RocShemp

I have an LG UBKM9 but irritatingly it keeps locking up with some of my discs. I have another UBKM9 that doesn't freeze up as bad but it still has brief pauses or stutters (though some discs, like The Batman, cause it as much problems as the same player in the living room). I've checked the discs and even used a microfiber cloth if I notice any tiny smudges, but the problems persist.

I have noticed that my problem discs all seem to be BD-100s. I've read such discs range nightmare for some players. So what are the most reliable players I can get that can easily read BD-100 discs?

To be clear, I attempted to Google the answer but all I got where "best of" lists that categorised the players by their extra bells and whistles, with no mention if they have any issue delivering problem-free playback from BD-100 discs.

TomOpus

I can't help. I've only owned one: the Sony x700 that everyone bitches about, yet I haven't had issues that others complain about. I guess I got lucky.

Mike86

I’ve been looking for one myself. Nothing too expensive but something reliable. Preferably under $200 but I’d go to $250-$300 if necessary.

RocShemp

Elsewhere, I was pointed towards the

Panasonic DP-UB820

Panasonic DP-UB820

and the

Panasonic DP-UB9000

Panasonic DP-UB9000

. Neither is exactly cheap.

Mike86

Yeah, I’ve seen a bunch of models that are expensive. I don’t know all the technical details but to me I'm not willing to spend over $300. In that case I might as well just get a PS5. I just want something that does the job and is reliable. Doesn’t have to be top of the line.

I may just go the PS5 route personally. There are some games I’d like to play and it would double as a 4K player.

TomOpus

That's a big price difference between those. They both do Dolby Vision (my tv is DV) and HDR10+. Any features to make the 9000 cost twice as much?

RocShemp

You know what? I may do .

marka351

If your TV has Dolby Vision then I would recommend the Panasonic DP-UB820 as that plays Dolby Vision and unlike the Sony will automatically switch to Dolby Vision. If your TV does not support Dolby Vision then you will be happy with the cheaper models as your TV will not be able to use what makes the Panasonic players so expensive.

davidh777

The last three generations of PlayStation have been my media players, but I rarely play 4k discs so I can’t help much.

RocShemp

I have an LG C2, so it definitely supports Dolby Vision. I'd read about Sony players being annoying when it comes to DV. Does that quirk also extend to the PS5?

EDIT: It turns out the PS5 doesn't support Dolby Vision for movies. It only supports it for games. Screw that.

andicus

The PS5 is not a good choice, anyway. According to my son, they're annoyingly loud during 4K playback.

RocShemp

Well that's certainly another point against the PS5. Such a shame, I would have liked to kill two birds with one stone.

rocket1312

The 9000 has better build quality and more audio connections. It also has a dedicated stereo DAC that might improve the audio quality when listening to music. It's the sort of thing you'd probably only notice if you were a high-end audiophile with a high-end system.

Oh, it also has a better remote, but a helpful user here mentioned a while back that if you have an 820 (like me) you can just get a cheap 9000 replacement remote on eBay and it works fine.

BackStJoe

I just bailed on this unit. I’ve gone through tech support, changed settings recommended by others with the same issues…but I dealt with my final 4K lock-up. The X700 seems to handle DVD and Blu’s just fine, but 4K not only has the Dolby Vision on/off crap but also randomly freezes. So I upgraded just yesterday to the Panasonic 820. After some set-up I’ve only had a bit of testing time, but the auto HDR or DV works great, it handled an Atmos test and even the DTS NeuralX on the Fringe blu-rays worked.

Mike86

I’m looking at the Sony X800M2. Seems like it has decent reviews and is kind of mid tier price wise.

Why So Blu?

I own one of these and it's pretty good and also plays DVD-A and SACD, etc. I did upgrade to the Panasonic 820, though. The 820 is a great player.

RocShemp

I tried finding the specific remote on eBay cos Panasonic's asking price is ridiculous.

dvd-4-life

Certain UniversaL 4k discs have a hard time playing on my Panasonic player while the Sony player doesn't have a problem.

DVD Polizei

I'd suggest the Panasonic UB820. Friend has one, and has worked flawlessly. I have an older LG 4K Player and it's terribly slow but it does ok and I got it on eBay for cheap (UBK80). Universal discs, never had a problem, nor observed on the UB820.

The Final Countdown (4K), from Blue Underground (expensive af but worth it if you like the movie as it looks fantastic), is a triple layer BD-100 disc, and plays fine on both players, fwiw.

JeffTheAlpaca

I think Sony though they are not as good as they use to be

The thing that sucks Hulu is no longer supported on their devices

Just Netflix and maybe Amazon Prime and some other mickey mouse apps

RocShemp

The UB820 is currently $399.98 on . Ended up ordering it today (though I got saddled with $46 tax).

rocket1312

There really is no other choice unless you want to spend big bucks on the 9000.

RocShemp

My Panasonic 820 arrives today. My workday hasn't even begun and I'm already wishing it was over to play with it ASAP.

DVD Polizei

Well, I bit, and got the UB820 for a little under $350 on Amazon when they had a price drop--which lasted maybe 30mins I think. Absolutely love this thing. It's fast loading, and some comments said it didn't have a status info display with bit rate, but it does. Maybe it had a firmware update? Anyway, totally recommend this. The only next upgrade would be those units around $1000, like the UB9000 or something, but I can't justify it as technology changes so much. Under $400 is my sweet spot.

So right now I have the UB820 displaying on a LG C3 48".

rocket1312

Just to throw a little water on the party, I'm sad to say the drive unit on my 820 has been giving me a lot of problems lately. Basically the mechanism that opens and closes the tray gets out of whack and the drive won't open. There is a way to manually force the tray open, but it's not nearly as simple as pushing a paperclip into the hole on the front of the drive like old PC cd ROMs.

I don't know how common this issue is, but after googling a bit I don't get the sense that it's necessarily uncommon. It's super frustrating and I'm close to dropping $200 on a replacement drive unit.