Sony UBP-X800M2 Review (4K UHD Player)
Sony UBP-X800M2
Pros
- Excellent HDR10 picture quality
- Lots of high-resolution audio support
- Good build quality
Cons
- No automatic Dolby Vision detection/switching
- No HDR10+ support
- Over-bright Dolby Vision playback
The last time we analyzed Blu-ray gamers over 6 decades back. These devices are very market, in that time Sony UBP-X800M2 4K UHD Blu-ray disks have emerged and stopped to be a novelty, and a few businesses like Oppo were one of the first to launch new apparatus and have left the marketplace.
Design of Sony UBP-X800M2
The UHD participant Sony UBP-X800M2 entered the marketplace in May 2019 and proceeds with the X800 company, which had several defects. In the new version, Sony UBP-X800M2 attempted to correct the principal flaws of its predecessor. The gadget comes in classic packaging to get Sonya made from black cardboard using a picture of this player itself along with a lot of logos to highlight important technologies. From the kit, based on the nation, it is possible to find not just a remote controller and an HDMI cable but also a UHD Kinect disc.
A fantastic alternative for your Sony UBP-X800M2 was that the layout of a steel chassis using a framework and beam to minimize vibration in the driveway and supply additional electric shielding. All this from the brand new product — a slick square layout, which unites a black shirt made from rough matte plastic and a base with a sleek gloss at the center. Due to Sony UBP-X800M2 for not speaking about the”style” and forsaking the strong black shine, which can be coated with dust, readily scratches, and hastens fingerprints.
The energy stabilizer block was improved. For many, the absence of a screen is going to be a minus, but you are able to certainly do without it. Just in the perfect corner is there a set of buttons along with a mini camera, supporting which there’s a USB port.
This participant can’t boast of a massive set of ports. If you compare it with all the flagship Sony UBP-X1100ES, then you will observe the reduction of half of the vents. Everything superfluous was thrown out and there’s absolutely no connection with the setup procedures (RS232 or IP Control). Additionally, it supports Miracast Screen Mirroring out of smartphones.
Audio Quality of Sony UBP-X800M2
A participant’s blues, you seldom see amazing remote controllers, however, this one is awkward with its obsolete look (it was like Sony’s players and TVs at 2009-2013) along with the absence of a backlight. At precisely the exact same time, it comprises all the required buttons for management, lies nicely in the hand, and also the distances between the keys are enough to prevent false clicks. In terms of the sound part, it’s certain to utilize Dolby Atmos, DTS: X, and sooner HD audio formats.
At precisely the exact same time, there’s absolutely not any HDR10 +, and its service in released Sony UBP-X800M2 apparatus is unrealistic because of”political” choices. But this format has thus far lit up on the three dozen discs and it’s uncertain what will happen later on.
The cornerstone of this specialized stuffing is that the CXD90049GG processor (rebranded Mediatek MT8581). The player has a 4K Upscale zoom function (around 60p), and proprietary alternatives including BRAVIA Mode. Sony can also be focusing on how the Sony UBP-X800M2 is presently the least expensive UHD Blu-ray participant which supports HDR-to-SDR tone mapping. This is fantastic news for aged display proprietors that wish to view at least some of the advantages of Ultra HD Blu-ray.
Input / Ports
The first setup of the UHD Blu-ray participant is easy and straightforward. The user interface is very succinct, but it functions very fast. When you flip on the apparatus for the first time, then choose the language, join the WiFi system, and can upgrade the firmware. The main menu consists of direct access to this drive, USB interface, streaming software, and preferences menu.
Simply mention that the participant is more secure over Wi-Fi over the 5 GHz band. On two routers, the 2.4 GHz rate was just one and a half times slower compared to the third and not as secure, however, at 5 GHz the signs were plus or minus exactly the same. Whatever the situation, on a wired or wireless network, this participant isn’t sufficient for silent use hefty 4K files. It’s odd that Sony UBP-X800M2 didn’t set up the most recent creation Wi-Fi module in 2019.
When working with discs, the download rate is impressive. We didn’t have the chance to compare with the UHD versions of 2017-2019, but the Sony UBP-X800 M2 heaps a Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray disk no less than a third faster than normal Samsung or LG versions. Even blues with hefty Java menus load in 30-40 minutes. Additionally, there’s hardly any sound during disc rotation, which might be the consequence of a reinforced participant layout.
OS/ Apps / Features of Sony UBP-X800M2
Picture and video processing quality — in the number of opponents in the purchase price range. When outputting DVD and Blu-ray, all of the tiniest details are maintained, accurate color reproduction, there aren’t any artifacts. The participant scales all sorts of content nicely to 4K resolution, even though you can see poor DVDs with little artifacts.
All movies have a different growth in detail when compared with normal blues, different shooting conditions, and other variables. However, on all Ultra HD Blu-ray disks with Dolby Vision, we noticed an improvement in video quality above conventional Sony UBP-X800M2 HDR10. That is much more detail in the shadows, the best transmission of warmth, and tiny nuances when seeing visual consequences. At precisely the exact same time, it appeared the DV content seems somewhat lighter than when viewing the very same disks on the Oppo player.
The Dolby Atmos monitors that came with the film sounded incredibly great. Dolby Atmos and DTS-X are output if you move the participant to Bitstream.
Surprises weren’t awaiting us in terms of movie quality. It ends up that the participant doesn’t automatically discover Dolby Vision when playing disks and doesn’t transmit data to the TV. Dolby Vision isn’t activated by default and you need to turn it manually to play disks that support this format and then turn off it if playing HDR10 discs. If you don’t do this from the settings menu, then the participant will utilize the fundamental HDR10 by default.
Performance of Sony UBP-X800M2
That is a very strange choice from Sony UBP-X800M2 — what works automatically on opponents’ players. It’s not likely that someone will love to turn this option off and on. Yes, these disks also play quite well, however you’ll have to change Dolby Vision into”Away”.
Sony UBP-X800M2 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc Player permits you to convert articles from HDR into SDR should you have a TV that doesn’t support HDR. This doesn’t need to be a 4K tide TV of their initial wave and is ideal to 1080p LCD TVs. The player automatically admits it is joined to the older SDR screen and makes it feasible to manually correct the tone map to match the brightness, color, and dynamic assortment of the connected screen. Reducing the slider makes the picture brighter, and also a higher value makes the image darker. Don’t await a wonder from the final result. Generally, this works nicely, but poor to the capacities of Panasonic’s HDR Optimizer.
Added functions
Are you really a true music lover and do you have many disks in the market SACD or DVD-Audio formats on your group? Then you’ll be happy with the Sony UBP-X800M2 — it may replicate them and does this very well for the cash. Everything is read using a bang, and the issue will appear only with SACD-R — that the player doesn’t support SACD pictures, that are popular amongst content fans from document hosting and torrents.
The participant features aid for Hi-Res (high-definition sound ) through a USB interface or by a local network. If your library doesn’t comprise Hi-Res Sound audio documents, then the proprietary DSEE HX scaling technologies will soon come to the rescue. All your low-resolution compressed sound files have been scaled to near-high resolution. You shouldn’t expect a miracle out of this choice, however, the dynamic selection of records can definitely surprise you.
All connections and settings are implemented quite easily and conveniently, also, there’s the chance of simultaneous streaming through Bluetooth and HDMI (double output choice ). As a result of proprietary LDAC technologies, you are able to move higher-quality sound over traditional Bluetooth connections without reduction.
Feature Highlights of Sony UBP-X800M2
Already from the primary menu of this participant, you can realize that using streaming solutions is extremely sad. If you would like extra online cinemas, then forget about it. I am thankful that Netflix and Amazon Prime provide a good deal of articles in Dolby Vision, however here you must manually enable DV from the configurations. On the flip side, any flagship smart TV is currently only stuffed with movie solutions, and just owners of projectors can be quite concerned about their lack in the participant.
But thanks to some reasonable price tag, maybe we’ve got the very balanced Ultra HD Blu-ray participant available in the industry. It can be purchased in the united states and Europe for 300 US dollars (euros), and in the time of earnings, it could be gotten for 250. However, this is a version with a regional mention, and also the multi-region are found on Amazon or eBay using a mark-up of 100 ye or bought from local farms.
If you’re prepared to put up with all the oddities in functioning with Dolby Vision content, then you are able to completely close your eyes into the rest of your shortcomings. In spite of a watch on Panasonic or LG players, this version just doesn’t have a transparent competitor for its cost.
Testing disc playback
This implies all video formats, besides Dolby Vision’s rival, the HDR10+. Both formats signify program-dependent progress of contrast and color making, for which dynamic metadata is continually transmitted. On the other hand, currently, just Panasonic produces HDR10+ Blu-ray gamers, such as the Superb DP-UB820
Unlike Dolby Vision Blu-ray discs, HDR10+ discs are barely available. Thus, Sony’s other capability to replicate SACD and DVDA high-resolution and other multichannel audio disks is more significant, even if they’re also barely produced. As a direct competitor to Sony’s UBP-Sony UBP-X800M2 participant, the Panasonic DP-UB820 doesn’t play those disks.
Ultra HD Blu-ray discs function at rates up to 5,000rpm. Such high rates will produce vibrations and also to curb them, the home chassis is of tremendous importance. Sony has taken this into consideration and we can testify that the working noise is barely perceptible if playing Ultra HD discs. Inside this region, Sony performs better compared to its rival Panasonic.
Dolby Vision of Sony UBP-X800M2
We’ve said that the Sony UBP-X800M2 is essentially an upgraded version of the first X800. In this way, it integrates improvements that We’ve seen in other versions such as the Sony UBP-X700
So far as video technologies are concerned, the Sony UBP-X800M2 features HDR10, which raises the maximum brightness levels while keeping rich and comprehensive blacks. It employs a very wide BT.2020 color area, which has a larger array of colors compared to the SDR tv signal. This allows filmmakers to make more lavish and more realistic colors, from bold, blue tones to organic greens to shrill colors of crimson.
On the other hand, the king concerning picture quality is, naturally, Dolby Vision, making the blacks much more saturated and the colors appear more vivid. The dilemma is that the Dolby Vision purpose has to be turned off and on because the participant does not do it automatically when discovering a Dolby Vision disc drive.
Comparable to Panasonic, Sony UBP-X800M2 has also taken measures to enhance the picture quality of 4K HDR films when being replicated on TVs with no HDR technology. For this use, HDR into SDR conversion intelligently converts the broad HDR brightness array in an SDR picture.
Final Thoughts
Additionally, the Sony UBP-X800M2 can also be equipped for the opposite route: for instance, it gives 4K upscaling, which converts broadly generated SDR movies to a better picture quality like the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs with 4K details.
Concerning picture quality, the Sony UBP-X800M2 excels with its sharpness, particularly when climbing from HD into 4K. Even so, this outcome is reached by simple pixel doubling and isn’t comparable to the elegant color output of this Panasonic DP-UB824, which utilizes an elaborate interpolation technique. In this aspect, Panasonic is your mention in this budget.
The cost of this Sony UBP-X800M2 Blu-ray participant is very low. Audio output is done only in the electronic level Lately, we gave hints about how to”select a Blu-ray participant” and we think that today it is sensible to buy not only a participant to replace the older one, but also the many universal apparatus. Obviously, it is all about the funding, and”flexibility” is highly determined by the purchase price. That’s the reason why the hero of this review has been the”favorite” participant Sony UBP-X800M2
Layout, meeting, vents.
The principal connection kind is, clearly, the HDMI interface, two of these to be precise, therefore there’s another interface for sound. This way it is still possible to utilize an AV receiver using the elderly HDMI 1.4 interface. In addition, this separation of sound and video interfaces can stop”HDMI jitters”, and also the audio quality doesn’t count on the participant, but instead about the D/A converter of this AV receiver.
