Sony UBP-X800 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I have deep color on auto. I used to have YCbCr on auto but someone here mentioned BDs looked a little "cleaner" on 4:4:4 so I am tried that out and it might be a placebo but it does look slightly improved. However theoretically 4:2:2 is closer to the natural disc encode of (I believe) 4:2:0.

Thanks. Do we know what mode under what circumstances the player selects for playing discs? I'm wondering what the best mode should be if I use the player strictly for UHD discs. I came across this earlier:

"UHD Blu-Ray is served as 4K @24Hz, 8bit, YUV420, Rec.709 and HDR UHD Blu-Ray is 4K @24Hz, 10bit, YUV420, Rec.2020 the exact setup that can't be send via HDMI to a TV. So instead of sending the content untouched to the TV, you have to do some chroma upsampling on the media device and upsample from YUV420 to YUV422 or YUV44 or RGB (if the framerate allows it) then send it to the TV where another conversion will take place."

So it sounds like some conversion has to happen at some point. A member in the x700 thread suggested 4:4:4 also so I'll give that a shot.

Not sure what I should do with Deep color though.

[rocklobster]

An update for those who may be interested: my player started working again yesterday. Tried a new disc (John Wick 2) and every disc that wouldn’t work the day before, all worked fine.

I’m glad I didn’t have to replace it right now, but it was strange and I’ll be keeping an eye out to replace in the future.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by rocklobster

An update for those who may be interested: my player started working again yesterday. Tried a new disc (John Wick 2) and every disc that wouldn’t work the day before, all worked fine.

I’m glad I didn’t have to replace it right now, but it was strange and I’ll be keeping an eye out to replace in the future.

What did you do? ...Can't be John Wick.

[rocklobster]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

What did you do? ...Can't be John Wick.

Literally nothing! Lol

I just left it alone, decided to try a disc the next day (the aforementioned John Wick 2), it worked and then I decided to try every disc that didn’t work the previous day and they all worked!

While I still have my eye on the UBK90, and will eventually get it, I’m happy to not have to buy it now.

[LordoftheRings]

That's a happy spook.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I have deep color on auto. I used to have YCbCr on auto but someone here mentioned BDs looked a little "cleaner" on 4:4:4 so I am tried that out and it might be a placebo but it does look slightly improved. However theoretically 4:2:2 is closer to the natural disc encode of (I believe) 4:2:0.

That's me who said that. I still have my X-800 set to 4:4:4 as this makes 1080p look cleaner on my Samsung 49" 4K HDR set. I guess it all depends onhow a particular device does and handles chroma upsampling. In theory RGB should be the ideal output as in the end all component video signals have to be transcoded to RGB for display. There's a "but" on my set up, it's either the X-800 doesn't output Wide Color Gamut (but does HDR) when set to output RGB, or the X-800 does but my Samsung set doesn't accept Wide Color Gamut when it gets an HDR signal output as RGB from the X-800. I whished I could try other players ouputting HDR on RGB with my Samsung set but I only know of a person who has an UHD BD player, and he also has the Sony X-800.
Anyway, with the X-800 and my Samsung set 4:4:4 gets great picture quality on any video format.

[StingingVelvet]

Usually the TVs themselves are better at doing the processing, that's why most guides tell you to have the player output as close to what's on the disc as possible. It can definitely depend on the television though.

[andantelise]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Usually the TVs themselves are better at doing the processing, that's why most guides tell you to have the player output as close to what's on the disc as possible. It can definitely depend on the television though.

If you don't mind my asking, what output and upscale options do you have set? Do you switch them around according to the source( 4k for 4k, 1080p for 1080p, etc...?)

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by andantelise

If you don't mind my asking, what output and upscale options do you have set? Do you switch them around according to the source( 4k for 4k, 1080p for 1080p, etc...?)

I have upscaling off on the X800, as the TV does a better job in my opinion. I think it still upscales DVDs to 1080p though, if I recall correctly. Same for my region-free Panasonic.

[eddievanhalen]

I have my X-800 output set to Original Resolution. This way 1080p will be output as 1080p and 4K as 4K but as the forum member collegue said, it still upscales DVD's to 1080p. To overcome this you have to go to Output Video Resolution and change its output to 480i/576i.
The problem most of us see with this player upscaling to 4K is that it seems to apply some kind of digital noise reduction as picture looks fuzzy and lacks detail.
I have set Output Video Resolution to "Original Resolution" so when I watch BD's let my Samsung set do the upscaling that does a much better job than the X-800.

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Usually the TVs themselves are better at doing the processing, that's why most guides tell you to have the player output as close to what's on the disc as possible. It can definitely depend on the television though.

Back in the days when normal Blu-ray players were a new thing and were expensive and DVD Players were mainstream, did the DVD Players with 1080p upscaling usually have better upscaling than the TV's in those days and it was more important to get DVD player with 1080p upscaling in those days if you owned a 1080p TV?

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

I have my X-800 output set to Original Resolution. This way 1080p will be output as 1080p and 4K as 4K but as the forum member collegue said, it still upscales DVD's to 1080p. To overcome this you have to go to Output Video Resolution and change its output to 480i/576i.

I'm okay with it putting DVDs at 1080 because then the TV isn't doing a massive upscale on them, it's being scaled more moderately twice. Also the mild noise reduction probably works okay on DVD, whereas I want to avoid it like the plague for BD. Maybe I should see what it looks like if I set it to 480 though, out of curiosity.

Originally Posted by PCFan

Back in the days when normal Blu-ray players were a new thing and were expensive and DVD Players were mainstream, did the DVD Players with 1080p upscaling usually have better upscaling than the TV's in those days and it was more important to get DVD player with 1080p upscaling in those days if you owned a 1080p TV?

It always depends on the scaling software being used. TVs today tend to have better software than players, but I'm not sure if that was the case back then or not. I was into DVD as much as I am BD/UHD today, but I watched everything back then on a PC.

[Saucerful]

Well, another one bites the dust... I had my X800 for 2 months but thankfully with Best Buy's holiday season extended window, I was able to return mine.

Mine was freezing up and glitching out intermittently (4K or otherwise). I wasn't even running it through a receiver, just the X800 direct to a Sony 930E. I tried updating the firmware, disabling Bravia Sync, buying a new Premium Certified 4K HDMI cable, etc, etc. Maybe I got a lemon but with the number of people having similar issues, it just wasn't worth the headache anymore.

So now I'm in the market for a new player, probably not Sony after this left a sour taste in my mouth. I like my hardware to be able to play movies all the way through without messing up. The only thing I really loved about the X800 is how quiet it was.

*edit*

Originally Posted by mzupeman

I've long complained on here that my copy of Dunkirk won't work on this machine.

Dunkirk was actually the nail in the coffin for me. I had horrible video glitching with mine.

[LordoftheRings]

Bummer!
• https://www.sunnyelectronics.ca/en/c...sonic-DP-UB820

[Sman]

Still trying to deicde whether I’m better off letting my Vizio P55-F1 do the upscaing or the player itself. Right now I have My Output Video Resolution set to 4K, the 4K Upscale setting to off (I assume this allows the tv to upscale) and the video settings to direct.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Sman

Still trying to deicde whether I’m better off letting my Vizio P55-F1 do the upscaing or the player itself. Right now I have My Output Video Resolution set to 4K, the 4K Upscale setting to off (I assume this allows the tv to upscale) and the video settings to direct.

Televisions tend to be better at it in my experience, and the X800 supposedly adds some unbeatable noise reduction when it upscales. If you don't see a difference though then it probably doesn't really matter.

[Sman]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Televisions tend to be better at it in my experience, and the X800 supposedly adds some unbeatable noise reduction when it upscales. If you don't see a difference though then it probably doesn't really matter.

So, Original Resolution with 4K upscaling set to off would be the best option. I notice a slight difference but a part of me is still curious if my Vizio actually is better than the player and I’m not experiencing some placebo effect.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Sman

So, Original Resolution with 4K upscaling set to off would be the best option. I notice a slight difference but a part of me is still curious if my Vizio actually is better than the player and I’m not experiencing some placebo effect.

You are not, most likely. The Sony X-800 doesn't upscale 1080p (or 720p) to 4K well as some kind of noise reduction seems to be applied which leaves picture soft and lacking detail.

[Sman]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

You are not, most likely. The Sony X-800 doesn't upscale 1080p (or 720p) to 4K well as some kind of noise reduction seems to be applied which leaves picture soft and lacking detail.

Thanks. I had originally just kept it on auto and used the Auto 2 upscaling setting but something felt off. So, I figured I would try to output the original resolution and turn off the X-800’s upscaling and the difference is enough for me to let the TV upscale.

[Kage]

My tv does not support Dolby Vision. Should I purchase the X800 than waiting for the X800M2 to arrive later this year?