Settings for Sony UBP-X700 (1 Viewer)

[Dave Hahn]

I've done my due diligence and googled and searched HTF and AVS. AVS has a thread almost 60 pages long on this player but I didn't find any recommended settings. Found the following in a Facebook group, not sure if they are correct. Obviously I want the player to upscale regular DVD's and Blu-ray's, while at the same time play 4K disks at their best.

What are your thoughts on these settings for the Sony UBP-X700?

1. 4k upscale setting off
2. HDR output and output video resolution on auto.
3. Cinema conversion mode must be on Video (not auto),
4. Remote start - off,
5. Quick start mode - on,
6. Under HDMI settings- control for HDMI - ON, linked to tv off- invalid
7. Under audio digital music enhancer and audio drc must be off not auto and down-mix mode must be on surround,
8. The tv output you have your HDMI plugged into also has to be enhanced so depending on your tv model go to tv settings and turn on uhd color, enhanced mode, or full color 4:4:4, some brands call it different things but there all the same in that you have to enable 4k on your hdmi through tv settings also
9. Turn OFF that DTS:Neo6
10. Compression is off
11. To get atmos you need DAO set to auto and secondary audio: off turn off the Secondary track in Audio settings
12. Set "Output Video Resolution" to UHD,

 

[Lord Dalek]

6. Under HDMI settings- control for HDMI - ON, linked to tv off- invalid

Wrong.

3. Cinema conversion mode must be on Video (not auto),

Wrong.

7. Under audio digital music enhancer and audio drc must be off not auto and down-mix mode must be on surround,

Not necessary.

 

[Dave Hahn]

Wrong.


Wrong.


Not necessary.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Will Krupp]

Thanks for the feedback!

For a different perspective, realize that some of the settings may be "setup" dependent so you may you want to experiment a little.

I'm a little confused as to which "output video resolution" you're using because (in the list above) number 2 says "Auto" and number 12 says "UHD" (Which I assume means 4K?) All I can say on that score is that I'm using the player with an LG Oled and I prefer to set it to "Auto" (which outputs blu-rays at 1080p) and let the TV's chip do the final lift to 4K. I find that forcing the player to output 4K results in a picture that feels artificial as compared to "Auto" but, again, you may want to try both to see which suits your setup better.

As for Cinema Conversion Mode, my take is a little different than Joel's in that I keep it on "Video" which has no conversion applied. I try to keep as little processing as possible from the player. Now, I will say that I don't ever use the x700 to watch upscaled DVD's since I don't think the upscaling chip is "great" on this player. I keep my older Sony for DVD's since I really really like the way the older one handles upscaling. Since I don't use it for DVD's and I have 24fps coming from the player and a 120hz panel, I'm not sure what it ever needs to convert to film cadence in the first place. You may want to try both to see which one gives you a better picture with your setup but I prefer the overall look of no conversion being applied.

To further muddy the issue, I never engage HDMI UHD Deep Color (on the player's port on the TV) unless I'm watching a UHD disc, and I actually keep my player's color output at 4:2:2. lol. All commercial blu-rays are only 4:2:0 anyway so, again, it comes down to which is better (your TV or your player) and recreating the "missing" color. 4:4:4 is important for gaming, but you shouldn't really notice any difference when watching discs and 4:4:4 eats a lot more unnecessary bandwidth between the player and the TV, IMO.

I hope this helps give a different perspective. I came here looking for answers as to why my player oftentimes doesn't want to play 1.0 channel mono through HDMI (even when set to PCM) and found your question!

 

[Dave Hahn]

For a different perspective, realize that some of the settings may be "setup" dependent so you may you want to experiment a little.

I'm a little confused as to which "output video resolution" you're using because (in the list above) number 2 says "Auto" and number 12 says "UHD" (Which I assume means 4K?) All I can say on that score is that I'm using the player with an LG Oled and I prefer to set it to "Auto" (which outputs blu-rays at 1080p) and let the TV's chip do the final lift to 4K. I find that forcing the player to output 4K results in a picture that feels artificial as compared to "Auto" but, again, you may want to try both to see which suits your setup better.

As for Cinema Conversion Mode, my take is a little different than Joel's in that I keep it on "Video" which has no conversion applied. I try to keep as little processing as possible from the player. Now, I will say that I don't ever use the x700 to watch upscaled DVD's since I don't think the upscaling chip is "great" on this player. I keep my older Sony for DVD's since I really really like the way the older one handles upscaling. Since I don't use it for DVD's and I have 24fps coming from the player and a 120hz panel, I'm not sure what it ever needs to convert to film cadence in the first place. You may want to try both to see which one gives you a better picture with your setup but I prefer the overall look of no conversion being applied.

To further muddy the issue, I never engage HDMI UHD Deep Color (on the player's port on the TV) unless I'm watching a UHD disc, and I actually keep my player's color output at 4:2:2. lol. All commercial blu-rays are only 4:2:0 anyway so, again, it comes down to which is better (your TV or your player) and recreating the "missing" color. 4:4:4 is important for gaming, but you shouldn't really notice any difference when watching discs and 4:4:4 eats a lot more unnecessary bandwidth between the player and the TV, IMO.

I hope this helps give a different perspective. I came here looking for answers as to why my player oftentimes doesn't want to play 1.0 channel mono through HDMI (even when set to PCM) and found your question!

Thanks a lot Will, I'm going to experiment as you suggest. Really appreciate your feedback!

 

[brynmill]

Bought and received my new X700 today. My first 4k disc to watch was REAR WINDOW. Disc and player froze 1hr 36m into the film. Had to unplug from the mains then replug in order to eject disc. Can see no sign of problem on the underside of the disc.

 

[JohnRice]

Bought and received my new X700 today. My first 4k disc to watch was REAR WINDOW. Disc and player froze 1hr 36m into the film. Had to unplug from the mains then replug in order to eject disc. Can see no sign of problem on the underside of the disc.

UHD discs are extremely prone to playback problems. It's actually common for them to have problems just from any residue on the surface of the disc left from manufacturing. So, I always thoroughly clean the front of every new disc with a microfiber cloth, wiping from center to edge, never in a circle. You only have to do it once with new discs. It seems to eliminate 99% of playback problems.

 

[brynmill]

thanks will do this

 

[Clinton McClure]

I use a Panny 420 and have yet to clean a single UHD fresh out of the case and they all play perfectly.

 

[Dave Hahn]

Bought and received my new X700 today. My first 4k disc to watch was REAR WINDOW. Disc and player froze 1hr 36m into the film. Had to unplug from the mains then replug in order to eject disc. Can see no sign of problem on the underside of the disc.

I've yet to experience this problem, although I have read that it is an issue.

 

[Brian L]

Bob Pariseau is a frequent poster at AVS and a beta tester for numerous manufacturers. His website has a detailed write up on the subject.

Quick Tip: Suffering Individual Disc Playback Freezes? Clean The Disc! — Bob Pariseau

When you try to play your latest, smash hit, movie disc, does your player "freeze up" part way through? Does this always seem to happen just as the movie gets to the GOOD part? Does it then ignore all your desperate efforts to get it

bobpariseau.com

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Bought and received my new X700 today. My first 4k disc to watch was REAR WINDOW. Disc and player froze 1hr 36m into the film. Had to unplug from the mains then replug in order to eject disc. Can see no sign of problem on the underside of the disc.

Sony UHD players are notorious for having lock-up issues. Make sure you install the latest firmware updates.

 

[JohnRice]

I use a Panny 420 and have yet to clean a single UHD fresh out of the case and they all play perfectly.

I originally got a couple cheap Philips UHD players and had problems, until I started cleaning the discs. Then I got a Panasonic 820 and haven't had any problems, but I'd already started the practice of cleaning new discs. I'd suggest just doing it, since it is a common problem. It takes 30 seconds, once, when the disc is new.

 

[WaltC3]

I use a Panny 420 and have yet to clean a single UHD fresh out of the case and they all play perfectly.

Ditto. I actually bought the X700 first, and had continuous problems with it. So many I cannot recall them all. I think I made a post in this forum somewhere back in '21 detailing my problems. Bought the Panasonic 420 and have yet to have a single problem with it! I thought I'd check in with the forum to see if anyone was having better luck with the Sony x700 4K these days--to see if Sony had managed to fix the software problems. Apparently, Sony has yet to fix these problems. Amazing. My former Sony BR player was great--never had a problem with it. The x700 4k is not in the same league. I'm really not trying to rain on this product--just relating my truthful experience with it. I have read posts by others that relate a problem-free experience with the Sony. How I wish I could have been in that category... Since the Panasonic does so well with 4k disc play and streaming, this is clearly not a problem that is native to all 4k players and media.

 

[Kaskade1309]

For a different perspective, realize that some of the settings may be "setup" dependent so you may you want to experiment a little.

I'm a little confused as to which "output video resolution" you're using because (in the list above) number 2 says "Auto" and number 12 says "UHD" (Which I assume means 4K?) All I can say on that score is that I'm using the player with an LG Oled and I prefer to set it to "Auto" (which outputs blu-rays at 1080p) and let the TV's chip do the final lift to 4K. I find that forcing the player to output 4K results in a picture that feels artificial as compared to "Auto" but, again, you may want to try both to see which suits your setup better.

That's strange that the unit, when selecting AUTO, sends Blu-rays out at their native resolution -- must be a Sony thing, because in every other player I have ever used, whether UHD or not, "AUTO" always selects the best resolution for the display connected (via HDMI handshakes) and then sends THAT resolution out, ultimately upscaling all resolutions below the native one. So 1080p Blu-rays get sent at 4K to the 4K display, as do 480i DVDs; in my experience, this has always been preferable to letting a display handle upconversion (though admittedly I never used an OLED, which is supposed to boast some good processing chops; I've always selected disc spinners known for their scaling abilities, a la Oppo and brands along those lines).

As for Cinema Conversion Mode, my take is a little different than Joel's in that I keep it on "Video" which has no conversion applied. I try to keep as little processing as possible from the player. Now, I will say that I don't ever use the x700 to watch upscaled DVD's since I don't think the upscaling chip is "great" on this player. I keep my older Sony for DVD's since I really really like the way the older one handles upscaling. Since I don't use it for DVD's and I have 24fps coming from the player and a 120hz panel, I'm not sure what it ever needs to convert to film cadence in the first place. You may want to try both to see which one gives you a better picture with your setup but I prefer the overall look of no conversion being applied.

To further muddy the issue, I never engage HDMI UHD Deep Color (on the player's port on the TV) unless I'm watching a UHD disc, and I actually keep my player's color output at 4:2:2. lol. All commercial blu-rays are only 4:2:0 anyway so, again, it comes down to which is better (your TV or your player) and recreating the "missing" color. 4:4:4 is important for gaming, but you shouldn't really notice any difference when watching discs and 4:4:4 eats a lot more unnecessary bandwidth between the player and the TV, IMO.

I hope this helps give a different perspective. I came here looking for answers as to why my player oftentimes doesn't want to play 1.0 channel mono through HDMI (even when set to PCM) and found your question!

The whole video processing/chroma/color depth scenario can go REALLY deep into the weeds if you want it to -- for what it's worth, I wouldn't personally switch the HDMI UHD Color setting on and off depending on what I'm watching. I keep it on for my UHD BD player input, always, so it can detect a 4K Blu-ray with HDR and behave appropriately. I haven't seen any issues with leaving this engaged on my Samsung display and then watching DVDs and regular Blu-rays through my 4K player.

As for the color space and depth, this gets, as I hinted at, very complicated very quickly, especially when talking about Panasonic UHD BD players because these units boast "superior" (according to the company) chroma upsampling when you leave certain settings in place -- in essence, I leave all these color space and color depth settings in my Panny UB9000 at "Auto," and leave a special setting called "12-Bit Priority" on Auto as well. What the "12-Bit Priority" does is check with the connected display if it can actually ACCEPT a 12-Bit signal on its HDMI port, and if so takes 8- and 10-Bit video signals from DVDs, Blu-rays and UHD Blu-rays and brings them up to 12-Bit (at 4:4:4 chroma, if, again, you set the Color Space to Panasonic's "YCbCr Auto" selection in the menu). This renders -- I can confirm -- Blu-rays and DVDs that are significantly richer-looking compared to any other player I've used in this new era of optical disc playback...even if the final SIGNAL won't be displayed by my flat panel in 12-Bit. The display can ACCEPT these signals but not necessarily SHOW them as such -- while there's a difference, the player is still operating at a "higher performance level" so to speak, making colors richer internally before sending them out to the connected display.

You can REALLY go down the rabbit hole with all this, but in essence, it's something I learned when I used to communicate with Oppo's technical staff via emails (when I owned a BDP-83 BD player), as their engineers used to advise me to keep the Deep Color selection on the player to "36-Bit" (which essentially acts like a 12-Bit choice on today's UHD decks) because it would allow the player to perform at a more enhanced level (even though my Sony rear projection set at the time couldn't EXHIBIT such color depth in raw form, if that makes some sense).

Some players -- such as the Panasonics -- do this better than others (the chroma upsampling, etc.), as I have found my first UHD BD deck, the Cambridge Audio CXUHD (basically an Oppo UDP-203 clone without analog outputs), didn't upsample color elements quite as effectively as the current DP-UB9000 I'm running.

 

[Kaskade1309]

Bob Pariseau is a frequent poster at AVS and a beta tester for numerous manufacturers. His website has a detailed write up on the subject.

Quick Tip: Suffering Individual Disc Playback Freezes? Clean The Disc! — Bob Pariseau

When you try to play your latest, smash hit, movie disc, does your player "freeze up" part way through? Does this always seem to happen just as the movie gets to the GOOD part? Does it then ignore all your desperate efforts to get it

bobpariseau.com

He also operates a home theater consulting business, and as something of an "Oppo expert," he confirmed for me, via COUNTLESS emails back and forth, what I attempted to explain about the way these players behave with regard to chroma and color space above.

 

[Will Krupp]

That's strange that the unit, when selecting AUTO, sends Blu-rays out at their native resolution -- must be a Sony thing, because in every other player I have ever used, whether UHD or not, "AUTO" always selects the best resolution for the display connected (via HDMI handshakes) and then sends THAT resolution out, ultimately upscaling all resolutions below the native one. So 1080p Blu-rays get sent at 4K to the 4K display, as do 480i DVDs

It's not strange at all. Dave was asking about the x700 and, since I have the same player, I was answering about my experience with THAT unit. The Sony x700 definitely has separate upscaling settings for 2K and 4K. When playing 2K blu-rays, AUTO in "output resolution" selects the best resolution UP TO 1080p. It's not technically sending the native resolution (the x800 can do that, not the x700), it's sending 1080p which, coincidentally, is also the native resolution. 4K upscaling is a separate setting, giving the end user the choice of "where" the final lift to 4K is done. No matter the upscale settings, 4K discs are sent to the display in their native resolution.

in my experience, this has always been preferable to letting a display handle upconversion (though admittedly I never used an OLED, which is supposed to boast some good processing chops; I've always selected disc spinners known for their scaling abilities, a la Oppo and brands along those lines).

The OLED is a different animal entirely from displays I've used previously.

The x700 has two settings for 4K upscaling: AUTO 1 and AUTO 2. AUTO 1 checks to see whether or not you have a Sony display connected to your player and, if so, lets the Sony TV do the final lift. If not, the player does it. AUTO 2 always does the final lift at the player regardless of the connected brand. Sony trusts its own TVs to do a better job of 4K upscaling than its players.

I'm sharing my experience with the Sony x700 and an LG OLED (C9) and I don't claim it to be true of any other setup.

 

[Kaskade1309]

It's not strange at all. Dave was asking about the x700 and, since I have the same player, I was answering about my experience with THAT unit. The Sony x700 definitely has separate upscaling settings for 2K and 4K. When playing 2K blu-rays, AUTO in "output resolution" selects the best resolution UP TO 1080p. It's not technically sending the native resolution (the x800 can do that, not the x700), it's sending 1080p which, coincidentally, is also the native resolution. 4K upscaling is a separate setting, giving the end user the choice of "where" the final lift to 4K is done. No matter the upscale settings, 4K discs are sent to the display in their native resolution.

What I meant by "strange" is that, as I stated, every single player I have ever used or owned applies an AUTO resolution setting to mean every resolution below the max supported/put out by the player is upscaled to that higher rez (while native rez is put out as-is). I've never seen a player do what you described, nor did I ever experience one that allowed for 2K and 4K adjustments separately as they relate to scaling.

This is why I said "must be a Sony thing."

The OLED is a different animal entirely from displays I've used previously.

The x700 has two settings for 4K upscaling: AUTO 1 and AUTO 2. AUTO 1 checks to see whether or not you have a Sony display connected to your player and, if so, lets the Sony TV do the final lift. If not, the player does it. AUTO 2 always does the final lift at the player regardless of the connected brand. Sony trusts its own TVs to do a better job of 4K upscaling than its players.

I'm sharing my experience with the Sony x700 and an LG OLED (C9) and I don't claim it to be true of any other setup.

I wasn't accusing you of claiming this applies to every setup; was just sharing my experience with regard to letting players do the upscaling versus letting a display do the work.