XBOX SERIES X VS PANASONIC UB450 - WORTH THE UPGRADE?

[@jimroscovius]

My biggest problem with the Xbox is that it doesn't support DolbyVision with discs, but only with streaming and games.

[@markmitchell5220]

Nice down to earth review, good job!

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

Much appreciated!

[@ViperGTS737]

btw the optical drive is much quieter when the console is horizontal, it shouldnt be loud to begin with one though, just audible

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

I did actually try this. It improves it slightly but comparing to the UB450 it is MUCH louder.

[@vaguedreams]

Mine is dead silent, so is my brothers. Not exactly sure what you have going on there. I'm about 6-7 feet away from it.

[@airforcex9412]

(Subscribed) My thoughts: I’m watching this on a 77” OLED and the Xbox looks sharper in all the stills. Just focus on the same spot and it’s not debatable. It may be the result of the capture method. I can definitely see the ease of use argument but that’s why you always get a media remote. Still, the 450 is probably faster than the X. If you’re a gamer, get a PS5 or an Xbox; the differences between HDR technologies are negligible and you’ll end up adjusting the image anyway. Plus, the X supports DV streaming. If you’re not a gamer but are looking into this, you’re getting the 820 anyway. So I’m not sure who the 450 is for. You’re going to pair your DV capable OLED and amazing AVR with a $175 player? I don’t think so. And if this is your backup player (bedroom, etc.) DV wouldn’t matter. So, again, who’s the 450 for? Someone on a budget with a 4K disc collection and a fan of HDR? By definition, you wouldn’t be on a budget, right?

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

That’s for stopping by and the sub! I noticed a different when looking at Halloween in particular, it looked better on the Panasonic by quite a bit. The video doesn’t pick that up as well as my eyes did. As you say though, ease of use wins out for me. I got a fairly good deal on it and Xbox won’t have a disc drive in future so it’s not going to be a concern. Merry Christmas

[@HRilho]

I'm a physical media collector and I have enjoyed my movies on a LG C2 OLED paired with an LG UBK90. The only disc that crashed my player was The Abyss 4K. I also own a Series X but I use it just for gaming. I've just ordered this Panasonic player because LG no longer supports UBK90 and Panasonic just released a new firmware for this player in December 2024. In the long run this will make a difference.

[@Steviedan-ts5pz]

Nice video Ryan . I started off using PS5 with 4K movies . It worked really well . It plays movies that stuck on my Panasonic.

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

Yeah they do a good job. The dedicated player is certainly a nice upgrade overall though.

[@Steviedan-ts5pz]

@ryantalksphysicalmedia totally agree.

[@phbart84]

It's worth noting that the Xbox Series X fails the "blacker than black" test in HDR from the Spears&Munsil 4K disc calibration. So, no deep blacks in HDR. However, it doesn't have this issue with SDR content.

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

Ah I didn’t know that, tried to keep it ‘everyday user’ as opposed to technical. Thanks for sharing and stopping by!

[@bitdevice]

That was patched 3 years ago.

[@phbart84]

@bitdevice that's strange. Mine is fully up to date and is still presenting this issue. And the funny thing is that the One S doesn't have this issue. Again, this is in HDR mode only. SDR plays just fine on both regarding this.

[@sweezlesquee]

​@@phbart84 I had this issue. I couldn't ever see the closed eye on the xbox's calibration images. No matter what I did. It is just lacking in that department. Apparently PS5 does not have this issue, from the video I saw a dude do side by side.

[@MsModestyBlaise]

At default settings, the ub450 is equal to the ub820, and both offer significantly better quality than the Xbox. With 2K discs the difference is even wider as the ub450 DOES use Panasonic’s renowned upscaling technology. Of course audio is superior on the Panasonic players too. Unless you need the HDR optimiser (you don’t as you have a C4) or like to manually play with custom sliders, you’ll be fine with the 450. The remote is a bit rubbish but you can swap that out. BTW, through a lot of testing, turn the DTM to off on the LG (off isn’t actually off, that would be HGIG)

[@amnril]

Is it correct that the blu-ray in the ps5 is superior to the Series X or is it down to the App running on the consoles? Can the two consoles play the same maximum capacity bleu-rays?

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

From what I’ve heard the PS5 is ‘better’ which I think is down partly to the app and the fact Sony makes dedicated players. As far as capacity goes, they are equal.

[@retroforce6919]

Cool review, I have a Panasonic UB820 it plays pretty well, although I have a PS5 I do prefer playing movies/shows on a dedicated blu ray player.

[@Geoff900]

I'm in the same boat, looking for a UHD player, due to how bad the noise is on the Xbox plus the quality isn't that great.

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

Highly recommend this player, really happy with it!

[@uusrikas]

Whats the bit depth setting on xbox set to ?

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

10 bit

[@HomeCinemaEnthusiast]

Nice review , I use ps5 when not using my dedicated player in home cinema 👌👌👌

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

Thanks! I hear the PS5 does a good job

[@yakisobapancake1234]

The xbox one s has the same noisy uhd player, on the other hand the Ps5 is super quiet.

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

I’ve never actually tried the PS5 player, I’ve always heard it’s better

[@dougquaid570]

Great player. Have 2 of them.

[@DoctorHades]

If you are serious about movies on disc then a dedicated player is definitely the way to go in my experience. Consoles offer disc playback as a bonus but they cannot compare to a good quality standalone player in terms of features and overall usability. The consoles consume more power, they have to support both games and movies (so that means you have to manually switch between Filmmaker Mode and Game mode), the consoles are noisy when playing discs and, of course, neither the PS5 or Xbox Series support Dolby Vision for movies (even though the latter support it for games). The Xbox Series X is worse than the PS5 in my experience as it uses a BD app that has to load before the disc can play whereas they play straight from the dashboard on the PS5. The Xbox Series X BD app is also more prone to crashing, as seen in this video, but then it is by the makers of Windows so that is hardly a surprise! I only have my PS5 (now Pro) or Xbox Series X as a fallback player, if say a disc doesn't play on my main player (which hasn't happened yet!), otherwise I always watch discs on my Panasonic UB-820 which plays every disc I own without issue and is ultra quiet. I have tested both consoles with disc during the launch phase though. They're fine but a standalone player is just much better and can be set to its own HDMI input to permanently use Filmmaker Mode. The UB450 is just a slightly cutdown model missing the HDR enhancer and some audio inputs on the back as well as having slightly inferior image processing but is otherwise a great player from the reviews I've watched.

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

Completely agree with you. The next gen of consoles most certainly won’t have disc drives.

[@JeffD-bl4rr]

Hello, bizzarely my Xbox doesn't make noise when playing BR 4k and i have also a Panasonic ub820: no difference between them...the Xbox make the same job...on my sony w5000 laser 4k projector.

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

That’s interesting. I know a few people who have an Xbox and it’s just like mine.

[@vaguedreams]

Same boat regarding Blu-ray disc noise. I'm pretty close to my XBox

[@vaguedreams]

It's probably the KZbin compression and feed quality but i didn't really notice any difference between the Terminator scenes. I've had the Blu-ray app freeze on occasion also (very, very rare) so can see that but I'd recommend using the XBox media remote or universal remote just because you're used to that.

[@greekgod41]

If you're trying to prove a point, then at least upgrade your audio and visual gear needed to upload your videos because I can't hear ANY sound from the Xbox X like you claim it is

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

I used my onboard camera mic for this video, if you own a Xbox, you’d know how loud it is when playing 4k blu rays, it’s common knowledge. This video is aimed at people that currently use the Xbox. Also, I’ve just listened to it back, it’s very audible.

[@greekgod41]

@@ryantalksphysicalmedia I'm not disputing how loud the Xbox is! it is notorious for being super loud, I'm trying to point out while watching your vid here, you can't hear anything from your Xbox because you need better audio gear to pick it up for us to hear it

[@ryantalksphysicalmedia]

Oh right, I can hear it when the camera is close to it on the video. As I mentioned, for this video I used my onboard camera mic (not something I usually do) so will bare that in mind for future videos

[@greekgod41]

@@ryantalksphysicalmedia Awesome! Physical media is the best!

[@DrakonR]

I can hear it on my phone speakers.. don't think it's a video problem..

[@JuiKuen]

Best tip: Don't use Xbox systems for 4K discs.