Sony UBP-X700 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[ndtechie05]

Originally Posted by Alister_M

If there's no discernable difference, best to leave it off. The less processing your TV has to do, the better. Also as per usual, ensure you've done the Options -> Picture Mode -> Direct thing during disc playback (the setting locks itself in when changed, you only need to do it once).

I do not see picture mode under options during disc playback. I see Av sync and other things but nothing that says picture.

[ndtechie05]

Also when I turn on 4:4:4 on my Vizio m65q7 the playback gets jittery

[Cherokee Jack]

Originally Posted by ChromeJob

Just stepping in to share my test comparison of the x700M with LG UBK-80 and UBKM9 (Walmart version of UBK-90). The UBKM9 has/had a very annoying habit of switching to a mucked up display on the TV when ejecting a disc ... so I bought a Sony fr Target to compare with another dual-HDMI player. I later determined that the mucked up display is a result of the player sending HDMI-CEC over the HDMI-Audio-Only port so that the TV switches to my AVR's (messed up) output of the player video. Trying a HDMI dongle with CEC-squelched to see if I can avoid this tiresome switching back and forth to use a UHD player into a UHD TV with audio passed directly to an older AVR (Yamaha RX-v775). I thought the UBK-80 was a bargain (like new, $160ish) as Consumer Reports reported Dolby Vision a "nice to have" ("all UHD discs come with basic HDR10 info"). After watching The Shining and Jaws UHDs with DV, I'm sold that it's more than "nice to have." (DV appears to be the VHS and Blu-ray Disc over Betamax and HD-DVD of HDR10+, but the battle is still going on.) (I compared by running the UBKM9 output through my AVR, so the 4K image without DV was being sent to the TV. Some subtle differences in key dark scenes IMHO.)

Now to the Sony. I confirmed what others know: Dolby Vision (DV) is enabled deep within the settings, and it sends a DV flag to the TV 100% of the time. But I saw no overt indication that it was actually applying DV to any BD or HDR10-only UHD-BD disc. AFAIK DV is NOT some playback treatment that can be applied to any content like Dolby ProLogic II and Dolby Surround. There will simply be NO DV metadata to find on a conventional BD, and I don't see this mid-range player being smart enough to invent DV metadata from thin air when playing HDR10 UHD-BDs and non-HDR BDs.

I find this idiosyncrasy an annoyance because by telling the TV that DV is being output all the time, the TV limits my choice of display modes. Very minor annoyance since I have calibrated those display modes to my liking. But still -- it's silly that the player is telling a display that it's outputting certain information that it just can't get off a BD or DVD.

Other annoyances that spurred me to return the player.... The FFWD and RWND functions go forward and back way way too much on BDs. The LG players have six, yes six, steps of FFWD and RWND. Also, when pausing and playing a disc, the Sony x700 sent an HDMI-CEC command to the TV causing the TV to send the AVR a signal to switch to it. Yes, EVERY TIME that I paused a disc. When this occurs I have to tell the AVR to switch back to its direct HDMI-IN from the player, then switch the TV. Solution: turn off HDMI-CEC, which I shouldn't have to do. No such CEC command happens with the UBK-80 or UBKM9.

Sorry if this ruffles the feathers of fans/owners of this player. I've seen this kind of head-scratching design from Sony before. I've generally avoided Sony products for this reason, prior experience with their AVRs and such. (But I still love my PlayStation 2. Yep, still rocking a PS2 and some great classic games.) But please DO NOT think I'm trash-talking this player or your enjoyment of it. On the PLUS side, Consumer Reports tested the LG players as being the fastest in load times, but my stopwatch comparison showed the Sony only a couple of seconds longer loading some typically "heavy" BDs. I doubt any consumer would notice.

All this just my two cents.

That sounds absolutely horrible if I'm understanding the problem correctly. I wonder if it's a handshake issue specific to the TV/AVR? I've been considering replacing my current region-free BD player with a region-free X800M2 and not being able to use CEC would be an absolute deal beaker for me.

It doesn't surprise me that a Sony player would have issues with CEC however. The feature is broken on the PS5 and needs to be turned off if you don't want the PS5 powering up every time you turn on your TV. CEC works flawlessly on the Xbox Series X OTOH.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

Players in general have been an afterthought for manufacturers for quite some time now and the market is getting smaller all the time. Not an excuse, but Sony doesn't give a rat's a** whether their players auto switch DV or not.

Originally Posted by Geode

You are probably correct about this.

If Sony doesn't care about the functionality of their 4K Blu-ray players, then they should stop making them period, and give the consumers another choice as to what other brand to choose from, who does care and take pride in the quality of their products. If they can't do it right, then don't do it all.

[MisterXDTV]

Originally Posted by slimdude

If Sony doesn't care about the functionality of their 4K Blu-ray players, then they should stop making them period, and give the consumers another choice as to what other brand to choose from, who does care and take pride in the quality of their products. If they can't do it right, then don't do it all.

What other brand? It's Panasonic, Sony or NOTHING....

You prefer Sony lo leave the market like Samsung, LG, Oppo etc???

The X700 is a bargain for the price...

If I have to switch DV on, I switch it on

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by ndtechie05

I do not see picture mode under options during disc playback. I see Av sync and other things but nothing that says picture.

See below

Originally Posted by Geoff D

If you have the picture setting to Auto then that applies baked-in noise reduction. I don't mean in the set-up menus, I mean in-play. While you're watching a disc press OPTIONS on the remote and select VIDEO SETTINGS from the menu that appears. Select PICTURE QUALITY MODE and choose DIRECT for the most un-fudged image.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by ChromeJob

Just stepping in to share my test comparison of the x700M with LG UBK-80 and UBKM9 (Walmart version of UBK-90). The UBKM9 has/had a very annoying habit of switching to a mucked up display on the TV when ejecting a disc ... so I bought a Sony fr Target to compare with another dual-HDMI player. I later determined that the mucked up display is a result of the player sending HDMI-CEC over the HDMI-Audio-Only port so that the TV switches to my AVR's (messed up) output of the player video. Trying a HDMI dongle with CEC-squelched to see if I can avoid this tiresome switching back and forth to use a UHD player into a UHD TV with audio passed directly to an older AVR (Yamaha RX-v775). I thought the UBK-80 was a bargain (like new, $160ish) as Consumer Reports reported Dolby Vision a "nice to have" ("all UHD discs come with basic HDR10 info"). After watching The Shining and Jaws UHDs with DV, I'm sold that it's more than "nice to have." (DV appears to be the VHS and Blu-ray Disc over Betamax and HD-DVD of HDR10+, but the battle is still going on.) (I compared by running the UBKM9 output through my AVR, so the 4K image without DV was being sent to the TV. Some subtle differences in key dark scenes IMHO.)

Now to the Sony. I confirmed what others know: Dolby Vision (DV) is enabled deep within the settings, and it sends a DV flag to the TV 100% of the time. But I saw no overt indication that it was actually applying DV to any BD or HDR10-only UHD-BD disc. AFAIK DV is NOT some playback treatment that can be applied to any content like Dolby ProLogic II and Dolby Surround. There will simply be NO DV metadata to find on a conventional BD, and I don't see this mid-range player being smart enough to invent DV metadata from thin air when playing HDR10 UHD-BDs and non-HDR BDs.

I find this idiosyncrasy an annoyance because by telling the TV that DV is being output all the time, the TV limits my choice of display modes. Very minor annoyance since I have calibrated those display modes to my liking. But still -- it's silly that the player is telling a display that it's outputting certain information that it just can't get off a BD or DVD.

Other annoyances that spurred me to return the player.... The FFWD and RWND functions go forward and back way way too much on BDs. The LG players have six, yes six, steps of FFWD and RWND. Also, when pausing and playing a disc, the Sony x700 sent an HDMI-CEC command to the TV causing the TV to send the AVR a signal to switch to it. Yes, EVERY TIME that I paused a disc. When this occurs I have to tell the AVR to switch back to its direct HDMI-IN from the player, then switch the TV. Solution: turn off HDMI-CEC, which I shouldn't have to do. No such CEC command happens with the UBK-80 or UBKM9.

Sorry if this ruffles the feathers of fans/owners of this player. I've seen this kind of head-scratching design from Sony before. I've generally avoided Sony products for this reason, prior experience with their AVRs and such. (But I still love my PlayStation 2. Yep, still rocking a PS2 and some great classic games.) But please DO NOT think I'm trash-talking this player or your enjoyment of it. On the PLUS side, Consumer Reports tested the LG players as being the fastest in load times, but my stopwatch comparison showed the Sony only a couple of seconds longer loading some typically "heavy" BDs. I doubt any consumer would notice.

All this just my two cents.

It's not "applying" DV in terms of all that metadata stuff, it can't invent something that isn't there, but it's forcing everything into a stock HDR tone curve with forced DV. For HDR10 content - which uses the same tone curve - then the effect can be an improvement vs the TV's own HDR10 processing, but for SDR it's often disastrous as it's being forced into an EOTF it wasn't designed for.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by MisterXDTV

What other brand? It's Panasonic, Sony or NOTHING....

If Sony can't get it together, then it's Panasonic.

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by ndtechie05

I do not see picture mode under options during disc playback. I see Av sync and other things but nothing that says picture.

IIRC it doesn't work if Dolby Vision is enabled. Turn that off then try again.

[ChromeJob]

Originally Posted by Cherokee Jack

That sounds absolutely horrible if I'm understanding the problem correctly. I wonder if it's a handshake issue specific to the TV/AVR? I've been considering replacing my current region-free BD player with a region-free X800M2 and not being able to use CEC would be an absolute deal beaker for me.

It doesn't surprise me that a Sony player would have issues with CEC however. The feature is broken on the PS5 and needs to be turned off if you don't want the PS5 powering up every time you turn on your TV. CEC works flawlessly on the Xbox Series X OTOH.

I went back to the LG UBKM9. As a troubleshooting step, I ordered a Bluerigger "CEC-less" HDMI connector. With it inline with the primary HDMI out to the TV, my setup does not do the image bifurcation -- I think the player was telling the AVR to tell the TV to switch to its input, despite the AVR getting "audio-only" from HDMI-OUT2.

I suspect that the same inline CEC shunt could solve the Sony BD player's issue as well. But as you said, that's a dealbreaker for some.

Originally Posted by MisterXDTV

What other brand? It's Panasonic, Sony or NOTHING....

FWIW, the LG UBK80 and UBK90 are solid basic players, and load time is at warp speed.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

It's not "applying" DV in terms of all that metadata stuff, it can't invent something that isn't there, but it's forcing everything into a stock HDR tone curve with forced DV. For HDR10 content - which uses the same tone curve - then the effect can be an improvement vs the TV's own HDR10 processing, but for SDR it's often disastrous as it's being forced into an EOTF it wasn't designed for.

Hm. Yikes. I concur with others, "Do it RIGHT, Sony, or don't do it at all." But this isn't new IMHO.

[hagios]

Hey all I’m thinking of getting the Sony UBP-X700 m Region Free 4K UHD Blu-ray Player UBP-X700m at I think a great price $259.00 today and I own a Sony X850D 4K TV.

I’m not a tech expert by any means but my question is if I get this if someone could list all what I would need to do to this unit right out-of-the-box?

Also is there any other player in this price range I should be looking at?

[Geode]

Originally Posted by slimdude

If Sony doesn't care about the functionality of their 4K Blu-ray players, then they should stop making them period, and give the consumers another choice as to what other brand to choose from, who does care and take pride in the quality of their products. If they can't do it right, then don't do it all.

This assumes that they actually put things such as going extra steps to please customers ahead of profit. They will improve designs if it adds to the bottom line. It was probably determined that this particular aspect wasn't hurting sales, and rectifying it would not improve sales. They are no better, and no worse than competing corporations.

[hagios]

Originally Posted by hagios

Hey all I’m thinking of getting the Sony UBP-X700 m Region Free 4K UHD Blu-ray Player UBP-X700m at I think a great price $259.00 today and I own a Sony X850D 4K TV.

I’m not a tech expert by any means but my question is if I get this if someone could list all what I would need to do to this unit right out-of-the-box?

Also is there any other player in this price range I should be looking at?

Since no one reached out to help me on my question of this player, I still went ahead & blind-bought (thought it was worth the cyber sale price! ) this player and hope it works great for me!

[stvn1974]

Originally Posted by hagios

Since no one reached out to help me on my question of this player, I still went ahead & blind-bought (thought it was worth the cyber sale price! ) this player and hope it works great for me!

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by hagios

Since no one reached out to help me on my question of this player, I still went ahead & blind-bought (thought it was worth the cyber sale price! ) this player and hope it works great for me!

Since you already own a Sony player, the A/V setup on the X700 should be similar. If you have any mechanism or disc playing issues, just return it.

[hagios]

Originally Posted by slimdude

Since you already own a Sony player, the A/V setup on the X700 should be similar. If you have any mechanism or disc playing issues, just return it.

Yeah I’ve had good experiences with the retailer I ordered it from 220-electronics!

I hope this newest 2022 model does the right job for me

Newest model UBP-X700M updated 2022 model year!!

The players I’ve got in the past are still working from them!!

[Cherokee Jack]

Originally Posted by hagios

Since no one reached out to help me on my question of this player, I still went ahead & blind-bought (thought it was worth the cyber sale price! ) this player and hope it works great for me!

Darn, was gonna recommend you spend the extra $100 and pick up the X800M2. It seems to have some similar playback issues as the 700 but several forum members have reported that theirs works flawlessly. I haven't seen too many defenders of the 700 OTOH. Hope yours works out for you.

[hagios]

Originally Posted by Cherokee Jack

Darn, was gonna recommend you spend the extra $100 and pick up the X800M2. It seems to have some similar playback issues as the 700 but several forum members have reported that theirs works flawlessly. I haven't seen too many defenders of the 700 OTOH. Hope yours works out for you.

Yeah the price I got did go into the equation for me, hope it works out for me (I did look into the X800M2 but at this time did not want to spend that extra $100… hope I do not regret it though )!

[Cherokee Jack]

Originally Posted by hagios

Yeah the price I got did go into the equation for me, hope it works out for me (I did look into the X800M2 but at this time did not want to spend that extra $100… hope I do not regret it though )!

The region-free X700 is certainly a great bargain if it works. Good luck!

[mikesncc1701]

Originally Posted by hagios

Since no one reached out to help me on my question of this player, I still went ahead & blind-bought (thought it was worth the cyber sale price! ) this player and hope it works great for me!

I honestly think it's a great player except for the UHD 100 problem. I've seen complaints about having to switch the Dolby Vision on and off but to me that's just a sign of laziness.