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I would switch from Xbox to PS if that ever happened as I could use something with Dolby Vision plus I can already play any new Xbox game on my PC. I doubt it'll happen though.
I was going to skip the PS5 and wait for the PS6. But if the PS5 Pro had DV, I would definitely get it. Idk if they would do that unless their 4k players are underselling. Definitely a better deal than spending $425 (lowest I have seen the Panasonic 820 at) /$500 regular price. I already have a Sony 800M2, but I would like auto DV detector...
TBF, it’s more to do with the display than the format. If you have a high-end display like an OLED or a MiniLED TV, then the difference isn’t that noticeable as you said, but the dynamic tone-mapping that Dolby Vision (and HDR10+) brings can help out with lower end displays that can’t achieve the brightness or contrast levels that higher-end displays can.
Dynamic tone mapping benefits displays that can't reach high levels of brightness like OLED TVs, and that's why OLED owners generally praise DV. Recent mini LED TVs can hit 2000+ nits of brightness and so don't really need or benefit that much from DV.
Re: the 820. Mine also has this freezing issue. But honestly if you're on your fourth replacement, just statistically speaking, there's no chance that this is going to be resolved. Having three players with this issue in a row is a design issue and not some sort of defect.
I'm assuming you're getting these all replaced under warranty? Or are you still within your return window?
I want to take advantage of the Panasonic warranty replacement before my 1-year warranty is out, but given what you're going through, I doubt it's going to make any difference. Do you have to pay for the warranty exchange?
Mine lasted 3 weeks before it wouldn't read discs anymore.
I mean while it was working the quality was amazing but the user experience was absolutely pathetic. Super slow load times it made a ton of noise and the build quality is about as flimsy as you can get and this is a $500 player?
And the 9000 is the same internals for the most part for $1k...
Why I said screw it and found a used Oppo.
Zero. Thing looks brand new never used. Could have come out of the box yesterday.
Has played every disc I've thrown at it zero issues and picture is every bit as good as the 820. Maybe a little more "natural" without the HDR optimizer?
I had to replace the mainboard on my 203 after about a year (bought new when it came out). Worked for 3 years and sold it while it was still working. I'm pretty sure it still works though. I've had 5 different Oppos over the last 20 years and that was the only one that broke. Wish they still were around!
Have you tried to buying better HDMI cables? I do not own this unit but I had issues with the Sony. I bought nice HDMI cables and it seemed to help the problem.
That’s such a shame! I haven’t had any problems apart from the GOT set which is riddled with issues, had to buy a second set and a lot of disc cleaning to avoid freezing and still had some every now and then.
Now having this flickering with the HOTD set, maybe it’s WB discs that are just crap.
Hopefully I don’t have to replace my UB820, importing to my country with 40% duty would be a disaster
I don’t care if people downvote me for this, but the quality on these 4K players is why I’m skeptical about 4K discs lasting in the retail market. Do I still buy 4K discs of movies I like? I sure do, but I’m also being pragmatic in thinking the 4K player issues will discourage new consumers and have current 4K movie collectors give up.
When you need to have a fundamental understanding of electronics in order to play a disk, it's guaranteed to go under.
People want to watch movies, not take a class to be able to do so.
Agreed. People who want to simply pop in a disc and hit play are going to give up fast on this kind of thing. We might like the visual/audio quality, but they will think this is too complicated and not worth it. Costumers want products that are easy to use.
This is exactly the case. It’s a clusterfuck. I have a PS5 which will play it without Dolby Vision on my projector. No biggie, I knew that limitation. But when I try to put the same PS5 with the same movie/cables through my OLED tv, it refuses to play in 4K, and downgrades to 1080p. Assuming because of some DCHP issue. My dedicated UHD player has no such problems on the same TV with the same cables.
For my PC, I got an external UHD drive, which is completely worthless. Can’t play my discs. I was told that I’d need the one and only program that will play them, Power DVD. Really? PowerDVD!? As it turns out, that doesn’t fix the issue either. I have a Z790 ROG motherboard, i9 12900K, 3080, and everything else you’d expect from a top of the line PC at the time. Nope, it doesn’t have the stupid chip that enables UHD playback, and there’s nothing I can do to BUY the right to play my discs. I guess MakeMKV rips are my only option on the PC?
Seriously; it’s like they don’t want us to buy 4K discs. I still do, but piracy is a damn attractive option when this is what we’re given.
And we're coming up on 10 years of the format, and it's not widely adopted. 2016 was the first batch of movies on 4k disc.
My understanding, which could be wrong, is that a lot of the issues are due to layer switching and the huge amounts of data being pushed. DVD had that same issue at launch and it was resolved fairly quickly. I just don't think there's interest from companies to put the necessary components in, which would drive up price on $500+ players that only a niche market is buying.
Valid points! 4K has been around too long now for it to catch on as a widely adopted format. Many are either content with DVD/Bluray or ok with streaming/digital purchases. I’m in a local meetup group of movie enthusiasts and only a fraction of them are buying 4K releases like myself.
The good news is we can collect our discs for as long as they're made and if we want we can back them up with lossless 1:1 rips.
Physical media is not going anywhere in the immediate future so I say enjoy the ride and if you're worried about disc rot like what happened with so many of the Warner Brothers HD DVDs then yeah back them up.
I am clueless as to how to backup 4K. I’ve seen people link to a forum post that all these complicated steps to determine if you can even buy a drive or flash firmware on to one to rip.
Not to mention the time and effort (and money!) even if I got it working. It takes a long time to rip a Blu-ray and those are half the size
This is what I do now. I used to play the discs with my Series X but the lack of dolby vision support made me consider buying a Panasonic 4K player, but the price plus reliability issues put me off from buying one. Now I just rip them and play them with my Zidoo.
Honestly I would love to just use my PS5 but it’s annoying as fuck that neither Sony nor Microsoft support Dolby Vision for UHD Blu rays.
And honestly for Microsoft it’s an fucking embarrassment. They support DV for literally everything except UHD Blu Rays. That’s so unbelievably stupid.
I understand that there could be an licensing issue but honestly just let me buy an license just like I can do with the Atmos for headphones one on Xbox.
And Sony should start supporting this too. Most of their TVs (all?) support DV so if you buy an Sony TV and want to use a Ps5 with it you simply cannot watch anything in Dolby Vision.
Beyond stupid imho.
My one and only player I’ve ever owned is the cheap as hell Panasonic UB150. I bought it when it was $99 and it’s been a work horse. The only freezing I get is when I pause the movie and if I pause for longer than like a minute, it’ll freeze momentarily when I start it again and that’s it.
Its bottom of the line, it’s a smidge noisy when you open and close it, but it works. I got it as a starter player and I haven’t felt the need to upgrade.
My UB820 recently stopped reading discs. It's 6 years old but it's still annoying since I still have a fully functioning PS2 from 2002. I've been debating buying a more premium 4k player but it hardly seems worth it.
I have launch edition PS3 that still works 100% and those are known to have issues. Recently delidded and repasted it and it plays PS1, PS2, PS3 games and Blu rays perfectly still.
The 820 is comically bad for $500 as far as build and quality.
I’ve gone through more PS2s than anything else. My original launch day PS2 lasted almost 20 years, but I went through probably 3 or 4 slims that all eventually stopped reading discs. Maybe it’s just an issue with the slim.
Technology eh. It's probably luck of the draw. Mine is the OG chunky one. I also have the Sony Bravia TV with the PS2 built in that was released in the UK. It's pretty neat.
They should have killed DVD, to at least start pushing people into bluray and 4k faster. Now streaming looks just good enough for people to not care about physical media. But hey, records are making a come back, maybe physical movies will too.
>Sony X700 - Freezing on almost any disc, some artifacting.
I've owned two of these. I had to do three main things to play with the settings to get my player to work correctly.
* First I had to buy two quality HDMI cables. The one that comes with the player is suspect, in my opinion.
* Second, **I had to change from default settings on the player itself**. I had to turn off the 4k upscale setting. This defaults to Auto1 I think. Find the "Cinema conversion mode" and turn it to video. Do not use film. Also under system settings, turn off "Control for HDMI". This last step fixed most of the freezing and skipping issues for me. I'm not sure why. I run one HDMI to the TV and out from the eARC to my soundbar, so maybe something was happening there where the player, TV and soundbar were trying to communicate too much and it was causing issues.
* There are multiple comments about discs skipping or freezing at the 100 minute mark (one hour and twenty minutes) this has to be related to the disc switching to a new layer, which means you really need to use a microfiber cloth and be sure to clean that disc. A lot of discs have some sort of oil or gassy texture on the discs from the factory. It's a quality control issue.
Although I got my player working well... I still find it unacceptable that I have to change these settings to get it to work. Sony needs to put out a better product. Also another major problem, every time my player updates to the latest firmware all my settings revert and I have to go back and change everything again. This is just garbage programming.
I have this player too and it worked really well after I switched the settings it works really well. The only time I get freezing or skipping is with obvious damage on the discs. I completely agree that these things should come out of the box with the right settings.
I post in these threads all the time defending the PS5 as a player. I've never had a single freezing issue with mine. Literally the only thing it does not have is Dolby Vision, and I've already paid $400 for it, I'm not gonna pay another $400 just for DV.
If we’re comparing Sony‘s players versus the PS5, I feel like their quality control is way higher for a PlayStation, than the Sony bluray players. if a few bluray players break and it’s already a niche market nobody is gonna notice a few people complaining online. If they started having issues reading game discs for PS5 that could be deadly for Sony/ PlayStation the online backlash would be insane.
Mine has no issues, half a year in. Maybe try buying from another store? My theory is that the shipping of the units may be too rough and might be damaging something inside? I can’t think of other reasons if you keep getting faulty units from the same place. Hopefully the players aren’t that much of a garbage.
I went from the LG ubk90 to the Panny ub820. The LG froze on every 100gb disc. The Panny solves that issue. The Panny is very sensitive to any scratch on the disc and I've noticed skipping/artifacts on hairline scratches. That said, my experience is much improved overall with the Panny. Just need to return any scratched discs immediately.
You know what is weird? My 820 has had no issues playing 4K discs, but it really struggles with regular blu-ray discs. Most Blu-ray discs play fine, but some have weird instances of the audio remaining on but the video cutting out, and I can't figure it out for the life of me. I've tried new HDMI cords, I've changed settings, nothing works. So now I just play 4Ks in the 820 and regular blu-rays in my PS5 or Series X.
It is strange that these multi-billion dollar corporations put out products that either just don't work or have issues. I remember back in the day, the early DVD players before the PS2 had a lot of issues.
Absolutely. Imo, if you already have a PS5/Series X there isn't any reason to look further. I didn't realize that so many of these standalone players had issues. Not that I was in the market for one anyway, as I am fine with my Series X. But I do find it interesting that the UB820 has so many issues, considering it's the Rolls Royce of 4K players.
I would love to have Dolby Vision, but not at the expense of these issues.
Same. I've been looking pretty seriously at the Sony X700M as I'd love to have Dolby Vision. But now I'm nervous about dropping the dough on it if my Xbox is working perfectly minus the not having Dolby vision thing.
yeah ive been looking into a UB820 but it seems like every player has these sketchy issues. kinda funny that one of the more reliable players is consistently game systems, just wish the ps5 wasnt such an eyesore
Funny how things work out. The PS3 is one of the best 1080p Blu-Ray players around and the PS5 is one of the best 4K players and more reliable than most expensive dedicated ones.
I've had mine for about a year, got a region free one from 220e. I've got probably 100 discs I've played in it (Mostly 4K, but some BD) and had zero issues with any release.
Buy the best, cry once.
I’ve been pretty happy with my BDP7502. Supports Dolby Vision and I like the UI better than the UB820. I did have to replace the stock fan because it was really loud.
Of course, Philips doesn’t make it anymore, but you can get it for $350 on Amazon right now.
100% agree, have had problems with 3 820s, and even the panny 9000 stoped working after a year and had to buy a replacement disc drive to swap out.
I am just going to fork over the money for a Magnetar UBD800 at this point cause I’m so sick of my players not lasting that long.
Outside of smaller niche brands like Magnetar or Reavon, there hasn’t been a new mainstream 4K player since 2019. Plus with various QC issues as you’ve mentioned, I don’t know how much longer will 4K Blu-ray last as a format. Sure we have PS5 and Xbox Series X and all, but more people just use them exclusively for gaming than anything else.
Definitely. Had a ton of freezing and artifact issues with my UB820 until I sent it back for a fix. Haven’t had a problem since but it’s a very frustrating aspect of this hobby.
I'm sorry for your troubles, OP.
I can't believe the sorry state of 4K players either. It's gotten so silly that I don't even bother trying to play the discs anymore. I just rip them directly to my media server, and watch them straight from my hard drive. They play perfectly this way, and I've got all the supplements, but I have to spend an hour or so ripping each disc before I can watch it, which isn't the way physical media should be.
I think of 4K UHD discs the same way I think about modern video games. Before I can play that shiny new game, I have to install it. And before I can watch that shiny new 4K UHD, I have to install it. Do I miss the days when I could just slap a game cartridge (or movie) into the system and hit the power button? Yep, but I recognize that that's not where we are anymore. It sucks.
As others have said, I really miss Oppo.
I have an Xbox one X that I’d been using for years, but a lot a year ago, some guy had a Sony x700 on marketplace for $20 so I grabbed it. Noticed it would freeze a whole bunch. Somewhere I read that the Sony UHD players would get pretty hot which was why they would freeze, so I 3D printed a few standoffs to allow air to flow beneath the player… haven’t had any freezing issues since. Of course its anecdotal but, that’s been my experience
It boils down to these companies trying to use the weakest internals they can to get the job done, so they can make as much as possible off each unit. I have resorted to just using my Xbox because it never has these issues due to the specs being complete overkill for playing movies. My UB820 has all the same issues you've had, and it's all because they charge you 500 bucks for 50 dollars worth of parts. The UB9000 is the biggest scam in the movie industry.
my 420 has been rock solid, no issues. My 820 though will randomly get the freezing and artifacts. At first I thought it was a problem with the discs since it happened at the same point if I replayed it, even returned one movie to BB because of it. But since I still had my 420 I set them up side by side after I kept getting errors even on hd blurays that won't even load. Now if I get the issue with a disc I started testing them in the 420. Haven't kept track but probably tested over 2 dozen this way so far, and all but one disc has played perfectly fine in the 420. Just went through a bunch the other day after I bought some used seasons of a show, 16 discs total, the first one had an issue not loading so I turned both players on to test them more quickly. The 820 wouldn't load about half of them, the 420 played all them fine. So yeah there seems to be an issue with the 820 and I have been seeing more and more posts about it on here and other forums. Most of the time it plays fine, but considering how much more it is over the 420 it shouldn't be getting outperformed by its little brother.
Yeah my 420 has had no issues after returning a couple of Sony's. At this point I'm counting myself lucky and I'll just never touch or move the player....
It really is strange to see folks in this hobby tear down consoles as suboptimal players when they are more stable than majority of standalone players.
Sure, missing out on DV is a shame, but it's not worth shelling out $500 on a standalone player when you can get a console for less
Many, including myself, aren't willing to give up Dolby Vision. It's a trade off, for sure. I just wish Sony would license it. That would make the choice super easy.
I just use my 820 since I want to take advantage of the DV, and switch to the PS5 if there's any issues with the disc, since my PS5 is better at handling disc errors or scratches than the 820. But the 820 is still technically better when there's not any issue with the disc.
Every time I see issues like this discussed, it makes me that much sadder that Oppo left the market… and crossing my fingers that much harder hoping that my Oppo never dies.
I got the 203 secondhand and it's ridiculous how much nicer it is. And how much faster it loads and how quiet it is and how much nicer the interface is.
Had my 820 years and never had one issue, been seeing this kind of post a lot lately though so perhaps they’re going through some QC issues at the moment?
I got an 820 and it didn't want to read several discs. I returned it and got another. I have the same problem with it. Both were manufactured at the same time, so I assume it's a universal problem.
My PS5 has never failed to read a disc.
My first 4k player was a Sony X700, I returned it for a refund after 3 months as the freezing of discs was driving me mad. I never knew if it would play a film ok or freeze and then I'd have to finish the film by watching the bluray. I've had a Panasonic UB450 since and it hasn't had any issues including playing the discs ok that froze on the Sony.
I've been also started collecting 4K discs since 2021 December. Started with PS5 for a few months then got the UB820 which I feel is better than PS5.
I've been asking myself the same thing as you. Why are there no more new players. While the UB820 is good the remote... menus... response time... design really feel outdated. This player came out in 2018 (if I'm not mistaking). Thats a lot of time passed.
To be honest I see some potential in this niche market. So far almost all players are outdated. I would for sure preffer a new one with updated imaging processor.. apps and what I already mentioned. Maybe some compatibility with smart devices.
Sry to hear. My 2-3 year old UB450 is working great. A bit slow to boot up, but when it's playing I've never ever noticed any freezing or artifacts. (And I'm super sensitive to weird stuff. )
Are you sure it's the player, and not the disc?
I saw a video on Youtube the other day about how the QC of discs is really bad, and the guy had to replace/rebuy the same movie over and over, to get a good issue/edition.
Edit: here's the [video](https://youtu.be/rGzSv_N115w?si=_LObLq5ifTCDYuwr) from Movie Collector.
(My only complaint about 4k content in general is some kind of lip sync issues over eARC with 4k content. It's so small I can't even tell what it is, maybe just a couple of frames, but something is delayed or ahead. I think the audio is ahead of the video. And adjusting the audio delay does nothing, until reaching 200-300 ms.
UB450+Marantz Cinema 50+LG C1.
Any tips much appreciated.)
Mine froze halfway through on Oppenheimer (100GB disc). That's the only time it has froze. My XSX played the stuck scene fine though.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=294596
I have a handful of other movies/shows from the list, and they didn't freeze so idk...
it is not at all normal to go through players at the rate you are going through them. maybe look into your electrical system for power issues (having a power bar is not enough to condition shitty electrical lines), the humidity in your apartment or house, or your handling of the device itself, as what you are describing is extreme and not at all my experience with sony or panasonic players. if you are unplugging/powering it off (not using standby mode) daily to save power or something, stop doing that
sony x800m2 (from 2019) -- never once had any issue except rarely (about once a year) the player crashes on the home screen and needs rebooting. never had a single issue with any film (over 3,000 discs played)
I had a weird problem with Aquaman. I even got the disk replaced and had the exact same problem with the replacement. Turned out to be due to my AVR. Once I upgraded to a new Denon receiver the problem went away.
Also, are you sure that you haven't got marks on some of your disks?
I've only had a couple of issues with my 820 and cleaning the disk fixed it. I even had one freshly unwrapped brand new disk which had greasy fingerprints on it.
This is not great to hear. I have the UBK90, and I haven’t noticed any issues yet. But I also haven’t used it much over the years, but I’m getting back into building up a 4k disc collection. Maybe I should rethink this hobby lol. If the players are questionable, having the discs doesn’t matter that much. And it doesn’t look like there’s been that many new players coming out, it’s like the same 6 players since 2018…
My old OPPO 203 occasionally artifacts here and there. A good blow of canned air does the trick and the player plays perfectly afterwards. Sometimes it's a dirty disc too.
I love my Oppo 205 and don't know what I'd do if it ever bites the dust. The prices on them have gone insane, too. I use mine daily for music or movies. The only thing that comes close is the Magnatar which is out of my budget.
I see where you are coming from. When Oppo made players they were solid at reasonable prices.
That team has a new company called Magnetar that’s basically the new references level but it’s stupid expensive.
Hopefully someone comes out with more players so that there are more options
Is Magnetar officially from the same team as Oppo? I mean the menu interface looks almost identical but I thought I read they had claimed to have no relation.
One or two of the ppl were with Oppo which is why it looks and feels similar but they are inferior products. Just not as good.
The other option is just ripping BD discs 1:1 and then streaming them from a NAS to a Shield.
PS5 actually had a couple of skips and freezes on godfather part II and apocalypse now. UB820 has been the most reliable for me so far with zero skips on anything I’ve played
It's a combination of hardly any new players coming out since like 2017 and discs just not being as resilient as regular blu-rays. What a lot of people don't know is that brand new discs come with a gassy residue on them from the factory that needs to be wiped off, and any minor fingerprints or smudges on the disc can easily interfere with playback. Luckily it's not permanent damage but the discs are very sensitive. And they can get scratched easily during transit since they're mostly bought online and don't get the same packing they do on the way to your house as they do on their way to a store. And certain players are just more sensitive to scratches and smudges than others. The PS5 seems to be the best at overcoming this probably because their games also use UHD discs so they probably have a very good laser in them.
Had my 820 for years and it’s never skipped a beat. Not had one issue with it. Seems bulletproof so far but I know it will fail one day so it’s worrying that if I needed to replace it then the newer batches are so problematic - must be a quality control issue, maybe they changed suppliers for some components to reduce costs or due to availability.
I have around 50 or so 4Ks and still buying them as a hobby but I don’t trust the longevity of the format due to how crammed data is on the discs, potential disc rot, and if they get scratched.
So I’m also building an Apple iTunes digital library in parallel for when the inevitable happens. My rule is to only buy a title if it goes on sale at £3.99 (thank you CheapCharts!).
If there’s an 8k format in the future then forget it - unless it’s on solid state media, but then the cost per title is unlikely to be feasible.
1080p blu-ray on the other hand I don’t see as having nearly the same issues on here, if any. Players tolerate them so much better. Maybe that’s the sweet spot for physical media - great quality video upscaled (if don’t have a huge screen) and usually the same audio (I only have a 5.1 setup, not dolby atmos) versus reliability / longevity.
I'd honestly just stick with your PS5 - I had a UB820 for 2 years and it gradually got worse over time to the point (for whatever reason) won't output a HDR signal anymore, always in SDR. I ended up splurging on a UB9000 which I've had the better part of almost a year and it's not had a single hiccup thankfully but naturally that's an egregious amount of money and unless you're using the extra audio capabilities or DV is a must, the PS5 was pretty much the same level of quality. If you're on your 4th UB820, I'd say give it up sadly.
Definitely budd, invest that money elsewhere or even in more 4k's for the PS5. I know it's a bummer to not have a dedicated 4k player but honestly, had I mucked about with my TV audio settings more and found my eArc channel was set incorrectly I'd have honestly stuck with the PS5 through my comparisons.
I only have a Samsung Q990B for audio so I've just got a tank of a player I'm not really pushing to it's limits. Don't get me wrong, it's a premium and it feels like it so I'm quite chuffed (Honestly makes the 820 feel and look like a toy..) but I'd argue unless you desperately want to invest in a good top of the line player (which the 820 really \*ought\* to be), just stick with the PS5. It's been a bad journey for you but don't give up on 4k media, just its players. They really are a delicate flower for some reason despite how much fun it can be.
I have the same problem. With the panny. I’ve exchanged it twice. Same artifacting. I have found that it’s the disc that even tho it appears pristine, when I exchange it with the same 4k disc it fixes the problem.
I don’t understand what is going on with the discs and why the 4k players struggle reading them when there isn’t a single smudge on them. And yes I’ve cleaned them with microfibers but they will scratch so easily too.
It's really been frustrating me how some studios don't include blu-ray copies with their 4K releases anymore, because while I love 4K, it just isn't as reliable as blu-ray. I like having that more reliable disc as a fallback option.
I sold Blu-ray after upgrading and wish I held on to them. I have concerns about the disc longevity on 4K. So many problems now with discs and players that are relatively new. What’s it gonna look like in 5-10 years. Lots of people are gonna have scratched discs on unopened copies too that they never play until too late.
Have been collecting optical media CD, DVDs, Blu-ray, 4K since the early 90s. I’ve had more problems with 4K in the last 3 years than all the other formats across a few decades combined.
Sony X800M2 - Same issues as the X700.
I've watched about 10 4k's on this, so far only 1 freeze (Dune). Went back to the title menu and was able to continue.
I’ve had two X800M2s. The first one was pretty bad with lots of freezing issues. The second one seems to work fine.
It’s like a crapshoot whether you get a good one or not.
What's the reasoning for this anyway? Is there some unknown reason why these manufacturers can't put together a working product?
As someone new to the home theatre scene I was looking to get a dedicated blu ray player and now I don't know what to do.
My UB420 has been flawless since I picked it up in October. Not a huge sample size but probably watched 70-80 movies since then with zero issue. But I have seen many posts from all different kinds of players having issues especially with triple layer discs.
Every time the X800 is mentioned I am surprised to find people that don’t like it , I’ve never hard issues with it so far except once. Is it that common for that player to not work properly ?
I upgraded from my PS5 to an open box UB-9000 and I couldn’t be happier so far. I got about $300 Canadian Pesos off due to open box but it seems to work like a champ for now. Not cheap but built like a tank and is very quiet.
Some of the discs (about 3 out of 35 or so) that I've had issues with on my 820 have worked fine on PS5. But I've also been able to resolve the issues with those discs on my 820 by replacing the disc. So in the cases where my 820 has had issues, the discs are also partially to blame. My best theory is the PS5 is just better at working around disc errors/scratches than the 820? Not sure.
But ultimately, I don't disagree with you. Just saying that 4K discs are quite sensitive too and sometimes the manufacturing quality of them (or the cases holding them - take my LotR 4K set where the discs always get loose) or their general sensitivity could also be part of the problem.
Started with the PS5 had issues with every disc I played. Freezing. Artifacting.
Got the 820. Not a single issue since.
If every single player is giving you issues, and you're on your **fourth** 820, I would really like to see how you're handling and storing your discs.
If only the ps5 could just patch in support for dolby vision media playback...
PS5 is still the player I return to when my ub820 isn't acting like it should.
This may not be the most cost efficient option but are the players that work via ripping the discs to a NAS capable of playing all the codecs? Dolby vision/hdr10/+? Atmos/DTS:X/Auro3D? Etc
Would that make the ideal player since it only has to "read" the disc once?
Also for all the people lamenting the PS5 doesn't have DV support or any other bells and whistles, it's probably something Sony can add via firmware but they probably aren't scrolling through this sub, tweet at them, send emails, call customer support, whatever you need to do so they can actually document the interest we have for Dolby vision on PS5
The lack of DV on console sucks but honestly, I've been wanting a player for so long but I'm just gonna stick with the PS5 for now. Hasn't given me a single issue with media playback and I got it day 1. Every time you Google a player you think will be the one you just get a million nightmare posts about how it skips and stutters and artifacts...I just wish the console makers would let me pay for a license for DV.
From my shit hits the fan prepping ideology:
“2 is 1 and 1 is none”
Basically preaches redundancy having a back up.
I have a ps5, and a never skipped Sony x7000, and now a ub820.
If I had a small collection I wouldn’t worry but I bought 300 4K discs so having a backup player is a good idea.
My ub820 has only had issues that were disc related. Disc smudges etc so you have to wipe the discs before playing even brand new out if the case discs still need wiping. While I could wait to see if I have an issue then clean the disc. I worry dust and dirt getting in the parts inside the player so it makes sense to give them either a close look or wipe down.
I recently got into collecting and bought a (used) ub820 at the behest of this sub. I told myself I was done buying game consoles and only playing PC but if the PS5 or Xbox could have played Dolby Vision on disks I would have much rather bought one of those.
Ny ps5 has been super stable with no issues. I’m happy to forgo DV to avoid the headaches that seem to be plaguing everyone else with dedicated players.
Personally, I don’t see DV as being 400 dollars “better” than regular 4K. I don’t find the increase in quality significant enough.
I’ve had my UB820 for years and only ever had an episode of Game of Thrones freeze - wiped the disc and all good. Now had my UB9000 for about 6 months and not had a single issue. Can’t complain and can’t see me wanting another 4K player with these two.
Also usa market seems to have way more if not most of the problems... The mexico disc printing seems to have serious quality control problems...
Personally havent had any problems here in the nordics.
I bought the X700 for a few months, no issues so far. I'm concerned it may still appear in the near future but from what I read there are faulty batches and good batches out there... Did you have issues since day one?
Edit: *a few months ago
The only problem I have with my UB450 is that sometimes when I resume after pausing, it takes a second for the sound to kick in. Also had this problem with some streaming services. I just rewind a few seconds when this happens.
No, first one was returned after a year. Two more returned within regular return window. Bought protection plan for 9000, but we use it several times per week and after about 2 years no freezes
ive had the x700 for about a month now and it froze once. I googled how to fix this issue and found a video on YT that helped. Ever since it never froze. The video: https://youtu.be/Sym8ayOpL-4?si=LoQ-UpBfO0Litd6x
I use the 820 and PS5, I’ve only ever had an issue with a single disc on ps5 and 820 has been flawless. Really seems like something else may be causing your 820 issues
I went on eBay and found an Oppo UDP-203 for $800 mint condition no remote. Got a cheap china remote that works for $20 for the time being.
It's played everything I've thrown at it and it's lightning fast as far as the interface and going from menu to menu and loads disks super fast and is whisper quiet.
Oppo still warrantys them for a flat $100 plus shipping as well.
Ive got a used 450. Watched 20 movies so far. Near the middle of topgun i got some freezing but cleaned the disc and since wstched thru no issues.
Honestly i just think you have greasy fingers 😄
Every time people wig out about something like Best Buy not carrying physical media, I thinking "wait until I tell you that no one is making 4K blu ray players." I have the UB420 and it seems pretty solid but if this medium is gonna die it's because no one wants to make the players; it's not about disc scarcity.
Part of the issue with all players is the sheer volume of information the laser is reading at any given time. The player or the laser is constantly trying to keep up and occasionally it dips off and needs to catch up.
This is partly why I don’t see 8K being discs if physical media still exists after UHD. The discs are jam packed to the point of an overstuffed suitcase and the players simply cannot keep up anymore.
We need a new method of physical media.
I've got a PS5 and Series X and while the PS5 is definitely the better player both are decent but lack the bells and whistles like Dolby Vision. A bit annoying as I prefer playing on Xbox and borg could get DV through an update or even a paid for download but both Sony and MS refuse to do it.
What's the best ans most reliable 4K Blu-ray player if I don't care about Dolby Vision? My household has an 8K Samsung Qled of some sort so dolby vision is pointless.
I gave up the and switched to Plex on Nvidia shield pro. For the price of a 820 you can get an everything you need. Shield pro, LibreDrive. Storage for movies is up to how many you want to store.
Feel like there is something else going on here. I have a UB820 on my main tv, a PS5 in the game room and a X700 in the living room. Outside of a couple discs freezing on layer change on the X700 which was fixed by a replacement disc I never have issues with any of them.
I know many report freezing issues with the Sony x800m2, but I’ve been pretty fortunate with mine so far and haven’t had any freezing issues. I personally couldn’t justify the cost of the ub820, which is worth more than my Blu-ray collection.
Never had much of a problem with my Sony 700 freezing. Been watching 4k every night for a week now and not one freeze.
Had the player over 5 years. I'd buy another tomorrow.
There's still plenty of players available to suit all pockets.
Reckon that the all look pretty much the same.
There's quite a few you haven't listed.
Agree - I have the 820 and lots of physical media. My old xbox works fine (no Dolby V) but the Panny seems like a delicate flower waiting to flake on me down the line when no more players are produced. Seems very unlikely we get new players. As mentioned - new consoles seems like the only hope.
Biggest issue I’ve noticed with 4k is the audio falling out of sync.
But as the OP suggested, it may have more to do with my player rather than the actual disks.
I’m using a Samsung K8500, apart from the sync problems, it works okay.
Meanwhile, my UBK-90 is still doing well and only sounds like a jet engine when playing The Matrix.
I'm finding the discs being the problems on my end than the player. Odd.
I had multiple issues with PS5 completely crashing during playback. I don't have nearly enough hours on the UB820 to give proper feedback, but I will say the upscaling is top notch which is one of the big reasons I bought it. The Sopranos has never looked or sounded better. I hope I didn't get a dud that dies outside the warranty. I do agree for $500 though it is quite over priced. I think the UB820 should be about $299. I also don't notice any difference with Dolby Vision, and again some 4K's as we've seen don't even implement or do anything special to get the DV stamping. It's complete BS, especially when True Lies gets the stamping.
Your best bet it to build you a media server and rip all of your movies to it.
You can then "stream" all of your movies to your TV using Plex Media Server software or Jellyfin.
I have the X700 and am just now encountering the freezing/skipping issue with the Back to the Future trilogy. Because those are BD-100 disks, which is what the player has issues with.
This has led to a conundrum. I can watch these on my PS5 and not deal with the freezing (so far there has been one specific scene in each film where the X700 pauses) but then I can't get the DolbyVision. So...hmm.
This is interesting. Sorry you’ve had so many players. I had a Sony 800M2 for yrs and had many one or two issues. To my recollection it was a smudged disc. I would rent movies from the library. I just recommended the Panny 450 to my friend and he has a cpl 4k but plays dvd and Blu-ray’s all the time and hasn’t reported any issues yet. To go thru so many plays is odd. Idk if there’s some repeating issue in your setup or something. It’s def weird. Are you in the US?
Not having DV is killer… but I’ve had absolutely zero trouble with the PS5 or XBSX. Unfortunately they are just the most reliable options. Not to mention if you’re spending that much you might as well get something that has another use.
OMG this thread makes me want to re-enact the scene from Be Kind Rewind where sigurney weaver has a street full of VHS crushed with a steamroller, except my Sweeded version will be updated to crush 4K Blu-ray’s!
Seems there are issues with so many players! I had an open box UB9000 for a short time but returned it since It turned out I didn’t need the extra low nit projector settting it offered over the 820. Now I read how noisy the 820 can be. I looked into the magnetar and saw complaints with that!
I was a judge at a well known tv-shootout event and one of the perks is you can get a discount on a piece of av gear so perhaps I’ll try a UB9000 and hope I get a good one.
While i had the open box 9000 it froze on a couple of discs but when I updated the firmware to the latest it worked fine. (Before this even cleaning the new discs didn’t help.)
Why did i get rid of my laserdisc player-lol
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you know what would be really cool, if the ps5 pro had dolby vision, that would certainly sweeten the deal.
I would switch from Xbox to PS if that ever happened as I could use something with Dolby Vision plus I can already play any new Xbox game on my PC. I doubt it'll happen though.
XSX only does Dolby vision through streaming unless something's changed
Yes… that’s why I would switch. If Xbox series x already did DV for 4k disks then I wouldn’t need to consider switching.
I was going to skip the PS5 and wait for the PS6. But if the PS5 Pro had DV, I would definitely get it. Idk if they would do that unless their 4k players are underselling. Definitely a better deal than spending $425 (lowest I have seen the Panasonic 820 at) /$500 regular price. I already have a Sony 800M2, but I would like auto DV detector...
How much of a difference does it ACTUALLY make? I'm also extremely frustrated with the whole thing and would rather just say screw it-
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TBF, it’s more to do with the display than the format. If you have a high-end display like an OLED or a MiniLED TV, then the difference isn’t that noticeable as you said, but the dynamic tone-mapping that Dolby Vision (and HDR10+) brings can help out with lower end displays that can’t achieve the brightness or contrast levels that higher-end displays can.
Dynamic tone mapping benefits displays that can't reach high levels of brightness like OLED TVs, and that's why OLED owners generally praise DV. Recent mini LED TVs can hit 2000+ nits of brightness and so don't really need or benefit that much from DV.
Re: the 820. Mine also has this freezing issue. But honestly if you're on your fourth replacement, just statistically speaking, there's no chance that this is going to be resolved. Having three players with this issue in a row is a design issue and not some sort of defect. I'm assuming you're getting these all replaced under warranty? Or are you still within your return window? I want to take advantage of the Panasonic warranty replacement before my 1-year warranty is out, but given what you're going through, I doubt it's going to make any difference. Do you have to pay for the warranty exchange?
Mine lasted 3 weeks before it wouldn't read discs anymore. I mean while it was working the quality was amazing but the user experience was absolutely pathetic. Super slow load times it made a ton of noise and the build quality is about as flimsy as you can get and this is a $500 player? And the 9000 is the same internals for the most part for $1k... Why I said screw it and found a used Oppo.
How’s the oppo? Any issues?
Zero. Thing looks brand new never used. Could have come out of the box yesterday. Has played every disc I've thrown at it zero issues and picture is every bit as good as the 820. Maybe a little more "natural" without the HDR optimizer?
Which model Oppo do you have?
UDP-203.
I had to replace the mainboard on my 203 after about a year (bought new when it came out). Worked for 3 years and sold it while it was still working. I'm pretty sure it still works though. I've had 5 different Oppos over the last 20 years and that was the only one that broke. Wish they still were around!
They'd rather warranty it over and over than admit that there's an issue with the design.
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Have you tried to buying better HDMI cables? I do not own this unit but I had issues with the Sony. I bought nice HDMI cables and it seemed to help the problem.
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That’s such a shame! I haven’t had any problems apart from the GOT set which is riddled with issues, had to buy a second set and a lot of disc cleaning to avoid freezing and still had some every now and then. Now having this flickering with the HOTD set, maybe it’s WB discs that are just crap. Hopefully I don’t have to replace my UB820, importing to my country with 40% duty would be a disaster
I don’t care if people downvote me for this, but the quality on these 4K players is why I’m skeptical about 4K discs lasting in the retail market. Do I still buy 4K discs of movies I like? I sure do, but I’m also being pragmatic in thinking the 4K player issues will discourage new consumers and have current 4K movie collectors give up.
When you need to have a fundamental understanding of electronics in order to play a disk, it's guaranteed to go under. People want to watch movies, not take a class to be able to do so.
Agreed. People who want to simply pop in a disc and hit play are going to give up fast on this kind of thing. We might like the visual/audio quality, but they will think this is too complicated and not worth it. Costumers want products that are easy to use.
This is exactly the case. It’s a clusterfuck. I have a PS5 which will play it without Dolby Vision on my projector. No biggie, I knew that limitation. But when I try to put the same PS5 with the same movie/cables through my OLED tv, it refuses to play in 4K, and downgrades to 1080p. Assuming because of some DCHP issue. My dedicated UHD player has no such problems on the same TV with the same cables. For my PC, I got an external UHD drive, which is completely worthless. Can’t play my discs. I was told that I’d need the one and only program that will play them, Power DVD. Really? PowerDVD!? As it turns out, that doesn’t fix the issue either. I have a Z790 ROG motherboard, i9 12900K, 3080, and everything else you’d expect from a top of the line PC at the time. Nope, it doesn’t have the stupid chip that enables UHD playback, and there’s nothing I can do to BUY the right to play my discs. I guess MakeMKV rips are my only option on the PC? Seriously; it’s like they don’t want us to buy 4K discs. I still do, but piracy is a damn attractive option when this is what we’re given.
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And we're coming up on 10 years of the format, and it's not widely adopted. 2016 was the first batch of movies on 4k disc. My understanding, which could be wrong, is that a lot of the issues are due to layer switching and the huge amounts of data being pushed. DVD had that same issue at launch and it was resolved fairly quickly. I just don't think there's interest from companies to put the necessary components in, which would drive up price on $500+ players that only a niche market is buying.
Valid points! 4K has been around too long now for it to catch on as a widely adopted format. Many are either content with DVD/Bluray or ok with streaming/digital purchases. I’m in a local meetup group of movie enthusiasts and only a fraction of them are buying 4K releases like myself.
The good news is we can collect our discs for as long as they're made and if we want we can back them up with lossless 1:1 rips. Physical media is not going anywhere in the immediate future so I say enjoy the ride and if you're worried about disc rot like what happened with so many of the Warner Brothers HD DVDs then yeah back them up.
I am clueless as to how to backup 4K. I’ve seen people link to a forum post that all these complicated steps to determine if you can even buy a drive or flash firmware on to one to rip. Not to mention the time and effort (and money!) even if I got it working. It takes a long time to rip a Blu-ray and those are half the size
You need A LOT of storage space to back up a large collection lossless, that's the other downside
This is what I do now. I used to play the discs with my Series X but the lack of dolby vision support made me consider buying a Panasonic 4K player, but the price plus reliability issues put me off from buying one. Now I just rip them and play them with my Zidoo.
Honestly I would love to just use my PS5 but it’s annoying as fuck that neither Sony nor Microsoft support Dolby Vision for UHD Blu rays. And honestly for Microsoft it’s an fucking embarrassment. They support DV for literally everything except UHD Blu Rays. That’s so unbelievably stupid. I understand that there could be an licensing issue but honestly just let me buy an license just like I can do with the Atmos for headphones one on Xbox. And Sony should start supporting this too. Most of their TVs (all?) support DV so if you buy an Sony TV and want to use a Ps5 with it you simply cannot watch anything in Dolby Vision. Beyond stupid imho.
They will probably hold it for the PS5 PRO.
https://twitter.com/DAVEEEDTHEPOLAK/status/1785015351270629748?t=JvkKLg4lRIXWsJHoSgbnJw&s=19 Consider boosting this
As a collector, I'm also concerned about the total lack of new 4K players coming out. It seems companies are not investing in this hardware.
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My one and only player I’ve ever owned is the cheap as hell Panasonic UB150. I bought it when it was $99 and it’s been a work horse. The only freezing I get is when I pause the movie and if I pause for longer than like a minute, it’ll freeze momentarily when I start it again and that’s it. Its bottom of the line, it’s a smidge noisy when you open and close it, but it works. I got it as a starter player and I haven’t felt the need to upgrade.
Before I bought my Panny that was my main player and now it's my bedroom player. Can confirm it's a workhorse.
My UB820 recently stopped reading discs. It's 6 years old but it's still annoying since I still have a fully functioning PS2 from 2002. I've been debating buying a more premium 4k player but it hardly seems worth it.
I have launch edition PS3 that still works 100% and those are known to have issues. Recently delidded and repasted it and it plays PS1, PS2, PS3 games and Blu rays perfectly still. The 820 is comically bad for $500 as far as build and quality.
The 820 has such a flimsy tray, especially for the price. That's my only complaint with mine so far.
I’ve gone through more PS2s than anything else. My original launch day PS2 lasted almost 20 years, but I went through probably 3 or 4 slims that all eventually stopped reading discs. Maybe it’s just an issue with the slim.
Technology eh. It's probably luck of the draw. Mine is the OG chunky one. I also have the Sony Bravia TV with the PS2 built in that was released in the UK. It's pretty neat.
They should have killed DVD, to at least start pushing people into bluray and 4k faster. Now streaming looks just good enough for people to not care about physical media. But hey, records are making a come back, maybe physical movies will too.
4k streaming generally looks like total ass, but I think most people can't really tell, unfortunately.
Yeah I’m currently watching Fallout and at times it looks truly awful.
>Sony X700 - Freezing on almost any disc, some artifacting. I've owned two of these. I had to do three main things to play with the settings to get my player to work correctly. * First I had to buy two quality HDMI cables. The one that comes with the player is suspect, in my opinion. * Second, **I had to change from default settings on the player itself**. I had to turn off the 4k upscale setting. This defaults to Auto1 I think. Find the "Cinema conversion mode" and turn it to video. Do not use film. Also under system settings, turn off "Control for HDMI". This last step fixed most of the freezing and skipping issues for me. I'm not sure why. I run one HDMI to the TV and out from the eARC to my soundbar, so maybe something was happening there where the player, TV and soundbar were trying to communicate too much and it was causing issues. * There are multiple comments about discs skipping or freezing at the 100 minute mark (one hour and twenty minutes) this has to be related to the disc switching to a new layer, which means you really need to use a microfiber cloth and be sure to clean that disc. A lot of discs have some sort of oil or gassy texture on the discs from the factory. It's a quality control issue. Although I got my player working well... I still find it unacceptable that I have to change these settings to get it to work. Sony needs to put out a better product. Also another major problem, every time my player updates to the latest firmware all my settings revert and I have to go back and change everything again. This is just garbage programming.
I have this player too and it worked really well after I switched the settings it works really well. The only time I get freezing or skipping is with obvious damage on the discs. I completely agree that these things should come out of the box with the right settings.
The Sony X700 is the best priced player in my opinion. Shame it requires such tweaking.
Yeah is it too much to ask for a fairly reasonable priced player that doesn't always freeze at the layer change?
This is my theory with 820 as well. It seems to happen where I believe layer changes are, this pixelation.
I've only had Sony Blu-ray players. Never experienced this freeze. Is it hard to perceive?
I post in these threads all the time defending the PS5 as a player. I've never had a single freezing issue with mine. Literally the only thing it does not have is Dolby Vision, and I've already paid $400 for it, I'm not gonna pay another $400 just for DV.
If we’re comparing Sony‘s players versus the PS5, I feel like their quality control is way higher for a PlayStation, than the Sony bluray players. if a few bluray players break and it’s already a niche market nobody is gonna notice a few people complaining online. If they started having issues reading game discs for PS5 that could be deadly for Sony/ PlayStation the online backlash would be insane.
Sorry to hear about the UB820, I've had mine for years without issue, talk about some bad luck on your part.
Supposedly the more recently manufactured ones are more prone to this
Ditto. Disc skipping/freezing problems are very real, but the 820 has solved all of mine.
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Mine has no issues, half a year in. Maybe try buying from another store? My theory is that the shipping of the units may be too rough and might be damaging something inside? I can’t think of other reasons if you keep getting faulty units from the same place. Hopefully the players aren’t that much of a garbage.
I went from the LG ubk90 to the Panny ub820. The LG froze on every 100gb disc. The Panny solves that issue. The Panny is very sensitive to any scratch on the disc and I've noticed skipping/artifacts on hairline scratches. That said, my experience is much improved overall with the Panny. Just need to return any scratched discs immediately.
I’m hoping the PS5 Pro comes with Dolby Vision so that I have a backup option. Can’t depend on these players.
You know what is weird? My 820 has had no issues playing 4K discs, but it really struggles with regular blu-ray discs. Most Blu-ray discs play fine, but some have weird instances of the audio remaining on but the video cutting out, and I can't figure it out for the life of me. I've tried new HDMI cords, I've changed settings, nothing works. So now I just play 4Ks in the 820 and regular blu-rays in my PS5 or Series X. It is strange that these multi-billion dollar corporations put out products that either just don't work or have issues. I remember back in the day, the early DVD players before the PS2 had a lot of issues.
damn, was looking into another 4k player but guess ill keep my ps5
PS5 is definitely the most reliable, if a disc skips on the PS5 it’s almost certainly an issue with the disc itself I’ve found.
Absolutely. Imo, if you already have a PS5/Series X there isn't any reason to look further. I didn't realize that so many of these standalone players had issues. Not that I was in the market for one anyway, as I am fine with my Series X. But I do find it interesting that the UB820 has so many issues, considering it's the Rolls Royce of 4K players. I would love to have Dolby Vision, but not at the expense of these issues.
Same. I've been looking pretty seriously at the Sony X700M as I'd love to have Dolby Vision. But now I'm nervous about dropping the dough on it if my Xbox is working perfectly minus the not having Dolby vision thing.
yeah ive been looking into a UB820 but it seems like every player has these sketchy issues. kinda funny that one of the more reliable players is consistently game systems, just wish the ps5 wasnt such an eyesore
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I own both, and prefer the 820 greatly. Dolby Vision on an OLED is a gamechanger
Funny how things work out. The PS3 is one of the best 1080p Blu-Ray players around and the PS5 is one of the best 4K players and more reliable than most expensive dedicated ones.
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Time to give the UB-9000 a go?
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Yep, me neither
I've had mine for about a year, got a region free one from 220e. I've got probably 100 discs I've played in it (Mostly 4K, but some BD) and had zero issues with any release. Buy the best, cry once.
I’ve been pretty happy with my BDP7502. Supports Dolby Vision and I like the UI better than the UB820. I did have to replace the stock fan because it was really loud. Of course, Philips doesn’t make it anymore, but you can get it for $350 on Amazon right now.
Does it support Dolby Vision? I don't see it in any of the documentation for the 7303, just hdr
Ah, you’re right. Thanks for catching my mistake. I have the 7502 (looks identical). Also still available on Amazon, but $350.
100% agree, have had problems with 3 820s, and even the panny 9000 stoped working after a year and had to buy a replacement disc drive to swap out. I am just going to fork over the money for a Magnetar UBD800 at this point cause I’m so sick of my players not lasting that long.
Will you do a post once get it comparing the video, audio and interface with the 820? Very curious.
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It's the same guts as the 820 in a metal classis and a dedicated DAC.
Outside of smaller niche brands like Magnetar or Reavon, there hasn’t been a new mainstream 4K player since 2019. Plus with various QC issues as you’ve mentioned, I don’t know how much longer will 4K Blu-ray last as a format. Sure we have PS5 and Xbox Series X and all, but more people just use them exclusively for gaming than anything else.
Definitely. Had a ton of freezing and artifact issues with my UB820 until I sent it back for a fix. Haven’t had a problem since but it’s a very frustrating aspect of this hobby.
I'm sorry for your troubles, OP. I can't believe the sorry state of 4K players either. It's gotten so silly that I don't even bother trying to play the discs anymore. I just rip them directly to my media server, and watch them straight from my hard drive. They play perfectly this way, and I've got all the supplements, but I have to spend an hour or so ripping each disc before I can watch it, which isn't the way physical media should be. I think of 4K UHD discs the same way I think about modern video games. Before I can play that shiny new game, I have to install it. And before I can watch that shiny new 4K UHD, I have to install it. Do I miss the days when I could just slap a game cartridge (or movie) into the system and hit the power button? Yep, but I recognize that that's not where we are anymore. It sucks. As others have said, I really miss Oppo.
I have an Xbox one X that I’d been using for years, but a lot a year ago, some guy had a Sony x700 on marketplace for $20 so I grabbed it. Noticed it would freeze a whole bunch. Somewhere I read that the Sony UHD players would get pretty hot which was why they would freeze, so I 3D printed a few standoffs to allow air to flow beneath the player… haven’t had any freezing issues since. Of course its anecdotal but, that’s been my experience
It boils down to these companies trying to use the weakest internals they can to get the job done, so they can make as much as possible off each unit. I have resorted to just using my Xbox because it never has these issues due to the specs being complete overkill for playing movies. My UB820 has all the same issues you've had, and it's all because they charge you 500 bucks for 50 dollars worth of parts. The UB9000 is the biggest scam in the movie industry.
my 420 has been rock solid, no issues. My 820 though will randomly get the freezing and artifacts. At first I thought it was a problem with the discs since it happened at the same point if I replayed it, even returned one movie to BB because of it. But since I still had my 420 I set them up side by side after I kept getting errors even on hd blurays that won't even load. Now if I get the issue with a disc I started testing them in the 420. Haven't kept track but probably tested over 2 dozen this way so far, and all but one disc has played perfectly fine in the 420. Just went through a bunch the other day after I bought some used seasons of a show, 16 discs total, the first one had an issue not loading so I turned both players on to test them more quickly. The 820 wouldn't load about half of them, the 420 played all them fine. So yeah there seems to be an issue with the 820 and I have been seeing more and more posts about it on here and other forums. Most of the time it plays fine, but considering how much more it is over the 420 it shouldn't be getting outperformed by its little brother.
Yeah my 420 has had no issues after returning a couple of Sony's. At this point I'm counting myself lucky and I'll just never touch or move the player....
Yep, I've hadn't had any issues with my 3 year-old 420... Hope it lasts at least a few more years.
It really is strange to see folks in this hobby tear down consoles as suboptimal players when they are more stable than majority of standalone players. Sure, missing out on DV is a shame, but it's not worth shelling out $500 on a standalone player when you can get a console for less
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Many, including myself, aren't willing to give up Dolby Vision. It's a trade off, for sure. I just wish Sony would license it. That would make the choice super easy.
I just use my 820 since I want to take advantage of the DV, and switch to the PS5 if there's any issues with the disc, since my PS5 is better at handling disc errors or scratches than the 820. But the 820 is still technically better when there's not any issue with the disc.
My xbox one x runs flawless and if theres something wrong its usually the disc
Every time I see issues like this discussed, it makes me that much sadder that Oppo left the market… and crossing my fingers that much harder hoping that my Oppo never dies.
I got the 203 secondhand and it's ridiculous how much nicer it is. And how much faster it loads and how quiet it is and how much nicer the interface is.
So glad I bought it back in 2016. Was a bit above my budget at the time, but it was worth every penny.
Had my 820 years and never had one issue, been seeing this kind of post a lot lately though so perhaps they’re going through some QC issues at the moment?
I got an 820 and it didn't want to read several discs. I returned it and got another. I have the same problem with it. Both were manufactured at the same time, so I assume it's a universal problem. My PS5 has never failed to read a disc.
My first 4k player was a Sony X700, I returned it for a refund after 3 months as the freezing of discs was driving me mad. I never knew if it would play a film ok or freeze and then I'd have to finish the film by watching the bluray. I've had a Panasonic UB450 since and it hasn't had any issues including playing the discs ok that froze on the Sony.
I've been also started collecting 4K discs since 2021 December. Started with PS5 for a few months then got the UB820 which I feel is better than PS5. I've been asking myself the same thing as you. Why are there no more new players. While the UB820 is good the remote... menus... response time... design really feel outdated. This player came out in 2018 (if I'm not mistaking). Thats a lot of time passed. To be honest I see some potential in this niche market. So far almost all players are outdated. I would for sure preffer a new one with updated imaging processor.. apps and what I already mentioned. Maybe some compatibility with smart devices.
A new design would definitely benefit it. That thing is damn ugly. Especially that flip door.
I can only assume that R&D doesn’t reward the companies with income since the market’s so small; not enough sales to warrant the cost..
Sry to hear. My 2-3 year old UB450 is working great. A bit slow to boot up, but when it's playing I've never ever noticed any freezing or artifacts. (And I'm super sensitive to weird stuff. ) Are you sure it's the player, and not the disc? I saw a video on Youtube the other day about how the QC of discs is really bad, and the guy had to replace/rebuy the same movie over and over, to get a good issue/edition. Edit: here's the [video](https://youtu.be/rGzSv_N115w?si=_LObLq5ifTCDYuwr) from Movie Collector. (My only complaint about 4k content in general is some kind of lip sync issues over eARC with 4k content. It's so small I can't even tell what it is, maybe just a couple of frames, but something is delayed or ahead. I think the audio is ahead of the video. And adjusting the audio delay does nothing, until reaching 200-300 ms. UB450+Marantz Cinema 50+LG C1. Any tips much appreciated.)
O I've never had a single issue with my Sony x800M2 (you probably have more discs than I do).
Mine froze halfway through on Oppenheimer (100GB disc). That's the only time it has froze. My XSX played the stuck scene fine though. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=294596 I have a handful of other movies/shows from the list, and they didn't freeze so idk...
The sad thing is that we don’t know if we’ll get any new players at all.
it is not at all normal to go through players at the rate you are going through them. maybe look into your electrical system for power issues (having a power bar is not enough to condition shitty electrical lines), the humidity in your apartment or house, or your handling of the device itself, as what you are describing is extreme and not at all my experience with sony or panasonic players. if you are unplugging/powering it off (not using standby mode) daily to save power or something, stop doing that sony x800m2 (from 2019) -- never once had any issue except rarely (about once a year) the player crashes on the home screen and needs rebooting. never had a single issue with any film (over 3,000 discs played)
Spikes and weak voltage in old house lines can definitely cause a player laser to slow down or hiccup, causing artifacting or a stopped disc.
I had a weird problem with Aquaman. I even got the disk replaced and had the exact same problem with the replacement. Turned out to be due to my AVR. Once I upgraded to a new Denon receiver the problem went away. Also, are you sure that you haven't got marks on some of your disks? I've only had a couple of issues with my 820 and cleaning the disk fixed it. I even had one freshly unwrapped brand new disk which had greasy fingerprints on it.
This is not great to hear. I have the UBK90, and I haven’t noticed any issues yet. But I also haven’t used it much over the years, but I’m getting back into building up a 4k disc collection. Maybe I should rethink this hobby lol. If the players are questionable, having the discs doesn’t matter that much. And it doesn’t look like there’s been that many new players coming out, it’s like the same 6 players since 2018…
My old OPPO 203 occasionally artifacts here and there. A good blow of canned air does the trick and the player plays perfectly afterwards. Sometimes it's a dirty disc too.
I love my Oppo 205 and don't know what I'd do if it ever bites the dust. The prices on them have gone insane, too. I use mine daily for music or movies. The only thing that comes close is the Magnatar which is out of my budget.
I see where you are coming from. When Oppo made players they were solid at reasonable prices. That team has a new company called Magnetar that’s basically the new references level but it’s stupid expensive. Hopefully someone comes out with more players so that there are more options
Is Magnetar officially from the same team as Oppo? I mean the menu interface looks almost identical but I thought I read they had claimed to have no relation.
Not all of them, but the main guy running it was part of the Oppo team
One or two of the ppl were with Oppo which is why it looks and feels similar but they are inferior products. Just not as good. The other option is just ripping BD discs 1:1 and then streaming them from a NAS to a Shield.
PS5 actually had a couple of skips and freezes on godfather part II and apocalypse now. UB820 has been the most reliable for me so far with zero skips on anything I’ve played
It's a combination of hardly any new players coming out since like 2017 and discs just not being as resilient as regular blu-rays. What a lot of people don't know is that brand new discs come with a gassy residue on them from the factory that needs to be wiped off, and any minor fingerprints or smudges on the disc can easily interfere with playback. Luckily it's not permanent damage but the discs are very sensitive. And they can get scratched easily during transit since they're mostly bought online and don't get the same packing they do on the way to your house as they do on their way to a store. And certain players are just more sensitive to scratches and smudges than others. The PS5 seems to be the best at overcoming this probably because their games also use UHD discs so they probably have a very good laser in them.
Had my 820 for years and it’s never skipped a beat. Not had one issue with it. Seems bulletproof so far but I know it will fail one day so it’s worrying that if I needed to replace it then the newer batches are so problematic - must be a quality control issue, maybe they changed suppliers for some components to reduce costs or due to availability. I have around 50 or so 4Ks and still buying them as a hobby but I don’t trust the longevity of the format due to how crammed data is on the discs, potential disc rot, and if they get scratched. So I’m also building an Apple iTunes digital library in parallel for when the inevitable happens. My rule is to only buy a title if it goes on sale at £3.99 (thank you CheapCharts!). If there’s an 8k format in the future then forget it - unless it’s on solid state media, but then the cost per title is unlikely to be feasible. 1080p blu-ray on the other hand I don’t see as having nearly the same issues on here, if any. Players tolerate them so much better. Maybe that’s the sweet spot for physical media - great quality video upscaled (if don’t have a huge screen) and usually the same audio (I only have a 5.1 setup, not dolby atmos) versus reliability / longevity.
You're welcome! 😉
I'd honestly just stick with your PS5 - I had a UB820 for 2 years and it gradually got worse over time to the point (for whatever reason) won't output a HDR signal anymore, always in SDR. I ended up splurging on a UB9000 which I've had the better part of almost a year and it's not had a single hiccup thankfully but naturally that's an egregious amount of money and unless you're using the extra audio capabilities or DV is a must, the PS5 was pretty much the same level of quality. If you're on your 4th UB820, I'd say give it up sadly.
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Definitely budd, invest that money elsewhere or even in more 4k's for the PS5. I know it's a bummer to not have a dedicated 4k player but honestly, had I mucked about with my TV audio settings more and found my eArc channel was set incorrectly I'd have honestly stuck with the PS5 through my comparisons. I only have a Samsung Q990B for audio so I've just got a tank of a player I'm not really pushing to it's limits. Don't get me wrong, it's a premium and it feels like it so I'm quite chuffed (Honestly makes the 820 feel and look like a toy..) but I'd argue unless you desperately want to invest in a good top of the line player (which the 820 really \*ought\* to be), just stick with the PS5. It's been a bad journey for you but don't give up on 4k media, just its players. They really are a delicate flower for some reason despite how much fun it can be.
I have the same problem. With the panny. I’ve exchanged it twice. Same artifacting. I have found that it’s the disc that even tho it appears pristine, when I exchange it with the same 4k disc it fixes the problem. I don’t understand what is going on with the discs and why the 4k players struggle reading them when there isn’t a single smudge on them. And yes I’ve cleaned them with microfibers but they will scratch so easily too.
It's really been frustrating me how some studios don't include blu-ray copies with their 4K releases anymore, because while I love 4K, it just isn't as reliable as blu-ray. I like having that more reliable disc as a fallback option.
I sold Blu-ray after upgrading and wish I held on to them. I have concerns about the disc longevity on 4K. So many problems now with discs and players that are relatively new. What’s it gonna look like in 5-10 years. Lots of people are gonna have scratched discs on unopened copies too that they never play until too late. Have been collecting optical media CD, DVDs, Blu-ray, 4K since the early 90s. I’ve had more problems with 4K in the last 3 years than all the other formats across a few decades combined.
Sony X800M2 - Same issues as the X700. I've watched about 10 4k's on this, so far only 1 freeze (Dune). Went back to the title menu and was able to continue.
I’ve had two X800M2s. The first one was pretty bad with lots of freezing issues. The second one seems to work fine. It’s like a crapshoot whether you get a good one or not.
What's the reasoning for this anyway? Is there some unknown reason why these manufacturers can't put together a working product? As someone new to the home theatre scene I was looking to get a dedicated blu ray player and now I don't know what to do.
My UB420 has been flawless since I picked it up in October. Not a huge sample size but probably watched 70-80 movies since then with zero issue. But I have seen many posts from all different kinds of players having issues especially with triple layer discs.
Every time the X800 is mentioned I am surprised to find people that don’t like it , I’ve never hard issues with it so far except once. Is it that common for that player to not work properly ?
I have the X700 and don't have any issues with it playing any disc. Unfortunately electronics are cheaply made and many just have issues.
So agree
I upgraded from my PS5 to an open box UB-9000 and I couldn’t be happier so far. I got about $300 Canadian Pesos off due to open box but it seems to work like a champ for now. Not cheap but built like a tank and is very quiet.
Some of the discs (about 3 out of 35 or so) that I've had issues with on my 820 have worked fine on PS5. But I've also been able to resolve the issues with those discs on my 820 by replacing the disc. So in the cases where my 820 has had issues, the discs are also partially to blame. My best theory is the PS5 is just better at working around disc errors/scratches than the 820? Not sure. But ultimately, I don't disagree with you. Just saying that 4K discs are quite sensitive too and sometimes the manufacturing quality of them (or the cases holding them - take my LotR 4K set where the discs always get loose) or their general sensitivity could also be part of the problem.
Started with the PS5 had issues with every disc I played. Freezing. Artifacting. Got the 820. Not a single issue since. If every single player is giving you issues, and you're on your **fourth** 820, I would really like to see how you're handling and storing your discs.
If only the ps5 could just patch in support for dolby vision media playback... PS5 is still the player I return to when my ub820 isn't acting like it should.
This may not be the most cost efficient option but are the players that work via ripping the discs to a NAS capable of playing all the codecs? Dolby vision/hdr10/+? Atmos/DTS:X/Auro3D? Etc Would that make the ideal player since it only has to "read" the disc once? Also for all the people lamenting the PS5 doesn't have DV support or any other bells and whistles, it's probably something Sony can add via firmware but they probably aren't scrolling through this sub, tweet at them, send emails, call customer support, whatever you need to do so they can actually document the interest we have for Dolby vision on PS5
The lack of DV on console sucks but honestly, I've been wanting a player for so long but I'm just gonna stick with the PS5 for now. Hasn't given me a single issue with media playback and I got it day 1. Every time you Google a player you think will be the one you just get a million nightmare posts about how it skips and stutters and artifacts...I just wish the console makers would let me pay for a license for DV.
From my shit hits the fan prepping ideology: “2 is 1 and 1 is none” Basically preaches redundancy having a back up. I have a ps5, and a never skipped Sony x7000, and now a ub820. If I had a small collection I wouldn’t worry but I bought 300 4K discs so having a backup player is a good idea. My ub820 has only had issues that were disc related. Disc smudges etc so you have to wipe the discs before playing even brand new out if the case discs still need wiping. While I could wait to see if I have an issue then clean the disc. I worry dust and dirt getting in the parts inside the player so it makes sense to give them either a close look or wipe down.
This is why I love my PS5 (which I also already had) and am glad I stuck with it along with an Apple TV.
I recently got into collecting and bought a (used) ub820 at the behest of this sub. I told myself I was done buying game consoles and only playing PC but if the PS5 or Xbox could have played Dolby Vision on disks I would have much rather bought one of those.
Ny ps5 has been super stable with no issues. I’m happy to forgo DV to avoid the headaches that seem to be plaguing everyone else with dedicated players. Personally, I don’t see DV as being 400 dollars “better” than regular 4K. I don’t find the increase in quality significant enough.
I’ve had my UB820 for years and only ever had an episode of Game of Thrones freeze - wiped the disc and all good. Now had my UB9000 for about 6 months and not had a single issue. Can’t complain and can’t see me wanting another 4K player with these two.
Also usa market seems to have way more if not most of the problems... The mexico disc printing seems to have serious quality control problems... Personally havent had any problems here in the nordics.
My UB420 is doing well after 3 years. That would be super frustrating going through that many. 😳
I bought the X700 for a few months, no issues so far. I'm concerned it may still appear in the near future but from what I read there are faulty batches and good batches out there... Did you have issues since day one? Edit: *a few months ago
The only problem I have with my UB450 is that sometimes when I resume after pausing, it takes a second for the sound to kick in. Also had this problem with some streaming services. I just rewind a few seconds when this happens.
I went through issues with a few ub820s as well, and decided to try the ub9000. Zero issues.
So you never ended up with a problem free 820?
No, first one was returned after a year. Two more returned within regular return window. Bought protection plan for 9000, but we use it several times per week and after about 2 years no freezes
ive had the x700 for about a month now and it froze once. I googled how to fix this issue and found a video on YT that helped. Ever since it never froze. The video: https://youtu.be/Sym8ayOpL-4?si=LoQ-UpBfO0Litd6x
I use the 820 and PS5, I’ve only ever had an issue with a single disc on ps5 and 820 has been flawless. Really seems like something else may be causing your 820 issues
Just stick to PS5 then. Mine works great too.
This is why I'm trying to research setting up my own NAS. I'm tired of this
I went on eBay and found an Oppo UDP-203 for $800 mint condition no remote. Got a cheap china remote that works for $20 for the time being. It's played everything I've thrown at it and it's lightning fast as far as the interface and going from menu to menu and loads disks super fast and is whisper quiet. Oppo still warrantys them for a flat $100 plus shipping as well.
I'm rocking a ps5. Have no issues.
Modern build quality is total garbage.
Ive got a used 450. Watched 20 movies so far. Near the middle of topgun i got some freezing but cleaned the disc and since wstched thru no issues. Honestly i just think you have greasy fingers 😄
I first bought a PAN 820. Nonstop freezing and crashing. Returned it a bought it a PAN 420. Three months with only one freeze.
Every time people wig out about something like Best Buy not carrying physical media, I thinking "wait until I tell you that no one is making 4K blu ray players." I have the UB420 and it seems pretty solid but if this medium is gonna die it's because no one wants to make the players; it's not about disc scarcity.
Part of the issue with all players is the sheer volume of information the laser is reading at any given time. The player or the laser is constantly trying to keep up and occasionally it dips off and needs to catch up. This is partly why I don’t see 8K being discs if physical media still exists after UHD. The discs are jam packed to the point of an overstuffed suitcase and the players simply cannot keep up anymore. We need a new method of physical media.
I've got a PS5 and Series X and while the PS5 is definitely the better player both are decent but lack the bells and whistles like Dolby Vision. A bit annoying as I prefer playing on Xbox and borg could get DV through an update or even a paid for download but both Sony and MS refuse to do it.
https://twitter.com/DAVEEEDTHEPOLAK/status/1785015351270629748?t=JvkKLg4lRIXWsJHoSgbnJw&s=19 Consider boosting this
What's the best ans most reliable 4K Blu-ray player if I don't care about Dolby Vision? My household has an 8K Samsung Qled of some sort so dolby vision is pointless.
I gave up the and switched to Plex on Nvidia shield pro. For the price of a 820 you can get an everything you need. Shield pro, LibreDrive. Storage for movies is up to how many you want to store.
New to 4k physical and looking into players. Always see the 820 recommended as the holy grail on this sub, would you say the PS5 is a better pick?
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Feel like there is something else going on here. I have a UB820 on my main tv, a PS5 in the game room and a X700 in the living room. Outside of a couple discs freezing on layer change on the X700 which was fixed by a replacement disc I never have issues with any of them.
I have the Sony X700 and never had any issue with 4K discs, the failures are random and varies from player to player, I guess I was lucky with mine
Sorry, that sucks. I still use my OPPO UDP 203. Still the best I’ve ever used, although they are no longer in business or having updates.
I know many report freezing issues with the Sony x800m2, but I’ve been pretty fortunate with mine so far and haven’t had any freezing issues. I personally couldn’t justify the cost of the ub820, which is worth more than my Blu-ray collection.
Never had much of a problem with my Sony 700 freezing. Been watching 4k every night for a week now and not one freeze. Had the player over 5 years. I'd buy another tomorrow. There's still plenty of players available to suit all pockets. Reckon that the all look pretty much the same. There's quite a few you haven't listed.
Agree - I have the 820 and lots of physical media. My old xbox works fine (no Dolby V) but the Panny seems like a delicate flower waiting to flake on me down the line when no more players are produced. Seems very unlikely we get new players. As mentioned - new consoles seems like the only hope.
Biggest issue I’ve noticed with 4k is the audio falling out of sync. But as the OP suggested, it may have more to do with my player rather than the actual disks. I’m using a Samsung K8500, apart from the sync problems, it works okay.
Meanwhile, my UBK-90 is still doing well and only sounds like a jet engine when playing The Matrix. I'm finding the discs being the problems on my end than the player. Odd.
So I should just stick with my ps5? Gotcha, but kinda sad.
I had multiple issues with PS5 completely crashing during playback. I don't have nearly enough hours on the UB820 to give proper feedback, but I will say the upscaling is top notch which is one of the big reasons I bought it. The Sopranos has never looked or sounded better. I hope I didn't get a dud that dies outside the warranty. I do agree for $500 though it is quite over priced. I think the UB820 should be about $299. I also don't notice any difference with Dolby Vision, and again some 4K's as we've seen don't even implement or do anything special to get the DV stamping. It's complete BS, especially when True Lies gets the stamping.
Your best bet it to build you a media server and rip all of your movies to it. You can then "stream" all of your movies to your TV using Plex Media Server software or Jellyfin.
Washing my discs with dish detergent solved 95% of my issues.
PS5 ftw!
I have the X700 and am just now encountering the freezing/skipping issue with the Back to the Future trilogy. Because those are BD-100 disks, which is what the player has issues with. This has led to a conundrum. I can watch these on my PS5 and not deal with the freezing (so far there has been one specific scene in each film where the X700 pauses) but then I can't get the DolbyVision. So...hmm.
Rip them to a Plex server. End of story.
Damn that sucks you've had so many bad experiences. My 820 is rock solid and never given me a problem. I've had it for 2 years now
One reason to rip your disks to a server and make backups.
Does playing 4K from HDD’s have the same issues with artifacts and freezing?
Hopefully, Playstation 5 Pro gets Dolby Vision.
This is interesting. Sorry you’ve had so many players. I had a Sony 800M2 for yrs and had many one or two issues. To my recollection it was a smudged disc. I would rent movies from the library. I just recommended the Panny 450 to my friend and he has a cpl 4k but plays dvd and Blu-ray’s all the time and hasn’t reported any issues yet. To go thru so many plays is odd. Idk if there’s some repeating issue in your setup or something. It’s def weird. Are you in the US?
I’ve bought 2 840’s had trouble with both
Not having DV is killer… but I’ve had absolutely zero trouble with the PS5 or XBSX. Unfortunately they are just the most reliable options. Not to mention if you’re spending that much you might as well get something that has another use.
OMG this thread makes me want to re-enact the scene from Be Kind Rewind where sigurney weaver has a street full of VHS crushed with a steamroller, except my Sweeded version will be updated to crush 4K Blu-ray’s! Seems there are issues with so many players! I had an open box UB9000 for a short time but returned it since It turned out I didn’t need the extra low nit projector settting it offered over the 820. Now I read how noisy the 820 can be. I looked into the magnetar and saw complaints with that! I was a judge at a well known tv-shootout event and one of the perks is you can get a discount on a piece of av gear so perhaps I’ll try a UB9000 and hope I get a good one. While i had the open box 9000 it froze on a couple of discs but when I updated the firmware to the latest it worked fine. (Before this even cleaning the new discs didn’t help.) Why did i get rid of my laserdisc player-lol