What is the best 4k player outside of the Oppo? (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Consensus seems to be that the Panasonic 820 is the best overall player at the moment.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I just received a 10% off a single item coupon from Best Buy, so I'm considering pulling the trigger on a Panasonic 820 as an upgrade to my Sony X800, which doesn't support Dolby Vision. The added reward points on my BB credit card should also net me a couple of free UHD titles, as well.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Well, so much for buying the Panny 820 with the Best Buy 10% coupon. The fine print had some exclusions that eliminated this item from being eligible. I can wait awhile longer.

 

[Osato]

Well, so much for buying the Panny 820 with the Best Buy 10% coupon. The fine print had some exclusions that eliminated this item from being eligible. I can wait awhile longer.

That sucks!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

That sucks!

Yeah, the number of restrictions listed in the small print of the coupon was almost as long as the list of side effects published in pharmaceutical advertisements. Why offer a coupon and then not let the customer use it?

 

[Osato]

Yeah, the number of restrictions listed in the small print of the coupon was almost as long as the list of side effects published in pharmaceutical advertisements. Why offer a coupon and then not let the customer use it?

Best Buy......

Losing to amazon for 20+ years....

 

[TonyD]

Those Best Buy 10% coupons have been the biggest joke for years.
They have so many restrictions that they are rendered useLess and are really just to get you in the store.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I was able to use a BB 10% coupon when I purchased my Sony X800 UHD player early last year, as that one only had a few restrictions. This one, though, had so many caveats that I wondered if there was anything in the store I would actually be able to use it for.

 

[Osato]

Any good deals on UHd blu ray players for Black Friday?

$150 was the lowest I saw

 

[dpippel]

I'd wager that's probably about as low as they'll go this year.

 

[Osato]

I'd wager that's probably about as low as they'll go this year.

I’m at least another year out. Next generation players will develop and the 007 films will come out in 20.

 

[John Dirk]

I’m at least another year out. Next generation players will develop and the 007 films will come out in 20.

Yea but I would tell you to be careful. Don't buy a player just because it is marketed as 4K UHD. The Oppo [and recent Panasonic] models prove that not all UHD players are equal. My advice would be to buy the one that checks all of your boxes first time around, regardless of price.

 

[Osato]

Yea but I would tell you to be careful. Don't buy a player just because it is marketed as 4K UHD. The Oppo [and recent Panasonic] models prove that not all UHD players are equal. My advice would be to buy the one that checks all of your boxes first time around, regardless of price.

Sony has a decent player as well?

I will get serious in a year or so.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Sony has a decent player as well?

I will get serious in a year or so.

I thought there have been some issues with Sony players.

 

[Matt Hough]

I thought there have been some issues with Sony players.

There have been, no question about it. I bought a Sony X-700 on deep discount several months ago to use as my primary player and let my Philips be my back-up. I was edgy knowing what trouble folks have had with their Sonys, but I have to say that so far, my Sony has been a champ and I haven't had a single problem with it. Yes, it is a pain to turn on Dolby Vision when I play a disc that has it, but that's been the only negative so far.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I thought there have been some issues with Sony players.

The Sony X700 supports Dolby Vision, but you have to turn the feature on/off manually -- that's a show stopper for me. I own the older X800 model, which is more solidly built and includes support for SACD and DVD-Audio discs (the X700 only plays SACD). However, it doesn't support Dolby Vision.

I planned to upgrade to the Panasonic UB820 player for Dolby Vision support, but spending the $500 for the player hasn't been a priority for me just to get that one feature. Open box units show up at Best Buy -- I almost pulled the trigger on a deal for one through Best Buy's eBay storefront during a one-day eBay discount day last month (cost was about $380), but we were heading out of town for 2+ weeks and I didn't want to deal with getting someone to pick up the package from my front porch.

 

[dpippel]

The Sony X700 supports Dolby Vision, but you have to turn the feature on/off manually -- that's a show stopper for me.

If you enable DV playback on this player, does it disable it every time power is cycled?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

If you enable DV playback on this player, does it disable it every time power is cycled?

Don't know. However, when it is enabled, it outputs everything in Dolby Vision, whether it's encoded in that format or not.

 

[dpippel]

Don't know. However, when it is enabled, it outputs everything in Dolby Vision, whether it's encoded in that format or not.

Well that's a pretty dumb implementation. I can see why you're not considering it.

 

[meli]

I haven't been following closely, but it seems that some of these players (such as the Panasonic 820) are just now becoming readily available. But won't we see a new batch of players just two months from now at CES?