Best 4k player?

[Madfloyd]

I did some research for this and came away with a clear notion that the Panasonic UB900 was better than the Oppo.  Even the video review on Youtube ( comes to that conclusion but now reading this forum I'm no longer sure.

Anyone care to set me straight?

Thanks in advance.

[AVSCraig]

I've certainly been very happy with the Panasonic UB900. And I am an Oppo fan ( I had a 103 ), but the 203 has had a few teething pains on release.

[richlife69]

And I have basically had no issues or problems or concerns at all with my OPPO 203.  Just watched Arrival for the second time.  The OPPO made it easy to overcome the definitely "dark"  rendering of the disc.  Now for a "clear" explanation of the movie which I thought was fine sci-fi.

My previous Bluray player was a Panasonic.  At 1080p, it could not lay a finger on the OPPO.  But that is a dirt and apples comparison. 

[stridsvognen]

The UB900 have some processing issues, it is messing up croma resolution, and adding croma ringing on 1080P output as 1080P, wich should be a simple matter to handle.. But as there is nobody testing these standard parameters anymore, and just looking on the screen having a subjective opinion, its quite impossible to know whats the best player.. Some serious objective testing of the UB900 vs Oppo 203 would be interesting.

Some proper UHD patterns would be needet, along with a reference UHD display, wich might be hard to find.

[AVSCraig]

The UB900 have some processing issues, it is messing up croma resolution, and adding croma ringing on 1080P output as 1080P, wich should be a simple matter to handle.. But as there is nobody testing these standard parameters anymore, and just looking on the screen having a subjective opinion, its quite impossible to know whats the best player.. Some serious objective testing of the UB900 vs Oppo 203 would be interesting.

Some proper UHD patterns would be needet, along with a reference UHD display, wich might be hard to find.

I haven't seen any ringing, but my UB900, once it recognized that my display was 4K, upscales Blu-rays to 4K automatically now anyway, so it isn't outputting 1080p. When I have Jeff Meier of Accucal here Sunday to calibrate my RS4500, I'll have him test this and maybe I can take some photos of test patterns, if there is time.

[ed weinman]

...I have the OPPO 205 and love it for it's imaging and, especially, it's audiophile qualities...when I initially received the unit and put on, of all things an MGM musical blue ray, "Deep In My Heart", the 5.1 sound track nearly knocked me out of my chair!  It was like listening/viewing it for the first time.  As an aside, this film restored in blu-ray, is a marvel...for those of you who love classics, especially from the MGM studio's musical oeuvre, and you don't have this yet...by all means, get it!  It was the studio's musical department at it's height...the arrangements of the musical numbers were, and are, second to none, and every musical star that MGM could lay their hands on performed in this great film.  You don't have to
be a musical scholar to appreciate, and love, the talent that was, back then, second to none...the MGM studio orchestra was, at one point, considered to be one of the great orchestras in this country!...the arrangers were the best, especially Conrad Salinger...there will never be anything like it again...

...sorry for going on...the OPPO is a keeper for me. 

[stridsvognen]

I haven't seen any ringing, but my UB900, once it recognized that my display was 4K, upscales Blu-rays to 4K automatically now anyway, so it isn't outputting 1080p. When I have Jeff Meier of Accucal here Sunday to calibrate my RS4500, I'll have him test this and maybe I can take some photos of test patterns, if there is time.

A UHD croma multiburst and color pluge should do for the croma test, but you will also have to be sure the display dont have any croma issues, so multiple players and displays are normaly needet to figure out whats what.

[AVSCraig]

A UHD croma multiburst and color pluge should do for the croma test, but you will also have to be sure the display dont have any croma issues, so multiple players and displays are normaly needet to figure out whats what.

I'm only concerned with my RS4500, and I don't have several laying around, so that isn't going to happen - LOL.

[stridsvognen]

I'm only concerned with my RS4500, and I don't have several laying around, so that isn't going to happen - LOL.

If you have a UHD tv you would have something to compare to, and see if it behaves the same.

[AVSCraig]

If you have a UHD tv you would have something to compare to, and see if it behaves the same.

I do not. I have one 4K display - an RS4500.

[stridsvognen]

I do not. I have one 4K display - an RS4500.

Will be exiting to see how that combination handle together.

[AVSCraig]

Will be exiting to see how that combination handle together.

Jeff knows his stuff, so I'll post up what he says etc. next Monday!

[AVSMike]

Jeff knows his stuff, so I'll post up what he says etc. next Monday!

Looking forward to your thoughts on the calibration.

[gadgtfreek]

I'm not too worried about 1080p output from a 4k player to be honest. Playing back 4K UHD and 1080p at 4K, the 900 has excellent PQ.

Im one of the ones that had a buggy mess with a 203, sold it after 45 days (bought on release day), but they seem to have worked everything out. If you need HDR to SDR 709 or SDR 2020, there is nothing better than the 900 right now.

That being said, I currently have a 900, X800 and X1000ES. Love all of em, and the Sony's streaming ability is excellent, especially since it outputs Amazon and Netflix at 2160p/24, not 60. Panasonic did gain a slight edge here, their FW last week enabled HDR on Amazon, Sony has HDR Netflix but only UHD Amazon right now.

[Madfloyd]

I'm not too worried about 1080p output from a 4k player to be honest. Playing back 4K UHD and 1080p at 4K, the 900 has excellent PQ.

Im one of the ones that had a buggy mess with a 203, sold it after 45 days (bought on release day), but they seem to have worked everything out. If you need HDR to SDR 709 or SDR 2020, there is nothing better than the 900 right now.

That being said, I currently have a 900, X800 and X1000ES. Love all of em, and the Sony's streaming ability is excellent, especially since it outputs Amazon and Netflix at 2160p/24, not 60. Panasonic did gain a slight edge here, their FW last week enabled HDR on Amazon, Sony has HDR Netflix but only UHD Amazon right now.

Unfortunately the Panasonic won't output in 2160/24 so I guess I need to consider the X1000ES to get HDR streaming.

Any disadvantages with the Sony - other than HDR to SDR (which I don't need)?