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Buying a 4K player for the first time - advice needed
Posted: 11 Mar 2021, 19:57
by grim_tales
Hey,
I'm wondering if I should upgrade to a 4K Blu Ray player (in preperation for when I'll go full 4K, not sure)
At the moment I'm happy with my current TV and it was the biggest I could get, so not sure I can go bigger now
What features are best to look out for (Dolby Vision, HDR?)
I heard plain DVDs/CDs will play fine, just like old BD players, so that's OK, but hoping to get a region free player
Re: Buying a 4K player for the first time - advice needed
Posted: 12 Mar 2021, 01:11
by HungFist
Nice timing. I just got mine earlier this week. Panasonic UB420 with region free mod.
A few things you'd want to consider:
- Region coding. There is no region coding for UHD, but do you want the machine to be modded region free for DVD and BD? If you already have a good region free player for DVD and BD, then maybe no need to pay extra to get the UHD machine modded? Just use them both.
- Reliability. I read a lot of comments about Sony's players struggling with some UHD discs, LG owners also reported some problems. I went for Panasonic since I got the impression Panasonic had less issues *.
- Dolby Vision. My player (UB420) does not support Dolby. The more expensive UB820 does, but I couldn't afford it since I needed the mod and I had to import my machine from overseas.
* The players I considered were Sony UBP-X700, LG UBK90, Sony UBP-X800M2 and Panasonic UB420. The 420 seemed best in my research (820 even better if you can afford it).
btw, what TV do you have?
I will try to post more on the topic when I have more time.
Re: Buying a 4K player for the first time - advice needed
Posted: 12 Mar 2021, 21:46
by saltysam8
I currently have two 4k players. My first one was a Sony x-800 which had some freezing issues on triple layered UHD's. I moved that on, currently have a Sony X-700 which has proved reliable but i don't use it that much, my main player is a modded Panasonic UB820 , which is pretty good. Dolby Vision, (my tv has the capability) and has an HDR optimiser. Ironically i've only had one disc on the panny freeze on me and it was a blu ray, tried it in my regular panny blu ray player and it was fine. Build quality is pretty good .Would recommend though the modded version was pricey.
Re: Buying a 4K player for the first time - advice needed
Posted: 01 Apr 2021, 23:19
by Ray_Rogers
I have SONY UBP-X1100ES which is modded to be multi-region for BD and DVD. The color buttons on the remote control denote which region it's gonna be regarding BD. Yellow for A, Blue for B, Red for C. Much nicer compared to AnyDVD HD on new computer I built last year.
Re: Buying a 4K player for the first time - advice needed
Posted: 30 Jan 2024, 23:26
by grim_tales
HungFist wrote: ↑12 Mar 2021, 01:11
Nice timing. I just got mine earlier this week.
Panasonic UB420 with region free mod.
A few things you'd want to consider:
- Region coding. There is no region coding for UHD, but do you want the machine to be modded region free for DVD and BD? If you already have a good region free player for DVD and BD, then maybe no need to pay extra to get the UHD machine modded? Just use them both.
- Reliability. I read a lot of comments about Sony's players struggling with some UHD discs, LG owners also reported some problems. I went for Panasonic since I got the impression Panasonic had less issues *.
- Dolby Vision. My player (UB420) does not support Dolby. The more expensive UB820 does, but I couldn't afford it since I needed the mod and I had to import my machine from overseas.
* The players I considered were Sony UBP-X700, LG UBK90, Sony UBP-X800M2 and Panasonic UB420. The 420 seemed best in my research (820 even better if you can afford it).
btw, what TV do you have?
I will try to post more on the topic when I have more time.
I have an LED TV (non 4K about 10 years old), it's a Panasonic set - ET61
I went with the Panasonic 820 4K player in the end, and it's good but would now like to upgrade my TV and surround sound set up as well
Re: Buying a 4K player for the first time - advice needed
Posted: 08 Feb 2024, 19:34
by Guro Taku
saltysam8 wrote: ↑12 Mar 2021, 21:46
My first one was a Sony x-800 which had some freezing issues on triple layered UHD's.
Freezing issues with triple layer UHDs is definitely something you should research before you buy any player. My first attempt at going 4K was a cheap LG UBK90, which did a decent enough job unless I fed it one of the 100GB discs, which caused it to freeze and sometimes just plain shut down at the layer breaks. I then got a Panasonic DP-UB824EGK and no such problems. Could have saved myself some money and a lot of seething had I done more and better research.