Sony UBP-X800

I bought this player yesterday at my local bestbuy. I watched The Magnificent Seven and The Secret Life of Pets both on 4k uhd blu ray. Both movies looked and sounded great. As of right now I'll just be using the player as a disc spinner no streaming. I've never had a SACD player before so I'll need to check some out.

 

Congrats!

I just looked up the specs / features of that unit and while I plan to go through it in depth something caught my eye: it looks like it handles DVD Audio as well as SACD. That's a first, as far as I can remember, for Sony. Could be important for those with a mix of them in their collection (and it has always been a competitive advantage to have such a feature for the likes of Oppo.)

I'm specifically keen to read up about its streaming and other high-def audio features.

Jeff

 

Congrats on your new toy!

 

I downloaded the owner's manual and looked specifically at its listed streaming capabilities. Unfortunately it has all of the limitations that my current Sony BD player has - but I give them credit for going into great detail about it so as to avoid buyer letdown. In fairness it does have extensive capabilities that are as good, if not better, than most players I have looked at.

Three examples of streaming limitations, taken from the manual:

- The player may not play this [.mkv] file format on a
Home Network server.

- The player can only play standard definition
video on a Home Network server.

- The player does not play DTS format files on
a Home Network server.

Again, this is otherwise a great player. Unfortunately my own hunt for a new one continues.

Jeff

 

I believe that Yamaha had a DVD player, and perhaps Blu-ray as well, that handled both SACD and DVD Audio.

My surprise is that a Sony unit does - given that it was their SACD format that supposedly bested DVD Audio in the marketplace - although there were really no winners in that battle. Ever since then, and up until now, no Sony has ever supported DVD Audio - at least as far as I can recall.

Xgm3,

There are many SACDs and DVD Audio discs out there, and more new ones trickle onto the market every year. Because a lot of people gave up on both formats (pitty!) I have found lots of great deals on the used market. For example, if you are an Elton John fan like me, several of his classic albums were superbly remixed and remastered in 5.1 and issued on SACD. While Yellow Brick Road is now also available on Blu-ray Audio, the others are not. Captain Fantastic's sound is amazing. By chance I see a used copy on Amazon.com right now for $5.45! I predict lots of sonic enjoyment once you get into SACD and DVD Audio.

Jeff

ps. Since you are new to SACD here's something to remember: they come in different formats. Some are in surround; others are stereo only. (Elton's a good example of the former; The Rolling Stones' releases of the latter.) Some SACDs also contain a standard stereo-only layer - which is a plus if you want to play them elsewhere (and also makes it possible to rip a copy for portability.)

 

Thanks for the info! I just bought Captain Fantastic for $5.45, per your recommendation.

 

my samsung uhd player does pretty good for what its worth,

had some flukes here and there, specifically a 'noisy' spinning disc for some movies (very very limited, i believe it was Enders game)

and of course my pacific rimjob problem (purchased three of them due to not playing, but it did after 'tilting' the player a bit to get a good angle i guess.

miss playing my sacds. i have to dig thru them later on to see if it plays both dvd-audio and/or sacds.

double check if the player can do per your list, at times it doesnt 'show' it on the manual, but it plays nonetheless. (this is based on my older sony blu-ray player.)

 

I really need to bring you over to the Plex Media Server dark-side. It would solve most of your problems when paired with a great client. For that matter, a nice KODI box would probably do it.

 

Yes. Another format to look for is Bluray Audio, of which I have a few (Tom Petty's last two albums came out on that format).

 

A review from sound and vision

Performance
The UBP-X800 sailed through our full suite of video processing tests, which puts it in the company of the Panasonic DMP-UB900 (see my review in our February/March issue), as well as Oppo’s UDP-203. Comparing its performance with the Panasonic player’s, the Sony held up extremely well when upconverting 1080p material to 4K resolution. For instance, when I watched the chapter “Innocence” from the standard Blu-ray of Tree of Life, a close-up shot of an infant’s face clearly revealed the smooth, powdery, slightly fuzzy texture of the child’s skin. In contrast, the fine lines in mom’s ribbed coat looked solid, and there was no hint of edge enhancement or other noise.
image: https://www.soundandvision.com/images/517sonybd.vidmeas.jpg


The Sony also compared favorably with the Panasonic when playing animated content. When I viewed a scene from the Blu-ray of The Lego Movie where Vitruvius escorts Emmet into his mind to convince him of his ability to become a Master Builder, the translucent Lego landscape had a finely textured look, as the highlights on the computer-modeled plastic pieces glistened with detail. The Panasonic’s more comprehensive range of detail-enhancement and noise-reduction adjustments did give me more flexibility to tweak images when watching standard Blu-rays and DVDs. Nonetheless, I still found upconverted Blu-ray picture quality to be convincingly 4K-like with both players.
Of course, Ultra HD Blu-ray playback is the main attraction here, and the UBP-X800 delivered on that front as well. When I watched Passengers, the picture looked stunningly detailed and displayed a subtle color range. In a scene where Jim first encounters an android bartender at the spacecraft’s bar (a set-piece copped straight from The Shining), the glow from the backlit bar surface created a warm, radiant atmosphere that was eerily at odds with the otherwise sterile, high-tech environment. When Jim later exits the spacecraft to do some sightseeing, the powerful contrast between the lights on the ship’s exterior and the black expanse of space lent the scene emotional weight—and it was also one of the more dramatic HDR examples I’ve experienced.


Read more at https://www.soundandvision.com/cont...-ray-player-review-page-2#TR3sTM1PyBcuOub4.99

 

Thanks for the link.

One thing that caught my eye right off the bat, is that they confirm something that I thought the owner's manual says, namely that it will play native DSD files. That's a great feature for those who get their hi-def audio files in that format. Many players / manufacturers used to do that (including Sony) but then eliminated the capability with firmware "updates." That was back when people were ripping native DSD files from SACDs using certain Playstation models and sharing them, and before the "legit" selling of DSD files by hi-def content providers. I assume by "play," one could stream DSD files from a home server. As I said, a potentially great feature to some users.

 

An example of a legit source for hi-def DSD files. Some great stuff for sale there!

http://www.hdtracks.com/dsd-albums

And this site is even neater, because they not only sell DSD albums, but every month they list a selection of free sample tracks to download - so you can see how well it works with your system (hint hint!)

http://bluecoastmusic.com/free-downloads

 

I would be curious how the streaming content player works. I am really considering upgrading my BluRay players and doing away with my Roku boxes at the same time.

 

Listening to this now.

 

I have not had a working Blu-Ray player in my main system for months. The one I have in there no longer outputs audio. I've got a couple others laying around and I'll probably swap it out at some point. Discs are just not that important to me as a medium anymore. Blu-Rays are like CD's. I rip them as soon as I get them, put away the disc and hardly see it again. It is not (yet) possible to rip UHD discs, but I'm not even sure I want to buy into another disc format. Time will tell.

 

I think what you're doing is probably the way to go. I need to start watching your videos.

 

I haven't put a video disc in a player for over two years. Everything I watch arrive via the miraculous internet.

I do, however, listen to proper CDs and SACDs quite often.

 

I'm actually really torn about physical media vs digital. I wish there was something convincing to help me choose either or.