4K player purchase question

[MacCali]

I was thinking you were talking about the Sony 800

Isn’t the 1100es better? Thought that’s the flagship

@-Matt- I think things start to go missing as you go down. I can double check prior to purchasing. Currently on sale now too the 820

 

[MacCali]

Would a SPDIF or TOSLINK digital output be satisfactory? That would allow you to use any high-SINAD, balanced DAC of your choice. Even my Sony UBP-X700 has an SPDIF output. Not much concerned about jitter from the transport, because even output were jittery, my DAC incorporates ASRC-type circuitry, so data is de-jittered. DACs with balanced outputs are pretty common these days, whereas UHD disk players with same are scarce, and they command top dollar.

Out of curiosity, I popped a CD into my X700, and perhaps anticipating that the user might not care to fire up the TV set just to listen to music, it bypassed built-in apps and went directly to music playback, and all I had to do is press Play. Primary downside with a lower-priced player like mine is lack of any display or navigation controls on the unit itself, so if you misplace the remote or the batteries go dead, I guess you'll have to find something else to do.

Yes I believe people were mentioning this, but I did not understand there point. When you’re brainstorming and your mind is cloudy you can’t link those thoughts. Too much going on lol

Cpu throttling

 

[Laserjock]

Isn’t the 1100es better? Thought that’s the flagship

@-Matt- I think things start to go missing as you go down. I can double check prior to purchasing. Currently on sale now too the 820

I’m sure but was just thinking performance wise, it wouldn’t make a difference

 

[-Matt-]

Isn’t the 1100es better? Thought that’s the flagship

I wasn't making a recommendation for a particular model. I think you had several recomendations from people that actually own players at the start of the thread.

It is not always that the flagship devices will give you better performance, often you just pay more for extra features that you will not need.

The main thing that differentiates expensive disc players is the quality of the analogue outputs. If you will not use these (because you connect only via hdmi and digital audio out) then there may be no need to get the more expensive machine.

You need to carefully look through the list of features such as Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HLG etc and decide if you need/want them. Then see how far down the model range these features extend. Recognise that many of the claimed features such as video processing may not be necessary if you just want to accurately output the digital data from the disc.

(Sorry that this is just general advice and still leaves you to do the leg work on comparing specific models).

 

[GXAlan]

Isn't the 820 better than the 450? or the 450 has no dolby vision? think the 820 would be better no clue what the future holds.

450 lacks Dolby vision. Probably build differences.

But I do have my eyes set on that QD-OLED, so looks like I will probably be sticking to samsung.

Basically got to distinguish a lot of crap and decide. The only thing keeping me to that 9000 is the cd function, cause whatever the price maybe you must subtract the value of the cd player from it, that's just the way I look at it. If that cd player is 300 and the unit is 700 for bd function than basically everything else is in that range too roughly

The UB9000 would make a great CD player. Quiet transport and good analog outputs.

Hmmmm @Laserjock 's last comment just made me realize maybe what you guys are saying......... are you suggesting to just get any bd player with digital out and then feed my dac and basically making the analog outs worthless on the 9000?????

The DACS on the 9000 are really good if you are using it in analog compared to receivers, however room correction can make the receiver sound better. A premium receiver like the AVR-X8500H is transparent to CD audio, so the DACs on the 9000 are great if you are using to Blu-ray music only discs with high-res for example.

Isn’t the 1100es better? Thought that’s the flagship

@-Matt- I think things start to go missing as you go down. I can double check prior to purchasing. Currently on sale now too the 820

X700, X800mk2 and X1100es all have the same underlying technology. The X1100es adds a LED display on the front and reportedly more noise insulation for the drive, so it's quieter. The X700 is not full width. The X1100es has analog audio out, the X800 does not. The X1100es also has RS-232 ports for automation.

 

[MacCali]

450 lacks Dolby vision. Probably build differences.



The UB9000 would make a great CD player. Quiet transport and good analog outputs.



The DACS on the 9000 are really good if you are using it in analog compared to receivers, however room correction can make the receiver sound better. A premium receiver like the AVR-X8500H is transparent to CD audio, so the DACs on the 9000 are great if you are using to Blu-ray music only discs with high-res for example.




X700, X800mk2 and X1100es all have the same underlying technology. The X1100es adds a LED display on the front and reportedly more noise insulation for the drive, so it's quieter. The X700 is not full width. The X1100es has analog audio out, the X800 does not. The X1100es also has RS-232 ports for automation.

The jitter on the 820 got me questioning the purchase.

Not sure why the unit doesn't have a volume control, that's pretty killer. Not sure how you would use the analog outs on the 9000 for 8 ch

 

[GXAlan]

The jitter on the 820 got me questioning the purchase.

Not sure why the unit doesn't have a volume control, that's pretty killer. Not sure how you would use the analog outs on the 9000 for 8 ch

If you're looking for multichannel playback, going digital is the only way to deal with distances/bass management, etc.

I think you've gotten plenty of input from the members here. You either have to spend several thousand on the oppo ubp-205 or deal with compromises.

 

[MacCali]

Too much hassle, appreciate everyone's input and thoughts, plus bearing with my infancy in the audio/video world. I just bought it, no clue which version it is as the company told me it's ub9000pc, looked it up[google] and I guess it's the newest version which allows you to record bd to a drive. I guess that's another perk I can just start ripping movies too rather than have a foolish library

1000 with no tax, and I see a lot of places at 1099 or even 1299/1399 definitely dont think it's going to be worth it at those prices plus tax. Seems like the lowest it will go is on best buy where I had seen it for 800 on sale. So now it would 900 and I cant avoid tax at best buy so it's basically a 1000 there too

 

[Laserjock]

Good luck on your endeavor.

 

[Tremolo]

450 lacks Dolby vision. Probably build differences.

It doesn't. 820 and 450 share the same video features. If I remember well the only difference is that the 820 allows manual fine tuning of hdr. The other differences are that 820 has analog mch outputs and a display while 450 has only digital outputs (hdmi and coaxial).

 

[GXAlan]

It doesn't. 820 and 450 share the same video features. If I remember well the only difference is that the 820 allows manual fine tuning of hdr. The other differences are that 820 has analog mch outputs and a display while 450 has only digital outputs (hdmi and coaxial).

Oh no! I have given bad advice. I was thinking about the 420 which lacks Dolby Vision not the 450. There are far more versions than I thought (I own the 9000 and bought the 420 as a gift so I knew the 400-series lacked DV).

 

[MacCali]

So far I am testing both players, for some reason the 9000 is natively only outputting Dolby digital and the 820 is doing True HD.

Isn’t thd better than dd? Also the volume seems to be lower on 9000, I did not change the volume is this because of thd and dd difference?

 

[GXAlan]

So far I am testing both players, for some reason the 9000 is natively only outputting Dolby digital and the 820 is doing True HD.

Isn’t thd better than dd? Also the volume seems to be lower on 9000, I did not change the volume is this because of thd and dd difference?

TrueHD is lossless. There has to be an incorrect settting on your UB9000…

 

[MacCali]

TrueHD is lossless. There has to be an incorrect settting on your UB9000…

Says for those codecs, please leave bitstream on and secondary set to on. Just checked and they are

Same as the 820, but it’s not outputting thd. Tried to adjust the settings on the avr and it’s not available.

Edit: it was showing the thd on the avr and when you check playback info it showed the same but now it shows the disc is thd but the avr and pb info it’s outputting dd

 

[TheInquiring]

Says for those codecs, please leave bitstream on and secondary set to on. Just checked and they are

Same as the 820, but it’s not outputting thd. Tried to adjust the settings on the avr and it’s not available.

Edit: it was showing the thd on the avr and when you check playback info it showed the same but now it shows the disc is thd but the avr and pb info it’s outputting dd

After almost a year, could you please comment on your UB9000 performance?

 

[MacCali]

After almost a year, could you please comment on your UB9000 performance?

I have done so above, but just to get back to the main topics. We do not know objective performance if that’s a consideration. Shouldn’t be terrible, but I did not have any desire to use analog output from the player. So I have no comments on that.

I ended up returning the 9000 and kept the 820.
1. Picture wise there was no difference. Using audio out to AVR and video to TV not sure if this is a major factor or not. Also never tested upscaling capability for comparison.
2. I do not have or plan to get a projector, the 9000 is better for projectors as it has more settings.
3. Audio wise I have no clue why it may have just been my unit but the 820 was outputting truHD codec automatically and I was never able to get my 9000 to do it, playing the same movie and same setting provided by Shane formerly spare change reviews.
4. The multi channel out is to some degree is useless unless you make additional purchases.
5. Most important and reason I bought the 9000 was a quality CD player and after repeated not blind tests using two different CD’s I noticed no difference in digital output to my setup when it came to 820 v 9000.

So it might as well be none or just a small difference, no difference stood out, which couldn’t justify the price difference.

Conclusion. trying to be as unbiased as possible and give fair comparison the rest is your decision and these are my opinion but probably fairly close to accurate and things to consider.

My current suggestion would be to purchase a zidoo 1000pro and rip you movies to a HD or purchase an additional NAS with hard drives. Also there’s Zapiti and the Magnatar UDP 800(1600 usd) which is NAS ready, but zidoo is the cheaper option. This option is just to make your movie library like a streaming service but full quality audio and video without compression

 

[TheInquiring]

Thank you very kindly, @MacCali

I ended up returning the 9000 and kept the 820.

Totally unexpected, but, as the old saying goes, "The Proof Is in the Pudding": "picture wise there was no difference", "the 820 was outputting truHD codec automatically and I was never able to get my 9000 to do it", and, IMHO, most importantly, "after repeated not blind tests using two different CD’s I noticed no difference in digital output". Ergo, the Panasonic DP-UB820 is the way to go for me, at least until the happy time I could afford the beauties of either Zappiti or MAGNETAR!
Could you please help me understand if Zappiti Reference and/or MAGNETAR UDP800 players can be employed with SSD instead of HDD inside?
Any experience using Zidoo, Zappiti or MAGNETAR, please? Please chime in, dear experts!

 

[MacCali]

Thank you very kindly, @MacCali

Totally unexpected, but, as the old saying goes, "The Proof Is in the Pudding": "picture wise there was no difference", "the 820 was outputting truHD codec automatically and I was never able to get my 9000 to do it", and, IMHO, most importantly, "after repeated not blind tests using two different CD’s I noticed no difference in digital output". Ergo, the Panasonic DP-UB820 is the way to go for me, at least until the happy time I could afford the beauties of either Zappiti or MAGNETAR!
Could you please help me understand if Zappiti Reference and/or MAGNETAR UDP800 players can be employed with SSD instead of HDD inside?
Any experience using Zidoo, Zappiti or MAGNETAR, please? Please chime in, dear experts!

This is what I am explaining, I think the zidoo is really the way to go. You would need a pc/laptop or anything to burn your movies onto a 16 tb hard drive.

Also if what I understood is correct, the zidoo 1000 pro model can actually burn the data from a bdp player or anything that has hdmi output as it accepts hdmi input and will output what’s playing and will be processed by the zidoo and burned onto the drive.

Really not 100% sure if that’s possible but that’s what one of the reviews I saw stated.

What you need: Zidoo 1000 pro + 16 tb hd + external cd drive to connect to the PC.
~$1250

In addition you can add a NAS to the zidoo as well in the future.

Also the zidoo is excellent for upscaling BD content to 4K/UHD.

The Magnatar setup will be basically well over 3000 with a NAS and 4 or 5 16 tb hd or more plus the external cd ripper. Magnatar is not worth it unless you’re going to do SACD and analog output use. We still do not know how it measures and is just a player without a NAS.

All of this is overkill if your media library is convenient to access and select. Just buy the 820 and spare yourself.

I am only going with the zidoo cause I have access to a huge library of BD content that’s in mint condition to just store and have ready to use. If you don’t have that there’s no point, cause you will need to pay more to acquire this content

 

[TheInquiring]

Thank you very kindly: I see the light now!
I as well have access to a library of Blu-ray, and DVD movies, Hi-Res Audio (up to DSD512, and PCM 768kHz / 32 bit) content located on a NAS (not in my home, unfortunately enough), and quality media player is definitely in order.

The Magnatar setup will be basically well over 3000

That would be out my reach, unfortunately... Zappiti Reference is probably in the same league prise-wise...
I really like what the Zidoo 1000pro has to offer (it even accepts HDMI input - bravo, very impressive!), and the only wish I have is a balanced audio out to connect media player to my balanced preamplifier... Are there any Zidoo dealers in the States, I wonder?

 

[MacCali]

Thank you very kindly: I see the light now!
I as well have access to a library of Blu-ray, and DVD movies, Hi-Res Audio (up to DSD512, and PCM 768kHz / 32 bit) content located on a NAS (not in my home, unfortunately enough), and quality media player is definitely in order.

That would be out my reach, unfortunately... Zappiti Reference is probably in the same league prise-wise...
I really like what the Zidoo 1000pro has to offer (it even accepts HDMI input - bravo, very impressive!), and the only wish I have is a balanced audio out to connect media player to my balanced preamplifier... Are there any Zidoo dealers in the States, I wonder?

I got no clue on that. Honestly if you wait until Black Friday some good sales should pop off.

Honestly all I really wish was that they had a way to stream content with at least cd quality content. This whole problem would be solved. I just tried to purchase the nvidia pro shield and it works with NAS. But idk seems like the plex server or program is always hit or miss by updates.

I personally do not own a NAS, but now I’m going to have to get one since my home theater is definitely at maximum potential and I want to easily be able to play my content with higher quality audio. Absolutely don’t care too much about picture quality, it’s strictly for the audio.

But I do not want to dish out a lot of money right now on a NAS and 4/5 HD plus the zidoo.

But what the zidoo is assuring me is that it has quality upscaling vs the nvidia shield. And if it’s a couple notches less than zapiti I could careless.