Sony UBP-X800 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[aaronwt2065]

Originally Posted by Realist01

Does anyone have issues with netflix app? When i use it on my roku it work flawless but not so much on the x800. The reason i have tried netflix on the x800 is because my tv only has one input for hdr and i use that for the x800 and i use the standard 4k input fir the roku premiere plus

Netflix works flawlessly on my launch x800. It is my preferred Device for watching non Atmos Netflix titles. Mine has been rock solid with Netflix.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Realist01

Does anyone have issues with netflix app?

My big complaint with Netflix is the blasted auto preview feature that can not be turned off. As I try to look thru My List it will start a preview which causes the screen to black out for several seconds. This happens because I have the output set to use 24Hz. Asked about the Roku Ultra and owners say the same thing happens with it if 24Hz is selected.

Have called Netflix and complained about not being able to disable the auto preview. Really dumb .

[Rocklandsboy]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

My big complaint with Netflix is the blasted auto preview feature that can not be turned off. As I try to look thru My List it will start a preview which causes the screen to black out for several seconds. This happens because I have the output set to use 24Hz. Asked about the Roku Ultra and owners say the same thing happens with it if 24Hz is selected.

Have called Netflix and complained about not being able to disable the auto preview. Really dumb .

That and Netflix automatically shrinking closing credits in favour of pushing a link to the next episode. And putting basted "Skip intro" buttons at the bottom of opening title sequence. None of which can be diabled through player apps. Jeez, are people that impatient these days?

[Realist01]

Yeah there should be an option to take off the preview before selecting the movie off netflix. I understand if its a feature film but every movie you scroll to has that preview.

The problem i had with netflix on the player is the stream catching up to 4k hdr quality. My roku does it lighting fast.

[Realist01]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Just tried this with the player set to 1080p output (no upscaling) and the same applies: if you leave the Options--Video Settings selection on Auto then it will apply the noise reduction. Always put this setting on Direct for the most unmolested results. This is from the in-player options menu and not the main set-up menu.

A few other settings that I've double-checked. The 4K Upscale setting in the main setup menu has no effect whatsoever if your Output Video Resolution is set to anything other than Auto. If the output resolution is fixed to 4K for example then even when I turn the specific 4K upscale setting off, the player will still upscale all sub-4K content regardless.

The 4K upscale settings do the following when output resolution is set to Auto and connected to a Sony TV (manual p.20 states that "If your Sony equipment is not detected when [Auto1] is selected, the setting will have the same effect as [Auto2] setting"):

Auto 1: lets 1080p content through at native resolution without scaling, upscales sub-1080p to 1080p. Plays 4K content in 4K.

Auto 2: upscales all sub-4K content to 4K. Plays 4K content in 4K.

Off: see Auto 1

If I dont have a sony tv should i leave my output vide resolution on auto or 4k? What about auto 2 for upscale. I leqve mine on. Should i leave that on for dvd discs as well?

All these options give me a headache. I feel like im always leqving something off when it should be on. Same with that 24p option. Do i leave all of that on auto? I think when you click the 24p option there are 4 different optionw for 24p. I think i have dvd on auto and something else.

O and how do you take off that sleep mode option when you dont use the plwyer for 10-15 minutes

[PCFan]

Is the X700 worth the extra money over the X800?

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by Realist01

If I dont have a sony tv should i leave my output vide resolution on auto or 4k? What about auto 2 for upscale. I leqve mine on. Should i leave that on for dvd discs as well?

All these options give me a headache. I feel like im always leqving something off when it should be on. Same with that 24p option. Do i leave all of that on auto? I think when you click the 24p option there are 4 different optionw for 24p. I think i have dvd on auto and something else.

O and how do you take off that sleep mode option when you dont use the plwyer for 10-15 minutes

• Select Auto...[Output Video Resolution]

• Your TV is 4K, select Auto2. ...[4K Upscale Setting]

• Select Auto [24p Ouput] ...Forget the rest...the other screen with the four options.

• IMPORTANT: Select OFF [BD Audio MIX Setting]

• There is no Sleep Mode Option.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by PCFan

Is the X700 worth the extra money over the X800?

It depends. How important is Dolby Vision to your future?
If you say; not much, I'd say go for the X800.
If you say; yes I would like because my TV is Dolby Vision ready, I'd say wait till the X700 gets that DV firmware update, because by that time the player will be on sale for less money.

[andantelise]

I just noticed that when I set the output to 4K and turn off the upscale option (auto 1 & 2), I don't get image retention. This is in direct contrast to setting the output to auto and selecting either of the auto upscale options. I have selected direct from the video options while playing a film, btw. Is this an anomaly with my tv or blu-ray player? I have a Sony X900 and a Sony X800 player. I've also noticed a large amount of gradation issues. I first noticed it while watching Dekalog 9 and Sicario. Is this another anomaly with my TV or player?

[Geoff D]

If it's Sicario the Blu-ray you're talking about then the 1080p encode is a typical Lionsgate hack job with banding all over the place.

[Tim Glover]

Like a few here my freezing up issue in only with the Netflix and YouTube apps. But mostly with Netflix. After a few episodes its just goes to the big red NETFLIX logo...goes black. The repeats. The remote is then non functional. The only fix is to unplug the unit. Wait about 10 minutes then plug back in.

I have the Sony 75x940c TV...

Otherwise the 4K streaming is wonderful quality And UHD discs awesome.

[Wendell R. Breland]

On occasion mine will lockup so I procured a switch similar to this one (Lowe's or Home Depot?) and placed it right behind the player. Now I can remove the power without having to access the equipment room and unplugging the AC line .

[eddievanhalen]

I've had the X-800 for 9 months and there are a few things I've been wondering about this player.
One is its bit depth video output. Is it true that it ONLY outputs a 12 bit video signal regardless if it's playing an UHD BD disc, a BD or DVD disc which are 8 bit video, or video streaming at either 8 bit SDR or 10/12 bit HDR? What about Deep Color? If I set it to OFF does it output video signal at its native bit depth?
If I have a HDR set is there any advantage of upconverting an 8 bit video signal to 10/12 bit? Upsampling is controversial on audio, some hear advantages on upsampling 44.1/16 to 88.2/24, 176.4/24 or 192/24, some say it doesn't make a difference and that may even introduce indesired conversion artifacts degrading sound quality. Can the same be said about video upconversion from 8 bit to 10/12 bits?
What about the X-800 chroma upsampling performance? With plain SDR 8 bit BDs I can see a picture difference setting the HDMI output from 4:2:2 to 4:4:4, 4:4:4 looks a bit cleaner and sharper than 4:2:2, with HDR material I don't see a difference between 4:2:2 and 4:4:4. Setting HDMI output to Auto does a handshake with the T.V. set it's connected to, on the case with my 4K HDR Samsung set, video is set to output to 4:2:2. This can easily be checked, set video to Auto and wait to see a picture (the menu) on the screen, then change to either 4:2:2 or 4:4:4, the one that doesn't make the screen go black and remain like nothing has been changed is the actual chroma format the X-800 is outputting. If I set it to Auto and then change to 4:4:4, screen goes black for a moment and then picture is back, if I set output to Auto and then change to 4:2:2 there is no black out, picture remains as if nothing is changed. I haven't noticed any noticiable difference forcing video to 4:4:4 with HDR material. In addition to that, there is no way to know what kind of internal video processing it's doing and in what format, some lower end sets do processing on the 4:2:2 domain, some higher end sets do its internal video processing on the 4:4:4 domain. What do forum members think about the performance of the X-800 chroma upsampling? I think it definetely does it better than my previous Samsung K-8500 UHD BD player, which was subpar, with a known red push.

[STEVEfromLA]

I really like my x800. But my player freezes multiple times each week. It drives my ice nuts. It’s built great but a hug pita.

[Geoff D]

@ eddie

When looking at the Spears & Munsil chroma patterns the 4:4:4 introduces a slight chroma alignment error in BD to 4K upscaling, 4:2:2 is cleaner.

If you set deep color to off then you'll get the proper 8-bit output from DVD and BD but UHD is still oversampled to 12-bit AFAIK.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

@ eddie

When looking at the Spears & Munsil chroma patterns the 4:4:4 introduces a slight chroma alignment error in BD to 4K upscaling, 4:2:2 is cleaner.

If you set deep color to off then you'll get the proper 8-bit output from DVD and BD but UHD is still oversampled to 12-bit AFAIK.

Thanks for your answer Geoff D. I have set my X-800 Output Video Resolution to Original Resolution as I find my Samsung set to do a better 4K upscaling from 1080p or SD much better than the "noise reduced-softness applied" 4K upscaling of the X-800.
I don't understand why either with Deep Color ON or with UHD (HDR actually?) the X-800 went the 12 bit way, it just makes no sense. Even today most UHD panels are still 8 bit with dithering applied so they can display a pseudo-WCG, but 12 bits just seems overkill. This will only introduce artifacts as 12 bit will have to be downgraded to 8 or 10 bit by the display. Upconvert to later downconvert just makes no sense.
What do you think about the X-800 4:4:4 performance when it's not upscaling, just output 1080p or native 4K?
I've changed to RGB several times while watching a BD and RGB looks cleaner with 8 bit sources than either 4:2:2 or 4:4:4, but this may be because when the X-800 outputs RGB video is alway at 8 bit depth, no upconverting to 12 bit.

[Geoff D]

My theory is that they (and Panasonic before they applied the 10-bit option) chose to force 12-bit for UHD output because it's actually more backwards compatible with older HDMI gear, e.g. 12-bit 4:2:2 4K24 was part of the HDMI 1.4 specification but 10-bit 4:2:2 4K24 still isn't part of any official HDMI spec in use at the moment AFAIK and 10-bit 4:4:4 is too much bandwidth for 300MHz HDMI chips to handle.

For the native 1080p output then the same applies as with the 4K upscaled output: 4:4:4 introduces a very slight horizontal chroma error while 4:2:2 is perfect. For that reason I keep mine on 4:2:2, along with Deep Colour off and output resolution manually set to 4K. This means that it upscales all <4K content to 4K but the upscaling is very good, to avoid the baked in noise reduction you have to change the in-play picture settings to Direct. The trouble with RGB is that it cuts off below black and above white information, so if your Blu-ray has information contained above the 'legal' 8-bit 235 video level (it's been known to happen) then it will be clipped out.

[Snikt]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

Thanks for your answer Geoff D. I have set my X-800 Output Video Resolution to Original Resolution as I find my Samsung set to do a better 4K upscaling from 1080p or SD much better than the "noise reduced-softness applied" 4K upscaling of the X-800.
I don't understand why either with Deep Color ON or with UHD (HDR actually?) the X-800 went the 12 bit way, it just makes no sense. Even today most UHD panels are still 8 bit with dithering applied so they can display a pseudo-WCG, but 12 bits just seems overkill. This will only introduce artifacts as 12 bit will have to be downgraded to 8 or 10 bit by the display. Upconvert to later downconvert just makes no sense.
What do you think about the X-800 4:4:4 performance when it's not upscaling, just output 1080p or native 4K?
I've changed to RGB several times while watching a BD and RGB looks cleaner with 8 bit sources than either 4:2:2 or 4:4:4, but this may be because when the X-800 outputs RGB video is alway at 8 bit depth, no upconverting to 12 bit.

Must be a Samung thing. Because I had to turn off the 4K upscaling on my Sony player. With it on, it gave a smeared/blurry image for Blu-rays and DVDs.

Turned it off and my 4K Samsung TV deos the upscaling. Now it looks beautiful...very beautiful. I'm seeing more detail now than I did with my original Sony player combined with this TV.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Snikt

Must be a Samung thing. Because I had to turn off the 4K upscaling on my Sony player. With it on, it gave a smeared/blurry image for Blu-rays and DVDs.

Turned it off and my 4K Samsung TV deos the upscaling. Now it looks beautiful...very beautiful. I'm seeing more detail now than I did with my original Sony player combined with this TV.

The same happens with my combination of X-800 and Samsung 49" 4K HDR set. If I let the Sony UBP X-800 do the upscalling and with the player's picture settings set to Direct and not Auto, picture looks soft and lacking detail, like if some kind of Digital Noise Reduction was applied. With the X-800 resolution output set to Original Resolution picture looks very very nice and detailed. I don't know if this is an issue with the combination Sony player-Samsung T.V. set or if people using the X-800 with other brands T.V. sets have also noticed this. I guess that many people have not even tried setting the player's output to Auto or 4K.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

My theory is that they (and Panasonic before they applied the 10-bit option) chose to force 12-bit for UHD output because it's actually more backwards compatible with older HDMI gear, e.g. 12-bit 4:2:2 4K24 was part of the HDMI 1.4 specification but 10-bit 4:2:2 4K24 still isn't part of any official HDMI spec in use at the moment AFAIK and 10-bit 4:4:4 is too much bandwidth for 300MHz HDMI chips to handle.

For the native 1080p output then the same applies as with the 4K upscaled output: 4:4:4 introduces a very slight horizontal chroma error while 4:2:2 is perfect. For that reason I keep mine on 4:2:2, along with Deep Colour off and output resolution manually set to 4K. This means that it upscales all <4K content to 4K but the upscaling is very good, to avoid the baked in noise reduction you have to change the in-play picture settings to Direct. The trouble with RGB is that it cuts off below black and above white information, so if your Blu-ray has information contained above the 'legal' 8-bit 235 video level (it's been known to happen) then it will be clipped out.

Thanks for your reply. I haven't noticed anything regarding color when I've set output to 4:4:4 while playing either 8 bit BD or 4K HDR, but me not seeing it doesn't mean that this error doesn't exist, it's very easy for untrained eyes (and the same with ears) not to see artifacts and just ignore them.
If I set the X-800 output to 4:4:4 my Samsung T.V. set OSD shows "HDR" and so does the player, and Wide Color Gamut is also displayed, with the first scenes of Star Trek Into Darkness (all scenes before the Star Trek Into Darkness title, on planet Nubiru) it's very easy to check if WCG is being displayed or not.If I set output to RGB OSD still shows "HDR" both on the Samsung set and the Sony player but WCG is plain obvious is not displayed.
I like setting output to RGB when playing BDs and other HD sources as RGB uses to look cleaner, and I have never seen crushed blacks or clipped whites with RGB. The Samsung T.V. set has a setting called "HDMI Black Level" that only works with RGB video and that has three settings, Auto, Low and Normal. Setting this to Auto or Low restores normal brightness and contrast levels, with Normal picture looks too white, very very bright,what suggests that the X-800 RGB video output conforms with RGB PC levels and not Video levels.
All the tests I've done and all my video watching with this player is with "Video Settings" set to Direct and not Auto or any other settings, I'm a purist so I want to watch what's on the disc how's on the disc. Regarding to Auto setting, I've set it to Auto sometimes just to see its effects and I haven't noticed anything visible and I don't know what this setting is supposed to do, I recall the owner's manual mentioning this setting but not stating what it really does. Maybe is a Sony thing that has only efect when the X-800 is coupled with a Sony T.V. set via HDMI handshake. Has anybody noticed something different with picture set to Auto?
One thing I miss on this player is the Super Bit Mapping Video setting. The Super Bit Mapping brand comes from the late 80's or early 90's that first showed up on Sony Music CDs and it was a propietary kind of dither and noise shapping that achieved almost 20 bit audio resolution on a 16 bit media as CD. With video I guess Super Bit Mapping Video must do something similar, add dither to video signal on a try to reduce video noise and get smoother color transitions. Its effects are subtle,but they are there. Oppo players also have a similar feature on the Deep Color setting that lets set video output to 8 bit video (Deep Color OFF), 8 bit with Dither (it is plainly called like what it is, dither), 10 bit with and without Dither and 12 bit no dither.
I've seen that Sony Pictures has also implemented Super Bit Mapping Video (SBM V) on their software, as it should be.
Wow, how tricky today's video settings video are, I'm lucky I enjoy experimenting with settings, others may miss the old VHS days where a tape catridge is pushed into the VCR, pushed Play and that was it, except for the lousy video quality.
Except of RCA capacitant video disc, I've had all home video formats since I was a kid. I've had the three main tape formats, Betamax, VHS, which I specially hated, and V2000. Laser Disc which I tought it was OK for the time, compared to VHS it looked great but that's because VHS picture was awful. I was an early DVD adopter on late 1997, I thought it was great at the time except for some bit starving discs with plenty of video artifacts (I'm looking at you Warner Bros.) and then in 2007 I got my first second generation Sony BD player, BD really wowed me and 12 years later it still looks great. On April 2016 I got Samsung UBD K-8500 UHD BD player 'though my 4K T.V. set at the time was SDR only but I was able to appreciate its superior resolution. And the icing of the cake was when I got a 49" Samsung 4K HDR set with the Sony X-800. 'Though my Samsung set is an average HDR performer I love HDR, I never thought a consumer format could look so good. There may be other and improved flavours of HDR in the future, but I think HDR is here to stay.
Sorry for your sour eyes if you got to read my full post.