Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by CV19

It does sound like you had the same one mate. I can't remember the exact price, but it wasn't far off £500. This is a picture of it I found a while back on another AV forum:




My DVD recorder was the Sony RDR-HX900 - a beast of a machine compared to today's offerings, but just as beautifully made as the early DVD players:

Ahh, there it is. That remote was a thing of beauty also. Just out of curiosity, did you use the wallpaper feature? I used the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth as a background. Because you could save frames, you could jog the dial until the image was perfect.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Ahh, there it is. That remote was a thing of beauty also. Just out of curiosity, did you use the wallpaper feature? I used the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth as a background. Because you could save frames, you could jog the dial until the image was perfect.

No I never used the wallpaper feature to be honest. But as a player, it was fantastic. Sadly it stopped working about 4 years ago - in fact very shortly after I bought my first blu-ray player. Maybe it got jealous.

I originally deleted the image of the DVD recorder because I wasn't entirely sure if that picture was the correct one, but it does look the same.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by CV19

No I never used the wallpaper feature to be honest. But as a player, it was fantastic. Sadly it stopped working about 4 years ago - in fact very shortly after I bought my first blu-ray player. Maybe it got jealous.

I originally deleted the image of the DVD recorder because I wasn't entirely sure if that picture was the correct one, but it does look the same.

It looks great as well. Quality products for sure. I bought the Sony player because it scored 10/10 for EVERYTHING in my HT magazine.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

It looks great as well. Quality products for sure. I bought the Sony player because it scored 10/10 for EVERYTHING in my HT magazine.

Absolutely, Sony produced some really good stuff over the years for sure. The DVD recorder cost a little over £600 if memory serves me right, and the hard-drive had a capacity of 160GB. I'm sure Sony also made another model with a 250GB capacity, but in any case the HX-900 was the only model that was in the shop at that time (it was a Sony Centre store).

What I loved about it was its editing abilities on the hard-drive. You could edit out any bits you didn't want - such as the adverts, and you could play it frame-by-frame for complete accuracy before entering your edit markers (start and end points). Once you finished that, you were then ready to dub it onto a DVD.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by CV19

Absolutely, Sony produced some really good stuff over the years for sure. The DVD recorder cost a little over £600 if memory serves me right, and the hard-drive had a capacity of 160GB. I'm sure Sony also made another model with a 250GB capacity, but in any case the HX-900 was the only model that was in the shop at that time (it was a Sony Centre store).

What I loved about it was its editing abilities on the hard-drive. You could edit out any bits you didn't want - such as the adverts, and you could play it frame-by-frame for complete accuracy before entering your edit markers (start and end points). Once you finished that, you were then ready to dub it onto a DVD.

Great stuff. I had a Sony recorder but it wasn’t as expensive as yours. I’m guessing it wasn’t as good either.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Great stuff. I had a Sony recorder but it wasn’t as expensive as yours. I’m guessing it wasn’t as good either.

To be fair, I think it was only expensive because it was one of Sony's first recorders to feature a built-in hard-drive and that particular model had only recently come out anyway. The price did come down a fair bit before that model was eventually discontinued.

The only downside I could find was when you were selecting a dubbing mode, you would choose for example, 'HQ', 'HSP', 'SP', 'LP', etc. which would give you a capacity of 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours, and 3 hours respectively on a DVD. Unfortunately, there was nothing in between the 2 hour and 3 hour modes, which meant if a film lasted for, say, 2 hours and 5 minutes, you'd have to select 'LP' (3 hours), which dubbed it over at a lower resolution.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by CV19

To be fair, I think it was only expensive because it was one of Sony's first recorders to feature a built-in hard-drive and that particular model had only recently come out anyway. The price did come down a fair bit before that model was eventually discontinued.

The only downside I could find was when you were selecting a dubbing mode, you would choose for example, 'HQ', 'HSP', 'SP', 'LP', etc. which would give you a capacity of 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours, and 3 hours respectively on a DVD. Unfortunately, there was nothing in between the 2 hour and 3 hour modes, which meant if a film lasted for, say, 2 hours and 5 minutes, you'd have to select 'LP' (3 hours), which dubbed it over at a lower resolution.

I see. That brings back memories of my DVD recording days!

[Wendell R. Breland]

My first DVD player was the Sony DVP-S7000 purchased around August-September 1997 for about $1100.00 US ($1775.00 in 2020). Gave it to kin about 14 years ago and AFAIK, they still use it. I probably had to get a bank loan to purchase as I did for several other home theater items.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

My first DVD player was the Sony DVP-S7000 purchased around August-September 1997 for about $1100.00 US ($1775.00 in 2020). Gave it to kin about 14 years ago and AFAIK, they still use it. I probably had to get a bank loan to purchase as I did for several other home theater items.

I had to google your machine to see what it looked like, and that is certainly one impressive looking player, I've got to say. These old Sony's were really built to last.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by CV19

I had to google your machine to see what it looked like, and that is certainly one impressive looking player, I've got to say. These old Sony's were really built to last.

It was built very well. I must say my UBP-X1000 and UBP-X800 are also well built players. The X1000 front panel display has very limited information and the X800 has none .

I will go to great lengths to keep my Oppo UDP-203 going, great front panel display as well as detailed onscreen display.

IF Zappiti comes out with a media player using the new Realtek RTD1619 then I may add it to my collection.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

It was built very well. I must say my UBP-X1000 and UBP-X800 are also well built players. The X1000 front panel display has very limited information and the X800 has none .

I agree, I have the UBP-X800 myself and it's a nice, solid and well built player. I don't own the X-1000, but I am interested in this player - it's probably going to be between this or perhaps one of the top end Panasonic models, but I'll most probably end up with the Sony as I've always had good results from them.

I agree about the display on the X800, and that's one thing I miss after the displays on my previous DVD players. Would I be right in thinking the X1000 includes a counter on the front panel so you know how far you've got with the film, rather than having to press the 'display' button on the remote like we have to do with the X800?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by CV19

I agree, I have the UBP-X800 myself and it's a nice, solid and well built player. I don't own the X-1000, but I am interested in this player - it's probably going to be between this or perhaps one of the top end Panasonic models, but I'll most probably end up with the Sony as I've always had good results from them.

I agree about the display on the X800, and that's one thing I miss after the displays on my previous DVD players. Would I be right in thinking the X1000 includes a counter on the front panel so you know how far you've got with the film, rather than having to press the 'display' button on the remote like we have to do with the X800?

The Sony UBP-X1100ES is the successor to the X1000 and it costs about $500 here in the U.S. Both the newer X1100 and the X1000 have a front LED display.



https://www.sony.com/electronics/blu...rs/ubp-x1100es

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Vilya

The Sony UBP-X1100ES is the successor to the X1000 and it costs about $500 here in the U.S. Both the newer X1100 and the X1000 have a front LED display.

Thanks Vilya, I wasn't aware of the new model. The X1000 is still listed at just over £600 in my local AV store, so hopefully they may even reduce the price to make way for the successor. They don't have a price yet for the X1100 so perhaps they haven't got them in stock yet, but it's good to see Sony are still bringing out new players anyway. I'm pleased about that.

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by Vilya

The Sony UBP-X1100ES is the successor to the X1000 and it costs about $500 here in the U.S. Both the newer X1100 and the X1000 have a front LED display.



https://www.sony.com/electronics/blu...rs/ubp-x1100es

Great to see Sony's continued RS-232 support with their ES line. If/when I go UHD this will be the ticket.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

For you Apple TV owners, Kris Deering posted on AVS that he has been in contact with tech folks at Netflix and told them about the Apple TV playing 24.0 fps content and outputting it at 23.976 fps. If lucky, Netflix can build a fire under Apple and get them to correct this problem. Reviewers and users have not had any luck doing so.

There is a good chance of seeing a new Apple TV model soon. Some suspected it will be this Tuesday after Labor Day but it could be announced in October or November. There are a number of Apple products in the pipeline.

The 5th generation that added 4K with HDR10/DV support was release September 12, 2017.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by CV19

Would I be right in thinking the X1000 includes a counter on the front panel so you know how far you've got with the film, rather than having to press the 'display' button on the remote like we have to do with the X800?

That is correct for disc play, for streaming or file play from my NAS it just shows NET. Have played files via USB but don't remember what the display showed, will have to try again and see.

The Oppo shows play time for all sources. It does not stream.

If you should consider the UBP-X1000M2 just be aware that it does not auto switch to DV when a DV disc is played, it is a manual operation. Do not know how it handles streaming.

I wish my X1000 had more streaming apps and did Dolby Atmos from them. It loads apps very quickly and outputs original frame rates (if set to do so). If it had these I would kick the Roku and Nvidia to the curb and

[littlepooch21]

Originally Posted by Ender14

My Panasonic UB-820 will arrive tomorrow. Now I just need to figure out which 75" TV I'm going to get. Unfortunately the new Vizio P-Series Quantum does not have any official reviews yet other than the LTT one of the pre-release version. But from what I've read on forums it has some significant problems. The Samsung are out because I want Dolby Vision. I guess that leaves Sony, TCL or Hisense. I'm not opposed to spending the money on the Sony X900H, but if the TCL or Hisense provide comparable picture quality I may seriously consider one of those.

I grabbed the Sony 75 inch x900H. I have had it about 3 months and it has been doing me well. I really wanted an OLED but didn't have $4k to drop. I believe the x900H is currently on sale too

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by AmishParadise

Great to see Sony's continued RS-232 support with their ES line. If/when I go UHD this will be the ticket.

What is your control device?

Just procured a used URC MSC-400 that I may or may not incorporate into my remote control system. It has 6 RS-232 spigots via 3.5mm TRRS (tip not used for 232).

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

That is correct for disc play, for streaming or file play from my NAS it just shows NET. Have played files via USB but don't remember what the display showed, will have to try again and see.

The Oppo shows play time for all sources. It does not stream.

If you should consider the UBP-X1000M2 just be aware that it does not auto switch to DV when a DV disc is played, it is a manual operation. Do not know how it handles streaming.

Many thanks for your advice Wendell, it's much appreciated.

As for the streaming side of things, that's not a problem.....I don't do any.
All I'm after is a good well-made and reliable disc player which performs well - to go along with my X800.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

If you should consider the UBP-X1000M2 just be aware that it does not auto switch to DV when a DV disc is played, it is a manual operation. Do not know how it handles streaming.

I wish my X1000 had more streaming apps and did Dolby Atmos from them. It loads apps very quickly and outputs original frame rates (if set to do so). If it had these I would kick the Roku and Nvidia to the curb and

I have never seen any Sony model called the UBP-X1000M2. The Sony UBP-X1100ES is the successor to the UBP-X1000ES.

There is a model called the Sony UBP-X800M2; it was the successor to the Sony UBP-X800.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/blu...ers/ubp-x800m2

"Those familiar with Sony's Ultra HD Blu-ray players may confuse the X1100ES with Sony's UBP-X800M2, for understandable reasons. The chassis is reused here, but with the addition of several features that the X800M2 lacks. Sony has added an information screen on the front, and around back you'll find stereo RCA analog audio outputs, an optical S/PDIF digital audio output, a detachable AC power cord port and the aforementioned RS-232C and IR ports for system control."

https://hometheaterreview.com/sony-u...ayer-reviewed/

Also of interest:

"For those who own a Sony Bravia series television, the X1100ES offers a special video processing mode designed specifically for these televisions. It's aptly named Bravia Mode and, despite what you may think, enabling this mode actually reduces the amount of video processing done within the player. Sony's philosophy is to do as little redundant processing as possible, or processing they know is of higher quality on their televisions, so Bravia owners get the best image quality possible with this specific combination of hardware. Things such as noise reduction and video upscaling are handled by the display instead of the player, where Sony deems a higher quality processing can be done instead. Though, it should be noted Bravia Mode doesn't work when playing back Dolby Vision or 3D video content."

The above sounds like a convoluted way of just letting your 4K TV do all of the upscaling which other makes and models of players allow you to do as well.