SONY UBP-X700 4K ULTRAHD BLU-RAY PLAYER REVIEW & SETUP | DOLBY VISION & GREAT VALUE!

[@JeffRauseo]

UPDATE: I have talked to Sony about this player. While the player display menu does show HDR10 content as being displayed in HDR, not Dolby Vision, the player is in fact converting all HDR sources to Dolby Vision HDR when that setting is turned on. You can confirm this via your TV display settings, which will show Dolby Vision. In short, you should NOT leave that setting On at all times. Apologies for the mix up there. However, Sony has stated that this conversion should have little to no effect on your final image, and at worst, will make it slightly brighter. They do not see this as an issue, because everyone adjusts their own brightness levels on their TVs to begin with, so anyone who has calibrated a TV to their liking may not notice this conversion. I would be in this camp, as standard Blu-ray content and 4K discs with HDR10 have looked largely the same here as they do on another player which is not Dolby Vision capable. That being said, I will make sure to turn that setting On/Off depending on the disc I am reviewing. To date, this would have only affected 2 of my 4K reviews (Do the Right Thing, and Tremors), as this did not become my "daily player" until late December 2020 as I was testing it against my previous Panasonic player. The rest of my reviews in this time period were on discs with Dolby Vision, so there would be no discrepancy there.

[@helliot666]

That's the one I got! My first 4K player, so I learn that you must be careful with the littlest particle of dust (that's what causes the freezing) I'm using an LG screen, and great interaction (more than with my regular LG BR player)

[@jacobbeeson2983]

Region free?

[@DDay336]

I'm waiting for the price to go back down to $150.

[@helliot666]

@@jacobbeeson2983 not from factory, it's Region A locked. And tutorials to unlock the DVD region for other Sony models doesn't work on this one so far.

[@jamesmarcin4787]

I have had this model since 2018, works great and no problems😃👍

[@antiparrot2483]

Side note as someone that owns this player, don’t leave Dolby vision on all the time because if you do then it applies Dolby vision to 4k discs that don’t have it, or even blu rays and DVDs that obviously don’t have any hdr capabilities. It’s annoying you gotta turn it on for Dolby vision stuff and off for stuff that isn’t, but for a player at that price point it’s only a minor inconvenience. For reference I own an lg b9 tv so maybe it’s a different story for Sony tv’s.

[@ronvitale]

I was watching the video and had the same thought and wanted to add this comment but you beat me to it! I’ve had the player for 2 years now and you definitely Only want Dolby Vision on when you’re playing a Dolby Vision disc and not all the time.

[@jimd385]

Agreed, makes some 4k discs look awful, good thing it can be switched off, my Panasonic 4k player couldn’t.

[@ciscodlc7868]

They could have made Dolby vision setting auto but that may have bumped up the price.

[@marlowe1537]

I've had this player for about a year and a half and this is very annoying. Jeff's statement that you only have to do this once is just incorrect; you need to turn it on for discs in Dolby Vision and then turn it off for HDR 10 or SDR discs. However, it's my only major complaint with the player itself. (Well, it lacks a display, but almost all players do now. And the remote, which is identical to one I had with an older Sony Blu-ray player, stinks; too many hard to distinguish buttons on too small a surface.)

[@jimd385]

@@marlowe1537 Star Wars/Empire strikes Back/Return of theJedi look drab and horrible in 4k on Disney+ and it’s the same on 4k disc. But this player allows me to switch off HDR, now those movies look amazing in UHD on disc. (It makes me think that either my tv is just bad at HDR or the format just isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?)

[@lowinyl]

Man, I really like your channel. Perfectly easy to understand language - for non-native english speaker like me. Great content, nice overall. Greetings from Poland!

[@chrisd6736]

I have the 800- it seems to work pretty darn well. It also plays super audio CDs which is pretty neat, especially if you have surround sound!

[@joker927]

Purchased this in 2018 and still recommend it to everyone in 2022. Super cheap and never had a problem.

[@toneriggz]

Recently purchased this one. So far, so good. I know a lot of people swear by Panasonic but I wanted to try the cheaper alternative first. If it conks out on me, then I’ll consider one of the more expensive ones.

[@scrotiemcboogerballs2133]

Would you still recommend the Sony x700 4K Blu-ray player?

[@danieltoh71]

Thanks for the Dolby Vision tip. I had this player for more than a year and this function was OFF. Now my standard blu-ray disc has been upscale to HDR. They look great!

[@superstew79]

The Panasonic 820 is the player to get 👌🏻 I’ve had it since launch which will be 3yrs this year and I’ve never had a issue and think it’s incredible

[@Kevinesrealitychannel]

I agree 100%. I had the Samsung, Sony and Panasonic UB820. The Sony was a glitchy piece of junk. It would freeze up my whole system and I had to unplug and restart everything all the time. The Sony x700 also needed a firmware update when I bought it for it to do Dolby Vision just like the x800m. The original x800 still doesn't do Dolby Vision it was the second year with the m added. The Panasonic blows away the picture on this player. He needs to put them side by side with the same movie and he'll see what we're talking about. But if you don't have anything to compare it to it's going to look great to you. I guess as long as he's happy but I wouldn't recommend that player to anyone mine went into the dumpster.

[@superstew79]

@@Kevinesrealitychannel my first was the Samsung 4K player that came with my tv and it was ok, it convinced me of 4k. But I was always thinking I need to get a player that’s gonna push my tv to it’s limits and blow me away. I was gonna get the Panasonic 900 but just as I was looking into it I heard new models was coming and waited for the 820, so glad I did as it blew the Samsung out of the water

[@droopdiggity]

Agree. I love my 820, and it was worth every cent even if it is a little on the expensive side.

[@4gbmeans4gb61]

How did you guys hook it up with a sound bar? Do I just hook player to sound bar then sound bar to tv? Or player right to the tv? I heard using arc hdmi, that it compresses sound like atmos and doesn’t sound as good. What is best way for best picture and sound?

[@speedracer1945]

@@Kevinesrealitychannel I agee , he should compare items .

[@fh346]

Sir, THIS Video (Compared to MANY Others on Y/T) Has Been MORE Helpful and informative than ANYONE Else is!!! YOU Sir do what Others Claim or Say. Thank You Again!!!!

[@richardvacanti4265]

Just got one for reduced price for Black Friday then for open box. And everything was fine. .$99.99 at Best Buy.😀 very happy with the product thank you for reviewing it because I didn’t know if it was a good product or not

[@allfacts19]

How is it working out?

[@TheFikfreak]

100 bucks lol lucky I'm here because I was looking for it but it's 270 where I live😢

[@Tom55data]

With regard to skips/freezing , this might be people not having high enough specification HDMI cables - with data transfer rates exceeding the cable capabilities.

[@melissalayson7275]

I've heard about that. That Sony's 4K players have more skipping and freezing issues compared to there standard blu-ray players. That why I went through Panasonic UB-420 4K Blu-ray player instead. It works very well with Sony X90J 4K TV.

[@Rockapotamus91]

Dolby vision output will force DV on everything even if you only have HDR10 discs. It will have to be turned on/off manually depending on the disc.

[@MariachiBro]

I bought this player like 2 years ago and its still going strong! Really works well with my vizio 4k tv. Except I got it a little cheaper in price. Like $150 I believe.

[@geminisundone]

I bought this 4k blu ray player for £100 here in England, 2nd hand, and ive had no issues so far. Brilliant player. Obviously i turn Dolby vision off unless im playing a movie disc that has it. Also keep it on upscale Auto 2 for my standard blu rays. It upscales great but so does my tv. Love it.

[@gorillapancake]

A tip for the upscaling settings: Auto 1 - Up-scales all to 1080p Auto 2 - Up-scales all to 4K Off - No up-scaling

[@gorillapancake]

@ZombieKohhi There's no definitive answer. The TV might upscale better than the player and vice versa. Try both on and off and see which looks better.

[@marvelvsdc6611]

I’ve had this player for 2 years and had no issues...I’m using Sony STRDH790 receiver, Polk VT60 in ceiling speakers, along with Klipsch R100sw sub paired to Samsung 8 series 75in 4K tv (wish it was a Sony but couldn’t pass up the sale price of $1000!)-this setup works perfectly for me and my media room...theater quality experience every time!

[@certified_street_photographers]

ok! I have the same Receiver and speaker and a klipsch subwoofer. lol and planning to get this blu ray player

[@MartinAdrianoFlores]

Had a bunch of issues with this model, freezing, couldn’t get Dolby vision to work properly. Returned it and picked up a Panasonic player and love it.

[@AlexanderChapin]

..Which Panasonic model?

[@djd0118]

I had the freezing issue as well but it happened after about a year of flawless playback.. (just 4ks, everything else is fine) Also went with Panasonic, the UB820 and haven't regretted it. (Not having to manually switch in and out of dolbyvision any more is so gratifying)

[@MartinAdrianoFlores]

@@AlexanderChapin went with the UB420. Was on sale and have been happy without Dolby vision.

[@VajiraLasantha]

Yep, same here. Got myself a UB450.

[@BearInvesting]

I also had freezing issues on mine and returned it. Changed to Panasonic UB 820 and have had no issues on over 10 4k's and regular blurays and no need to switch Dolby Vision on and off it does it automatically.

[@DoctorHades]

I ditched Sony BD players after experiencing disc freezing issues with DVDs, BDs and 4K UHD BDs on two different Sony BDP-X800 4K UHD BD players. The issue was not with the discs, since they played fine on the second attempt, but with the way the player would completely freeze and not respond to the remote, requiring me to unplug the player at the mains to be able to use it again! It didn't happen often but when it did it was annoying. The nail in the coffin though was random HDMI handshaking issues with my LG B9 TV that required me to turn the TV off then on several times to get the player's Home menu to display. I decided just before Christmas to treat myself to a decent Dolby Vision player, something the X800 could not handle, so I bought a Panasonic DP-UB820 player and it has been awesome. No handshaking issues at all, using the same HDMI port and cable as the Sony X800 player, and absolutely flawless disc playback with NO freezes at all. The only things I have against this player is thec cheap plastic construction (in comparison the X800 is built like a tank with its mostly metal frame) and its poorly designed and sluggish user interface for the meagre selection of built-in apps but since I use KZbin, NetFlix, Disney+ etc on my TV this is not a big deal. What put me off the X700 player was it's poor implementation of Dolby Vision which requires the user to enable and disable it depending on whether the disc supports it or not. If you leave Dolby Vision on as you suggested in your review then all HDR discs will be output as Dolby Vision whether it supports it or not!!! Considering how difficult is to tell if a 4K disc even supports Dolby Vision then this is not only a baffling decision (if Panasonic can do it then why can't Sony?) but one that means many less informed people will be using it for movies that actually do not support this HDR format. Sony really have become a bit too complacent with their disc players in recent years in my opinion and having experienced the issues I had with the X800 I personally would not recommend them at all.

[@chrisstafford3174]

I bought this player unlocked and region-free from 220-electronics at the start of quarantine and I absolutely love it, If u r a physical media collector you really must go region-free if you want all titles to be available to u. Cant recommend this player enough

[@a-v-karin7617]

Also you can force dolby vision on most hdr and sdr content and it looks a lot better with little women and gods of egypt for example.

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

@@a-v-karin7617 Really? You leave the Dolby Vision on all the time even with HDR content? I will have to try this

[@a-v-karin7617]

@@bigmacfullerton7870 it won't look good on everything but will on the movies I mentioned. Generally if a movie has a digital dolby vision pass it generally looks identical color wise when forcing dolby vision on hdr content. It did not work with a new hope and independence day 2. From my testing it improves 47 meters down uncaged which is only available in 4k dolby vision digitally the same applies for little women 2019 as well. For hdr content try gods of egypt, a league of their own and pacific rim. You will see an improvement. Like I said it will not work with everything.

[@richellebrittain2127]

I didn't get mine region-free because region-free 4K players are still significantly more expensive (though I bought a region-free 3D player from 220 in the past) and all 4K discs are SUPPOSED to be region-free. (I still have an old Sherwood player, still with hackable firmware, that I currently use for region-locked regular Blu-rays; I'm reserving the 220 player for use with my old 3D TV, or if the Sherwood conks out which at its age is very much possible.) However, as Jeff pointed out a few videos back a few region-locked 4K discs have since come out despite violating 4K Blu-ray standards. There's a good chance my next 4K player will be a region-free unit, probably from 220 again.

[@notesscrotes4360]

My mom got me this for Christmas, and it works great. Plays SACDs, too, which is amazing at this price.

[@6373billy]

I bought the Panasonic dp-ub820 player not that long ago. It's fantastic. It has HDR10+ and Dolby Vision with terrific 4K upscaling for both blu ray & DVDs. Never had a problem with and the sound decoders are phenomenal. It has settings you can adjust like the hdr and audio while you watch the movie and gives specific information on the color spectrum of the film.

[@ACCAMP]

You're right and the price is CAD$498 Black Friday to Cyber Monday 2021! Not cheap Bro.

[@chrissyboy7047]

Hey Jeff. Recent subscriber here. Love the 4k reviews. I was looking at these players and did a youtube search and found your review. Ordered one right away and it arrived today. So far I have been very impressed. Good recommendation

[@johnjohnsnowto5267]

I got this player as a gift for my birthday. It is awesome! The upscaling looks great too. Some of my dvds that I have even look great on it

[@fareesiman5548]

Hey great to hear that, are u using auto1 or auto2 for the upscaling settings and what tv are u using?

[@xusiaxod6255]

I think if you leave the Dolby Vision set to 'on' it will try and play all discs with DV. When i play non DV discs the TV still reports DV instead of HDR. I think you need to turn it on or off depending on the disc otherwise why doesn't it have an 'auto' option like all the other options, switching on when it detects a DV disk and off when not??

[@tjyukuri5371]

I have the same 4K-player and LG C9 for TV, and if Dolby Vision Output is set On on the Sony UBP-X700 the TV will receive DV-signal always and change the settings accordingly. It doesn't look too bad if you watch standard HDR-material, but still very wrong, and even good old regular blu-rays are converted horribly to Dolby Vision. So you have to make sure the disc has Dolby Vision on it and only then turn it On on the player, and that is the only (although very annoying!) downside of Sony UBP-X700.

[@xusiaxod6255]

You are correct.

[@craigrix2705]

Jeff been giving us false reviews keeping dolby vision on constantly. I own the same player for 2 years and knew this had to be changed depending on the disc

[@TheKibbles2005]

Was checking the reviews online but couldn’t find anything substantial. By then I saw my boy Jeff had a review for this! Just ordered it

[@marcoayo]

I've this player and it is awesome for the price point . It also play SACD and DSD audio multichannel (great for 200 euro) . Chassis is not "audiophile" but it can play all BD formats and SACD very well. It is recommended for all kind of setup : from normal AV (player and TV) to a pro HT setup with Dolby Atmos etc...

[@arturo4673]

I bought this player in October of last year and has been worth every penny! Solid deal!

[@jimmysmitskarate]

I bought one of these in the UK 🇬🇧 and had issues with it freezing on a few discs. I read online that this was a well known issue with this particular Sony model. The other thing with the Sony was that Dolby Vision had to be turned on manually and once it was on, it was on for anything that was put into it, so even SD 1080 blu-rays were output in Dolby Vision. I returned it for a Panasonic DP-UB450. I’ve not had the Panny long but so far, so good and Dolby Vision is automatically engaged for those discs that need it.

[@xenozillarex1518]

OMG I had no idea about needing the Dolby vision output on, I’ve been watching 4K discs with this weird brown filter and this instantly fixed it so thank you so much!

[@xenozillarex1518]

Somewhat an update after 4 months I now understand that you only have to turn it on with Dolby vision compatible 4K discs, I currently only need it on for King Kong (2005) special edition, Godzilla King of the monsters, clover field, and all the Jurassic Park and World movies but all my other 4K, Blu Ray, and DVD’s work perfectly fine with it off

[@LILGHETTI]

I'm planning to get X800 M2 because it has Bluetooth so I can connect headphones, it also supports dolby vision and Atmos!

[@felixlutticken5694]

I have the 800 m2, it's a really nice blu ray player and looks nice with my old Harman Kardon AVR. The only problem i had so far was that I had to buy a premium high speed HDMI cable as I got a few freezes with a normal high speed HDMI cable, but now it works perfectly and the Image quality is amazing 👍

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

The cheaper one does Dolby Vision Atmos and DTS-X too

[@gabtand]

Actually, I have as well a Sony UBP - X1100ES Blu Ray player since last year I took it online in February, and I bought a few 4K disks in Dolby Vision, but all I saw was the HDR sign shown on screen at the beginning of the movies and I always said why is not in Dolby Vision. Last night after watching this video I made the correct settings for Dolby Vision after several minutes of trial and error, thanks to your video. I really appreciate your efforts to do this video! Well done, good job!

[@EverythingShakes]

I've had good experiences with Sony devices for the most part. Nice review man.

[@jimmyjones8501]

Ps4 best Sony product I’ve ever bought

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

I have had great luck with Sony products my whole life. This player was the first Sony product that I have ever returned but they got the bugs out and the new player works so good I ended up buying another for another TV. I was going to go Panasonic but it's like $400 to get something that may actually look better. I paid $300 for two of the Sony players.

[@EverythingShakes]

@@bigmacfullerton7870Excellent! I actually bought a Panasonic lol, but it was only because I got a great black friday deal.

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

@@EverythingShakes I would rather have the Panasonic especially the one with that killer processor but it's pricey

[@parrisprice5892]

@@jimmyjones8501 my PS3 Blu-ray player quit,I've had the same issue with PS1 too. It's like their not built to last

[@eddiecfloyd3512]

I just grabbed this player. It still out shines a lot to the newer players.

[@lorenzoamer8456]

Dude, I bought two of these players. First one kept freezing, and my replacement kept looking like a NES game (ergo huge pixels) and still froze more often than a nudist beach on the North Pole.

[@JeffRauseo]

Didn’t have that experience 🤷‍♂️ I guess maybe they have a problem with lemon devices.

[@malcolmhewison9744]

I also have had issues with my player, every now and then freezing and maybe skipping but for the most part I’m happy with it

[@stingraytf2]

If you do not use the right HDMI cable, you will get problems like that. In addition, if you feed your BD player through a sound bar or older AV receiver you will also have freeze problems.

[@redrooster1908]

@@stingraytf2 I split the HDMI outputs. One with the audio and video to the TV. The other one that's just audio to the Denon AVR. It won't show the OSD, but you can see that on the AVR. The Denon is a 2014 model.

[@scottstark5528]

Just purchased this model two weeks ago. While I still don't have a 4k tv yet, coming soon, I have been buying 4k disc since late last year and every disc so far has Dolby Vision.I love the fact this plays just about every recent disc format produced as I own physical media of all formats. The price has jumped in the last 18 months as it cost me $219.00 from Best Buy.

[@balladofthebroken7569]

I got mine for 150 at Best Buy over the holidays. I love it

[@jarrodkingsley6242]

I bought this player 2 years ago and it’s great! I’ve only ever had issues with one disc skipping/ freezing and it was about 5 seconds of The Hobbit Battle of The Five Armies Extended Edition. Not sure if this was a disc malfunction or the player but other than that one specific instance I’ve never had a problem with this player and I’d recommend it to others

[@marcusf7710]

I had the same thing on my PS4! Was it right before the final battle starts?

[@gregorjanc2044]

Sony 4k players do have this problem. .sorry.. But I am going away from sony 4k player...and buying panasonic

[@davidnorth-martino]

I got the X700 in 2019 on Black Friday for $128.00! A crazy deal that I don't think will be repeated again. It was my catalyst for creating a budget 4k home theater room. I've never had a problem with it. Unless something changed, you have to turn Dolby Vision off when watching non-Dolby content. That's a pain, but even at $180, this player is well worth it.

[@travisspazz1624]

Hey it's my 4K player! Great upscale, Dolby Vision, and affordable!

[@MaximumMadnessStixon]

I bought one of these when I got my 4K TV and had a peculiar issue with it. I'm not very technical, so I'll do my best to explain. For a while, it would constantly lose the signal when trying to play regular Blu-Ray discs. It'd play DVD's and 4K discs perfectly fine. But there was a good 50% chance that the second you put a Blu-Ray in, the TV would lose the player's signal when it tried to play the disc. The only way to fix it was to open and shut the tray several times until the signal finally went through. This didn't happen when I first got the player... it just sort-of spontaneously started a few months later. But lately, it seems to be happening less and less. (In fact, I don't think it's happened in a good 3 weeks or so.) So maybe it was just an issue that got squashed in an update, I guess? Other than that, it's a great player, though. Really nice and affordable. Anyone else have this issue?

[@ΧαρηςΚ-ο1ρ]

same here.has it happened again on yours?how s it holding up after these years?

[@kyloryan5144]

You’re right about keeping players as same make as tv - I recommend that w soundbars too. In my experience they play nicer together...

[@robertholmes8917]

I agree. I am in the middle of a Sony set up and this player will be part of it

[@lucasanderson9209]

I think it’s a lot like the TV lottery as they say. I got this model and the first 4K I put in it froze and had to restart the player. Upgraded to the Panny 820 just because I haven’t seen any reviewers having issues with it. Glad you got a good player and hope it stays that way Jeff! Great review as always boss!

[@JeffRauseo]

Fingers crossed. But that’s why I mentioned the problems in the video. It does seem like they have a bit of a lemon problem.

[@fredp8388]

You have to turn Dolby Vision off when not playing Dolby Vision content.

[@weldsmoke1]

They updated that you don't have to do that anymore

[@marlonrobalino]

@@weldsmoke1 are you sure about that?

[@YusufPiskin]

@@weldsmoke1 i Don't think so!!!

[@weldsmoke1]

Before if you didn't turn it off and you watch HDR content it would the colors would look really washed out. But now even if I leave it on with HDR content I don't notice that anymore. I will do some more tests tonight and get back to you

[@YusufPiskin]

@@weldsmoke1 Hi Sir.. What is your software version?

[@boxinghomer512]

I have this player as well. It's a good option. But you should do some comparisons on your TV by playing an HDR 10 disk with the Dolby Vision settings set to on and off. If you activate the Dolby Vision mode on the X700, everything you play on the player is output to your TV behind a Dolby Vision flag. Even standard dynamic range HD Blu-rays and DVDs are presented to your TV as Dolby Vision sources. This triggers your TV to go into Dolby Vision playback mode, resulting in pictures that may look much brighter than they’re supposed to. My Vizio M658-G1 TV does show as playing Dolby Vision content when watch an HDR 10 movie. I did notice that playing an HDR 10 disk with Dolby Vision on did change the picture quality for me, something just looks off about it. This could vary TV by TV, but you might want to do some comparisons to see if anything looks different with the settings on and off.

[@RK-jp4xe]

The player is at a great price especially having DV support. However mine was very glitchy and I replaced it. Hopefully better experiences for others.

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

My first one had all kinds of problems. Right before the year warranty was up I sent it in and they sent me a new player that works great. I read they got the bugs out so I bought another for a second TV. At $150 you really can't beat this thing when it's playing right.

[@Kevinesrealitychannel]

It's garbage

[@emilyvilleneuve9315]

I picked this player up for $120 around Black Friday and have been VERY happy with this player! The only thing I prefer on my PS4 Pro is the blu-ray upscaling to 4K.

[@timgrzankowski9267]

One negative I’ve heard about always leaving the Dolby vision set to on is that it will output everything in Dolby vision mode, including discs that don’t natively support Dolby vision. It’ll also output normal SDR blu rays in Dolby vision too, which is not good. Do you have this issue? It was between this player and the LG UBK 90 for me (which automatically detects correct hdr/sdr settings) so I went with the lg instead. Great video otherwise though!

[@timothybyrne4350]

Yes! I found with mine that I have to turn off Dolby Vision for any disc other than 4k. Otherwise there are a lot of picture artifacts.

[@timothybyrne4350]

I also have the Sony TV and sound bar.

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

That's why this player is only $150

[@Franksmediaandreviews]

Just recently got the Panasonic UB820. Was using the Xbox One X and the Xbox Series X as my 4k player. There's definitely a difference an I'm glad I spent the extra money for a dedicated player.

[@dandaigle007]

I bought the Panasonic UB420 and it's one of the best line ups out there! UB900, 9000. So many great settings and especially if you have a projector there's some nice features for that. No regrets 👍.

[@reeceanthony5574]

Panasonic have better players would never buy a sony,, tv's included

[@dandaigle007]

@@reeceanthony5574 I wouldn't go that far lol.. They have some nice tv's for sure. But I do enjoy the Panasonic 4K player much more. 😉👍

[@allenkutter5286]

Does the ub420 support dolby vision?

[@reeceanthony5574]

@@allenkutter5286 no ub420 only hdr10 and 10+ ub 820 has dolby version and hdr10+ all the hdr formats with faster loading times then the 420

[@allenkutter5286]

@@reeceanthony5574 thank you. I think i'm gonna get upgrade to am 820 soon.

[@tiborhorvath1702]

I’m enjoying the player. The reason you don’t get freezing in your player is because you don’t have it connected to the internet. I was getting freezing in mine, then I did a factory reset with the Ethernet cable removed and got a blue ray disc cleaner by dr clean (which is apparently the best on the market) and used that and my discs not only play better but the 4K player itself is much quieter! Before it was loud.

[@killerch33z]

I recently returned this Player because it had freezing issues.

[@awkwardsilence4427]

Did that extend to sound distortions by chance?

[@dereklufkin6371]

I bought this in 2017. Great disc player and video player via USB. Supports DTS-HD from MKV if you switch audio settings to DTS. If you enable Dolby Vision, it plays all blu-rays in DV which is kind of weird. Downside with Sony such as this and PS4, Wifi only detects 2.6ghz and not 5ghz signal.

[@balosi]

If you bought this in 2017 it may be the 700 model. According to a Sony Rep, the 700m model came out in 2021.

[@Ravelle_]

I have this exact one and does its job as a 4K player, it's a little bit loud and barebones UI wise but otherwise pretty happy with it. I have a LG smart TV so I don't use the apps like KZbin or Netflix but would be nice to have more apps available like Disney/Prime etc.

[@jdraven0890]

First off, love your channel. Bought this same player for same reason, paired it with my 2015 Sony 65X850D. I regret not getting a Sony receiver last time around, it's just better to stay within brand. With my old Blu-Ray player, DVDs looked awful on the 4K TV. With a good 4K player, the upscaling is good enough that I no longer feel I need to replace all my DVDs. I've had this player for over a year, and no issues whatsoever with freezing or skipping on discs (fingers crossed). Indeed, it doesn't have full streaming capabilities, but my TV streams really well - so it's only necessary for one connected device to be able to do that.

[@rpimjada1549]

I have the same player. Never thought about removing apps to make it faster. That tip makes sense. Thank you. BTW I only experienced disc stuttering with 4k Godzilla. Everything else ran fine. Must be the disc.

[@johnbarnett2804]

Just last week I got a LG - Streaming 4K Ultra HD UBK90 from Best Buy. I had it for 1 day and returned it the next day. The menu was terrible , The operating system that ran it was so stripped down that it felt more like a $50 player instead of a $199 player. I returned it and Got the Sony UBP-X700. I thought about the X800 but the only real difference was it had Bluetooth. I new I should have went with the Sony in the first place, My old one was a Sony and it lasted about 5 years. It was getting prone to freezing up if you paused it for more then a few min and the only way to recover from it was unplug it and plug it back in, even the power button on the player didn't respond. Anyway, Yeah, The SONY UBP-X700 is worth the money. I'd recommend it in a heart beat.

[@findJLF]

Great review Jeff. This is the only 4K player I own and I purchased it due to it's excellent price. However I've had audio drop outs across a range of discs and with one movie we had a complete pause/freeze. I think there's an issue with the memory capacity in this machine, because if you re-start the disc (resume) then it works fine. Overall it's a good machine however I still think there's an element of "you get what you pay for".

[@Sevaz826]

I got the sony ubp-x700 2 years ago for $60 bucks I'm very happy with it no issues at all. It works perfectly fine with my sony f900.

[@VajiraLasantha]

Wait until it starts freezing in a middle of a movie. Returned mine and got a UB450.

[@vernonspiker6629]

Hey jeff i have same player and just for kicks, turn off the dolby vision and play with the video settings (this menu is only available when dolby vision is turned off) and see how u like ur picture when uve customized it this way. With DV off hit "options" button while movie is playing and ull see "video settings" is available. Play with it a bit and see if u like ur pic better than what DV offers. I prefer this method. Good luck

[@andrewguzman7694]

Just out of curiosity would this be a better player than the one i have on my x-box one s cause that is my current player

[@craigrix2705]

Dedicated 4k disc player will always beat the ps or xbox as a player pal

[@mattakadanja]

Xone s does not support Dolby vision on 4K uhd Blu-ray Discs.

[@themodelbench]

I’ve been really enjoying your channel over the last week so I bought a 4K player and it’s this one! Just found your review.. :) keep up the good work..

[@themorg3300]

I think the HDR features on the Panasonic’s are a game changer. Loving my UB-820. Sony is pretty solid but the ability to change the HDR specs made it a no brainer for me. More expensive for sure though. Big downside at $499 but got mine during Black Friday for $349. Great video, keep them up!

[@jebo4jc]

Yep, for somebody who knows what they're doing, the Panny's are a powerful tool. For people who basically set it and forget it and don't want to learn about HDR settings, something like the Sony will fit the bill nicely

[@richellebrittain2127]

One more issue I haven't seen addressed in the comments: Though this player does have apps if connected to the Internet (mine is), all the apps are built into the firmware; you can't download more like most streaming players & smart TVs. It does come with Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Vudu & KZbin; it used to have Crackle, but Sony took it out of the firmware after selling it. Still, I have a Roku TV so it's not my primary streaming device. Also, though it doesn't have Bluetooth audio I didn't find that to be an issue. I don't use Bluetooth headphones with my TV setup, but I can connect Bluetooth audio sources (smartphone, tablet) to my Vizio soundbar for playback thru it without turning on either the TV or the player.

[@awkwardsilence4427]

This I think needs more attention, as I was about to comment it myself before finding your comment. I had been using it as my streaming device, up until I found this out the hard way. What Roku device do you use? Aren’t there multiple ones, some 4K compatible while others aren’t? Or am I misinformed?

[@richellebrittain2127]

@@awkwardsilence4427 I have a TCL 2018 model 5-Series 4K Roku TV, whose Roku apps are 4K compatible out of the box; many of them are also Vision & Atmos compatible. I don't have Netflix yet (waiting on other issues in my life to stabilize), so I can't tell you if its app on my TCL will support Atmos. However, I do know the latest 2020 model Roku Ultra *does* support 4K, Vision & Atmos on all compatible apps, including Netflix; it's only the third standalone streaming box (after the Apple TV 4K & Nvidia Shield) to meet Netflix's DD+ Atmos decoding requirement, and at $99 it's the cheapest of the three. (Be sure it's the 2020 model; earlier Roku Ultras won't do Atmos on Netflix.) Rokus also have Apple TV apps available; though they're not quite as full-featured as on Apple TV boxes, they do enable 4K Vision & Atmos streaming of iTunes purchases.

[@johannesfickludd4396]

Just so everyone knows, when Dolby Vision is enabled you disable 3D. So everytime you want to watch a 3D-movie you have to turn off Dolby Vision. You are also forcing a Dolby Vision signal when it's enabled even if the content doesn't have it, doesn't matter what type of media, which can look weird.

[@johnburris3395]

I went shopping for a DVD player and accidentally picked up that one not knowing it was a Blu-ray player but it also plays DVDs. I had no idea whatsoever how amazing this thing is. I bought a 4K TV a year ago I never used it because I could never see the difference with my regular DVD player I love this piece of equipment. Would you recommend the Sony Sound Bar I found it on KZbin today but you can't always tell by listening to something on KZbin. I don't have a lot of room I have electric fireplace in the corner of my music studio where I keep my 4K TV and my movies. I just wanted to Soundbar would be a great add-on I didn't look at the price of how much they were but I need something compact it's going to take up a lot of room I can just sit right underneath my TV. I already have my room which is like 30 by 30 filled with music gear

[@joefawley9264]

How does a PS5 compare to this?

[@applescruff1969]

This has Dolby Vision, the PS5 doesn't. If you don't have a TV that supports Dolby Vision and/or HDR10+, don't bother buying a seperate player. Stick with your PS5.

[@DangerousDevilOfficial]

I have this same player. Has been very solid for me. A few of the apps on it have already been removed or don’t work. But otherwise, it is a very serviceable unit. I do have issues with mine freezing on Blu Rays. If they have the slightest fingerprint or small scratches. The laser doesn’t appear to correct these playing errors as well as other players.

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

It's not the discs. Many of the early models had issues. Mine would freeze up with brand new discs that didn't have a thing on them. I returned it and they sent me a new one that works fine.

[@DangerousDevilOfficial]

@@bigmacfullerton7870 you mean early machines from this particular model? Or just all 4K players in general? Because this unit (same model I have) is only like 2 old, since it was released. So the early bugs of players should have long been over. If it is there, sounds like they either have a bad laser or faulty chip. Either way, sucks, because I have had mine over a year now. No ex change or repair.... 🤷‍♂️

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

@@DangerousDevilOfficial This model the first year or so being sold

[@DangerousDevilOfficial]

@@bigmacfullerton7870 oh damn. I didn’t know that. So maybe mine is a defective unit.

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

@@DangerousDevilOfficial Yeah if it freezes up in the middle of movies it's probably not the disc but the player. Make sure you have the latest software updates. That might help.

[@anthonyf3957]

It is also a decent SACD player, which makes it an incredible value overall.

[@TearfulFriend18]

So I just got one of these, it’s my first 4K player so I’m still ironing out the kinks as it were. I’ve watched 3 movies on it so far, being Batman v Superman - Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and Godzilla (2014). Picture-wise I have no complaints, it goes well with my 4K Roku TV, but I am curious about the sound. Now I don’t have a high end sound system, just a Visio sound bar and subwoofer, but it works well enough for me when it comes to Blu-ray, good bass and everything. But with the 4K, the audio when it comes to dialogue sounds pitch perfect, but the action scenes where things get loud and bass-ey just sounds… muted. Like where my floor should be shaking with the thunderous steps of Godzilla like it did with the Blu-ray, on 4K it’s like it automatically reduces the bass. Is this common among 4K’s in general? With this specific system? Am I missing something? If you could answer that would be really swell.

[@bened22]

I don't trust Sonys 4K players. The freezing problems are really bad. Of course this won't become immediately apparent but after many hours of use.

[@alexs3187]

My LG UBK90 was terrible for that. So far the Sony X800 has been pretty good, but we really need solid state for the next format.

[@servus2634]

I have this player and the X-800M2. In my experience, freezing issues arise with both players if I adjust the settings too much. When I default back to the original settings the player works fine. Maybe give that a try if you're having freezing issues and use your television to adjust the picture settings.

[@bened22]

@@servus2634 Interesting. I'm not sure if I changed any picture settings but I'll take a look. Thanks!

[@plaidawan]

Very user friendly and affordable for a 4K player. Haven’t regretted my purchase so far🙏🏻

[@Weeknd-ng5oq]

I got this like 2 years ago for $77 used online, no problems with it

[@johnholder6571]

whoa congrats can I get an autograph

[@DivyasomMalhan101]

I got this player after watching this review. I wish that I had done a better job of going through other reviews. The player froze on the first 4K disc (Frozen II) that I played and it is not at all a good experience. Also, I prefer a plug and play experience. Having to check if the disc is Dolby Vision and needing to toggle on/off the setting is something I would rather avoid.

[@tjking1909]

Sony players always have been fickle.

[@Bode714]

So since I just got into the collecting game (early 2019) I was looking for a good affordable 4K player to kick off the fun, so I sorta did some homework and found out about this one, and decided to go with it, and ever since it arrived I was kinda worried that I didn't pick a good player, but through time I start to hear more about it from others, and now just hearing it from you was the cherry on top! And since I live in the middle east, I also got it so that I could play region A movies. The only thing I messed though was that I read it was a region free player, but I guess that only applied to 4K discs, and it just plays region A stuff. Anyway sorry about my little rant here, I just wanted to say I'm lucky to have picked that player even though I was still pretty new at this and didn't know much about the whole 4K HDR and Dolby Vision. Thanks for the review and keep up the great work Jeff.

[@blujustin4175]

You can buy it region free modified (even on Amazon) BUT I have a suspicion the mod has stopped the DV firmware update working properly as it doesn't tell me when a disc has DV when I know it does (I know I have to swich manually but I was told the player would at least *tell* me in the on screen)

[@HNedel]

One of the worst players ever, returned it after one week of trying to play a single 4k disc. Brand new discs would either not get recognized at all, or would never go past the menu. Has network features and USB and can play DV ripped 4k movies, but only once. After stopping the movie, any other movie played would result in a green screen. Reaffirmed my decision to never buy a sony product ever again.

[@csscott9803]

I brought this player and it's excellent.

[@Espo2250]

I own the UBP X800 and its the BEST media player ive EVER owned...first off its built like a tank and 2nd it has dolby vision which ive had zero problems with converting HDR sources. Its about 300 bucks but well worth the extra cash.

[@PaulsCollection]

Hi Jeff - great video! I just purchased this same model and connected the HDMI Audio to my sound bar SONY HT-S20R HDMI ARC but no sound. I was wondering if I did something wrong or how do you set up the sound for your player? Thank you very much!

[@robertrussell4009]

I have the same question. Did you ever find the recommended audio settings for eARC/ ARC?

[@PaulsCollection]

@@robertrussell4009 hey no I didn’t. The only way I can use my Sony HTS20R is to connect it directly to the TV eARC and not to the sony x700

[@jefferyberg3549]

Great review I'm looking forward to purchasing this very soon thanks again

[@issachijode4534]

The fact that only one or two players utilize all four HDR formats is maddening. Add to that that HDR 10+ Adaptive is incoming and Dolby Vision IQ, not to mention Hdmi 2.1 and it makes my head hurt (and wallet) just thinking about it. As thankful as I am that they're making these though for folks who prefer physical can't help but think it's a concerted push towards the "digital future." Nice review though!

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

I bought one of these early on to go with my LG C9 OLED and I had nothing but problems with it. Freezing during play refusal to load movies...soon it wouldn't do anything but turn on and open and close. I went to get another 4k player w/ Dolby Vision and to my horror they were $300 at the cheapest. So I did some research and sent my broken player back to Sony as I heard the newer models work well. This has been the case so far as my new player works so good I bought a second one for another TV. Both players are working flawlessly. At $150(on sale all the time) you can't beat this player now that the bugs are worked out of it.

[@harrisoncastleberry458]

I got an 800 m2 which I had issues with initially. I don’t like the fact that you’ve got to constantly fiddle with the Dolby Vision button, turning it on or off. Initially I had a problem in that it wouldn’t pass the Dolby Vision mode through my sound bar (Nakamichi) so I had to connect it directly to my television through the audio/video hdmi and had to connect the audio only hdmi to my sound bar to process the audio signals properly. The audio output had to be altered in the menu also. I eventually tired of having to constantly switch the settings on my tv and sound bar just to watch a disc so I just gave up using the direct connection method. Eventually I stopped using it because I got a Panasonic DB-820 and it has proved to work flawlessly. The other aspect that I didn’t like about the Sony is that everything was identified as Dolby Vision even though it wasn’t. Even regular blurays were displaying the DV logo. I decided to hold onto it since one of the primary reasons I got it was to play my SACD and DVD-Audio discs which it does well. It does handle three streaming channels (KZbin, Netflix and Amazon Prime) but I rarely ever utilise them since I have a Fire Cube and Apple TV. Since I’ve since moved my Nakamichi into the master bedroom I’ve upgraded to a Denon Receiver.

[@Louis-rr3py]

Congratulations Jef 60k Subscribers

[@recombinant]

I'm considering purchasing this player to go with my TCL Dolby Vision 4K TV, and I was wondering if a) you still think this is a good player for the money in 2023 (it's roughly same price today), and b) are you still using this as your main 4K player or have you moved on to something else?

[@geminisundone]

Hey. I bought this a few weeks ago, 2nd hand for £100 here in England and I'm loving it. Watched plenty of 4k movies and no skipping so far. Also watched lots of blu rays and used the upscale auto 2 aswell as turning it off to let my 4k TV naturally upscale standard blu rays to see what looks best. I think it's a brilliant 4k blu ray player.

[@alucardthebeast8704]

I had this player and sold it for the sony ubpx800m2 the newer x800 and has dolby vision and to be honest the x800m2 4k player is alot better from picture quality to build quality id like to hear your own thoughts on if a review can be done on the x800m2 im sure you will absolutely love the player

[@Cinefessions]

This is really great content. Thanks for pointing out the Dolby Vision update as well. I’ve also been watching all my stuff with DV set to on, so I’ll make sure to adjust that when I’m reviewing things for the channel. Great work, awesome review. Thanks for sharing!

[@Illmatic07]

Do you still use this player and would you recommend this in 2024? Or is there something comparable?

[@JUSTTHINKINFORABIT]

Straight up back in August I saw this on KSL for $90 and I got it for $80 that is when I entered the world of collecting movies and begun watching your videos.

[@jaynorman7557]

Thank you for your videos... plz keep them coming.💯👍🏽

[@SuperCreen]

Just the review I was looking for! 👍👍

[@Dadster171957]

Great review! I just received this player and waiting for Lord of the Rings trilogy to come in next week. Looking forward to seeing how it sounds on my Marantz receiver!

[@kybone25]

Jeff I think the latest update might have fixed the Dolby Vision off default setting. Now everytime I turn on my player and go to the menu, Dolby Vision Output is at On.

[@xdadevelopersx]

what about connections and other specs i.e. will atmos work if watching thorough USB? is atmos enabled on apps etc.?

[@izismael5075]

Thank you! I didn’t know about the default setting for Dolby Vision.

[@utubechankawai]

Thanks for the review. Without connecting to screen, how can I know what track it is playing when playing CD? Cause now I am using projector, and it will be nice to play music without turning on the projector.

[@JDMVman]

I have an x800m2. Only annoying thing is the following. When watching dvds/Blurays where the content in full frame, despite being in the original screen mode the player will zoon in and crop to fill the screen. I literally have to go to the setting and turn the setting on and off to get the content to show properly. Usually only the first time that specific disk is being used.

[@thomasmiles340]

Thanks. Just bought this last week at Walmart for $149.99 (they dropped the price by 30 bucks). Wish you had mentioned what great sound this player puts out. It will make all your other discs sound awesome as well. Cheers.

[@HimmeetValot]

I dont know all the nitty gritty details what's missing or not from it, but when i got my 4K Blu-ray player a few years ago, the cheapest option was the Xbox one S. If you can get one cheap, I would guess its still a good bang for the buck solution for playing 4K discs and as a nice bonus you or your family member can play games and do other stuff with it as well.