The Criterion Collection

[nathan_h]

Originally Posted by mande2013

The Dolby Vision vs HDR10 format war makes buying a UHD player all the more frustrating. I see Sony players for around 200 that support DV, but they apparently have freezing issues whereas none of the Panasonic players in that price range appear to support DV. Any advice? I'm based in France, for the record.

It's not so much a format war (all DV disks also contain a complete HDR10 layer) as simply an enchanted feature set.

If your 4k TV supports DV, and it doesn't handle at least 2000 nits of brightness, then getting a 4k player that supports DV makes sense.

The only good choices in North America right now in the new market are the Panasonic players, with the 820 being the one that does it all (ie, included DV).

I would just get the cheapest Panasonic player in your region that is DV compatible, to be fully covered.

(Oppo were lovely, and yes you can pay six times their original retail price to get one, but I cannot imagine that's a cost effective approach except in a few rare circumstances. I have a Sony, because when I sold my Oppo -- yep -- Panasonic hadn't entered the game, yet. But I would get a Panasonic were I to get something these days.)

In any event, then asking about or discussing what 4k player to get, it's important to specify what 4k display you are using, because that can influence which player is most cost effective.

[nathan_h]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Not out of the box (nor is any other current 4K player) other than the locked Blurays it can play with the Top Menu trick [/url]

So you are saying the Panasonic top menu trick does not work on the Panasonic 820, right?

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by meckel

I paid $89 for mine from 220 Electronics. It’s the external mod kit. Took less then 10 minutes to set up

I've been shopping in person with 220 for many years, they are located in suburban Chicago. It's just a small office suite with a tiny showroom. They are the friendliest people and always put down the red carpet for my elderly Dad when he was still able to get out and go there with my brother and me. I've never had an issue with any of their equipment and I've purchased a lot from them, going all the way back to the early days of DVD. Even though I'm currently in Germany, I have three of the region free Blu players I got from them with me!

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by nathan_h

So you are saying the Panasonic top menu trick does not work on the Panasonic 820, right?

Not saying that at all. As far as I'm aware some variation of the top menu works on the 420/820, but it doesn't work on all discs and I don't think it helps if you need region free DVD help.

I don't consider that a region free player though it is a very interesting workaround and can be quite useful for those who might need a locked disc to play -- assuming it continues to work and the disc you need to play is one that will

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

220Electronics and Bombay sell many region free modded players.

I've seen Oppo referenced so many times across the forum. I have a Sony BDP-S3700 -- still don't have a 4K player or TV though -- so what does Oppo have over Sony?

[bonehica]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

I've seen Oppo referenced so many times across the forum. I have a Sony BDP-S3700 -- still don't have a 4K player or TV though -- so what does Oppo have over Sony?

Many people will argue that OPPO players are technically superior to anything Sony or Panasonic have put out. I won't because I am just not that knowledgable about that. You can read the many reviews on the web to come to a conclusion. What I will argue, though, is that their customer service was/is the best in the business and, honestly, it's not even close. I have used OPPO since being one of the lucky "early adopters" of the BDP-83. I have only needed to use their customer service once. And, it was the greatest experience I have had with a company. My BDP-93 started to act wonky a couple of years after purchase and long past the manufacturer warranty. I emailed them about it. They replied within a couple of hours with a UPS overnight label. I gave UPS my rig on a Tuesday. On Thursday just TWO days later, I received my fixed player. Never have I ever seen anything like that. Crazy awesome customer service. Try getting Sony or Panny to do something like that!

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by bonehica

Many people will argue that OPPO players are technically superior to anything Sony or Panasonic have put out. I won't because I am just not that knowledgable about that. You can read the many reviews on the web to come to a conclusion.

I appreciate that, but I guess that's the exact question I have: How is Oppo superior? I've had the same SONY player for 5 years with no issue, and in the last 2 years I've watched on average 1 disc a day.

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

I've seen Oppo referenced so many times across the forum. I have a Sony BDP-S3700 -- still don't have a 4K player or TV though -- so what does Oppo have over Sony?

Build quality, ability to play virtually anything.

I have a Region Free 6700 and a couple Oppo's. The Sony works very well, but it's noisy, slow (relatively), the DVD upscaling can't touch the Oppo, teh Pal-NTSC conversion is better and ability to output native encodes I'm not sure the Sony can even do. The Oppo just has a cleaner overall signal though you won't really it on most normal discs . The Sony weighs 2-3 lb, the 103Darbee is closer to 15.

Oppo plays SACD, DVDA, multiple flash drive encoded items, multiple audio codecs that the Sony won't play. The Sony was around $180-200 when I bought it, the Oppo closer to 400-450 including the Region Free DIY mod, but I could likely sell it for near what I paid.

I guess it's sort of like a 2015 Civic vs 2021 Lexus. Both get you to where you want to go. There's absolutely nothing bad about the Civic, it's a great, safe, reliable car (FWIW drive a 20 yo Accord b/c I don't need a Lexus), but if I'm going to do a cross country trip and cost no object it's not going to be my 1st choice

Oppo is also out of business so no new production models and only used/new-old stock is available.

Now, before the mods and mobs object -- this is the Criterion thread and 4K/BD player conversation probably belond elsewhere. I'm surprised nobody has objected yet, but when I first replied I didn't realized originally which thread/subforum I was in.

[bonehica]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

I appreciate that, but I guess that's the exact question I have: How is Oppo superior? I've had the same SONY player for 5 years with no issue, and in the last 2 years I've watched on average 1 disc a day.

I've owned my 203 for 3 years and put it through the same paces as you do. 1 disc a day and often 3-4 on the weekends. No hiccups as well. The same could be said for my previous models (BDP-83 and BDP-93). In the reviews for the OPPO's, they were always lauded for their superior build quality. Power supplies, main boards, chip sets...all the internals were top of the line (the 203 weighs 15 lbs). Their was one occasion where it was found out that Lexicon, a boutique high end A/V company, actually rebadged OPPO blu ray players and sold them as their own...at a $3000 mark up! The OPPO's were also superior on the audio end as they offered analog output support for multi-channel speaker setups. They also featured a lot of advanced Audio and Video customization abilities in their settings. That all being said, the 203 was introduced almost 5 years ago. How it stacks up to the latest offerings from Sony and Panny is anybody's guess. Nobody tests them against each other these days. I'm still happy with mine and hope to be for many years to come!

[fdm]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Not really, they're still updating the firmware and many of even the high end 4K players are missing features that the 203 included.

Oppo's still even doing servicing on their players.

Well no they haven't had a firmware update for a long time (Feb 2019), pretty much everyone has come to accept that the last firmware updates have come and gone (surprise us Oppo!). Otherwise, their continued service and support is still a big plus.

[nathan_h]

Oppo were (are) great. Well, when it was c. $500 it was worth the slight premium to get all those features. Now that they are a few thousand dollars and not as well supported, I'm less inclined to sing their praises.

Can any one other player do everything they could? Not quite. Does any one home need all their functions? It's rare that a use case can't be solved with other gear these days for less than the price of a unicorn.

Can we start complaining yet about the Criterion Channel not supporting 4k???

[SteelyTom]

Originally Posted by mande2013

The Dolby Vision vs HDR10 format war makes buying a UHD player all the more frustrating. I see Sony players for around 200 that support DV, but they apparently have freezing issues whereas none of the Panasonic players in that price range appear to support DV. Any advice? I'm based in France, for the record.

I've owned a Sony UBP-X1100ES for the past several months, replacing an old Oppo player. It supports DV and plays every disc known to man, and while not free of quirks is serving me quite well.

[koberulz]

Anyone know where the Criterion thread is?

I got my Bergman set a couple of days ago, and half the discs had fallen out of their holders.

[gbm82]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Anyone know where the Criterion thread is?

I got my Bergman set a couple of days ago, and half the discs had fallen out of their holders.

take a left at starbucks

[DukeTogo84]

Crossing my fingers for a Mank announcement tomorrow.

[Gacivory]

I’m wondering Mudbound will also get announced tomorrow. I know a supposed to be announced for a release in the fall.

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by BunyipPouch

Aren't decent region-free blu ray players like $150? Then you can just buy a separate 4K player.

I'd rather just have 2 players than pay hundreds extra for a combination. They're small anyways and my entertainment shelf has plenty of space so I don't mind.

this is what i did. i already had a sony UHD player with Dolby Vision that i’m fine with and then just bought a region free blu-ray player for half what it would cost to get a region free UHD/Blu-ray player.

it’s not really a hassle to use 2 players

[MifuneFan]

Today will be very exciting

[postmodel]

I am looking forward to seeing the specs and pricing of Citizen Kane today...I think it's about time I finally own it, huh?

With something like Mank though, now that they are releasing 4K UHD, I can't imagine just a regular Blu-Ray...then again just last month Uncut Gems was announced, which is available digitally in 4K/HDR, so I don't know. But can't wait to see what's on the menu today!

[dvining]

It'd be funny if, in a few months, Criterion announced a 4K UHD of Parasite.