Recommendations for 4K UltraHD Blu-Ray Players?

[Ioannis Syrogiannis]

For booth use, what are the favorite models out there?
[...] One too many mis-orders of a 4K Ultra HD blu-ray that we can't play on our Oppo, and now they are considering upgrading our player and shift to building the 4K library (for future projector) instead of continuing to buy 1080p discs when no DCP/Print is available.

That and our film programmer has a massive 4K UHD BR personal library we could tap when needed on occasion.

[...] Some people try to overcome this by using Davinci Resolve to perform their own tone mapping, but I don't like to just dial-in pleasing colors. I usually prefer to convert the standard Bluray then.

In my experience, living outside E.U. or U.S.A., there is a trend for 4K HDR (only) releases and stores (or e-stores) will usually spend more than a week to deliver a 2K version of a title. In special occassions, they might not even offer the choice.
Besides that, if it's a private screening, where the customer brings the screening material, then it's a "should I stay or should I go" (see Clash lyrics) situation.

The problem with using an FFMPEG trimming process or a DaVinci Resolve Look Up Table or tonemapping, is that the original HDR video might need different conversion settings on different scenes. That might be too small a detail for anyone to notice. Yet, it might not...
And it goes without saying that one gets involved in work hours that are beyond one's job description or availability.

[Ryan Gallagher]

And it goes without saying that one gets involved in work hours that are beyond one's job description or availability.

Yeah, there is definitely an upper limit to how much time one should put into preparing something if it involves off the clock hours. I've certainly done it, like when streaming was the only source and I wanted to make a more reliable DCP for the presentation. Some of this stuff is just better done on my hardware at home. But not trying to make a habit of stuff like that, and i'm not on film tasks full time because we are a mixed live/film venue.

Your point about 2K physical releases often lagging is a good one if you deal with blu-ray all the time. We generally show classics so it's rare to run into that, although we have had trouble sourcing specific discs of recent remasters. Yep, a customer/presenter copy not matching your player's 2K limits. Both seems like valid reasons upgrade even if you get nothing out of it image wise.

[Ryan Gallagher]

The saga continues. Our purchaser's 2nd round attempt arrived. The known "wrong" 4k UltraHD copy, as well as one he was hopeful on, but turned out to be a 1080p Region B version.

Phase 2. He is now ordering an ebay listing 2024 release 1080p Region A copy I found for him. (Shipping from Synapse directly takes too long).
As well as probably buying a throw away blu-ray player we can attempt the 4K disc with as a backup if Ebay shipping doesn't work out. He didn't bite at the Tascam 700$ price point with refits on the horizon.

I'm also personally picking up a known flashable 4K Slimline external reader to add to my toolbag, to try my hand at ripping the 4K to DCP, but I hear there are often colorspace/depth issues and DCPomatic needs and intermediate tone mapped copy to get close to the original. Sounds "fun".

We have 8 days thankfully.

*face palm*

[Ryan Gallagher]

On the PC drive front, my quick and dirty research reveals this unit houses an LG 4K compatible drive, that is flashable to the needed firmware.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BC9F98J

Have one ordered, will share if it does the business.

Everyone used to swear by a similar pioneer drive until the 1.03 firmware started shipping and they became unable to downgrade firmware.

[Scott Norwood]

I use this model, which seems to work fine with the pirate firmware:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rch_asin_title

[Ryan Gallagher]

I use this model, which seems to work fine with the pirate firmware:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rch_asin_title

I don't think I stumbled into that one cause I was searching for native usb-c port.

Cheers, As others reported the actual drive in that other one is an LG, I hope they are effectively the same. If not i'll pick that one up.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Conclusion: Amusing (perhaps sad) story.

We ended up with a playable 1080p disc after all (the film programmer stumbled into one on accident at a brick and mortar book store).

But that was after my TD's "oh crap" purchase of a cheap Sony 4K UltraHD player to slap in the booth (which I successfully tested HDMI audio/video on yesterday)... and after I also successfully recorded out a 1080p SDR copy using a 4K player at home, which I made a viable DCP backup from.

Turns out I had an Sony UltraHD player at home in storage as well, and when hooked up to the same setup I use for recording streamed features when necessary, did the business.

The comical sequence and disc purchasing by our TD was:
- 1080p 2014 edition (wrong remaster, intended 2024)
- 4K 2024 UltraHD edition (Wrong for our 1080p Oppo, started the panic buying)
- about here is when I order my own portable BluRay/UltraHD compatible usb drive to give ripping a shot.
- A hopeful box set that was purchased based on the audio stream advertised (Wrong again, Region B discs)
- he pulled the trigger on the cheap Sony 4K player purchase at this stage, 2 day shipping.
- I successfully make a 2K DCP from the 4K disc about the same day as the venue 4K player arrives and my portable drive arrives.
- The correct 1080p 2024 edition, is found randomly in person.
- 4K disc option and DCP backup are proven out on screen (cause 2K disc not yet in hand).

I just wish they had sprung for the Tascam, cause now when the need arises, we are stuck with a player (for the foreseeable future) that does not display timecodes (up or down), has questionable ability to talk for automation/triggering (certainly no RS232), can't hid on screen UI, not designed for racking, no face panel operation (remote only), and won't hold a pause indefinitely (goes into standby/shutdown and wakes up to the player home screen).

I should just prove a point by always logging the man hours to rip/record out to a DCP when 4K discs are involved, instead of attempting to run shows with that hot mess.

I tried to steer this towards a more forward-looking professional end result, really I did. *face palm* I think it came down to where the threshold falls between discretionary spending vs capitol improvement asks. Alas.

All this because the correct disc was not ordered from Synapse directly, because of their advertised 14day processing/shipping time.

[Ioannis Syrogiannis]

The saga continues. Our purchaser's 2nd round attempt arrived. The known "wrong" 4k UltraHD copy, as well as one he was hopeful on, but turned out to be a 1080p Region B version.
[...]

The mismatch on 2014-2024 versions I understand, the region, I don't. If you were to make a DCP out of it (not screen it out of a player) and therefore rip it, region restrictions wouldn't make a difference.
As long as you figured things out for the screening, "all well that ends well".

And, indeed, having professional tools to work with is valuable. But, more often than not, a technician is not the policy maker.

[Ryan Gallagher]

The mismatch on 2014-2024 versions I understand, the region, I don't. If you were to make a DCP out of it (not screen it out of a player) and therefore rip it, region restrictions wouldn't make a difference.
As long as you figured things out for the screening, "all well that ends well".

And, indeed, having professional tools to work with is valuable. But, more often than not, a technician is not the policy maker.

Our venue staff (myself included) were not up to speed quite yet on ripping blu-rays, esp UltraHD ones on short notice, which have their own quirks. It's now on my bucket list exactly for the region mismatch reasons you indicated. And have a drive to do it with as soon as I flash it. But to be honest I never actually saw that box set in person, it very well could have been the 2014 edition as well. It arrived and got returned on a day off for me.

On the professional subject. Anyone played with network control features of Sony players for automation reason? I haven't looked up the APIs yet. If network is not doable maybe a network or RS232 device that translates to IR remote codes? Just curious anyone has been down that road, were this player to become our primary in the event the Oppo fails on us eventually.

[Ioannis Syrogiannis]

Our venue staff (myself included) were not up to speed quite yet on ripping blu-rays, esp UltraHD ones on short notice, which have their own quirks. It's now on my bucket list exactly for the region mismatch reasons you indicated. And have a drive to do it with as soon as I flash it.
[...]

MakeMKV for one, will not stop on region restrictions.
I am referring to the 1080 BluRay disc you were mentioning that you had available at some point, that was region B, though. That, especially as it was not UHD and therefore not HDR, would work with DCP-o-matic as a rip.
As you mentioned, not all BluRay drives for computers may rip UHD discs. The MakeMKV forum will provide great info on which and how.
Not that all that can replace the player completely, but it might be a handy alternative in exceptional cases like this.

[Hamzah Batha]

Tascam BD-MP4K

https://tascam.com/us/product/bd-mp4k

It isn't cheap but it is pro. It is just 1U, has rackmounts included...decodes most everything (not Atmos...it will pass that on but for 7.1 audio and less) and provides both digital and analog outputs, including 2-channel mixdown on XLRs.

We've also developed a Q-SYS component for it that allows one to control it and even cue for credits.

For just 1080p...they have the BD-MP1 MkII. It is the same player but just 1080p.

Can personally vouch for this model. We've had it for a few years in our place and it's been solid. The only bummer is the lack of Atmos as mentioned.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Can personally vouch for this model. We've had it for a few years in our place and it's been solid. The only bummer is the lack of Atmos as mentioned.

Well now I learn they are indeed "maybe" shooting for ATMOS in the refit in a few years... so that model is maybe out.

[Steve Guttag]

It plays Atmos just fine. It will not decode Atmos (not nearly enough analog outputs nor are there enough HDMI LPCM channels. It will spit it out as a "bitstream" for an Atmos decoder. But remember about EDID. If you connect the output up to something that claims it cannot support Atmos or DTS-X...it won't spit it out. If you use a cheap splitter that doesn't handle EDID management, you'll contaminate the EDID.

[Ryan Gallagher]

It plays Atmos just fine. It will not decode Atmos (not nearly enough analog outputs nor are there enough HDMI LPCM channels. It will spit it out as a "bitstream" for an Atmos decoder. But remember about EDID. If you connect the output up to something that claims it cannot support Atmos or DTS-X...it won't spit it out. If you use a cheap splitter that doesn't handle EDID management, you'll contaminate the EDID.

Ahh yeah copy, I wasn't thinking about off-unit ATMOS decoding. And yeah everything in the chain would have to pass atmos bitstream. We should probably put an HDFURY product in the rack to split for the booth monitor (1080p with no 24p support). With a 4K Atmos one we'd be future ready, but they are of the mind to defer all that until the integrator specs it for the rennovation/upgrade.

[Dennis Benjamin]

I read through all the posts in this topic. I've been through the same thing you have been, basically. After all of it, and the local theatre I was assisting, the best investment I made was a piece of cardboard to block the image from the screen until the actual start of the feature (haha). They didn't want to "spend the money" on the proper equipment, they weren't interested in hearing any expert's opinions or looking into the equipment recommendations. They have 2K laser projectors and did not understand why the 4K stuff didn't look right on the screen. I researched and sent them, multiple recommendations, equipment on the lower end of the dollar spectrum all the way up to professional stuff, they never chose any of it. This theatre does special events using Blu-Rays multiple times a week. While the image they get is better than a Xenon projector, they definitely could make the investment for a more professional presentation.