Samsung 4K UHD Blu-ray Player UBD-K8500

[danny24]

I still own one pretty much for nostalgia purposes since this was my first UHD player. It's in the box, I don't feel like parting with it yet. I have since upgraded to better players. Decent player and the remote was cute but it's to bad Samsung has ditched firmware updates for this model.

I would recommend Panasonic or Sony if your upgrading this model.

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Sadly, the Oppos are no more.

Second hand only, but they are still doing firmware updates. If you can afford one it's worth every penny. I haven't had any playback issues on my Oppo 203.

[red_5ive]

I'm looking to finally replace my two K8500s. Just curious though which, if any, manufacturers offer long-term support and firmware updates and don't just abandon their products after a few years like Samsung tends to do? Or is this the norm?

I realize Samsung is out of the player market, but still it seems like all my Samsung equipment stops getting support after 3 years. I'm ready to dump all my Samsung equipment, starting with these players, if any companies offer long-term support for discontinued models.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

I'm looking to finally replace my two K8500s. Just curious though which, if any, manufacturers offer long-term support and firmware updates and don't just abandon their products after a few years like Samsung tends to do? Or is this the norm?

I realize Samsung is out of the player market, but still it seems like all my Samsung equipment stops getting support after 3 years. I'm ready to dump all my Samsung equipment, starting with these players, if any companies offer long-term support for discontinued models.

Go with the Panny 820, but don't expect much support from ANY manufacturer these days. They are just awful, the lot of them.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Go with the Panny 820, but don't expect much support from ANY manufacturer these days. They are just awful, the lot of them.

That's what I was afraid of. The 820 is also high on my list. It seems to be a user favorite so I'll likely go with that one. I would hope at least, for lack of long-term support, that updates don't make the product worse, whether Panisonic or other non-Samsung products. Seems to be a trend with Samsung to make their devices worse with fw updates, fix one thing and add 3 more bugs, even on premium/flagship models.

Appreciate the input!

[datlocolatino]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

That's what I was afraid of. The 820 is also high on my list. It seems to be a user favorite so I'll likely go with that one. I would hope at least, for lack of long-term support, that updates don't make the product worse, whether Panisonic or other non-Samsung products. Seems to be a trend with Samsung to make their devices worse with fw updates, fix one thing and add 3 more bugs, even on premium/flagship models.

Appreciate the input!

I have a Sony and it updates regularly. However, I am not a fan of some of the junk apps they load on it that I certainly have less than any use for.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by datlocolatino

I have a Sony and it updates regularly. However, I am not a fan of some of the junk apps they load on it that I certainly have less than any use for.

Thanks. I didn't realize you responded to my post. I actually came back in here to see if anyone may have input on the Sony. I still hadn't picked up the 820 because the 8500 in the mancave started behaving up until last week. Now I have problems with pretty much any disc after the 30 min. mark.

So since I have two 8500s to replace and would like to keep my cost at around $500, I've been considering the Sony X800M2 (for the main room) and the X700M2 for the mancave vs an 820 and a 420 like I was originally thinking, which would roughly be $250 more.

I'll likely go with the Sony models by the end of the week before the Best Buy sale ends, unless anyone else has any input on going with Sony over Panasonic.

All thoughts/input welcome.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Thanks. I didn't realize you responded to my post. I actually came back in here to see if anyone may have input on the Sony. I still hadn't picked up the 820 because the 8500 in the mancave started behaving up until last week. Now I have problems with pretty much any disc after the 30 min. mark.

So since I have two 8500s to replace and would like to keep my cost at around $500, I've been considering the Sony X800M2 (for the main room) and the X700M2 for the mancave vs an 820 and a 420 like I was originally thinking, which would roughly be $250 more.

I'll likely go with the Sony models by the end of the week before the Best Buy sale ends, unless anyone else has any input on going with Sony over Panasonic.

All thoughts/input welcome.

I would not go with the Sony's. Panny's aren't perfect but there are some things about the Sony's that keep them off my list.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I would not go with the Sony's. Panny's aren't perfect but there are some things about the Sony's that keep them off my list.

May I ask what /why that is? Just trying to make an informed decision, and I always appreciate user input.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

May I ask what /why that is? Just trying to make an informed decision, and I always appreciate user input.

Here's the BIG one about Sony 4k Blu-ray players... they do not auto detect Dolby Vision content. You have to manually select and deselect DV and sometimes the disc case specs are incorrect, so you cannot always go by that. If you watched a DV encoded disc and then put in an HDR10 only disc and forgot to deselect DV processing, it can look bad until you manually change the setting again.

A pain in the ass.

Just remember, with every Dolby Vision capable TV, you will need either a Panny 820 or 9000 model. The 420 does not have DV capabilities. If you have a 4k HDR projector and don't want to fiddle with an HDFury hack to get low latency Dolby Vision on a non Dolby Vision HDR display, then the 420 would be good enough.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Here's the BIG one about Sony 4k Blu-ray players... they do not auto detect Dolby Vision content. You have to manually select and deselect DV and sometimes the disc case specs are incorrect, so you cannot always go by that. If you watched a DV encoded disc and then put in an HDR10 only disc and forgot to deselect DV processing, it can look bad until you manually change the setting again.

A pain in the ass.

Just remember, with every Dolby Vision capable TV, you will need either a Panny 820 or 9000 model. The 420 does not have DV capabilities. If you have a 4k HDR projector and don't want to fiddle with an HDFury hack to get low latency Dolby Vision on a non Dolby Vision HDR display, then the 420 would be good enough.

Yikes. Fiddling with that would definitely be an annoyance. I don't yet have DV capabilities, but that's due to change as I intend to replace my Samsung KS8000 sets next. Not so much because of DV (more on that below), but more-so because I've just had it with Samsung products. I mean I love the picture of my KS8000s even if they're only HDR10+ capable, but Samsung seems to pride themselves in adding 5 bugs for every 1 that they fix. This happens with EVERY Samsung product I own that gets regular FW updates. I realize no manuf is completely immune to that, but if I can judge by the the unresolved complaints I see from Samsung set owners vs say LG, I'm ready to move on.

That said, getting out of the Samsung rut even with the Sony players would just make me happy. I looked up the steps to enable/disable DV, and it doesn't look like it would be difficult to setup a macro on my remote to enable/disable DV. But what I don't know is if the player "remembers" where you last were in the menu and thus have a different starting point that would 'break' the macro sequence. But there are other ways I've found to get around that as well.

Of course, there is the disc spec thing you mentioned (which I wasn't aware of), so that definitely is a factor. But to be honest, this whole DV vs HDR10+ thing kind of leaves me shrugging my shoulders. I've always been more of an audio guy, and while I do appreciate a great picture, I'm not as critical about video than I am about audio. If it looks good enough, I'm happy. I'm still leaning toward the Sony players as everything else I've read on them seems to be great.

One other option I'm considering is I may just get the 820 and move the 8500 in my main setup to the mancave for now, and replace it eventually. That 8500 gets less usage and so far hasn't exhibited the same behavior as the one in the mancave. I'm just otherwise ready to remove Samsung A/V products from my life which is why I want to replace both up front.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Yikes. Fiddling with that would definitely be an annoyance. I don't yet have DV capabilities, but that's due to change as I intend to replace my Samsung KS8000 sets next. Not so much because of DV (more on that below), but more-so because I've just had it with Samsung products. I mean I love the picture of my KS8000s even if they're only HDR10+ capable, but Samsung seems to pride themselves in adding 5 bugs for every 1 that they fix. This happens with EVERY Samsung product I own that gets regular FW updates. I realize no manuf is completely immune to that, but if I can judge by the the unresolved complaints I see from Samsung set owners vs say LG, I'm ready to move on.

That said, getting out of the Samsung rut even with the Sony players would just make me happy. I looked up the steps to enable/disable DV, and it doesn't look like it would be difficult to setup a macro on my remote to enable/disable DV. But what I don't know is if the player "remembers" where you last were in the menu and thus have a different starting point that would 'break' the macro sequence. But there are other ways I've found to get around that as well.

Of course, there is the disc spec thing you mentioned (which I wasn't aware of), so that definitely is a factor. But to be honest, this whole DV vs HDR10+ thing kind of leaves me shrugging my shoulders. I've always been more of an audio guy, and while I do appreciate a great picture, I'm not as critical about video than I am about audio. If it looks good enough, I'm happy. I'm still leaning toward the Sony players as everything else I've read on them seems to be great.

One other option I'm considering is I may just get the 820 and move the 8500 in my main setup to the mancave fow now. That 8500 gets less usage and so far hasn't exhibited the same behavior as the one in the mancave. I'm just otherwise ready to remove Samsung A/V products from my life which is why I want to replace both up front.

With a quality DV display, Dolby Vision can definitely help, especially if it is a dual layered 12 bit encode. Not only can it improve compression issues on the HDR10 video layer, but it can almost completely eliminate visible banding and improve per pixel color reproduction (a real Achilles heel for 8 bit Blu-ray). 10 bit video, the lowest common denominator on consumer 4k media, is still not enough video data to get rid of banding completely with HDR graded content. So, all we have are some DV titles to help there. Plus, those titles with poor HDR10 grades can sometimes be assisted by reading the DV dynamic metadata instead.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

With a quality DV display, Dolby Vision can definitely help, especially if it is a dual layered 12 bit encode. Not only can it improve compression issues on the HDR10 video layer, but it can almost completely eliminate visible banding and improve per pixel color reproduction (a real Achilles heel for 8 bit Blu-ray). 10 bit video, the lowest common denominator on consumer 4k media, is still not enough video data to get rid of banding completely with HDR graded content. So, all we have are some DV titles to help there. Plus, those titles with poor HDR10 grades can sometimes be assisted by reading the DV dynamic metadata instead.

Yeah I'm aware of the bit depth difference (and general differences) between the 2 formats. I have also noticed banding on my HDR10 equipment. Still I'm gonna do something sacrilegious and say it doesn't really bother me. But the minute something sounds like crap to my ears, that's when I start complaining.

But I'm not saying I would steer away from DV as either way I'm still gonna end up with DV capability as I intend to replace my KS8000s soon with LG C series sets. I'm just simply saying I'm not overly picky about video.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Yeah I'm aware of the bit depth difference (and general differences) between the 2 formats. I have also noticed banding on my HDR10 equipment. Still I'm gonna do something sacrilegious and say it doesn't really bother me. But the minute something sounds like crap to my ears, that's when I start complaining.

But I'm not saying I would steer away from DV as either way I'm still gonna end up with DV capability as I intend to replace my KS8000s soon with LG C series sets. I'm just simply saying I'm not overly picky about video.

I have a 128" diagonal scope screen and a JVC 4k HDR projector. You see banding and macroblocking at that size... it looks UGLY. Streaming (almost all of it) and poorly dithered Blu-ray discs can be nasty.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I have a 128" diagonal scope screen and a JVC 4k HDR projector. You see banding and macroblocking at that size... it looks UGLY. Streaming (almost all of it) and poorly dithered Blu-ray discs can be nasty.

Now that I understand. I think I'm at the limit of what I would consider acceptable since my larger set is only a 65". But for all I know, it could also just be that it isn't as noticeable with the Samsung Q-Dot technology on my KS8000s (e.g., maybe banding is clearly or more visible on a better OLED set).

[red_5ive]

So the 8500 I've been b!tch!ng about did some strange and loud audio pop a couple of times yesterday while watching 2 different 4k discs. That was the final straw. I went shopping today to replace it, but in a strange twist of fate, I brought home the 65" and 48" LG C1 instead that I'd mentioned I was eventually going to upgrade my sets. Best Buy gave me a deal I couldn't refuse. So I didn't. I realize the newer models are out, but really the price I got for both sets (and new) won't leave me wanting.

I have the 48" setup now in the man cave, and I'm just floored. Horizon: Forbidden West looks phenomenal on the PS4 Pro.

As for the 4k player situation, I'll just use my Roku Ultra for now. I'd been redeeming the digital copies of my blu-ray/4k discs anyway to compensate for when the 8500 freezes, and I can live with DD+ Atmos streamed for now. I plan to pick up the 820 next month for the main room and move the K8500 from that room to the mancave. Eventually I'll replace that 8500 with either another 820, or maybe the Sony, or ?? We'll see. But for now, I'm stoked!

[tcripe]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

As for the 4k player situation, I'll just use my Roku Ultra for now. I'd been redeeming the digital copies of my blu-ray/4k discs anyway to compensate for when the 8500 freezes, and I can live with DD+ Atmos streamed for now. I plan to pick up the 820 next month for the main room and move the K8500 from that room to the mancave. Eventually I'll replace that 8500 with either another 820, or maybe the Sony, or ?? We'll see. But for now, I'm stoked!

The LG UBK-90 would be a nice and affordable pairing with those LG OLEDs.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by tcripe

The LG UBK-90 would be a nice and affordable pairing with those LG OLEDs.

Funny you should say that . I actually ended up buying one after reading it auto-detects and enables/disables DV (albeit no option to toggle it manually, but that doesn't concern me for the mancave). Still sitting in the box though, along with 2 new Roku Ultras that I also picked up after finding out my prior models didn't support DV. I'll set it up this weekend.

I'll still eventually grab an 820 for the main room, probably in the next couple of months.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

May I ask what /why that is? Just trying to make an informed decision, and I always appreciate user input.

If you want your discs to skip, go for Sony. If not, go for Panny.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by Derb

If you want your discs to skip, go for Sony. If not, go for Panny.

I'll keep that in mind, thanks. The Sony is actually out of the picture for now. I picked up is the LG UBK90 last week for the mancave. If it works out it'll stay, then eventually I want to pick up the 820 for the main room.

[fredreed]

I disagree that the 4K Sony blu players skip because they really don't. I have the 700M unit and It doesn't skip at all. I did have the X800M2 unit like 2 times and that was only because it didn't have the features I was looking for. Now the biggest problem with all Samsung 4K blu ray players is the screen saver It's built In automatically and can't be turned off and to me that is stupid.

This is why Samsung stopped making them In north america. Bottom line is stay away from all samsung 4K blu ray players. In terms of quality either Sony 4K blu ray players or LG 4K blu ray players are good they both will give you the same great picture quality. Panasonic 4K blu ray players are great.