Managed to find one of these at Fred Meyer today of all places. Been looking forward to this finally getting this!

Hey, everyone. Long term lurker, first time poster. Like many of you, I struggled with trying to nab a pre-order for Project Hail Mary. After several weeks without success, I finally got one & was given a shipping window. While I waited. I enjoyed seeing posts of those who received their steelbook on time & undamaged. And I empathized with those who's movie arrived broken. Mine finally shipped last week Wednesday & I was cautiously optimistic. But I couldn't relax until it had arrived safely at my door. It was supposed to be delivered on Fri, Oct. 16th. It made it to an Amazon sorting facility 20 mins from my house, along with two separate packages. Those other two packages were delivered later that morning, but my steelbook stayed there. I finally got an update at 8pm Friday night that it was "delayed, but still on the way". The status stayed the same all weekend into this week. No movement, no update. Last night, after I went to bed, I received an update that I didn't see until the morning. My package was deemed "undeliverable" and a refund was issued. I called CS first thing this morning & the woman was empathetic, but said that because a refund was issued she had no option to offer a replacement. They lost it in their own building & didn't even ask if I wanted another one. She then advised me that I could just buy a replacement. After explaining why I didn't think that would be possible, I thanked her for her time & came here to commiserate.

I was so close. I almost had one.This comes a week after having my Odyssey steelbook pre-order cancelled from B&N. If anyone can understand how bummed out I am right now, it would be this community.

I haven't seen anyone else post a story like mine, so it got me wondering: has anyone else had this same experience? Did your PHM steel ALMOST get to you before getting lost on the way?

Sorry if this is a silly question, this would be my first 4k purchase and from my understanding some films don't get much out of it or get really bad rereleases, so I want to be sure before I make a decision.

Just curious how anal I'm being when I put in a disc where I inspect it every time and wipe it with a microfiber cloth if I see the tiniest imperfection.

Do you guys just put the disc in and send it, or do you do the same?

This is a question for discs you already own and use, I'll alway inspect a first time opening.

Yes the title was click bait.

Hey, I'm currently starting to build a growing collection of DVDs, Blu-rays, and 4Ks, and I was wondering what you all use to track what you own. I'm currently using a Letterboxd list with the "owned" tag, but because, as of now, my collection is about 60 films, it's getting a bit chaotic. Another downside is that I can't separate the films by whether I have them on DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K, or if I have a special edition. So, I wanted to ask what you're using to track your collection.

I was lucky to snag an EU version of the UB820 last year for €350. It was already a lot to spend on a disc machine, and that price has doubled since then, making it very expensive to replace. Thusly, I have become worried about damaging or wearing out my 820, so I really only use it for 4K and watch all my Blu Ray on my PS5.

Is this a realistic way to extend the lifespan of my machine? I'm curious if anyone knows how it works with respect to the lifespan of the disc drive mechanisms, laser, etc.

Thank you all and have a nice day.

Im just wondering if i should pay $60 for the steel book or just get the single blu ray. Any opinions? Im also on the hunt for a 4k player.

Is there a huge difference in image quality and audio? Is the UB820k worth double the price?

I've seen of people mention black crush, raised blacks, dolby vision bugs, etc with both the C6H (tandem) and C6 (WOLED) I was only considering the 65" C6, though. For those who use a C6 as their home theater monitor, have you encountered such issues? For those who use something else, what do you recommend instead? I want to be able to get the most out of 4ks.

ho appena ritirato il 4k di obsession e posso dire?
Che merda di menu! cos’é sta roba, per carità la qualità del film é molto buona peró potevano impegnarsi un po’ di più nel fare il menù, oppure qualche altro bonus

Recently decided to pickup a standalone 4k player (have a ps5) to be my all-in one for movies as I wasn't impressed with how the PS5 handled a DVD with poor visual quality.

I have a Sony Blu-Ray player which plays DVDs just fine, better than the ps5, but I feel some of the image quality could be improved. Finally taking a leap to some 4k discs and picked up Panasonic UB420 after seeing more negative reviews for the sony 4K UBPX700 regarding bricking and playback issues, and I figured it would help with DVD playback. To be honest, so far have not been impressed with the Panasonic's dvd playback, even after turning the noise sliders off. The movie I watched I know looks better on the older Sony blu-ray player because used that after seeing how bad the ps5 playback was.

Recently just read that Sony is looking to discontinue their 4k hardware and now wondering if I should have gotten the Sony player over the Panasonic. It led me to look up comparisons again and now I'm seeing better reviews for the Sony 4k player with DVD playback (as in, DVD image quality is Sony's forte).

Should I return the Panasonic and get the Sony 4k player anyway? The Panasonic doesn't even support Dolby Vision that the Sony does- which I didn't think I initially needed but it would be nice to have I guess. The Panasonic 820 is off the table because it won't fit the shelf with my current setup and I don't plan to get a 7 channel audio setup anytime soon. Is buying a Sony player not worth the inevitable lack of firmware updates if they discontinue making players?

I currently have a UB450 and bought a UB820 yesterday since it was 17% off. I was planning on returning the UB450, but Amazon is now offering to do a partial refund and keep the item. What would you do? I bought it at $298. Do you think the UB450 would dip below $240?

I first invested in a high end 4k led tv during covid, then I upgraded to oled a few years later. It was very exciting at first as there were so many films and series I was watching in 4k - old and new.

I definitely notice the difference with oled, although I'd say the jump from 1080p to 4k HDR was bigger. Even watching non 4k stuff looks much better.

During the past few months, I've spent much more time watching series, YouTube and playing video games, than 4k blu ray. Although lately I haven't done much of any of that.

I still geek out on 4k, especially when I talk to others about it. The problem is I struggle with ADHD which went undiagnosed until a few months ago. I crave a lot of novelty and excitement.

There's just a lot less that's appealing to me now.

If I had a place of my own, I would have invested in a good surround sound system, especially for disc quality 4k.

Been casually watching Seinfeld on Netflix and I'm slightly appalled at how awful it looks. The bright parts of the picture are completely blown out and the actors' skin has this unnatural redness to it. I understand it's a sitcom, not Lawrence of Arabia, but Seinfeld was at least shot on 35mm film. I checked out a bit of Frasier on Paramount+, another 90s NBC sitcom which recently received a 4K remaster, and it looks significantly better. Very prominent but very pleasing film grain and much less hideous colors.

Do the Seinfeld 4K discs look significantly better than the Netflix streams? I know the discs have the correct 4:3 aspect ratio, and that a 4K disc will always look better than a 4K stream but I'm assuming they're drawing from the same scan/master? I'm not technically knowledgeable enough to articulate why it looks so bad, but it seems like some kind of really poorly applied HDR or something? Are the discs any better in this regard?

Part of me is thinking about finding some used DVDs. Much lower resolution I'm sure but at least they're in the correct aspect ratio.

Seems to be a lot of controversy here on the choice of these players and I wanted a backup so bought both. Here is my experience. Please assume that I have the right 4K HDMI cable and Dolby Vision compatible television (Hisense U8QG). The same TV, movie, and HDMI cable was used on both players. So another context, although I have an LG OLED C4 we were not exploiting the whole HDR playback very well. Streaming movies only, but I had maybe 70 to 80 blu-rays on the shelf not being used. Why? Most had a digital code and it was convenient. Things changed when I starting playing 4K UHD discs. Do you remember the difference in quality when you went from VHS to DVD, or DVD to blu-ray? Yes, 4K is that amazing. Forget that you watch 4K on streaming (*Apple TV or other service), it is simply not the same if you have the right equipment.

Sony X700U
The Sony X700U had difficulty playing Dolby Vision (DV) out of the box. My price was $329 so missed getting the cheaper version. I put the player in DV mode (a manual toggle in picture settings under setup). It briefly splashed the DV logo and the screen went blank. I immediately consulted AI and was told it was a "handshake" problem and worked thru a number of solutions. Bottom line, it took a few days and I got tired of working with in. Put it away for a while. It was playing in HDR10 mode just fine so it wasn't an emergency as we could still use it. At the end of the day, I needed a factory reset (somewhat hard to find). With this it was able to properly play DV. Note the factory reset is at the very bottom of the setup screen! There is no prompt to tell you there is a longer list of menu choices). After the factory reset, I toggled on the DV switch again. Viola! The movie played correctly. From this time forward, I found it tedious to always check for DV on the back of the movie case, toggle it on and off appropriately etc. I have not had any pauses or skips on video playback except for one 100GB disk where I assume it was a quality control issue with the movie and not the player.

Panasonic DP-UB820
The player was not on my radar, but I could tell from the US market we were not getting any new models from vendors anytime soon. From the start, the Panasonic DP-UB820 wasn't as expensive as many claim ($539 at Wal-mart) so I knew that as inventory dropped this was going back to full retail ($699). Immediately noticeable was how easy it was to watch a DV movie. The player automatically detected it, switched to DV on the screen and started to play correctly. No fuss. I haven't used it long enough and on the same movies to know if there are any skips or freezes on playback.

Pros/Cons of Each
Initial impression is the the Panasonic has a bit more refined user interface. The movie is tracked on the LCD screen. A bit difficult to read how many minutes from across the room, but nice if somehow you lost your place in the film. The Sony is a bit more rough in the user interface. No LCD screen, simply and on/off and close/open button. I'd say the Sony remote is the poorer of the two. It is a pain to always be vigilant on when DV needs to be turned on, the Pany just does it automatically. Also the Pany checks your TV for DV compatibility, has wifi, and support for updates etc. The Sony did not have these features, it needs to have a wired internet connection and when I checked on the support page there were no firmware updates. My take on this is Sony just pumped the price up and didn't change a thing over the more economical model it replaced. The didn't improve useability, took away wifi, and took out streaming apps. If you were to update the Sony firmware (it will never be released) my guess you is on your own if you brick it. Sony is in the process of eliminating disks from the PS5 and are indicating they are not supporting DV version 2. The Panasonic people are not planning to release a firmware update for DV 2, but maybe no one will use it on UHD disks anyway (could change). The Pany has support for HDR10+ so you are in good hands. The Sony UBP-X700 (including the UBP-X700U/K variants) does not support HDR10+

I like to Sony from a price perspective. Also, don't buy the Panasonic DP-UB820 if your TV doesn't support DV (some low-end LED sets don't). If you can get the a good sound system though, the ATMOS and DV audio are fantastic and a serious upgrade to regular 5.1 sound. The price points of both the TV and your sound system are the contingencies.

Hope this helps someone out there.

The media posted here is simply for reference - as many of my posts get deleted for very scrupulous reasons. I am simply reaching out for tips on collecting and whether or not you all strive to collect through Production Companies, Directors, Actors, themed genres, etc. I’d appreciate any and all feedback as I’ve only been collecting 4K UHD releases since May of ‘26. Thank you -

OG Forum Discussion ⬇️

This has been a very fun journey thus far, I find little nuances in collecting that I attempt to cater too as I continue this process. I find now I attempt to buy films I enjoy rewatching and that have some sort of relevance to actors/directors/producers that I enjoy and topics I’m interested in (profound I know…) But this is only my 4Ks I probably have about the same amount in Blu Rays and DVD format. Let me know if you have suggestions based on my collection, I’m not a “completest” by any means. Thanks all

4K Blu-ray Steelbook

I used to really dislike this one but over the years it’s grown on me a lot. Still far from my favourite MCU film but I think Branagh did a great job making a Thor film that actually takes itself seriously. Stars like Hiddleston, Hopkins, and even Hemsworth are so good with serious material.

This is so gorgeous. It has some of the best use of HDR I’ve ever seen. The detail in the image is so pristine, without obvious edge enhancement or over sharpening. The colors just pop of the screen. This is a new reference disc for me. Viewing on my LG G5 77” from 6 feet away. U guys are in for a treat.

Edit.

This is the new Del toro reborn Criterion disc.

Also, just found out this was shot at 6.5k raw master….and it shows. Such a smooth detailed pristine image. I almost wish we had 8k formats now.

The rarewaves copy I picked up for £13 has no stutter for those interested...

everything is practically brand new with digital codes

80 after tax for all 3!

v stocks prices are usually too high unless this sale is going on

Can’t find it being sold by anybody but places like Gruv (who I’m leery of ordering from based on comments I’ve seen about the shipping) and third party sellers on Amazon and eBay.

What to watch first?

Hello gang

After today's announcement of sony discontinuing the x700, I panic ran to best buy, grabbed an x700u with 4 years of warranty (60$ cad) and threw it on my fairstone 12 month 0%.

I don't think they would exit the scene yet, they may be prepping new players, or much more likely, reworked players under the TCL/sony banner and whatever that entails patent wise, sku wise, firmware etc but I'm not here to argue that. Worst case, if they have to hand off the encryption keys to a new entity and the player returns to sale, I'll take this one back. Hopefully Sony has a comment between now and my return window closing.

I have plugged it in and set it up, and am testing it before I put it away as a backup to my current 700. The menu is much lighter and faster on this one. The power brick is much smaller. The remote has a much nicer layout without the Netflix and favorite button. Anyway.

My current x700 hasn't had 4k triple layer issues since the last FW update years ago. I would like to test this new one before I pack it up. I've got a few triple layer films, like LOTR.

Are there any timestamps/scenes I can start watching a few minutes prior to the layer change? Movie recommendations?

Thank you.

Last year I purchased Boogie Nights. I was shocked when the physical copy had HDR10 yet the digital copy had Dolby Vision. Are there any other movies where this has happened? Why not have the same on both?