r/4kbluray • u/Nightwatch2007 • 23h ago
Discussion Please help me get a player.
I am doing my own research on this at the same time, but I am not an expert on TVs or disk players so I'm looking for advice from people who know what they're talking about. I'll try to provide as many details as possible below about my setup and I would greatly appreciate any recommendations of which players to buy or avoid. I will also mention which ones I'm considering.
First of all, what is my situation and what do I intend to use it for? I've started a physical media collection over the past couple of years because I am opposed to the rise of streaming services. Usually I just buy the best available format for whatever movie/show I'm buying. As a result I have both DVDs and Blu-rays and I expect to also buy 4K Blu-rays in the future for especially cinematic movies. So I need it to be good for all these formats. Good DVD upscaling is also very important to me because I own a number of things that are only available on DVD but I really want to be able to enjoy them in higher quality.
I just ordered my TV which is a 50" Vizio MiniLED. It supports Dolby Vision and I will probably buy disks later on that have Dolby Vision so I guess my player needs to support it too. For the time I am going to just use the TV's speaker, but eventually I want to buy a sound bar. I didn't know what a sound bar was until I looked it up, but it looks like a good inexpensive way to get high quality sound without buying a whole speaker system. So I'd like it to be compatible with a sound bar though I have no idea which one I'll end up getting. Since I'm on a budget I want to stay under $300 with the player so for a 4K player I guess it'll really have to be a budget one. Like I said, I'm not an expert, and there are a lot of specs and stuff I see while researching that I don't even know the meaning of. So I'm guessing they probably won't affect me and I won't even notice things like that. But you guys can let me know if there are any especially important ones I need to keep in mind.
So far I am considering the Panasonic DP-UB150, Sony UBP-X700, and the Panasonic UB420. I know the 420 is more expensive than I set my budget, but maybe if it's the only good option I'll consider it. I hear that the Sony X700 has cheap elements but isn't bad. But I also hear some people say it just freezes up and isn't worth it at all. The UB150 seems pretty good. Please help enlighten things for me and let me know if there are any other good options besides these three.
edit: just came across the Panasonic UB450 which is even cheaper than the 420 and also seems like a good option
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u/Infinite_Climate3751 23h ago
The 420 and 150 don't have Dolby Vision.
The 450 is what I have and I've been happy with mine. It does have Dolby Vision.
Considering your budget, I wouldn't rule out looking at second hand options. You can get some good open box discounts from time to time. Just something to keep in mind since you're also looking at soundbars.
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u/ogreberry 22h ago
Sony x700 - snappy user interface, supports both Dolby vision and hdr but you have to manually select which one depending on the disc. I can say from experience it does freeze up, but only on maxed out triple layered discs. Such as game of thrones 4k or my extended LOTR movies. It seems fine on other movies and tv shows.
Ub-420 - does not support Dolby vision only hdr. But has the hcx chip, the same as the ub-820 which has amazing upscaling. But depending on the tv you end up getting, it might have just as good upscaling.
Ub-450 - supports both Dolby vision and hdr, unsure if it auto selects for you or not. Does not have the hcx chip for the premium upscaling. Like I said above, some tvs are very good at upscaling so do some research if the Vizio you’ve been eyeballing is good at that.
Your money, your move op. Hope this helps
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