moxxey wrote:
Loving my new LG GX OLED 4K panel. Looking at getting a 65" for another room.
Obviously it looks at it's best with the best source. ie. 4K is so good I can't even explain how good.
With this in mind, tempted to get a 4K Blu-ray player. I still have an old Oppo 103 standard Blu-ray. Which would would you recommend which is reasonable value?
Sorry to be bit late to the thread on this, but thought I'd add a few comments given I've just bought a new Bluray player 12 days ago.
I have an V1-40 B&O TV, with which I've been exceptionally happy for the last 7 ½ years.
I've used a entry level Sony Bluray player with it for around the same amount of time - roughly 7 years.
Over the last few months it's been refusing to play some discs, having dropouts of audio and picture several times during movie playback, and lastly when switching on, sometimes the home screen will appear, and other times not, so it was clearly in terminal decline and hence the search for a new player.
I have approx. 1,000 discs - Bluray/DVD with the majority being Blurays. I also have a tiny collection of SACD's - circa 20 odd discs.
Despite being listed as being able to play back SACD's this feature has never worked with the V1-40 - as the output of DSD to PCM is an odd frequency, 88.2.mhz from memory, whereas the DAC in the V1-40 needs 48, 96 mhz etc - so when playing SACDS there's no sound.
However I like the Sony control interface and the ability to control the player over my LAN by app on an iPhone, so another sony was the first port of call.
Unfortunately quite a few owners (on AVF forums) and at least one independent review comment on the current top Sony player having issues with not playing some discs, and dropout of sound and audio on others, so putting that together with the hit and miss of whether it would play SACD's in my setup put me off a little.
Current favourite for a VFM player at reasonable price seems to be the Pansonic DP-UB820. It has the same basic chipset and HDR optimiser feature found on Pansonics flagship DP-UB 9000 player and looked to be exceptional bang for the buck.
In the high end, performance to the max bracket, the Pioneer LX500 & LX800, along with the Pansonic UB9000 appear (at least on calibrated, measured reviews) to be the best players overall, currently available. For the UB820 to offer similar performance to the UB 9000 makes it exceptional vfm.
However, the lack of SACD support on the Pannys put me off. On the other hand, the Pioneers both support SACD (still no guarantee if it would work with my setup though) but, in the case of the LX800 at considerably extra cost.
Like others here, I use Netflix, Amazon prime, and own a few movies bought from Apple iTunes. For video quality, the movies from Apple outdo those streamed from Netflix or amazon prime in my experience. But, none of them compare to an bluray (1080p) when it comes to refinement in the picture and especially sound. Apple might boast 4k movies and dolby atmos sound, But the movie file will be heavily compressed (lossy compression) and also the sound track (AAC) - despite the number of channels, - and on picture and especially sound quality grounds, none of the streaming/buying online media as yet, can compete on performance grounds with an optical disk.
If and when it does, I might give up buying disks, but until then....convenience is nice to have, but I still prefer the ultimate picture and sound quality that I can get, as it adds immeasurably to the involvement factor in the whole entertainment experience of movie watching in the home.
However, to some degree the writing is on the wall with the likes of Oppo departing the market place, and the choice of quality players thinning out.
So, after a lot of research and a degree of procrastination I settled on a DP-UB 9000 Pansonic and am very happy that I did so.
The build and perceived finish is not quite up to the standard of my now obsolete Sony 9000ES DVD/CD/SACD (2 channel only) which simply oozes luxury and engineering refinement, but, the Panny 9000 is arguably only bettered in build by the Pioneer LX800 - at over double the price.
With a dual layer chassis, brushed aluminium side cheeks and front panel, it's an understated and very elegant contemporary design. The remote is large, ergonomically easy to use and is backlit.
Performance? Well, here's a thing.
I'm of the opinion that amplifiers and CD players etc, sound more alike than different. I'm not saying they all sound the same, but I will say that differences remain on the subtle and nuance level of perception, such that in a blind ABX test on unfamiliar material, one would be hard pressed to pick differences.
On sound quality, comparing my new Panasonic 9000 with my existing Sony Bluray player (when it decides to play!) on very well known movies, both players in default 'standard' mode, over HDMI with the same HDMI lead, input and TV, and at the same exact volume level on the V1-40, the Panny is ahead in subtlety and nuance. Dialogue, score and foley effects have a sense of greater separation and clarity - it is easier to hear clear dialogue and diction over the cacophony of explosions, car crashes etc, whilst the score pushes everything along merrily. The sound field is seemingly larger, the sound grander overall, and the steering of effects more clearly defined.
Picture quality? Well apparent dynamic range re luminosity is better, re greater perceived detail in dark/black areas of the picture, along with white/highlighted areas of the picture and at the same time. The subtle nuance of light and shade seems better. Similarly with chrominance/colour - greater separation of colours and nuance of shading. Perhaps the most noticeable difference is the greater resolution and fine detail apparent. Given that the information on the disc is fixed, then to use an HiFi analogy, one would presume the player is adding less distortion and noise to the signal in it's picture processing before outputting to HDMI. Or maybe the stronger build means less vibration and therefore better reading of the disc by the drive, with less timing or jitter errors etc.
Now of course this could also be placebo, however on disks I know backwards, the increase of details and clarity on say a persons face, was quite noticeable - five o'clock shadow or clean shaven, how many hairs could be counted in the cheek stubble etc. Similarly with closeups with clothing, grass, wood, furniture etc. The overall effect of increased resolution of detail, clarity and sharpness gave the picture a considerably more 3d look, with better depth perception - one feels that one is looking into the picture, not at it.
Having said all of that, if I was doing an A/B of the two players on unfamiliar material, would I still see the differences? Perhaps - bear in mind I was playing favourite movies I've watched dozens of times, so whilst a nuanced and subtle thing, it was still visually noticeable. On unfamiliar material, I should imagine it would much harder to pick differences - just like CD players and amplifiers in fact.
Putting it's build quality, and jump in performance which has given me literally a new and enhanced collection of movie disk, and the relative price compared to the Pioneer LX500/800 twins, I'd say it's an exceptional product and excellent VFM that fully compliments my investment in my B&O kit. Am very happy with it, and would happily recommend it.
Cheers
John.. :-)
