Sony UBP-X700 Review - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player with Dolby Vision - Home Theater Series Continues!

[@LonSeidman]

ERRATA: As it turns out the player is not automatically switching out of Dolby Vision when a non Dolby Vision disc is inserted. This is not good but I believe it can be corrected in future firmware updates. This does not impact my favorable review of the product as it is reasonably priced for a Dolby Vision blu-ray playback device. Out of my collection only one film currently supports this HDR mode.

[@AgeBoelens]

Lon.TV Thank you for the update. I read about this bug as well and tried it out. Strange thing is that output for a normal Blu-ray was HDR and not Dolby Vision with DV switched on. At least according to the little sign in the top corner of my LG TV.

[@Row_Hammer]

Hey Lon! Why do you say you can't make an MKV file of your Star Wars movie with Dolby Vision like you've been doing with your Blu-ray movies since ages?

[@capcomfan82]

Lon.TV you have to switch it on manually in the settings for every Dolby Vision movie

[@Buxtonchappy1]

I've sent my unit back to retailer for a refund as the firmware update was buggy. On contacting Sony support (who were absolutely useless) they asked me to change my HDMI cables and try on a different TV.!!!! Really? This for a issue which prevented me trying to check for software updates? 😖

[@MikeSW]

A list of the Dolby Vision discs so far (according to bluray.com)... American Assassin Annihilation Atomic Blonde Black Panther Braveheart Cabin in the Woods Cloverfield 10 Cloverfield Lane Daddy’s Home Daddy’s Home 2 Dark Tower Despicable Me Despicable Me 2 Despicable Me 3 Dirty Grandpa Downsizing Earth: One Amazing Day Escape Plan The Fate of the Furious Forrest Gump Game of Thrones: Season 1 Gladiator Grease Hell or High Water The Hitman’s Bodyguard It Jack Reacher Jigsaw Jumanji (the new one) Justice League Kickass Knowing The Matrix Mission Impossible Mission Impossible II Mission Impossible III Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation mother! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pacific Rim Uprising Paddington 2 Power Rangers Push A Quiet Place Rampage Ready Player One Red Red 2 Resident Evil: Vendetta Saving Private Ryan Source Code Spiderman: Homecoming Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars Star Wars: The Last Jedi Terminator Genisys Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life Tomb Raider Transformers Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Transformers: Dark of the Moon Transformers: Age of Extinction Transformers: The Last Knight Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets National Lampoon’s Van Wilder Warm Bodies Westworld: Season 1 Wonder

[@axebox]

I ended up upgrading my receiver to 4k HDCP 2.2 a couple of years ago and I'm glad I did. 4K will be around for awhile and having a receiver capable of switching those sources is well worth it!

[@AKSBSU]

The audio out port is one of the most pleasant surprises with this player. I've put somewhat of a freeze on major electronics upgrades until HDMI 2.1 is available and I'm sure all my electronic devices are going to be compatible with each other and the new tech, but this puts me in a jam in terms of audio given I have a nice but now outdated Marantz receiver that can't pass 4K/ HDR and certainly isn't going to do Dolby Vision. This player lets me bypass that issue entirely for movies and Netflix/ Amazon Video. The image quality is also surprisingly good. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner and BR: 2049 look incredible on this player. Even an upscale from a 2K intermediate like Aquaman looks amazing in Dolby Vision.

[@NicklenDimeChicano]

I just bought this and thought I’d check out this review it was a great review and i am extremely happy with this player ive got a 65” lg oled and man this thing pops!!!

[@user-pf7qg9lc6p]

I bought this already, my first impression was, very handy and also quickly use, after that i was setup this and also adoreable small but best impression was and is, very stylish looking, seem to play whatever discs! Very great purchase, what i feel about this.

[@PeterPan-wp9sr]

Best review! You answered why I didn’t get Dolby vision out of the box. I was ready to give up. Lol thanks

[@JenkinsCrossing]

First time viewer (interested in buying this player) and something about this video feels very PBS. I like it.

[@xusiaxod6255]

I don't think it automatically switches off the Dolby Vision. It will try and play everything in DV, you need to manually switch it off. Many people on KZbin moaning about this..

[@thomasvinelli]

There moaning because you shouldn't have to manually shut it off. No other brand with DV does that. Sony a stupid update. Do you realize some people buy players not knowing what it does,imagine all those Sony players going back to the store because they think it's a defective player, and well it is with this update. Also on the box it doesn't say Dolby Vision yet the new batches say dolby vision ,I wonder if Sony made a change with the software.

[@RobLansdown]

Just in case anyone is interested in getting Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray home rips to play over the network with HD audio (DTS Master and Dolby TrueHD/Atmos): the solution was to create m2ts files instead of mkv. First use makemkv to create a folder backup of the disc (rather than rip to mkv) then use the UHD Ripper tool in DVDFab to mux the folder to an m2ts file (making sure to use "passthrough" by ticking the "copy video" and "copy audio" boxes). The resulting file spins up very quickly and will pass DTS Master HD, Dolby TrueHD and Atmos to your receiver. There's also a free method (DVDFab is shareware) involving using eac3to to create a Dolby TrueHD + DD5.1 track which you mux with the video track using tsmuxer but I found it to be really hit and miss. Just a quick note, I found mkv files with DTS Master HD audio do actually work on this player but can take up to 60 seconds to load, this was connected via ethernet, I had less luck over wifi. UPDATE: sadly the 10/100 port on the X700 isn't fast enough to stream from PC or DLNA server. It does work on USB but must be a SATA SSD or HDD (as flash drives don't allow fast forward or rewind on m2ts files, only mkv).

[@therider04]

There's videos online saying the Dolby Vision update is currently buggy on the X700. It forces all content to Dolby Vision mode as there's no auto detect. This means you will need to keep turning the option on and off on Dolby Vision content or non Dolby Vision content. Plus owners with 3D TVs. When Dolby Vision option is enabled on the X700 the 3D is turned off. To run 3D discs you will need also need to keeps switching back and forth the options.

[@LonSeidman]

In my initial testing it was switching between Vision and HDR successfully, I'll have to try some more discs.

[@srico2314]

I can confirm this. I tested it on standard and 4k BluRays (non DV BluRays) and on all of them you had DV logo pop up.

[@thomasvinelli]

Sony needs to fix this and soon. As soon as word gets out ,it's going to affect their sales. People these days don't like going thru that many steps to get something to work.But I suspect sony won't do nothing until 2019 players come out.

[@blutchberg]

pretty much the same goes for the x800. Although it seems that strangly enough the x800 is not getting the dolby vision update. Why I really dont know. And it is a bit strange that a more expensive and more higher lever player is not getting the update

[@outquick]

I would've preferred you did this review on the 0LED TV but other than that great job on covering everything but I never got to see it with HDR

[@davidarthur9850]

got on ebay, refurb for 110 about to try it out here in a week or so, love that it has DV for so cheap

[@LuisRodriguez-gt9hx]

I should have watched this before buying it Sunday, but I'm still glad I got it.

[@dxfan18]

Got this device last week. Love it so far, but sometimes when I try to turn it on, it keeps saying "No signal" and I have to unplug/replug the HDMI on my TV. Also, when I try to load Prime Video sometimes the screen just turns black and it won't load.

[@sonigokuu]

I bought this player at Best Buy the day before Thanksgiving 2020. It's not a bad player...hold me over until I get an Xbox Series X.

[@victor2410]

Roku ultra does that frame rate switching black screen while in Netflix menu as well when you set it to switch refresh rate. I'm guessing the only way to fix it would be for Netflix app to force same frame rate as menus (eg 60p) in the menus despite frame rate of trailers.

[@bradthurkle7217]

I have this player and can highly recommend it. Does everything thing I want and more.$375 at JB HIFI is pretty cheap for a dedicated 4k with Dobly Atmos DVD player. Would of been good tho if able to add other apps but no biggy considering there’s utube and Netflix ect. Can’t complain at all really she’s a beauty I love it.

[@pedromvuus]

You have been going through the same path as me, since moving to 4k I am finding that my latest aquisition the Apple TV seems to be the better overall option especially because my projector doesn't support full 18gbps bandwidth and it was a pain to have to manually keep changing modes and there were some color inconsistencies across some of them. You should probably do an updated review of the Apple TV now that it can match content automatically as opposed to converting everything to HDR.

[@monasteryintibet]

Compatible sound bar for this player? Had to return my last one cus it wasn’t compatible

[@DJPsyq]

So let’s take a closer look now... at the hardware~

[@PeterMacPL]

@Lon - does it play UHD BD 100GB triple layer discs ?

[@kidhickey1659]

This Player I think is just amazing , i have it hooked up to a Vizio 4k TV , and using a 4k HDMI cable as well , i have a blu ray 3D movie , one of those where you don't need a 3D tv to watch it on , the type that comes with the blue and red 3D glasses , and it works with the viewing of that movie almost what can i say out of this world , that combination work so well , that with all the 4K items that i mentioned , when i was watching that movie , for a brief moment , i could see a small speak of dirt on the camera lens , it was a brief moment i guess it got blown off while filming , i talk about that on my channel about that moment and that movie , but it is i think a very good 4K player , i have 2 of them on two different TVs , only one of the TVs is 4K , but this player will play good on a regular 1080 HD TV

[@joeygo0999]

I was thinking about buying one of these but 6y ago!!? 😮I’m browsing your videos to see if there’s a newer one

[@troypetryk2043]

I really do like Sony sound equipment and their blue Ray players

[@herrtrigger7220]

I don't even have any 4K material, this player is the equal of my Oppo. More players should have the dual HDMI outputs, I think this beats using the pass-thru on receivers/processors.

[@phantomlover4520]

I'm thinking of getting either the Sony UBP-X700 or the Sony BDP-S6700. Which one is better overall?

[@JOE-to5gm]

You didn't talk about the thumb drive when I use the thumb drive to see my pictures it only opens up a few pictures and the rest of them are just blanks Big X's then when I go to my videos it only shows like four videos and will not go to the next page to find others

[@pauledgerton1097]

Nothing about the freezing problems a lot of people are having with this player?

[@sixfeetunder0105]

I always leave the dolby on because i find it does a really nice upgrade for the hdr only discs. But even id i would have to swtich, i paid 200$ canadian, which is ridiculously low for a dolby vision player. And the picture quality is really good. The system is a bit outdated but i dont give a shit, im not gonna pay 500$ for the same thing or so

[@Leonardo4287]

What is the difference between this model and the BDP s1500? The price difference between the two is quite large and I saw that both have 4k uspcalling

[@MannyCAM]

Great review! Does the USB on the front support movie files on an external drive such as a Western Digital non-powered “Essentials” or the like?

[@themediapreacher8154]

This player kept freezing so many discs I returned it

[@ENGBriseB]

Thinking about buying this. I wouldn't have any problems in fitting this to a Denon AVR then onto the LG 4K OLED C2 EVO 120hz. I've heard a lot of good reviews. I have many old CDs and DVDs. But want to replace my lost and old CDs to Blue Ray as much better sound and picture quality. Thanks for sharing. :-)

[@johntierney3353]

You should take a look at the LG UBK90 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray Player with Dolby Vision (2018). Or the UBK80.

[@TheConfutatis]

Right but where is the possibility to listen audio? And playback? Ethernet app is very limited comparing to the X700

[@Pepsiisbetterthanwine]

the UBK80 is crap. there's 0 settings to play with. you can't shut off the ARC/CEC on it, so it just automatically switches to the player every time you turn the TV on. (unless of course - it's plugged in to a non-arc port on the tv - then you get nothing in terms of lossless audio). on your AV receiver, it still does the same thing, unless you disable it completely there too. It's plays 4k discs really well though.

[@sathieshmkumar6563]

I bought this player after watching this review that it can send audio to a soundbar thru HDMI2 out. I did the same connection as in pg 13 picture B and pg 24 HDMI Audio Output to HDMI2, but no audio on my Polk MagniFi Mini soundbar. So i think i need to return back the player, as the only reason for my buying is better audio to my soundbar than my TV does. But on good side of the player, it does enhance the audio of TV speakers thru HDMI1 out. Mainly KZbin from sony sounded better than KZbin on FireTV

[@guyin916]

4k rips might be hitting the bottleneck of the wired network port. the wifi i believe is 802.11AC.....so it's actually faster if you have an AC router. nice video!

[@user-pf7qg9lc6p]

I going to order this kinda for my 4K system, ps4 Pro not support 4K ultra hdr blu rays at all!

[@nickabbott319]

King Diamond it does if you buy it digitally and stream it

[@user-pf7qg9lc6p]

@@nickabbott319 from the net, i guess so but not 4K ultra hd blu rays, because in isn't 4K ultra hd blu ray player at all, it's usual blu ray player only but no worries, this Sony player is best time coming to me, exactly this video Sony (black)!

[@beastkunal7280]

Port NTFS support in 64 GB 2.0

[@alminhas07]

What is the proper setting to enable DVD and BluRay (non 4K) upscalling?

[@giampaoloparodi3118]

Hi! thanks for your review. Since I'm interested in to this player (I own a Sony OLED A1 55") I'd like to know how it behaves in upscaling "standard" Blu-ray discs up to 4K resolution.

[@user-pf7qg9lc6p]

Very stylish that Sony! For me is coming Sony 4k ultra hd blu ray player.

[@doubletake2448]

It's curious that Sony PlayStation Vue is not a preinstalled app and apparently, can not be added.

[@MrDLYouTube]

I just bought this player today. Doesn't have half of the app shown in this video. I only get KZbin, Netflix, Spotify, WWE, Mubi and a a Digital Concert app. Nothing else at all. Really mad. Had to order this over the internet. I guess Sony doesn't want people in Europe to enjoy Amazon Prime. Or perhaps they removed them with an update... The main reason I got this player was for 4K Blu-Rays, Netflix and Amazon. Needless to say this thing is going back.

[@_DOH_]

I went today to go buy it and its price increased to $250. It was just listed last week for $179.

[@thomasvinelli]

It's a cheap player .The Video part looks as good as the X-800 but poorly built .Also a lot of owners are reporting a lot of freeze up's .The X-800 owners report no issues to very few. Sony would have been better off if they offered Dolby vision update.

[@MrDLYouTube]

I've never experienced any playback issued with the player so far. Nore have I noticed any noise from it, some reviews state it makes a lot of noise when playing discs...not the case for me. Perfectly quite and I have it standing in the open. I only use it for 4K Blu-rays. I bought a Nvidia Shield for my streaming needs instead.

[@JohnSmith-zl8rz]

region free?

[@aguinaldo713]

does anybody know you can play 4k hdr files from usb ?

[@estusflask982]

yes

[@dereklufkin6371]

I've noticed a slight sync issue when outputting audio through the HDMI 2 port. It's subtle but you notice it during dialogue scenes.

[@henryhill6637]

Just got mine. Mine flickers lighting sometimes . Is this normal or it's the player?

[@vickiewilder9094]

I have the BDP-S3700 I wish the buttons were bigger on the remote because sometimes I press the pause button finding it to be stop, and the netflix button doesn't function on mine. It also doesn't have amazon which got terminated wish it had it.. I do like the upscaling so if someone didn't have a 4K television would it still upscale to full screen or near 4K . Nice video I wish I could be as relaxed as you on video thank you for your review.

[@zeone311]

can you do a comparison between the x700 and the ub-820 with a focus on picture quality? Obviously, do the test on a oled tv instead of that small monitor you used on this one.

[@juancarlosgarcia3694]

Hi , Somebody knows if this player has cinavia If I play a 4k movie by USB. And if make a pass through dolby atmos also by usb using HDMI output to an atmos receiver? Thanks!

[@buiquanghung9569]

Waiting for this. Any body plz help!

[@solanamwamba1795]

Hi..can u please tell me what is the difference between this 4k sony and apple tv..which one is better?

[@stevengarrison1019]

I just bought this player, It works great. But I am trying to figure out how to get rid of the black bars and have the movie full screen? I have a vizio e-series 50 inch 4k tv.

[@michaelfoster3441]

I just play my mkv 4k rips right off the hardrive through the oppo with no streaming involved , the oppo does a much better job of upscaling than the shield .

[@th3bff]

Also last Jedi had the worst 4K transfer so I don’t know if that was a good movie to try out hehe. Good review

[@TeeVeesGreatest]

Hi Lon - is it region free?, I'm in NZ, and have alot of US DVD's

[@LonSeidman]

I am not sure on that one .. I am pretty sure it's region locked or requires you to pick a region once it's set up. I no longer have it so I can't test for certain - sorry!

[@07GSXR1G]

Great review!!! Awesome content.

[@highflowhighflow9896]

wonder if that player can play direct from full bluray and uhd bluray in rar archives? without extracting first ofcourse

[@jrerrabbit98]

So is there a difference for a non-4K receiver quality wise using audio to the receiver over ARC from the TV vs using the second hdmi connection?

[@douglaswilliams6834]

How is yours holding up? I just bought one and, as you said, it definitely feels cheaply made compared to my Oppo, but my Oppo doesn't do 4k.

[@vibindcruz]

Can it will give ATMOS output while playing through HDD

[@AbhijitRoy-mv2hy]

It it region free player??

[@CraigCatapano]

I do not see a Disney+ app in your review... Is disney+ app supported?

[@LifeLongMETALHead83]

This video, and player predates Disney+. It didn't exist when this video was made.

[@mgedeonj3]

Good review! I was hoping you would spend a little more time on the audio streaming feature as well. I have found out a lot of those streaming devices are not showing the album arts when streaming from your media server. Is it because of the Apps that are installed on those units? Especially this unit UBP-X700 doesn't give you a choice of going to Pay Store and download the App of your choice. You are stuck to what is given to you by the manufacturer. I was thinking about buying another pc just to solve those issues. What say you? Is there any streaming device that you know of that addresses this issue?

[@sdlangdon7468]

Does it run IR? I have a home theater and so far, the machine does not respond through the IR set up like the rest of my equipment. I thought it had a sensor on the front left of the machine. Any info for us on using it in home theater and running IR or ...?

[@douglas71322]

Hi. I've just bought a Yamaha rx-a780 receiver and I'm looking a good bluray player to get the most of the receiver (4K Bluray discs, ATMOS, etc.). Do you think this is a good one to work with my receiver? Thank a lot.

[@khossain173]

Does it play Blu ray discs Region A, Region B, Region C and Dvd discs Region 1, Region 2, Region 5?

[@Buxtonchappy1]

It's surprising to me that Netflix pay Sony to get the app button on the remote but sadly Netflix do not offer Dolby Atmos on the Sony app annoyingly.

[@gotcharamsys]

Hello was this movie blu-ray or DVD? Is it upscaled to 4K? how is the quality of a DVD movie on this player for a 4k TV?

[@foxhound2531]

Can you revisit this whole set up but with using your plex streaming onto it?

[@hanspetter4922]

Anyone know if its possible to change the size of subtitles while playing 4K discs? They are waaaaay too big and bright.

[@1luiszepol]

I have an old 5.1 home theater bluray disc player and want to know if I buy a new 4k player all I have to do is connect an ARC HDMI cable to the old 5.1 bluray? Somebody explain please!!

[@jeffchan9530]

I back up all UHD disk in iso file in NAS. Can this player stream and play back iso format?

[@brendanbarrett5152]

If I have a 4k blu ray player that does not support DV and my TV does support DV, will I still be able to receive HDR on a movie title that is mastered to DV?

[@MikeSW]

Anyone know what's going on with the Panasonic 820? Now that the Oppo 203 is gone, I'm looking at the Sony X700 or the Panasonic 820, but I have no idea when the panny is supposed to hit or for how much exactly. I think you can buy it in Europe?

[@Publicitor_Maroc]

Hello i wanted first of all to tell you that you do a great job and we appreciate your work . my question for the sony X700 . is he capable of reading without freezing or lacking 4K by dlna (without using wifi but with cable) ? because in your review you mentionned that it was not good for playing 4K files via network dlna. is it for wifi connection or rj45 cable connection ? thanks in advance

[@YusufPiskin]

I can't play youtube dolby video.. Only pcm stereo

[@oscarchd]

Does HDR rips video able to passthrough from network?

[@mayankkakkar2945]

Hello Great Review, can you please comfirm if this can play DVD and BluRay ISOs off the USB with full menu navigation?

[@kevinzimmerman5470]

It doesn't look like any questions are answered here, but I will try anyway. I don't seem to be getting 5.1audio from my standard DVDs with the player hooked up thru HDMI A/V to the TV and then from the TV thru HDMI/ARC to my Vizio Atmos soundbar. Do I need to hook it up separately from the HDMI Audio port to the soundbar directly? Why won't the 5.1 sound pass thru? Kind of defeats the purpose of switching inputs on the TV (TCL Roku). Any help appreciated.

[@joseocasio727]

How does this compare with the DLNA app on the LG C7P? I stream to the tv using the onboard app and it seems to work ok.

[@sepaku1968]

do you still recommend this player and does it support atmos?

[@joelpesachowitz8635]

I have a .mp4 file on a dvd+r disc. If I insert the disc in will the file play

[@DanielBin]

Have you been able to watch a Netflix program with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos enabled?

[@sykokilla77]

Like to know this as well

[@Bonze661]

Following

[@YusufPiskin]

Yes. Support Dolby Atmos / Vision

[@alexf8148]

omg i used to have one of your background Mac Classic. Does yours still work? Mine was still working when I sold it 20 years ago!

[@LonSeidman]

It worked when I first acquired it but I think some of the capacitors need replacing now. One of these days!

[@darraghkane18]

I can’t get the hdmi arc port to work with my sound bar or amp

[@Jayman001]

Bad experiences with SONY Blu-ray players as much as I wanted to own one. Out of every 10 DVD hacks it might playback 5 of them but yet my PS4 plays every single one of them. So I also own SAMSUNG Blu-ray and it plays anything I throw at it.

[@TheDiegoleite]

Thanks for the enlightening video! Can you tell me if it recognizes dts and dolby audio through the hd or pen-drive (usb)

[@user-zr6bd9vp7v]

I want to pass the sounds of Dolby Atmos and DTSX, via USB Have you continued on Nvidia Shield and Cody or moved to Sony?

[@psartana1]

Will this receive HDR10 Plus in future updates ??

[@Armfan99]

Is the xbox one s better now at 4k blu ray playback? Given the prices of these things it just makes no sense to buy a stand alone blu ray player to me.

[@Kashif314]

Anyone bought this recently? I read it had so many bugs like freezing. How is it now after sony firmware updates? Please reply I am interested in this player. Its very economical to buy.

[@cotitosepulveda3667]

Can i use my philips home theather with this device?

[@lazrados]

Does this unit play multi-region DVDs ????

[@user-do9yx9wv5g]

播放光碟影片時似乎不能做“時間搜尋“？而且現在的UHD播放機、擴大機也沒有App Remote🤔🤷‍♂️😮‍💨😭

[@rodgercozart5130]

Will this player work well with my DLP 1080p projector?

[@francischen3266]

Hey is it Possible for you to make a video on BDV-N7200W, Sony Blu-ray Home Theatre System

[@pabloguerrero297]

Hi from Spain!!! Techno Dad, i would like do one question because i don´t know what is the better option for me. I bought a LG C7 Oled one week ago, and i would like to buy one Dolby Vision $K disc player. What is better? UBP-X700 from Sony or UBK90 from LG? I tested both and with Sony i have to choose DV option manually, buy LG don´t have 60 hz option for Billy Linn $K disc...

[@TOT777SOS]

Does this work with PCs? I'm planning to buy this.

[@DARTH-WOLF-88]

Does it come with HDMI cable?

[@alexf8148]

Its manual says support GPT formatted usb external HD up to 4TB. Anybody tried 8TB drive yet? And if this is not a good upscaler. What's a cheap and good one?