Went 4K in the Studio

[jdandy]

4K has spoiled me. Since installing the Sony XBR65X900E 4K HDR television in the living room, and a Sony XBR49X900E 4K HDR television in the bedroom I have gotten used to the amazing clarity and high resolution, both with streaming and upscaling DirecTV HD satellite. Going into the studio and watching the Sony KDL52XBR9 HD 1080p television caused me to start picking on the picture, the edge lighting, and the 1080p resolution. It has been a great television for years but all of a sudden it wasn't cutting it any longer. My two other 4K televisions raised the bar.


This morning I decided to make the 50 mile drive to Gainesville, Florida's Best Buy to bring home a new Sony XBR55X900E 4K HDR television. And while there I picked up a Sony UBP-X800 4K Ultra Blu-ray player. This went into the bedroom, and the Oppo UDP-203 that was there is now in the studio, replacing the Oppo BDP-105 that was there.


Between the round trip drive to Gainesville, removing the 52" television from the wall, installing the 55" television wall brackets and getting it back on the wall and wired, plus relocating the UDP-203 to the studio and installing the UBP-X800 in the bedroom, I've had a busy day. Finally at about 8:00 PM I was able to sit in the studio and enjoy the new 4K television, watch some satellite TV, stream some Netflix, and watch the 4K Ultra Blu-ray player. All I can say is it was worth the time, effort, and money. 4K television is fantastic and these three Sony 900E series televisions are wonderful.


Just what I need, another reason to park myself on the couch for hours. Hey, somebody's got to do it.

[jdandy]

Today I am going to remake the brackets that allowed my acoustic art panel to hang in front of the older 52 inch TV in the studio. The good thing is the outside dimensions of the new 55 inch Sony 4K television are within 1/4 inch for height and width. The older 52 inch TV had a 2 inch bezel around the screen which added to its overall height and width. The new 55 inch TV has a 3/8 inch bezel, so the screen grew to 55 inches without making the overall dimensions change. Once I reform the brackets that hang the acoustic art panel in front of the TV it should be a perfect fit.


This is the acoustic art panel hanging in front of the old TV.

[Everest Audio]

Just picked up a Sony XBR49X900E myself in the past week. Very impressed!

[jdandy]

I am pleased to report that the acoustic art panel fits like a glove in front of the new Sony 4K television. It looks exactly like the photo above, so no reason for another photo.

[NorthStar]

Awesome Dan, it looks splendid.

[BlueFox]

That is a good idea to dress up the TV when not in use. I hope all those gear lights turn off when watching a movie. I would go postal on my gear if not.

[jdandy]

That is a good idea to dress up the TV when not in use. I hope all those gear lights turn off when watching a movie. I would go postal on my gear if not.

Bud.......The photo in post #1 is how the room looks when watching movies or TV. The overhead lighting is controlled by two channels of remote controlled dimmer lighting. What you see in the photo below is actually two completely separate systems in the studio room. The rack on the left holds the two channel audio system that drives the Sonus faber Amati Anniversario speakers. The rack on the right is the home theater system that drives the left and right front channel JBL LSR6332 passive speakers mounted on wall hangers above each rack, the center channel, left rear channel and right rear channel JBL LSR6328P powered bi-amp speakers, and a pair of McIntosh XLS112 powered subwoofers. The home theater system is controlled by a McIntosh MX120 surround processor with a Crown K1 power amp driving the left and right front channel speakers, an Oppo UDP-203 Ultra Blu-ray 4K player, and a DirecTV satellite receiver, all powered by a PS Audio Power Plant Premier. The two channel audio system is never on when watch movies, and the home theater system is never on when listening to music. Two separate systems in one room makes it easy to handle the room environment for whichever purpose it is being used.

By the way, the acoustic art panel is a 2 inch thick Owens-Corning fiberglass acoustic absorption panel. Not only does it add a nice scene to look at instead of staring at a blank black screen, it also damps reflected sound from the glass surface of the widescreen TV. It improves the sound stage focus when in place.

[NorthStar]

It's like living on two different planets, in the same room.

[blueoak]

So mindblowing

[Audioseduction]

Just fyi, YouTube has 4k videos also! I've been watching 4k format for about a year now.

[jdandy]

Just fyi, YouTube has 4k videos also! I've been watching 4k format for about a year now.

George.......Yes, I have discovered the 4K content on YouTube. 4K video source on the new Sony TV's is eye popping good.

[jdandy]

Well, the Sony UBP-X800 4K Ultra Blu-ray player is going back to Best Buy today. I am returning it because it is unacceptably noisy. I watched the 4K version of Wanted last night in the bedroom and the disc spinning motor noise was audible over the soundtrack of the movie and particularly noisy during silent scenes. The Sony player has a great 4K picture but I can't tolerate the noisy drive, so back it goes to the retailer. Looks like I will be ordering a third Oppo UDP-203 for the bedroom. It is dead silent when operating. I don't know if something is amiss with the drive in the Sony UBP-X800 player, but I am not interested in trying another because of the 100 mile round trip back and forth to Best Buy to return it if it is like the first one. I'll just order another Oppo UDP-203 and be done with it.

[NorthStar]

Way to go, go Oppo all the way.
Going Sony in the bedroom is like cheating on your wife with a young mistress moaning.

[UltraFast69]

Well, the Sony UBP-X800 4K Ultra Blu-ray player is going back to Best Buy today. I am returning it because it is unacceptably noisy. I watched the 4K version of Wanted last night in the bedroom and the disc spinning motor noise was audible over the soundtrack of the movie and particularly noisy during silent scenes. The Sony player has a great 4K picture but I can't tolerate the noisy drive, so back it goes to the retailer. Looks like I will be ordering a third Oppo UDP-203 for the bedroom. It is dead silent when operating. I don't know if something is amiss with the drive in the Sony UBP-X800 player, but I am not interested in trying another because of the 100 mile round trip back and forth to Best Buy to return it if it is like the first one. I'll just order another Oppo UDP-203 and be done with it.

The noise is bummer, maybe you can listen for it at the store since you have to make the trip?


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[CPP]

Well, the Sony UBP-X800 4K Ultra Blu-ray player is going back to Best Buy today. I am returning it because it is unacceptably noisy. I watched the 4K version of Wanted last night in the bedroom and the disc spinning motor noise was audible over the soundtrack of the movie and particularly noisy during silent scenes. The Sony player has a great 4K picture but I can't tolerate the noisy drive, so back it goes to the retailer. Looks like I will be ordering a third Oppo UDP-203 for the bedroom. It is dead silent when operating. I don't know if something is amiss with the drive in the Sony UBP-X800 player, but I am not interested in trying another because of the 100 mile round trip back and forth to Best Buy to return it if it is like the first one. I'll just order another Oppo UDP-203 and be done with it.

I tell ya Dan its hard to beat the OPPO 203, we use it with the X940E

[jdandy]

I tell ya Dan its hard to beat the OPPO 203, we use it with the X940E

Chris.......I hear you. I already have the Oppo UDP-203 in the living room and in the studio. I just ordered a third Oppo UDP-203 for the bedroom. You are correct, Oppo is the 4K Ultra Blu-ray player to beat.

I must give credit to Best Buy. They are great to deal with, even on returns. Customer service had my refund for the Sony player issued to my card in less than two minutes with a smile from a lovely young lady. Other than the extra hundred mile round trip, the refund was painless. Marlene and I took advantage of being in Gainesville and ate a nice meal at Chili's. I'm still stuffed.

[Dr Tone]

Dan too bad your room wouldn't let you go larger with a 4K TV. I sit 10' from my 65" LG E6 and wish I could afford larger.

Personally, I love HDR more than the extra resolution.

[CPP]

Just fyi, YouTube has 4k videos also! I've been watching 4k format for about a year now.

I tell ya, people at times can get duped on 4K, i was directed to this site a long time ago with 4K was coming out. A lot of FAKE 4K content. Getting REAL 4K content using a 4K player and a 4K TV is something else to my eyes. I 've got a 65 " just no room in the area for a 75, maybe one day if we move.

http://realorfake4k.com/

[Sean]

Looks awesome, Dan! 4K content really impresses.


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[jdandy]

Looks awesome, Dan! 4K content really impresses.

Sean.......Thank you. I am very pleased with the 4K picture on the new Sony 900E series televisions.

[jdandy]

I was asked yesterday if I had considered Sony's newest 65 inch A8F OLED television. I had the opportunity to compare both the Sony 65 inch A1E OLED television (last year's model) and LG's OLED65C7P to the XBR65X900E that I purchased for the living room. While I thought the color, and particularly the black levels to be outstanding on both models of OLED TV's, I was convinced in side by side viewing that the color gamut and black levels with the full array LED back lighting on the Sony XBR65X900E was very close. Also, there is still quite a price gap between OLED panels and Sony's HDR Ultra LCD panels, particularly the 900E series. Sony's LED full array back lighted panels are tried and proven technology with an excellent track record for longevity and reliability. OLED is still an emerging and developing technology that has some history to be gained before I am convinced the price difference makes the technology worth it. Sony has only been in the OLED game with television for two years. Last year's Bravia A1E was Sony's first consumer OLED offering. Perhaps when the failure rate of OLED panels during manufacturing decreases more the cost will begin to drop to a more competitive level. Sony's newest 65 inch A8F OLED television is selling for $3,800.00. My XBR65X900E was purchased for $1,500.00 on sale. To my eyes the OLED's I compared it to did not justify such a price disparity. I have $3,400.00 total in the 49 inch, 55 inch, and 65 inch 900E series 4K televisions I purchased. That's $400.00 less than a single Sony 65 inch A8F OLED costs.

Then there is OLED burn in, a real issue with static images on the screen like the damn channel logos content providers love to keep pasted in the lower corner of the screen, and those tickers news channels park at the bottom of the screen. Like plasma and CRT before it, OLED can retain images on the screen temporarily, and perhaps even permanently, if it's left static for too long. This is an issue that disturbs me, even if the chance of it happening is remote. Then there is the lifespan of OLED compared to LCD and LED. At this time OLED lifespan is in the range of 15,000 hours, where LCD lifespan exceeds 60,000 hours. That is a substantial difference, especially for someone who uses a television many hours per day and plans to keep it as long as possible.

So, to answer the original question is yes, I considered OLED. My decision to remain with LCD technology that uses full array LED back lighting was not made lightly. I consider my money well spent on the three high quality Sony 900E series 4K televisions. I am extremely pleased with the picture quality. The future may see an OLED TV in my home but at this time I am not quite ready to embrace the current state of that art.

[Mike]

I’m going for the 77 inch Sony OLED once the price comes down to earth.


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[jdandy]

I’m going for the 77 inch Sony OLED once the price comes down to earth.

Mike.......No doubt it will be an absolute knock out to watch. The 77 inch Sony A1E series is tilting the scale at $10K. I would expect the 2018 version in the A8F series will probably be a bit higher. That's a lot of money for a television.

[Mike]

Mike.......No doubt it will be an absolute knock out to watch. The 77 inch Sony A1E series is tilting the scale at $10K. I would expect the 2018 version in the A8F series will probably be a bit higher. That's a lot of money for a television.

It sure is. What’s the 75-77 inch you would recommend?


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[jdandy]

It sure is. What’s the 75-77 inch you would recommend?

Mike.......I believe I would wait until Sony releases the 2018 version of their A8F series that just came out in 65 inch. The LG OLED looks really good, too, but I think Sony's processing prowess is worth sticking with them.

[NorthStar]

Well, the Sony UBP-X800 4K Ultra Blu-ray player is going back to Best Buy today. I am returning it because it is unacceptably noisy. I watched the 4K version of Wanted last night in the bedroom and the disc spinning motor noise was audible over the soundtrack of the movie and particularly noisy during silent scenes. The Sony player has a great 4K picture but I can't tolerate the noisy drive, so back it goes to the retailer. Looks like I will be ordering a third Oppo UDP-203 for the bedroom. It is dead silent when operating. I don't know if something is amiss with the drive in the Sony UBP-X800 player, but I am not interested in trying another because of the 100 mile round trip back and forth to Best Buy to return it if it is like the first one. I'll just order another Oppo UDP-203 and be done with it.

I am right in the middle of an experiment. I started last night with full dedicated seriousness.

1. Disc used: Atomic Blonde 4K UHD/HDR Blu-ray disc.
2. 4K Blu-ray players comparison: Sony UBP-X800 and Oppo UDP-205 universal 4K Blu-ray players.
3. Goal: To determine the amount of noise when the 4K disc is spinning in each player, from...
a) The beginning, when the movie starts.
b) The middle of the movie.
c) The end of the movie.
4. Practical: By putting my left ear each time from just two inches of each player, directly above their respective disc tray.
5. Scientific: By using a SPL meter @ the same distance as above and recording the results.
6. All tests are performed with the volume on mute.

I take my time, as I feel like it, so it might take few more days or more.

So far: Both players are noisier @ the beginning of the movie, with Sony slightly noisier.
Both players are real smooth in the middle of the movie, with the Oppo being perhaps slightly smoother.

In a very quiet room, @ normal viewing and listening activity, @ approximately seven to nine feet distance, both players perform quite well noise wise in my opinion. But that's me, and both players don't exhibit any deficiency as disc transport is concerned. I got lucky from the batches.

For someone extremely sensitive to noise and meticulous in eliminating the utmost lesser ones, Oppo 203 and 205 are a good choice. But the Sony X800 I found very quiet too, in comparison with the Oppo 205, and in particular with several other Blu-ray players in my systems...from Samsung, Sony...older players.
The Oppo 103 performs similar to the 205 and X800 noise wise.

Also, the shelf where the player sits is important.
Plus, a bedroom is usually pretty quiet for environment electronic noise...less gear.

I'm not done yet...to be continued, or not.
For now this is what my ears have heard. This is nothing official as there are just too many aspects to consider, but yes the Oppo players are quite quiet, and that Sony 800 is no small peanuts in the motor noise department from its disc transport mechanism. You can reduce it further by using absorption footing and shelving. ...Same for the Oppo.
* Decibels measurement wise is going to be a fraction of one decibel difference, so this test might be done very quickly, as it becomes irrelevant in real life movie watching activity and music listening.

By the way, in Canadian dollars the Oppo 205 costed me roughly ten times more than the Sony 800 player.
I know if means nothing, it's only money, but for many the Sony X800 player would do just fine noise wise.
Let see if Sony can come up with a real tank next...a Dolby Vision tank with the seal of Elevated Standard.
For now that role belongs to the Oppo 205.

And, later on this year Panasonic will introduce their new 4K players, among them the 820 and the 9000.
The 9000 seems like it could be quite quiet too.

[jdandy]

Bob.......That's interesting, and I appreciate you performing the noise experiment. In my particular case the Sony X800 player disc motor was far beyond the noise level of either of my Oppo UDP-203 players, or my Oppo BDP-105, BDP-95, or the BPD-83 Special Edition. All of the Oppo players are inaudible from my seating position (approximately 12 feet from the player). I am waiting on delivery of my third Oppo UDP-203, but in the meantime I have put the Oppo BDP-95 in the bedroom in place of the Sony X800 that I returned. The Sony sounded like there was a battery operated hand tool in use in the room, a steady drone noise. The player sat on a solid oak chest of drawers. I lifted it off the chest of drawers during playback to see if some of the noise could be mitigated to no avail. Perhaps the Sony UBP-X800 was defective but I was not interested in trying a second one after my initial experience. I know the Oppo UDP-203 will satisfy me. No reason to look elsewhere.

[NorthStar]

Remember Dan, I just used a 4K BR disc, no other medium...no 1080p Blu, no DVD, no DVD-Audio, no CD, no SACD, just Atomic Blonde 4K disc.

But yes, the Oppo players are more quiet than the rest with all discs.
For USB sticks they are all about the same.

* I thought about your Sony X800, and it is a possibility that it was noisier than other same Sony X800 players. It's very hard to determine the degree of this without having several of them from different owners who experienced different results noise wise. And also the same with the Oppo 203 and 205 because some owners have mentioned a high level of noise when playing 4K Blu-ray discs, in particular when loading them and @ the beginning of movie playback.

Some 4K BR discs are also more demanding (BD-100 with three layers).
And the 4K discs usually spin @ very high speed when loading them. They stabilize as the movie progresses. This is with all 4K players.

Anyway, I was interested in all of this because the Sony X800 has some heft to it, in order to reduce noise vibration. And it just happened that I use one, and a 4K Oppo player as well.

If I was just a little bit wealthier I wouldn't sweat one drop, and get an Oppo 205 in all the rooms with speakers and displays. ...Even on the airplane and the cruise ship.

It's too bad Oppo is closing doors. It is an indication of the times we are living in, moving forward.
But like the turntable Oppo players will keep spinning those 5-inch rainbow discs for still a very long time.
I will be dead gone within the next twenty years or so, but there will be Oppo players still spinning discs in our planet's orbit.
_____

** Hello to Ivan (Ferrari) and Terry (Mustang). ...Which one is less noisy? ...Tesla. ...The Roadster one orbiting in space.

[wklie]

My XBR65X900E was purchased for $1,500.00 on sale.

Congratulations on the X900E. It is indeed one of the best buys of 2017 TV with very good picture quality and cost/performance.

[jdandy]

Congratulations on the X900E. It is indeed one of the best buys of 2017 TV with very good picture quality and cost/performance.

Peter.......Thank you. I came to the same conclusion after much research. I now own three 0f the Sony 900E Series televisions, a 49", a 55", and a 65", and three Oppo UDP-203 Ultra B;u-ray players, one connected to each television. They are all exceptional performers.

[BlueFox]

It sure is. What’s the 75-77 inch you would recommend?

Mike, look at the Sony 75" Z9D. Even though it is a couple of years old, it is still their top of the line LED. I bought mine in November 2016, and love it. It is like being at the movies.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_15875X...XBR-75Z9D.html

[Mike]

Mike, look at the Sony 75" Z9D. Even though it is a couple of years old, it is still their top of the line LED. I bought mine in November 2016, and love it. It is like being at the movies.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_15875X...XBR-75Z9D.html

Ok, will do.


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[jdandy]

Yesterday afternoon I installed a fiber optic cable from the Toslink digital output on the new 4K Sony XBT55X900 installed in the studio to the McIntosh MX120 surround processor. Once I setup the digitial input on the MX120 for optical input I am now enjoying 5.1 surround sound while streaming Netflix and other Internet content providers. What a nice upgrade from listening to the television speakers while streaming Netflix, Hulu, and others. I don't know why I didn't think to do this when I first installed the TV. Better late than never.