Sony UBP-X800 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by Fat Phil

After two years of glitch free play my X-800 has decided to be a pain in the ass. Might just be showing its age because i've put some serious miles on it - hours a day - be it playing discs, watching Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Latest firmware but problems with three different blemish free discs in the last week - pixelation and general freezing/skipping. Darkest Hour, the Darkest Hour replacement disc (crapping out in the exact same spots, which raises red flags that it was the player not the discs) and The Purge: Anarchy last night. All Universal titles, so I don't know if that means anything

Also watched Tomb Raider (Warner Bros), Ghost in the Shell (Paramount), Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal) and Equalizer 2 (Sony) but they were all fine. Still, three discs in one week after nothing in two years is too much of a coincidence.

Been meaning to buy a back-up player anyway so I went for the Panasonic 820 which i've wanted to check out for a while now. It'll be interesting to see if the same discs give me problems on the Panny.

The problems appeared just before and after the latest firmware update?
That firmware (which removed the Gracenote feature) was released on March 12, when did you update your player? When exactly did you first encounter a problem after two years trouble-free?

[Fat Phil]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

The problems appeared just before and after the latest firmware update?
That firmware (which removed the Gracenote feature) was released on March 12, when did you update your player? When exactly did you first encounter a problem after two years trouble-free?

Yep, it was glitching before the firmware update, and still exhibits the same issues with those discs after the update.

The very first time I noticed something was with Schindler's List (another Universal disc ) about ten days ago but it was so fast that I wasn't entirely sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. And I couldn't get the problem to replicate despite rewinding multiple times so I ignored it.

Those other Uni discs falter every single time though. Funny it only occurring with one studio's titles (four out of the last five i've watched) when every other studio's discs play solidly. Weird.

I'll do all the usual troubleshooting over the weekend. Washing discs, swapping cables, hard resets etc

[PaulGo]

It is possible the laser in the player needs cleaning.

[LordoftheRings]

What I find interesting is that they are from Universal Studios.
It's a bummer.

Thx for letting us know about this, and that the latest firmware update is unrelated and that it didn't fix that latest issue from those Universal titles, only surfacing now after two years trouble-free.

* If a Sony insider is reading this please make note. If not it would be a good thing to let Sony 4K BR player service department know about it ... Universal Studios discs. I assume that they were the 4K disc versions?

[Fat Phil]

I don't think there's enough of a pattern to warrant contacting Sony. After all, this is just my machine (long out of warranty) and there could be plenty of other explanations. The fact that they were all Universal titles could mean something or it could just be a coincidence.

I actually just watched the Universal's Green Book disc and that was smooth as silk, no problems whatsoever.

I'll try some things over the weekend and the Panasonic should be with me on Monday so I'll know if it's just a bad run of discs or my X800 one way or another in the next couple of days.

[LordoftheRings]

I know, it could be a Universal disc issue. It's worth keeping an open eye ...

[Vanguard]

Originally Posted by Fat Phil

I don't think there's enough of a pattern to warrant contacting Sony. After all, this is just my machine (long out of warranty) and there could be plenty of other explanations. The fact that they were all Universal titles could mean something or it could just be a coincidence.

I actually just watched the Universal's Green Book disc and that was smooth as silk, no problems whatsoever.

I'll try some things over the weekend and the Panasonic should be with me on Monday so I'll know if it's just a bad run of discs or my X800 one way or another in the next couple of days.

Were they all BD-100, BD-66, or a mixture? Cant imagine that would affect the player, but, stranger things....

[krem8tor]

Since updating my player to v0338 this morning it doesnt recognise any Dvd or bluray discs , only cd. Not even the disc that was in there playing perfectly secobda before the update. Any ideas please?

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by krem8tor

Not even the disc that was in there playing perfectly [. . .] before the update. Any ideas please?

I vaguely recall a general admonition to remove any disc from the tray before doing an update. Does this still apply these days?

[ratandjmt]

I'm on my second player and have been dealing with freezing issues since I've owned it. After multiple phone calls with Sony, and them sending me a replacement system I finally got a fix from a random response post on the Sony forums. Since making these 2 setting updates I've played over 15 movies (blu-ray & 4K) and haven't had one system freeze. Considering I was having as many as 4 freezes on one movie this is really good news. Hope this post will help someone else out that is having system freeze problems.

Turned off the "Control for HDMI" under the Systems Settings
Turned on the "Quick Start Mode"

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by ratandjmt

I'm on my second player and have been dealing with freezing issues since I've owned it. After multiple phone calls with Sony, and them sending me a replacement system I finally got a fix from a random response post on the Sony forums. Since making these 2 setting updates I've played over 15 movies (blu-ray & 4K) and haven't had one system freeze. Considering I was having as many as 4 freezes on one movie this is really good news. Hope this post will help someone else out that is having system freeze problems.

Turned off the "Control for HDMI" under the Systems Settings
Turned on the "Quick Start Mode"

This player is a hir or miss. I got my first UBP X-800 on June 2017 and I experienced wit it some freezing with discs from time to time, even if I cleaned every single disc I bought. This player eventually stopped playing any kind of discs,it just didn't recognized CD's, SACD's, DVD's, BD's and UHD BD's. I took it to be serviced while it was still in warranty, this happened last April. I took it to be serviced at Sony's repair shop and they made me wait around half an hour, and after that time a guy came from inside the repair room with a boxed and factory sealed brand new X-800. I've had this one since with no issues at all,not a single freezing even with 3 Layer/100 Gigs. discs like Westworld Seasons 1 & 2 (Season 1 froze at least once while playing a single episode), Pacific Rim Or Game Of Thrones Season 1.
I've said several times on this thread that the problem with this player IMHO is the lack of quality control.

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

I took it to be serviced at Sony's repair shop and they made me wait around half an hour, and after that time a guy came from inside the repair room with a boxed and factory sealed brand new X-800.

This is interesting. Did they ask you to wait? What led you to believe they'd even be able to look at your deck on a same-day basis? Usually one drops off the gear and gets an estimated date that the shop will call when it's ready.

Maybe it's as simple as it not penciling out to repair if it's under warranty compared to just giving you a new player. But I'm curious what, if anything, the tech or intake person told you was the issue they were so readily able to identify with your player such that they weren't going to repair it and instead just give you a new one (seemingly without even having to file a warranty claim with Sony?).

[krem8tor]

I've just tried to play some old Dr Who dvd's that are stated region 2 + 4 . My player is a region 4 but it doesn't play these discs.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

This is interesting. Did they ask you to wait? What led you to believe they'd even be able to look at your deck on a same-day basis? Usually one drops off the gear and gets an estimated date that the shop will call when it's ready.

Maybe it's as simple as it not penciling out to repair if it's under warranty compared to just giving you a new player. But I'm curious what, if anything, the tech or intake person told you was the issue they were so readily able to identify with your player such that they weren't going to repair it and instead just give you a new one (seemingly without even having to file a warranty claim with Sony?).

The guy who assisted me asked me if I was in a hurry and I answered "no, I'm not". I seated at a sofa,they had some Sony and Philips T.V. sets on display, and after half an hour or so the guy came with the new and factory sealed player. I asked him why was that and he answered me that they had orders from Sony that with a player with a failure like mine, they had to take the player and give a new one because of their high failure rate. The guy showed me one X-800 innards and it looks like a toy made with cheap components.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by krem8tor

I've just tried to play some old Dr Who dvd's that are stated region 2 + 4 . My player is a region 4 but it doesn't play these discs.

Paul's post just above mentioned that if you update your player while a disc is still inside the disc tray it might be an issue; I believe Paul is correct.

Usually, and it is recommended, before you proceed with a firmware update we shall remove any disc from the disc tray, I even remove the USB stick when updating through Ethernet Connection or Wi-Fi.

I would contact Sony for any accommodation service.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

The guy who assisted me asked me if I was in a hurry and I answered "no, I'm not". I seated at a sofa,they had some Sony and Philips T.V. sets on display, and after half an hour or so the guy came with the new and factory sealed player. I asked him why was that and he answered me that they had orders from Sony that with a player with a failure like mine, they had to take the player and give a new one because of their high failure rate. The guy showed me one X-800 innards and it looks like a toy made with cheap components.

The X800 ain't no Oppo 205. Neither does it cost anything near.
...Say $199 vs $1,299 (when it was still alive...now expect paying double on eBay).

But, of all the players in the $200 price range it's the only one with more metal, more attention to external noise from the disc drive with some more serious isolation, ...a very nice touch from Sony in addition of creating their first ever Universal 4K Blu-ray player. For that price it's hard to criticize much...only for the lack of Dolby Vision.

[LordoftheRings]

Quality control is something missing in our world; it's the same with humans.
Attention is not given, education is lacking. We live in an imbalanced society where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the distance between the two get larger.

Nosotros (us) we fit somewhere where the sun rises and the moon orbits Earth.

[Paul.R.S]

Bob, the X800 is not "their first ever Universal 4K Blu-ray player." The X1000 was released about two years ago.

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

. . . he answered me that they had orders from Sony that with a player with a failure like mine, they had to take the player and give a new one because of their high failure rate.

Thanks very much. But I wonder what exactly was your player's failure and what the tech might have said in response to a question about what (user behavior?), if anything, precipitates that error or if it's random.

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

I vaguely recall a general admonition to remove any disc from the tray before doing an update. Does this still apply these days?

https://www.sony.com/electronics/sup...loads/00015920

Scroll down to "Set up the equipment":

"3. Turn on the Blu-ray player. (If there is a disc in the player, take it out.)"

Now the question becomes whether you should share that oversight with Sony. It hopefully wouldn't be a basis for denial of a warranty claim to replace the player but if you're not close to an authorized service center and need to mail the player to them, "User Error" may play a role in whether they pay for the shipment of the player to them.