4k Player or Disc Issue?

[chad3w]

Hey. I currently have the basic Panasonic UB-150 4k Blu Ray Player. I bought it in 2020 and have used it frequently over the last four years.

Now I am having trouble with a couple of discs reading as incompatible. The first disc was the Titanic 4k from 2023. When I purchased the disc, it played with no issue, but I wanted to watch it about a month ago, and when I did, that's when I received the first message on my player that "disc is incompatible." When I took out the disc and looked at it, it looked almost as if it had a puncture.

See picture here:

https://imgur.com/a/damaged-disc-cGErNoF

Being new to any kind of player issue, I chalked it up to my error. Perhaps I had put the disc on an angle and it got caught in the player somehow. Or I had something on my hands that somehow caused the laser to "skip" (?). Usually tho, I am pretty good about carefully inserting disc and not touching underside.

A month then past and I watched many films without issue....until a few nights ago when I tried to watch Classic Flix's "Raw Deal" Blu-ray. When I inserted the disc, it would not read and said disc is incompatible.

However, the disc looked fine and I tried 5 other films and they worked. So I cleaned the Raw Deal Blu-ray and it actually played and I watched the film all the way through, and figured it was simply unclean.

But last night, I inserted the film again out of curiosity and it would not read, and refused to be read by the player after 5-8 tries.... until this morning when I tried the disc and it works. And it also works on my PS4 btw.

Firmware is up to date, I also unplugged the power to the machine last night. However, it did not work after restarting the player then.

Therefore, a few questions:

1. Does this sound like a player or disc issue? My gut is that it is the player but not sure if I should overlook issue.

2. If a player is suddenly reading discs as "disc is incompatible", is there any risk you run in potentially damaging future discs by continuing to use the player?

3. If I were to buy a new player, I am contemplating the Panasonic UB420 (within my desired price range). Would you say, regardless of the TV I have, the 420 is a "notable" upgrade over the 150 in terms of picture quality/color grading, or would it be minor?

The HDR Optimizer appeals to me as I watch a lot of Boutique Blu-rays like Criterion, etc. also. I'm not sure if I should stick with the player or simply get a new one and keep the original as a backup.

Thank you for any help.

[LexInHD]

That disc gouge worries me, but I'm not sure how it would have happened in the player. I'd sacrifice some worthless CDs or DVDs to it, by loading and unloading discs for a while, to see if it does anything funky to them.

[AKORIS]

the damage to your first disc is really odd... what could have caused that???

As for the rest, since the discs seem to work okay some of the time, and then not others... I would tend to believe that the player is starting to have issues... which is not uncommon for 4k players approaching the 5 year mark.

[Jackson_H]

I once bought a region free Sony BDP-S3700 that was brand new but had an issue where discs I played were getting smudged and I was worried they were at risk of being damaged.

Never able to confirm if the discs from the studio were at fault or if it was my player being damaged because the dumb postal service lost (stole) my package when I shipped it for repair during COVID.

I suspect the smudges were caused by a faulty laser that might've been misaligned when the player was originally shipped to me.

Unless it would be less expensive to get a brand new player maybe consider taking your Panasonic UB-150 (in-person) to a repair shop

Haven't had any issues with the region free Sony UBP-X800M2 I got later

[D00mM4r1n3]

If the case for Titanic is an eco case the damage could be something denting the disc through the cover while it was in the case.

[chad3w]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

the damage to your first disc is really odd... what could have caused that???

As for the rest, since the discs seem to work okay some of the time, and then not others... I would tend to believe that the player is starting to have issues... which is not uncommon for 4k players approaching the 5 year mark.

Yes I came across that 4k players may last about that long. Considering mine is 4, it could be the case that the player is simply old. It's a shame considering how expensive they are. I never had issues with Blu-ray or DVD players in the past. Though maybe I was lucky. Bare minimum the discs should be able to read all discs. I'm personally less concerned about 1-2 sec freezes, if they are minimal.

[chad3w]

Originally Posted by Jackson_H

I once bought a region free Sony BDP-S3700 that was brand new but had an issue where discs I played were getting smudged and I was worried they were at risk of being damaged.

Never able to confirm if the discs from the studio were at fault or if it was my player being damaged because the dumb postal service lost (stole) my package when I shipped it for repair during COVID.

I suspect the smudges were caused by a faulty laser that might've been misaligned when the player was originally shipped to me.

Unless it would be less expensive to get a brand new player maybe consider taking your Panasonic UB-150 (in-person) to a repair shop

Haven't had any issues with the region free Sony UBP-X800M2 I got later

I think you're right. It must be the laser. Not sure if it read the Titanic 4k wrong because the laser was worn or I touched the underside of the disc with an oily finger and so the laser could have burned into it and now it's not the same...who knows. The slight puncture doesn't make sense either.

I might take it to a repair shop, but I'd imagine it'd be $75-100 compared to $175-225 to buy a new player. I do wish I had confirmation that the players (particularly the Panasonic 420) in the $200 range are in fact upgrades over the 150, so it'll feel more like getting an improved player versus a replacement. (obviously they have more features.... just want confirmation that the PQ would see a substantial uptick, to get excited about, rather than just a minimal one)