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Best 4K UHD player for under $200 (1 Viewer)

Scott Merryfield

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I’m not a big Sony person so I will probably end up with an lg player as I’m eyeing an lg Oled tv.

There is really not much, if any, advantage to having the disc player and display from the same manufacturer. My display is a Vizio M-series 70-inch and my UHD player is the Sony X800. My next player will probably be either from Panasonic or Sony. In fact, I currently have a Sony UHD player, Panasonic BD player and Oppo DVD player all in the same equipment rack attached to the Vizio display via a Denon X3300W receiver.
 

dpippel

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One of the big drawbacks to the Sony X700 is you must manually switch it in and out of Dolby Vision mode. While that will not affect you now playing back BDs and DVDs, it could be a pain in the butt when you finally upgrade to 4K/UHD.


Panasonic and Oppo also have this drawback. If you have Dolby Vision enabled on these players and want to watch a DV title in HDR instead, you have to turn DV off manually.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Panasonic and Oppo also have this drawback. If you have Dolby Vision enabled on these players and want to watch a DV title in HDR instead, you have to turn DV off manually.
The Sony X700 is a little different. It doesn't automatically sense for Dolby Vision encoding at all. If you leave DV turned on, it outputs DV for everything, whether it is DV-encoded or not. If you leave it off, it will not output DV at all. So, you have to constantly remember to turn it on/off depending on whether you are watching a DV-encoded UHD or any other material (HDR10/UHD, BD, DVD, etc.).

I'm not sure there are very many instances where I would want to watch a DV-encoded title in HDR10, so the behavior of the Panasonics and Oppos doesn't bother me nearly as much as Sony's implementation on the X700, where you must check every single disc, and also remember to turn the setting back off when done watching DV.
 

dpippel

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Wow, I didn't realize things were so weird in Sony-land!
 
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Osato

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Going with the LG. 2020 here I come!

Hopefully some THX certified models will be available by then as well.

: p

I miss the old THX logos at the theater.
The audience is now deaf.

 

Hollywoodaholic

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Doesn't the PS4 Pro play 4K? It's more expensive ($399) but wouldn't it also have firmware updates? Curious, because I just got a 4K set and am thinking of getting it as a player (and for games).
 

Steve Felix

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Doesn't the PS4 Pro play 4K? It's more expensive ($399) but wouldn't it also have firmware updates? Curious, because I just got a 4K set and am thinking of getting it as a player (and for games).
Very strangely, it doesn't. I'm leaning toward the Sony X700 despite just learning from this thread about having to manually switch Dolby Vision on and off.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Very strangely, it doesn't. I'm leaning toward the Sony X700 despite just learning from this thread about having to manually switch Dolby Vision on and off.
The new Sony X800 v2 should be out in another month or so. Unless you must have a player right now, I would wait and see if the new model implements DV better. The new Panasonic model will probably be out soon, too.
 

Osato

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It seems like some of the players have increased in cost recently.

The LG is around $250 now?
 

morasp

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The new Sony X800 v2 should be out in another month or so. Unless you must have a player right now, I would wait and see if the new model implements DV better. The new Panasonic model will probably be out soon, too.

I wonder what price it will come in at?
 

morasp

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Very strangely, it doesn't. I'm leaning toward the Sony X700 despite just learning from this thread about having to manually switch Dolby Vision on and off.
I picked up an x700 at my local Wal Mart. I'm not positive but the picture quality seems to suffer during the daytime. In the mornings and evenings it's great. It could possibly be the wall wart power supply or my grid tie micro-inverts on my solar panels, it's hard to say. My Samsung player which has an internal power supply seems to do better during the daytime. There was also a DVD from season 5 of Dallas that the Sony wouldn't play but the Samsung played with no problem. My older Sony DVD player wouldn't play the disc either.
 
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Osato

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Sony on sale at target for $180
 

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Osato

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So this player jumped back up to $299 from $199 this morning??
Does Best Buy often do this?
I was going to order but noticed the price change.
Costco has it at $199 still...

Missed the Offer by a few hours! Ended on 3/31.
I called and they wouldn’t match or give me the deal. I would’ve ordered it this morning as the deal was still live online.
Rats.

Costco has the player for $199 through April.
No extra logistics remote though..

The Best Buy rep did say more promotions may occur later in the year and mentioned Memorial Day.

Oh well. I’ll continue to save for the tv and worry about the player later.

Does anyone have a great tool for monitoring prices on UHd TVs and UHd blu rays palyers? Or is it just checking all of the stores every week.
 

Tino

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Missed the Offer by a few hours! Ended on 3/31.
I called and they wouldn’t match or give me the deal. I would’ve ordered it this morning as the deal was still live online.
Rats.

Costco has the player for $199 through April.
No extra logistics remote though..

The Best Buy rep did say more promotions may occur later in the year and mentioned Memorial Day.

Oh well. I’ll continue to save for the tv and worry about the player later.

Does anyone have a great tool for monitoring prices on UHd TVs and UHd blu rays palyers? Or is it just checking all of the stores every week.
Back on sale for $199 including 3free 4K discs!
 

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