priced, options at half to a third of the price of the Oppo 203. If you're needing analog outputs (DAC), pre-amp capability, a front display, or a nicer looking chassis, I would go with the Oppo.
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Post by kauai82 on Nov 10, 2017 11:33:57 GMT -5
Just an update. Best Buy is selling the X800 for $149 new at the moment. I wish that I had of waited. They are also selling a Samsung model for $99. Good time to get into 4K discs for a very reasonable price.
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stiehl11
Emo VIPs
Give me available light!
Posts: 7,269
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Post by stiehl11 on Nov 10, 2017 12:32:30 GMT -5
Just an update. Best Buy is selling the X800 for $149 new at the moment. I wish that I had of waited. They are also selling a Samsung model for $99. Good time to get into 4K discs for a very reasonable price. At that price they're practically giving them away! I wonder if there's a new model coming down the pike soon? |
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Post by Perpendicular on Nov 10, 2017 21:30:04 GMT -5
Just an update. Best Buy is selling the X800 for $149 new at the moment. I wish that I had of waited. They are also selling a Samsung model for $99. Good time to get into 4K discs for a very reasonable price. At that price they're practically giving them away! I wonder if there's a new model coming down the pike soon? No matter, whatever the reason, I ran down the street to my local Best Buy and purchased one. A thank you to the person that Posted that low pricing.  |
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Post by garbulky on Nov 11, 2017 2:40:32 GMT -5
Just an update. Best Buy is selling the X800 for $149 new at the moment. I wish that I had of waited. They are also selling a Samsung model for $99. Good time to get into 4K discs for a very reasonable price. Thank you for this information! Do you know what apps it has? Does it have amazon video? Does the netflix hulu and youtube app do 4k? Now I'm stuck in a decision. On one hand the X800 has not only streaming capabilities but it also has very importantly a COAX digital output making it ideal to connect to my DC-1. This connector is quickly becoming phased out on a lot of 4k models. On the other hand, I own two 4k discs and I don't anticipate buying a bunch of 4k discs. The only time I will start watching 4k movies is when they become available at redbox or my local library. I'm loving my Amazon Firetv and oe of the huge draws of it is alexa voice control with my amazon echo dot. The ability to pause and play a show without searching for a remote control or search for the show I want just by speaking it hands free is just too convenient. With it, my blu ray player has got almost no use simply due to the extreme convenience of being able to very quickly play a show. I'm sure that eventually they will have 4k blu ray players with Alexa control. They'll likely cost quite a bit more than $150 - I'm anticipating $250-400. So....instant gratification for $150 albeit with only a handful of titles for me to be able to play. Or Wait a much longer time and save up for a blue ray player that will have all the integration I would want. |
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Post by kauai82 on Nov 11, 2017 12:24:19 GMT -5
Just an update. Best Buy is selling the X800 for $149 new at the moment. I wish that I had of waited. They are also selling a Samsung model for $99. Good time to get into 4K discs for a very reasonable price. Thank you for this information! Do you know what apps it has? Does it have amazon video? Does the netflix hulu and youtube app do 4k? Now I'm stuck in a decision. On one hand the X800 has not only streaming capabilities but it also has very importantly a COAX digital output making it ideal to connect to my DC-1. This connector is quickly becoming phased out on a lot of 4k models. On the other hand, I own two 4k discs and I don't anticipate buying a bunch of 4k discs. The only time I will start watching 4k movies is when they become available at redbox or my local library. I'm loving my Amazon Firetv and oe of the huge draws of it is alexa voice control with my amazon echo dot. The ability to pause and play a show without searching for a remote control or search for the show I want just by speaking it hands free is just too convenient. With it, my blu ray player has got almost no use simply due to the extreme convenience of being able to very quickly play a show. I'm sure that eventually they will have 4k blu ray players with Alexa control. They'll likely cost quite a bit more than $150 - I'm anticipating $250-400. So....instant gratification for $150 albeit with only a handful of titles for me to be able to play. Or Wait a much longer time and save up for a blue ray player that will have all the integration I would want. Yes it has Amazon Video. I have 4k Netflix subscription and it looks great. You Tube 4k no problem. I have a internet company that lets me rent two 4k discs a month for $9. Mailing is free. Just like Netflix started out those many years ago. You can keep them as long as you like. You can rent more discs for a higher price a month. I only own a couple of 4K discs, but the rental make the purchase of the Sony x800 well worth while in my opinion. Matt |
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Post by emotivate on Nov 14, 2017 10:37:17 GMT -5
I purchased the Sony X 800 a few months ago to replace an ailing OPPO BDP 95. After a few days of use I was amazed that the X 800 sounded better, better video performance than my Oppo 95 using the HDMI outputs on both units. Using the analog outs with the Oppo had a more open and airy sound, but with a little harsh edge I attribute to the Sabre DAC's in the Oppo. Better bass and a better surround sound field with the X 800. The video quality is superb and beats the Oppo 95, and even upconverts DVD's to 4K. An excellent choice for a disc spinner.
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