My Sony UBP-X700 is dying after 5 years and probably thousands of disks. Now I’m looking for a replacement with some key upgrades.
quieter disk drive
automatic DolbyVision detection
better thermal design (I suspect passive cooling is not enough and lowers lifespan)
better hardware/software compatibility with triple layer discs
On paper the Panasonic line is the best for my use-case. But I picked up the UB820 on a sale and discovered it makes annoying whining noises during playback at points. Not to worry! There is a higher model with better soundproofing…but the UB9000 is about $1000 Even worse, the UB820 has sluggish menus which I hate, and the UB9000 is an upgrade in construction and components, not processor speed.
I guess I could always go completely mental and buy a Magnetar…
The Sony X800M2 is said to be a quiet player and I know my X700 was pretty snappy, but it won’t detect Dolby Vision and will probably have the same freezing problems on multi-layer discs. Plus, like the x700 it is passively cooled with no vents or fan.
Part of me thinks I should build my own sound-deadening box and just buy a UB420 player and forget the DolbyVision. Then I’d spend about $200, get all the processing advantages of the UB820 and UB9000. Sure, the drive might be cheaper quality but I could buy 4 of them and still be spending less money.
406 UPCs, or about 565 actual disks. I do use my player almost every evening. I guess part of me is also worried that the $1000 unit will also die after 5-6 years and then I will just be out five times as much money as if I bought the bottom of the same line.
By all accounts the Oppos sound amazing, but everyone knows it and the used prices are as high as current-production units. Since Oppo is no longer producing units the parts and service might dry up by the time I need them. Not to mention there would be no software updates for any changes made for new disc authoring practices.
Yeah the Oppo is an expensive crap shoot now. I have four of them though. 93, 103, 203 and 205. They all still work fine. They are well built for sure.
As of the last I heard, Oppo will still fix them for a flat rate of $100 including return shipping. So at least there is that.
BTW, so far I have not had any problems with any discs that I have played.
A modern computer should in theory have the horsepower, but there is a lack of software support. You could spend many, many hrs trying to duplicate the reliability of the cheapest Blu-ray player. It is a combination of DRM issues, competing HDR formats, and audio gremlins. You will probably end up having to rely on some community generated freeware. Last I looked, even standard non 4k Blu-ray playback was a choppy experience on Windows. I will revisit it though, see if there is any better players available lately. I already have an HTPC sitting under my TV with a GTX 1660 in it. Can’t hurt to look.
I perused a few threads about getting 4k disks to work on PC last night. Sounds like you need to find a disk drive which is “4k friendly” and will accept custom firmware. So I think you could still run into problems with replacement hardware being difficult to find.
The truly future-proof solution is to set up your PC to play ISO files and rip all of your physical media to a file server with massive hard drives and off-site backups. But if you manage to get HDR and Surround Sound working, you still have to foot the bill for MASSIVE hard drives. If my current collection of disks averaged even 35gb per disc, I’d be looking at a minimum of 14terabytes of storage plus the cost of the backup site, wherever that is located.
Another reality is that the upscaling tech in dedicated players really does work. If I play a DVD on my 4k player it looks much better than if I play it on my PC.
Discs do have a market still. The Best Buy BF shippers were clearing out again this year. The more that streaming services fragment, the more relevant discs become. I’ve found in the past that almost nothing I wanted to watch is available on the services I paid for. If you have to pay $4-6 to rent a movie each time, why not have a disc instead? Some of mine cost me $3 at a pawn shop. Otherwise I tend to wait for sales. Got several 4k disks for $9.99 on black friday deals.
I might start buying one player per black friday for a while. Stack up some spares…
If you only have 14TiB worth of video, you could get two 18TB or two 20TB hard drives, put your data on one hard drive, and back it up to the other hard drive.
That way, if one of the hard drives fails, you have a backup.
I was probably being overly conservative. The actual average could be much higher since 4k discs can hold as much as 100gb. I have 64 4k UPCs, or 87 4k discs according to my collection app.
Yeah, but as you found out it is as much about the combination of the hardware/firmware/software as it is about horsepower.
The chips in the players are purpose designed and firmware optimized for the specific task.
I played with HTPCs for years. Getting them working and keeping them working was a constant battle. They also have the disadvantages of power consumption and heat. I gave up and have dedicated hardware now.
25gb blurays also exist, and not every bluray maxes out the available space. That’s part of the reason I came up with a lower ballpark figure. But I shot low on purpose so as not to be overly dramatic about the hurdles.
I dipped my toe in the pond a few years ago trying to get some HDR enabled files to run on the HTPC. I think I installed plugins for a version of MPC-HC? I just remember there were a billion settings to tweak and it’s an endless headache compared to just putting a disc in. And do the movies even look as intended afterwards? Probably not. This was also before I had surround sound to worry about.
I don’t think I’ll attempt to do a full digital backup unless I have to.
BTW I hear the Magnetar plays ISO files because the Chinese don’t give AF about US copyright laws lmao. For $1600 you could get dedicated hardware playback of digital backups. Puts the price more in perspective although I still don’t see myself paying that currently.
Plenty of people watch Blu-rays (or Blu-ray isos) on computers, and it does look as intended.
A really good video player is PotPlayer, which is a freeware program with a funny name.
PotPlayer has a ton of options available, so I don’t know if that would be best for you, but if you can figure out the options, it’s an excellent video player.
Quite honestly I seldom use my Oppo players these days. I have ripped anything I want to watch to MKV files and keep them on a NAS. I playback on my Nvidia Shield over my network. I use Plex on my NAS to serve the files.
The initial expenditure is a bit more than a disc player, but I am using the NAS for lots more than media. It has completely replaced a dedicated PC running 24/7.
Of course, you still need a BD drive on a PC of some kind to do the ripping.
Even worse, the UB820 has sluggish menus which I hate, and the UB9000 is an upgrade in construction and components, not processor speed.