Sony UBPX1000ES 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Disc Player

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Unlike normal people, I was not interested in the video quality of this Blu-Ray player. I bought this to replace a Sony ES 770 that I used for SACD only. I was pleasantly surprised that this actually sounded slightly better than its predecessor. So if you’re looking for a SACD player this in a solid low cost choice.

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Things that are great: 1) Has access to many streaming services, including Netflix, Vudu, and YouTube. 2) When you install the optional app, you can also access a media server on your private home network with this device. 3) Apps load and respond quickly. Much more so than any previous player Ive ever owned. 4) Disks also load and respond very quickly. 5) You can plug this player into a standard 1080P TV and still watch 4K disks. Naturally, the player is downgrading the signal in this case, but if youre trying to make the case on whether to purchase an expensive 4K TV or a new 4K player first, the backwards compatibility may help with that decision. Things to keep in mind: 1) Be sure to immediately check for updates when you setup this machine. 2) While you can play a High Dynamic Range disk with this player, if its hooked to a TV that isnt High Dynamic Range the video wont look too good (not horrible, but obviously not quality). 3) While the default output resolution is set to "AUTO", I noticed this player tended to default to 480P. I suspect this is because it is connected to a receiver instead of being directly connect to the TV, and so was unable to properly detect what the TV was capable of handling. This can be easily resolved by changing "AUTO" to the specific resolution you intend the TV to accept. Player allows you to specifically choose any resolution out there (480 720 1080 2160, both I and P). Something not so great: While watching a 4K disk, about 2/3s into the movie it appeared to have a tracking issue causing it to skip a minute or two of the movie. I could rewind and replay the same area without a problem, only to have it happen again a couple minutes later. Examination of the disk showed no visible imperfections. Upon resuming the movie, I had no further problems, though in retrospect I remember I had lowered the volume a bit. I havent experimented with it, but I suspect the issue was the center speaker which is sitting on the same shelf right next to the 4K player. The part of the movie having the tracking issue was a particularly intense action sequence, and I think the amount of vibration produced by the center speaker was enough to prevent the laser from reading properly. If this is true, its the first time any player Ive owned has had that issue. Ill probably move the player to a different shelf to see if that helps, but that will take some time to think out given how many devices I have connected to my receiver. This blemished what would have otherwise been a 5 star review.

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i took away one star because it took many hours to get it to work with the rest of my system. it now works very well. FYI= firmware and setup had to be done by connecting the player to the router via a lan and to a computer monitor with a hdmi. turning off all video signal tweaking, selecting the display from TV to projector (got the jvc x770), turning off unneeded features, and setting all else to auto. likewise, i setup the receiver to pass through the video signal without modification to the projector. so now all video signal tweaking/modification is only done by the projector. the issue was that this player, my receiver, and my projector all are capable of 4k upscaling and other tweaks to the video signal and would cause problems if they modified the vid signal at the same time. it was a steep learning curve, a lot of reading, web research, and contacting techs at sony, denon, and jvc. certainly not plug and play.

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I purchased this to replace a Sony Blu-ray player that didnt support 4K. The unit arrived in a damaged exterior box. This delivery was entirely handled by Amazon. Even the Sony box was damaged, but the unit itself was undamaged. The thing that distinguishes this unit from its cheaper Sony cousin is that it has a front display and you should be able to hook it up no matter what your A/V system requires. The unit is very sturdy and it strikes you as well made. I have the unit on a glass shelf and the rubber feet act like suction cups and you have to provide considerable force to unstick it. The unit has a flawless picture and the sound is excellent. The interface is a big improvement over my last Sony Blu-ray. Now for the bad. The Netflix app will fairly frequently hang the system. You have to unplug the unit to restore operability. I also noticed that the setup menus will at times flicker and that makes setting options just about impossible. I wasnt sure if this was a hardware or a software problem so Im returning the unit. Im going to repurchase this model as soon as I receive a credit for the previous unit. If the problems clear up, then the hardware was probably damaged. If not, then it is probably a software glitch which Sony has been pretty good at fixing in the past. .

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I inserted the HDMI, Power Plug, turned it on, Connected to WI-FI, went to setup, it told me that an update was available, so I did, then I put in a HD-DVD and I was watching in less that 20 minutes. Super easy to set-up and to get online. I want another for my other TV

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I bought this to compliment my new TV. With more content being available in 4K I had to do some research on what to buy as most tech giants were beginning to roll out 4K players. I finally settled for this player and Im glad I did. This is the Elevated Standard, hence ES, after the name of the device. The difference from the other players is that this is the premium version of the 4K players. It has a display compared to the others and the other difference is that it has a detachable power cord along with connections for a hifi system. Other than that they are pretty much the same. What I love about this is that it can be controlled with one controller. I have the Sony A1E and I am able to have full functionality with only one remote control which saves for having multiple controllers laying around.

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Sometimes Sony does things right. I love the solid heavy feel of the unit. The quick response on the Wi-Fi, it loves 5g and produces some fantastic pictures. I wish there were more selections like the Roku, but it has the 3 main ones, Netflix, Amazon and VUDU. The 4k upscale even makes my 2008 TV look a lot better. Cant wait to add a 4K TV later this year.

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I returned this unit. The Good: The hardware is good, and married well with my audiophile home 7.2 entertainment system. I could play high-def Blu-ray 3d movies, and had superb sound quality from my audio collection on my Synology NAS. The Bad: Streaming movies from Netflix or videos from Hulu and YouTube were choppy and sometimes froze. I have a gigabit fiber connection to the internet, and CAT 6 Ethernet cabling throughout, so the blame could not be in my network. The Ugly: The user interface is just plain terrible. The remote ignores the "return" command, and often gets no response from the player. I tried to configure my Harmony One remote, but that failed miserably on so many dimensions. Bottom line: Life is too short to be bothered by badly engineered products.

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The Sony UHD player is super fast on disc loading and Youtube access. The picture quality is excellent. I owned a OPPO BD player. The Sony UBPX1000ES player is faster than OPPO UDP-203. For Dolby HD & DTS Master Audio signal, the players Audio Settings need to be changed: BD Audio MIX setting: OFF; 48KHz/96KHz/192KHz PCM: 96KHz.Downmix: Surround. PRO: 1. APP - with Amazon Prime Video, Youtube, Netflex, etc 2. The software update process ran flawlessly. 3. The picture quality is excellent. CON 1. no play or pause functions at front panel, only available on remote control 2. Repeat function does exist in OPTION Menu. But the MENU has errors showing Bluetooth Output > Title Repeat, Bluetooth Device > Chapter Repeat. Software typo issues. :-)

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I don’t have a surround sound system and I’m not a huge movie buff. I bought this for it’s SACD and Blu-Ray audio capabilities. The sound is excellent from this unit. Even regular cds sound better. I can hear passages that I never heard from a recording in the past. The best part is that it is the only hi-end player that has a set of analog outputs.

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