Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Disc Player - Black

In my original review I complained about the player locking up when approaching the finale of 4K Bluray movies. The manufacturer drew my attention to a firmware update which so far seems to have solved the problem. Since that was my only complaint about the player, and that is now gone, I've updated my review score to suit. My original review remains below.**************Watching the opening scenes of the "The Dark Knight" in 4K on a big screen makes you gasp, there's a section where they cross a chasm on a rope that almost gives you vertigo.I find speech a bit muffled, but that could be my TV, I'm still investigating.My main problem is that the player locks up, regular as clockwork, somewhere around 2 hours into any 4K movie (it could be any movie, but I'm mostly using my new kit to watch UHD for now). It totally ruins the impending finale of the movie. When it happens the player ignores all remote buttons except power off - so that's what I have to do, then I can power back up and resume play. So far this recovery method always seems to work, so the problem doesn't seem to be caused by disk content, I suspect it may be a buffering glitch or buffer overflow, perhaps after a layer change.Once upon a time Sony had the Japanese reputation for quality, they would never put out buggy firmware because it would be thoroughly tested before going public. If a bug did escape then it'd get fixed quickly. Not any more. Nowadays they design down to a price - but are still more expensive than the Chinese - and firmware quality is one of the corners that got cut.

Love it

The Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Disc PlayerSummary:A great product, pretty much future-proofed and well worth the price. A really good player with really good value for money. Highlights are built-in support for HDR.10 and Dolby Live will be added later.Review: First ImpressionsA solid and well-built unit. A good mix of plastic and metal, with a piano-black trim. Does not look out of place on my unit next to the tv. The remote by contrast looks and feels a bit on the cheap side, but buttons respond quickly and accurately to the touch, and becomes 2nd nature to use.Plugging in and initial setup:The instructions state to hook up all the connections BEFORE powering on the unit...so I did that. My tv is an LG C7 OLED unit so I plugged in my own HDMI cable as the Sony doesn't ship with one. It also had an HDMI audio out so you can plug in your sound-bar if you have one. Connecting via LAN, USB or coaxial digital is equally simple. Wireless support is limited to 2.4 Ghz but streaming directly from Netflix showed no drop-outs or buffering. The built-in setup wizard is quick and easy to follow and if you mess up you can reset all back to default and start again. It has the basics as far as apps go with Netflix, Amazon and Youtube available, so you can smarten up you TV if you need to.Picture:Wow. In conjunction with my OLED tv the picture is stunning. Visual are crisp, clear and startling. The first movie I played was The Martian blu-ray in standard and UHD formats and, the difference is palpable; the arid landscapes and harsh beauty are brought home with a clarity and detail that is jaw-dropping. The SD copy looks pale and washed out in comparison. Other UHD movies I tried were Kong, Superman vs Batman UHD, Pacific Rim UHD and Mad Max. DVD playback is okay, not impressive but it's fine,I really doubt if anyone is going to be playing dvd's here though it's nice that it has that ability if you want.Sound:My TV is Dolby Atmos enabled and has virtual surround sound abilities.The Dolby Atmos and surround-sound quality is adequate, having heard a dedicated Dolby Atmos setup and surround sound, I realised that to get the full detail of the picture and sound quality I need to upgrade from a tv speaker system to a dedicated setup.That being said, the sound, for all its limitations is amazing, Mad Max, Kong, Supes vs Bats have soundscape that really come over well with this unit compared to my other player. The LG really gives you an immersive experience, but I do think after this I need to upgrade my system. A better review for the sound can be found on What Hi*Fi's website.It also can playback most music formats like SA-CD, mp3, flac etc. I did not test this as this is a 4K player and will be used primarily as such.Verdict:This 4K player has value for money like no other 4K player. The bang for you buck is unrivalled.It's a bargain at the price-point and outperforms its big brother UBP-X800 by some distance. It's natural rivals at this point like the Panasonics and others cannot beat this unit in features or its crisp natural 4K output. Buy it. You won't regret it.Specifications:Playback CapabilityDISC - BD-RE, BD-RE Dual Layer, BD-ROM, CD (CD-DA), CD-R / -RW, DVD+R, DVD+R Double Layer, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-R Dual Layer, DVD-RW, DVD-Video, SA-CD (SA-CD / CD) Playback, Stereoscopic 3D (profile 5), Ultra HD Blu-rayVIDEO FORMATAVCHD Disc Format, HEVC, Motion JPEG (.mov, .avi), MPEG-1 Video / PS (.mpg .MPEG, .mkv).VOB, .VRO, MPEG-2 Video / PS, TS ( .mpg.MPEG, .m2ts, .mts, .mkv).VOB, .VRO, MPEG-4 / AVC (.mov, 3gp, .3g2, .3gpp, .3gpp2, .flv), MPEG-4 AVC (.mkv, .mp4, .m4v, .m2ts, .mts), VC1 (.m2ts, .mts, .mkv), VP6, VP8, VP9, WMV9 (.wmv, .asf, .mkv), Xvid (.avi, .mkv)AUDIO FORMATAAC (.AAC, .mka), AIFF (.aiff, .aif), ALAC (.m4a), Dolby Digital (.ac3, .mka), DSD - DSDIFF / DSD (.dff, .dsf), FLAC (.flac, .fla), HEAAC v.1 / v.2 / level2, LPCM (.mka), Mokey's Audio, Vorbis, WMA10 Pro, WMA9 Standard (.WMA)PICTURE FEATURE24p True Cinema, 4K Upscale (60p), Deep colour (12bit)DOLBYDolby Atmos®(bitstream out)/Dolby® TrueHD decoding (7.1Ch) DTS DTS:X™(bitstream out)/DTS decoding (7.1ch)WI-FI® BUILT INYesWI-FI MIMOYesFEATURESScreen mirroring (Wi-Fi Miracast)STREAMING3D Streaming, 4K streaming, Live StreamingINPUT AND OUTPUTCoaxial Audio Output (s): 1 (Rear), Ethernet Connection (s): 1 (Rear), HDMI Output (s): 2 (Rear), USB Input (s): 1 (Front)Box Contains Instruction Manual, Remote Control, Type AAA x 2 batteries, Warranty Card,

Great product, but misrepresented. The picture quality is excellent - though there are some blank-screen blips that I never got from my previous blu-ray player (LG). No problems at all with the sound quality, either. Where this player has let me down is in the fact that it was advertised as being multi-region (or region-free) which it absolutely isn't. It turns out you have to buy a special chip and have it fitted inside the machine to be able to read, for example, Region 1 dvds. I have had to do the kind of research you only have to do if you have spent a considerable amount of money only to be disappointed by an inadequate feature. I only hope readers of this will benefit from the wisdom of my hindsight. Otherwise, great product.

Have been using for a few months now and have had no problems. Playback has been flawless. 4K upscaling is great. There is a second hdmi for audio. 3D looks great. Wi fi streaming works great. Apps are limited and cannot be downloaded but most of the popular ones are there including Netflix and Prime. Operation and menus can be a bit slow but adequate. Still one of the best 4K dvd players for the price.