Best budget UHD disc player 2024?

[Travis Ballstadt]

Hey everyone. My old UHD disc player died recently. I'm 99% Kaleidescape, but would like to have a disc player for the handful of titles I do have. I have PLEX for a lot of it, but only an AppleTV as a PLEX client so am not getting Atmos or DTS through there...

Long story short, I'd like a UHD disc player but don't want to spend a lot on it.

My random thoughts on the subject:

• Don't need Dolby Vision
• Prefer something with a good Home Assistant integration
• Prefer full size unit, not the little mini player form factor, but not a deal breaker
• I've heard a few comments about the Panasonics, which were high on my list, that may bring the off the mantle. Seems there is some processing going on internally that can also have a negative effect, which is exacerbated with a video processor, which I'm using a Lumagen
• Don't want to use Sony again for multiple reasons
• Magnetar is
• Don't need any internal apps, just disc playback

What's everyone using?

 

[Todd Anderson]

I’d go with the UB420 or UB820… I think Panasonic is probably the best thing going at the moment (tho you don’t need their onboard HDR processing). That said, the players are still being supported by Panasonic, which is a big deal to me.

I have an UB9000 and UB820… no complaints!

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I agree... if you are looking for budget... hit Robert up on the UB420. If you don't mind spending a little more, the UB9000 has been an excellent player for me.

 

[phillihp23]

I have a UB820 and UB9000.
But if you wanna go low cost the UB420 likely the route.

 

[VJM]

I picked Sony before reading your OP, I have the X800 in the living room and a Panasonic UB9000 in the theater. I honestly don't think you can go wrong with the Panasonic, but the Sony would be a good choice.
Panasonic won't passthrough the original signal without upscaling if it's set to 4k output where the Sony can output the native 1080p/480p. without touching it. The Sony can also play SACD/DVD-A if that matters at all to you and it can playback DSD and FLAC multichannel through HDMI via USB or network.
And last but not least the Sony build quality is much better then the UB420

 

[natty]

Since you don't need or want DV, no reason to the get the UB820. You don't like Sony, so something like the X700 or X800M2 don't fit the bill for you. You said "budget" so I assume that means you'd not be interested in spending 4x the price of a basic player for something with better build quality like the Panasonic UB9000. That really only leaves one player, the Panasonic UB420. It won't win any awards for build quality, but it does the job, and has excellent 4:2:0 to 4:4:4 output, if you want to try that basic level of processing. (It also has a very good tone mapping optimizer built in, but I suspect you already have that solved in an external device.)

You didn't mention whether things like SACD and DVD-A matter to you. If they do, the Panasonic isn't the right choice and the Sony is better. You didn't mention whether you want native resolution output, but if you do, then the Sony is better (since the Panasonic scales everything to the single output resolution you have selected).

All that said, neither Panasonic nor Sony are bulletproof. You can find "owners threads" on forums all over the place where in the Sony thread people are switching to Panasonic because Sony's are crap, and the Panasonic thread is full of people switching to Sony because the Panasonic are crap.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Basically I'm looking for a transport. I'd love something with a source direct mode like the oppo players have/had, to let my Lumagen handle all the heavy lifting in terms of scaling. The Panasonics don't output anything but 4K, and they upsample everything to 444, which then gets processed again in the Lumagen. I would like to avoid dual processing.

I don't think I'm going to find it in a budget player, currently looking at the Reavon units.

Don't need any SACD or similar playback. Just for watching a handful of discs I can't get on Kaleidescape.

 

[natty]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Basically I'm looking for a transport. I'd love something with a source direct mode like the oppo players have/had, to let my Lumagen handle all the heavy lifting in terms of scaling. The Panasonics don't output anything but 4K, and they upsample everything to 444, which then gets processed again in the Lumagen. I would like to avoid dual processing.

I don't think I'm going to find it in a budget player, currently looking at the Reavon units.

Don't need any SACD or similar playback. Just for watching a handful of discs I can't get on Kaleidescape.

Fair enough. Then this thread should maybe titled something different. Maybe the opposite of the current title.

Maybe like "most capable UHD player, price irrelevant"

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Fair enough. Then this thread should maybe titled something different. Maybe the opposite of the current title.

Maybe like "most capable UHD player, price irrelevant"

Well, yeah. I haven't paid much attention to the disc player market in recent years, so was hoping there was something basic in the budget range. Seems backwards you can't get a basic transport for less than you'd pay for all the high-falutin' processing, but here we are.

 

[Gerry Iaria]

I had the Sony X800, but suddenly it stopeed working, apparently it's the main board that's gone, I'm looking for a player as well, but it has to have SACD, and DVD-A, as I have quite a few discs, that I would like to still use, was looking at the X800m2, but not sure if I'll have the same problem

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I had the Sony X800, but suddenly it stopeed working, apparently it's the main board that's gone, I'm looking for a player as well, but it has to have SACD, and DVD-A, as I have quite a few discs, that I would like to still use, was looking at the X800m2, but not sure if I'll have the same problem

My player that died was also the X800.

 

[Gerry Iaria]

My player that died was also the X800.

That's why I'm a bit concerned about getting the x800m2, not sure what others do SACD, and DVD-A

 

[natty]

I had the Sony X800, but suddenly it stopeed working, apparently it's the main board that's gone, I'm looking for a player as well, but it has to have SACD, and DVD-A, as I have quite a few discs, that I would like to still use, was looking at the X800m2, but not sure if I'll have the same problem

There isn't anything else under 1k that plays the disks you want to play. So unless is was an environmental issue (too much heat, power surge, etc) that may still be the best bet at that price point.

 

[Todd Anderson]

My player that died was also the X800.

Have you thought about just going on ebay and buying anouther X800?

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Have you thought about just going on ebay and buying anouther X800?

No. I've heard too many stories about them just up and dying, and Gerry added to that list. Not to mention the Home Assistant integration was dismal, really only functioned for the DNLA aspect, no transport control, so it's easy enough to just cross Sony off the list.

Honestly, I've had crap luck with everything Sony I've purchased in the last 15 years. I had an ES model AVR that I loved, but was lost in a burglary. I replaced it with a newer model which I ended up replacing within months, I was so disappointed. My first 4K TV was a Sony, and while it had a very nice picture and a mostly anti-glare screen, within a few years the updates stopped coming and at this point it's a dust magnet in the bedroom that needs to be completely factory reset and hard rebooted just to turn it on. Then the X800 just randomly crapped out.

I'm going to give Sony some quiet time to just think about what they've done and hopefully they'll come out of the corner some day with a better attitude.

 

[Gerry Iaria]

No. I've heard too many stories about them just up and dying, and Gerry added to that list. Not to mention the Home Assistant integration was dismal, really only functioned for the DNLA aspect, no transport control, so it's easy enough to just cross Sony off the list.

Honestly, I've had crap luck with everything Sony I've purchased in the last 15 years. I had an ES model AVR that I loved, but was lost in a burglary. I replaced it with a newer model which I ended up replacing within months, I was so disappointed. My first 4K TV was a Sony, and while it had a very nice picture and a mostly anti-glare screen, within a few years the updates stopped coming and at this point it's a dust magnet in the bedroom that needs to be completely factory reset and hard rebooted just to turn it on. Then the X800 just randomly crapped out.

I'm going to give Sony some quiet time to just think about what they've done and hopefully they'll come out of the corner some day with a better attitud

No. I've heard too many stories about them just up and dying, and Gerry added to that list. Not to mention the Home Assistant integration was dismal, really only functioned for the DNLA aspect, no transport control, so it's easy enough to just cross Sony off the list.

Honestly, I've had crap luck with everything Sony I've purchased in the last 15 years. I had an ES model AVR that I loved, but was lost in a burglary. I replaced it with a newer model which I ended up replacing within months, I was so disappointed. My first 4K TV was a Sony, and while it had a very nice picture and a mostly anti-glare screen, within a few years the updates stopped coming and at this point it's a dust magnet in the bedroom that needs to be completely factory reset and hard rebooted just to turn it on. Then the X800 just randomly crapped out.

I'm going to give Sony some quiet time to just think about what they've done and hopefully they'll come out of the corner some day with a better attitude.

Sorry to hear that you had so much problem with Sony, my only problem was the X800, I wonder if they'll come up with another better 4k player

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Got three Sony TV's, never any issues, although the last one is my 97" that I haven't had long. Never had any of their BD players that I can remember. We have a Sony AVR in the great room, but we stopped using it and just use the Sony TV sound. Anything beyond regular TV sound in the great room has become an extremely low priority for us.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Got three Sony TV's, never any issues, although the last one is my 97" that I haven't had long. Never had any of their BD players that I can remember. We have a Sony AVR in the great room, but we stopped using it and just use the Sony TV sound. Anything beyond regular TV sound in the great room has become an extremely low priority for us.

To be fair the issue is with the Android TV OS, but it’s exacerbated by their lack of software updates/support.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Travis... Best Buy has this LG 4K Player on clearance, new... Regular $299. On sale for just $75.99 (link)

You're going to have a really tough time beating that price!

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Travis... Best Buy has this LG 4K Player on clearance, new... Regular $299. On sale for just $75.99 (link)

You're going to have a really tough time beating that price!

Gonna have a hard time buying it, too.

 

[Todd Anderson]

DOH!

LOL. I didn't see that

 

[Sonnie Parker]

That WAS a deal, for sure!

 

[rtart]

I've had a UB420 for a couple years and zero problems. I only use for 4K discs and use an Oppo103D for BDs and SACDs and DVD-As. One cheap improvement, though is to buy a replacement remote for a UB9000. It's backlit, works for the UB420 (and UB820) and a lot larger. I found one on AZ for around $12.00.

 

[VJM]

I have the UB9000 but haven't looked at the remote in a while, I guess I forgot that it's backlit

 

[mechman]

I have the Sony UBP-X700. Been using it since I sold my Oppo and it has served me well.