Sony UBP-X800 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Snikt]

Originally Posted by formula_nebula

I think if you do that, then the player won't upscale BD's.

Gotchya. Still not sure about which one to choose. Auto1 or auto2. I’ve been going back and forth. But mostly sticking with auto2

[formula_nebula]

Originally Posted by Snikt

Gotchya. Still not sure about which one to choose. Auto1 or auto2. I’ve been going back and forth. But mostly sticking with auto2

Doe's it mention in the manual if there's a difference between those two? I haven't checked that out, but curious now.

[PS3_Kiwi]

Originally Posted by Snikt

Gotchya. Still not sure about which one to choose. Auto1 or auto2. I’ve been going back and forth. But mostly sticking with auto2

I believe that Auto 2 has the player upscaling 1080p to 4K. Auto 1 feeds the 1080p signal to the TV, and the TV does the upscaling.

[formula_nebula]

Originally Posted by PS3_Kiwi

I believe that Auto 2 has the player upscaling 1080p to 4K. Auto 1 feeds the 1080p signal to the TV, and the TV does the upscaling.

Hmmm interesting. Wonder which works better, and if there's a noticeable difference.

[HDTV1080P]

quote from page 21 of the owners manual:


"[4K Upscale Setting]


[Auto1]: Outputs 2K (1920 × 1080) video


signals during video playback and 4K video


signals during photo play when connecting


to a Sony 4K-compatible equipment.


Outputs 4K video signals when connecting to


a non-Sony 4K-compatible equipment.


This setting does not work for 3D video image


playback."



"[Auto2]: Automatically outputs 4K video


signals when you connect a 4K-compatible


equipment.


[Off]: Turns off the function."

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

Can you stream Netflix 4K Dolby Atmos where you are with your Sony X800 player?

No one can stream Dolby Atmos on the Sony UBP-X800 since the Netflix application is limited to Dolby Digital only and does not offer Dolby Digital Plus. Lossy Dolby Digital Plus core is required to bitstream lossy Dolby Atmos. Hopefully a firmware update will fix this issue.

[HDTV1080P]

The Netflix and VUDU applications on the UBP-X800 need updated

The Sony UBP-X800 has 4K applications which is awesome. While the VUDU application on the Sony supports Dolby Digital Plus, the problem with the VUDU application on the Sony is it only supports resolutions up to 1080P. The Roku Ultra supports VUDU 4K Ultra HD streaming with VUDU HDR.

Another issue with the Sony UBP-X800 is the Netflix application needs updated. While its awesome that the Sony UBP-X800 supports Netflix 4K Ultra HD HDR content, the problem is for some reason the audio is only 5.1 Dolby Digital. The Roku Ultra offers Netflix 4K Ultra HD HDR streaming with lossy Dolby ATMOS (Plus lossy Dolby Digital Plus core soundtrack).

Therefore, in the ideal world the Sony UBP-X800 should receive a 4K HDR upgrade for VUDU application and a Dolby ATMOS (Dolby Digital Plus) upgrade for the Netflix application.

[HDTV1080P]

More details about Netflix streaming on the Sony UBP-X800

I was setting up the Sony UBP-X800 for a family member that I know. Since they live in a rural area the fastest Internet speed is currently 16Mbps download and 1Mbps upload over a ADSL2+ copper telephone wire going around 1.9 miles to the point of transmission. 1Gbps upload and 1Gbps download speed over 100% fiber optics is starting to be rolled out in rural areas, and according to their Internet provider I spoke with, possible around 2 years from now 1Gbps upload and 1Gbps download might be offered under idea conditions (Even some remote areas of Alaska which is very rural already have 1Gbps upload and 1Gbps download speeds).

In general, most 4K streaming applications including the 4K Netflix application requires a display that has HDCP 2.2. The massive amount of 4K Ultra HD Netflix streaming programs will not even appear in the Netflix menu if the display and anything else in the HDMI chain is not HDCP 2.2. However once the Sony UBP-X800 and its built in Netflix application detect HDCP 2.2, one can downscale the resolution all the way down to 480i and still stream a native 4K Ultra HD movie (The Roku Ultra requires not only a display with HDCP 2.2 but also 4K resolution with no downscaling allowed when streaming 4K).

When the Sony UBP-X800 is connected to a 4K Ultra HD display and the resolution is set to 4K, the Sony will always display everything at either native 3840 x 2160P or simulated upscaled 4K Ultra HD quality.


The way streaming works from Netflix and others is that when you select a program in 4K Ultra HD, you many times only see some of the program at that quality. The resolution quality is at a variable rate from Netflix and other providers. That variable resolution rate is determined by the bandwidth being used in your home, Internet congestion, and the capacity of the streaming providers. For example, the next time you stream Netflix on your Sony UBP-X800, press the “Display” button on the remote. Then you will see in the upper left corner of the screen the bit rate and the resolution that Netflix is really offering you during a two-hour movie. Some people would be surprised. Some streaming providers provide around 192kbps to 384kbps for 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. For example sometimes Netflix gets many requests for a 1080P movie, and a so called 1080P HD movie sometimes starts out at 240P at 0.1Mbps quality, then increases to 384P at around 0.8Mbps, then increases to 480P at 1.34Mbps, then a few minutes later might increase to 2.24Mbps or higher for 720P, then finally after a few minutes one might experience 1080P at around 5.53Mbps-5.9Mbps.


Now when selecting a Netflix 4K Ultra HD program, what normally happens is the program starts streaming at either 480P at 1.34Mbps or sometimes 720P between 2.24Mbps-2.86Mbps. Then after a minute or two, the streaming quality sometimes goes up to 1080P between 3.01Mbps-5.9Mbps. However, after several minutes the Netflix movie starts streaming at true 2160P at 7.63Mbps, then 2160P at 9.54Mbps, then 2160P at 11.44Mbps, until finally the Netflix application on the Sony reaches 2160P at 15.26Mbps. I was able to successfully steam Netflix at 2160P at a video bit rate of 15.26Mbps for a long time (However, I would need a faster Internet connection then 16Mbps to see if Netflix can stream 4K Ultra HD programs faster than 16Mbps). With a HEVC video bit rate of 15.26Mbps, the picture quality looked a little bit better when compared to 1080P Blu-ray discs, however native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs with bit rates over 100Mbps were much better then Netflix.

The problem is 4K Netflix is only as good as ones Internet connection. When streaming 2160P at 15.26Mbps the image looked good, but when someone in the house started using the Internet, the quality was reduced to 2160P at 7.63Mbps, which did not look as good. To make matters worse the stream went down to 1080P 5.53Mbps and 720P 2.86Mbps for a few minutes until peaking back up to 2160P at 11.44Mbps. However sometimes the streaming issue is a capacity issue on the other end. Sometimes streaming 1080P Netflix results in 240P, 384P, and 480P quality at video bit rates below 1Mbps. Then several minutes later Netflix might send 720P or 1080P as Internet conditions improve.

This variable resolution streaming rate offered by Netflix and others is one of the main reasons why some people get a good picture and while other people get a poor quality picture. There is a big difference between 240P, 384P, 480P, and 2160P. In the ideal world everyone wants to get the same bit rate and resolution for the entire movie. However, in the real world that is not going to happen. Perhaps one day when everyone has 10Gbps and 1Gbps residential Internet that will no longer be an issue. However, with those speeds streaming 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray images with lossless audio would become a reality if the streaming providers choose to offer that quality level.

[LordoftheRings]

I agree that Sony needs to update their streaming apps.
Offering Netflix without supporting DD+ is so . . . Dinosaur prehistoric ages.
Offering Vudu without supporting 4K is so . . .

About Amazon video and audio, and YouTube video and audio?

* The Roku Ultra is to use with the new hi-end Oppo players.
Sony X800 has many integrated apps in their player; if their customers need to buy another streaming device on top of that, then Sony should follow Oppo's lead and charge $50 less for their cute X800 player.

Hey!

[robbathehutt]

I bought this player back in Oct. everything was great until I tried to watch It this week. Now the player is freezing up. I had to unplug it 4 times in a 2 hour movie just to eject the disc. I thought it might be the disc. Put in a regular Blu-ray this evening and it happened again.

Any solution? The firmware is up to date

Rob

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by robbathehutt

I bought this player back in Oct. everything was great until I tried to watch It this week. Now the player is freezing up. I had to unplug it 4 times in a 2 hour movie just to eject the disc. I thought it might be the disc. Put in a regular Blu-ray this evening and it happened again.

Any solution? The firmware is up to date

Rob

Do a factory reset. If that does not work you might need to get it serviced under Sony's 1 year warranty.

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by robbathehutt

I bought this player back in Oct. everything was great until I tried to watch It this week. Now the player is freezing up. I had to unplug it 4 times in a 2 hour movie just to eject the disc. I thought it might be the disc. Put in a regular Blu-ray this evening and it happened again.



Any solution? The firmware is up to date



Rob

If you have the player connected to the internet, disconnect it and see if that fixes the issue. I was having the same issue and someone suggested to disconnect the internet and haven't had any issues since.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bru87tr]

Does anyone know if there is a difference between the X800 and X80 ?

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by Bru87tr

Does anyone know if there is a difference between the X800 and X80 ?

They come with the exact same instruction manual, and the only advantage of the Sony UBP-UX80 is that it comes with a free high speed HDMI cable. Also I think that model might be a exclusive Costco or wholesale club model.

[eagle1]

I’m really bummed that this player only delays audio up to 120ms, I need it to do 200ms like my old Samsung player when watching a 3D movie. I could just use my receiver to do the sync, but then I have to bit stream the audio, and my receiver downconverts a True HD OR DTS Master down to a regular Dolby digital or dts signal. Is there any chance this player can delay audio more then the 120ms?

[LordoftheRings]

Yes, if Sony support their products and offer a firmware update.

[Realist01]

My player only seems to have Netflix 4k uhd but not hdr. Ive read reviews that only you tube is hdr and other reviews that say netflix has hdr on the player.

Ive updated the player. Do you guys know anything?

[Eckels]

Anyone compared this player to the Panasonic DMP-UB200? My Sony X800 is having problems and I'm looking at returning it for the Panasonic. Thanks!

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by Realist01

My player only seems to have Netflix 4k uhd but not hdr. Ive read reviews that only you tube is hdr and other reviews that say netflix has hdr on the player.

Ive updated the player. Do you guys know anything?

Not everything there in 4K has HDR, it's relegated to the odd show or movie.

[HDTV1080P]

Sony UBP-X800 user review

*** Overall excellent high-end 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player that is almost as good as the reference OPPO UDP-203 at a fraction of the price ***

There is a known problem with the automated firmware update process on the Sony UBP-X800 that hopefully one day will be fixed with a firmware update (click link for details).


Update: After installing the latest 6-20-2018 M36R0238 firmware update, this problem is no longer occurring on two different Sony UBP-X800's. Now when I try the Sony automated firmware update server, for some reason it connects every time and says the proper message of Already Updated. Hopefully this problem with connecting with the Sony server well never occur again, all I can say is for now it is working fine and appears to be resolved.


My very first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player that I purchased was the top of the line OPPO UDP-203 back in December of 2016. The OPPO UDP-203 is priced locked at $549 for the life of the player. Overall, the OPPO UDP-203 is better than the Sony UBP-X800, except one major advantage the Sony has is its built in streaming features (OPPO offers no streaming features. A Roku Ultra costs $99.99, so therefore really brings the price of the OPPO up to around $650 instead of $549). However, the list price on the Sony UBP-X800 is $299, and back in November 2017 I had a chance to purchase this Sony player for only $149.99 plus free shipping. At a price that is $400 cheaper than the reference OPPO, I ended up purchasing a couple of Sony UBP-X800’s as gifts for family members. The family members plan on keeping their old 2010 Panasonic Blu-ray players with built in streaming because those players have the legacy analog 1080i component video outputs that can be used on their older 3 CRT TV’s with analog component video inputs.

The build quality is good on the Sony UBP-X800, however the build quality is even better on the OPPO UDP-203. Also the OPPO UDP-203 has a lot more connection jacks and features when compared to the Sony UBP-X800. Here are the following features on the OPPO UDP-203 that is missing on the Sony UBP-X800: The OPPO UDP-203 has a 2 year warranty, 1GB of internal flash storage for BD-LIVE/persistent storage, front LCD screen, professional detachable 3 prong power cord, nicer wireless remote control, 7.1 analog audio outputs, in/out trigger, RS-232C interface, optical output, HDMI input, 1Gbps high-speed Ethernet jack, and two rear high speed USB 3.0 jacks. In addition, the OPPO UDP-203 has Dolby Vision HDR and a save/restore of ones menus settings. Here are the following features that the Sony UBP-X800 has that is not offered on the OPPO UDP-203: a nice selection of popular 4K and 1080P streaming applications and Sony also offers wireless headphone support using Bluetooth technology. The ability to attach a pair of wired or wireless headphones to a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player is extremely rare. The OPPO UDP-205 for $1,299 has a physical headphone jack. While I personally prefer the quality of wired headphones on an A/V receiver or other device, it was nice of Sony to offer a wireless headphone feature on a lower priced Blu-ray player.

I found the Sony 4K Ultra HD BD-ROM drive loading and operation to be very quiet, and lot more quitter then past Sony’s that I have used. However while the OPPO UDP-203 4K BD-ROM drive appeared to be very similar to the Sony, the OPPO was a little less nosier then the Sony. Each manufacture uses different chasses, which also makes a difference in the noise level. Overall, this really was not an issue on either player and there was only minor differences.

According to the Sound and Vision magazine the Sony UBP-X800 passed all the difficult video performance tests and performs just as well as a OPPO or Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player. Of course, the OPPO UDP-203 will have a picture quality advantage over the 2017 Sony and 2017 Panasonic 4K Ultra HD players when playing back a Dolby Vision HDR encoded 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc. It is believed that the Sony UBP-X800 might have a hardware limitation that prevents it from getting a Dolby Vision HDR firmware update. However a few days ago Sony announced that the new 2018 UBP-X700 that will be released soon will get a promised Dolby Vision HDR firmware update (possible around August of 2018 for the firmware update for the UBP-X700). Consumers that currently own or plan on purchasing a 4K Ultra HD display that handles Dolby Vision HDR might strongly consider purchasing either the OPPO UDP-203 or the Sony UBP-X700 (If they want the best possible picture quality from 12 bit Dolby Vision HDR 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs). However, it is believed that the 2018 Sony UBP-X700 will have a list price of $249.99 which is $50 less than the UBP-X800 list price. Here are a few known negatives of the new 2018 Sony UBP-X700: Does not play DVD-Audio discs (which is a deal breaker for some audiophiles), has a lower build quality, no Bluetooth wireless headphone support, and possible some other negative issues in the audio quality area.

BD-LIVE and resume play worked perfectly with the optionally purchased 64GB of USB storage

The advantage of the OPPO UDP-203 is that it has 1GB of internal storage for BD-LIVE, storing bookmarks, and for resume playback on JAVA based Blu-ray discs. Almost all other brands of Blu-ray players including Sony no longer offers internal storage to keep cost lower. However, the problem is Blu-ray discs do not work correctly sometimes when persistent storage does not exist. Therefore, one needs to connect either an external hard drive with USB, or a USB flash drive to the Sony UBP-X800 to get flawless playback when using Blu-ray discs and to use the BD-LIVE feature. Now the advantage of the OPPO UDP-203 is that it has 3 USB ports (Two rear USB 3.0 ports and one front USB 2.0 port). Sony as a cost saving measure only has one USB 2.0 port which is located on the front right of the player behind the door. With no rear USB ports, plugging a USB hard drive or USB flash stick that remains plugged in constantly in the front will not look good cosmetically. With some people buying these Sony players for around $149.99, they are most likely not going to spend around $110 for a high-end 2TB hard drive. In addition, since BD-LIVE is now used a lot less by the studios, all one needs is really 64GB of external storage. I located a high-end Ultra Fit 64GB USB 3.0 flash drive back in November for only $18.99 plus free shipping. This 64GB Ultra Fit flash drive has up to 150Mbps read speeds and works perfectly with the Sony UBP-X800. It also looks good cosmetically when compared to standard USB sticks that stick out fairly far. However one needs to erase the default programs and PDF files on the stick by formatting the drive as exFAT when you get it (If one wants to keep the SandDisk Windows files and PDF folders they can always copy and paste them to another drive before formatting the new 64GB flash stick). At the time of this post Amazon has this 64GB flash drive (SDCZ43-064G-GAM46) for only $17.99 plus free shipping. This USB 3.0 flash drive is backwards compatible with Sony’s front USB 2.0 port.

I tested the Sony UBP-X800 BD-LIVE feature with FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS. All 3 of those file formats worked flawlessly. However when using the 64GB flash drive I preferred the exFAT file system since it appeared to work the best on the new Sony player. In addition, I placed a small piece of black electrical tape on the front of the USB flash drive so that the blinking red light would be covered up when watching a movie in a dark room. To use BD-LIVE one needs to turn on “BD Internet Connection” to “Allow” (Located in the “BD/DVD Viewing Settings” menu). Also once and awhile if one every has problems loading a Blu-ray discs they should try deleting the data on the 64GB flash stick by selecting the “Delete BD Data” menu option (Located in the “BD/DVD Viewing Settings” menu). The flash stick should be left in the Sony 100% of the time for the best Blu-ray experience.


Using the BD-LIVE feature for downloading and streaming worked flawlessly on the new Sony UBP-X800. In addition, the BD-LIVE feature was super-fast on the Sony (Back in 2010 BD-LIVE was not popular since Blu-ray players 8 years ago were much slower when compared to today). Many Universal Blu-ray discs use the BD-LIVE feature to stream the latest 720P quality movie trailers with 2.0 DTS stereo sound before the main Blu-ray menu starts. Of course trailers on the existing Blu-ray disc are better quality, however its nice sometimes to see recent and totally different trailers every time the Blu-ray disc is inserted. I also tested the resume playback feature that works perfectly with the 64GB USB flash stick. When one ejects a Blu-ray disc in a middle of a movie, and one inserts the Blu-ray disc in the player a day or so later, a screen will pop up on most modern 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and standard Blu-ray discs asking the user if they want to watch the movie where they left off or if they want to return to the main menu. Resume play using persistent storage is for modern Blu-ray discs only. The Sony UBP-X800 does not offer resume play for CD’s, SACD, DVD-AUDIO, and DVD’s (The OPPO players offer resume play for any type of optical disc).

One nice thing about the OPPO UDP-203 is that it will automatic start playing any optical disc that one inserts. The Sony UBP-X800 when a DVD-Audio disc, DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc is inserted will automatically start playing and load the main menu. However when inserting a CD and SACD in the Sony, one needs to manually hit the play button before the disc will start.


The OPPO UDP-203 will detect 3:2 pulldown from film based sources like 480i DVD movies and upscale the image to 4K/24Hz or 1080P/24Hz by doing a reverse 3:2 pulldown process.. The Sony UBP-X800 also does a reverse 3:2 pulldown process and converts 480i DVD's and some 720P media to 4K/24Hz or 1080P/24Hz. The Sony will also for some streaming applications output native 4K/24Hz or 1080p/24Hz. There is a dedicated menu on the Sony for 24fps material.

The OPPO UDP-203 has better quality fast forward scanning for audio discs and also offers up to 5 times speed fast forward and rewind for video discs. The Sony UBP-X800 is limited to 3 times speed for fast forward and rewind for video discs. The Sony only has one speed for slow motion forward and slow motion reverse when playing video discs (OPPO players offer multiply slow motion speeds for video discs). Both the OPPO UDP-203 and Sony UBP-X800 are first generation 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players (There is a hardware limitation of first generation 4K Ultra HD players that prevents them from doing slow motion reverse when playing a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc, however slow motion forward works fine).

Some results from extensive testing of the Sony UBP-X800

When it came to playing any type of optical disc the Sony UBP-X800 was flawless with excellent picture and sound quality, and the quality was almost exactly the same as the OPPO UDP-203 when using the main HDMI output.

This is the only Sony Blu-ray player every made that plays DVD-Audio discs. Therefore, both the OPPO UDP-203 and Sony UBP-X800 play Super Audio CD’s and DVD-Audio discs. Any CD, DVD, or Blu-ray player can play HDCD’s at standard CD quality; however very few players exist that can decode the high definition audio layer on HDCD’s. At the time of this post, no 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player exists so far that can decode the high definition layer on HDCD’s. Even the latest OPPO Blu-ray players dropped that feature. However the advantage of both the Sony UBP-X800 and OPPO UDP-203 is that they will play standard audio CD’s, SACD’s, DVD-Audio discs, DVD’s, standard Blu-ray discs, Blu-ray 3D discs, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. Every type of optical disc I played worked flawlessly with no issues on the Sony.

I connected both the Sony UBP-X800 and the OPPO UDP-203 to the exact same A/V receiver using the same brand and model of Monster HDMI cable. When playing stereo CD’s, stereo and multi-channel SACD’s/DVD-Audio discs the Sony sounded almost exactly the same as the OPPO UDP-203. The OPPO has a pure audio button that will turn off the players video processing to reduce the potential for interference from the players video section (Doing this appeared to add slight clarity in sound once and awhile over the Sony which does not offer that feature. However most the time the OPPO and Sony sounded exactly the same). The Sony did an excellent job of sending native 5.1 DSD audio from any multi-channel SACD I inserted. In addition, 5.1 PCM DVD-Audio discs were nice and clear. Native 24 bit 192khz DVD-Audio discs played perfectly fine on the Sony.

For at least 8 years all standalone Blu-ray players even the low end $50 models will bitstream 11.1 DTS X (7.1 DTS-HD Master audio core), 11.1 Dolby ATMOS (7.1 Dolby TrueHD core), and 7.1 PCM. However over the last few years there have been many Blu-ray players under $100 and sometimes more expensive models that convert lossless 7.1 Dolby TrueHD to 2.0 PCM when doing internal decoding. The Sony UBP-X800 performs flawlessly like the OPPO UDP-203 when internal decoding the lossless audio formats to PCM and when mixing in the secondary audio soundtracks. I was able to successfully get the Sony UBP-X800 to internally decode both 7.1 DTS-HD Master audio and 7.1 Dolby TrueHD to full high resolution 7.1 PCM (and also being able to mix in secondary audio at the same time). The big question is well the lower price Sony UBP-X700 be able to do this when it is released?

When it came to picture quality the Sony UBP-X800 appeared to be exactly the same quality as the OPPO UDP-203. However, the source direct feature works much better on the OPPO. Sony has a feature in the menu called “Original Video Resolution”. When that feature is turned on in the Sony, the Sony will properly output a 1080i Blu-ray disc at 1080i, however most of the time instead of a DVD being outputted at 480i (all DVD’s are native 480i), instead the Sony will upscale the DVD to 480P. Now on the OPPO UDP-203 source direct always outputs everything at the native resolution (Which causes 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs to not playback on a 1080P display if source direct is turned on). The Sony original resolution feature in a positive way breaks the rule again and outputs native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs at 1080P when connected to a 1080P display. So when I did most my testing on the Sony UBP-X800 I left resolution at auto so that 4K Ultra HD output would occur when I connected the Sony to a 4K Ultra HD display (and the Sony would downscale to 1080P when connected to a 1080P display). The DVD and standard Blu-ray upscaling quality appeared to be identical on the Sony and OPPO players including the downscaling quality. One can select the Sony player to output 480i, 480P, 720P, 1080i, 1080P, and 4K. Some people with a very old display using DVI to HDMI adapter might need 480i and 480P resolutions from the HDMI port. However, those videophiles that watch a lot of optical discs will prefer the OPPO for its source direct feature. Also the OPPO has a much more detailed information screen that gives consumers a massive amount of details about the video discs native format and what the OPPO is outputting over HDMI.

The Sony remote control is smaller and has a lower build quality when compared to the OPPO remote. However one nice feature of the Sony remote is that it has a feature where it will operate most popular flat panel TV’s for basic features like power, volume, etc. The Roku Ultra for $99.99 list price is the reference quality streaming player to compare all other streaming players too. The Sony UBP-X800 has a lot of nice 4K and 1080P streaming applications (Roku of course has thousands of apps). The free Fox News application works very nice on the Sony along with the many of other applications. Both the Netflix and VUDU application hopefully one day will get a software update from Sony to offer improved picture and sound quality that matches the Roku Ultra version of these applications. Also it would be nice if a Sony firmware update would add the save/restore feature for the Blu-ray players menu settings (OPPO offers this feature). Hopefully future Sony standalone Blu-ray players will offer 1Gbps Ethernet ports instead of 100Mbps Ethernet ports. The Sony Playstation 3 has had 1Gbps Ethernet since the year 2006 and the OPPO UDP-203 offers that feature (it might only add $5 to the cost of future players). Also in the future at least one rear USB 3.0 port would be ideal on a future Sony. In addition, it costs almost nothing to add 1GB of internal storage for BD-LIVE, bookmarks, and resume play of Blu-ray discs. The Blu-ray Disc Association should have made 1GB or 4GB of internal storage flash memory mandatory, but decided against doing this.

Overall for someone that does not want to spend $549 for a OPPO UDP-203 and another $99.99 for a Roku Ultra, I highly recommend the Sony UBP-X800 as my first choice for the best value priced 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player on the market that also plays SACD’s and DVD-Audio discs. The Sony offers flawless playback of any type of optical disc that I tried. The build quality on the UBP-X800 is also much better when compared to under $100 Blu-ray players. So far this has been the best Sony Blu-ray player that I have every used except for the automated firmware update bug issue that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. This Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player will connect to any old display that has a HDMI input. One can always upgrade to a 4K Ultra HD display in the future to see the best possible picture quality when playing 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs.