warek Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 Hi guys My 9 year old Oppo BDP 83 player has tracking problems, its on its second drive assembly, now failing, One option is another drive from China, they are available. I am considering buying a 4k player. I have a lot of different region HD Blu Ray discs and it would be very desirable to have a 4k player that would play them. I listen to lots of CDs but have other transports and a 2 channel dac for music playback. I value high quality movie sound and am upgrading my processor, amps, speakers to 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos sound. My current TV and projector are full HD, but i will upgrade TV to 4k in the future. My budget is up to 1300. Any recommendations? Thanks for any suggestions. Have a good day. Cheers Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quark Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 The Panasonic UB820, or just outside your budget UB9000, have the best picture processing on the market at present. Not aware of any differences in sound processing in any 4K players (assuming you're decoding in your AVR/processor - which is the only way to get Atmos). Only downside there's no hardware region free option for the Panasonics, just firmware hacks, where you have to make a donation every time there's a firmware update. Might be cheaper to get the new drive for the Oppo (our 83 is still going strong on its original drive). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 Suggest getting in touch with Gatti Audio. They have region free mods for most players but not yet the Pana that Quark suggested. https://www.gattiweb.com/bluraymod.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 As per snoopy above or... Cambridge cxuhd that will take mod from Gattiweb and should get you a pretty nice player ..... right on budget https://www.pacifichifi.com.au/products/cambridge-audio-cxuhd-uhd-universal-blu-ray-player Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warek Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 Thanks for the suggestions, I read on another forum that Cambridge gets firmware updates from Oppo and that could be an issue in the long term? Another thought I have was if there any current HD Blu Ray players that will play all region HD Blu Discs or can be modified cheaply I could buy one of these, and then a unmodded 4K player such as Panasonic 820 and gradually swap over to 4k movies? Any suggestions for all region HD Blu Ray players? Have a good day. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quark Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 9 minutes ago, warek said: Thanks for the suggestions, I read on another forum that Cambridge gets firmware updates from Oppo and that could be an issue in the long term? Another thought I have was if there any current HD Blu Ray players that will play all region HD Blu Discs or can be modified cheaply I could buy one of these, and then a unmodded 4K player such as Panasonic 820 and gradually swap over to 4k movies? Any suggestions for all region HD Blu Ray players? Have a good day. Kevin As mentioned above by Snoopy8, Gattiweb has some modded players - one of the cheaper Sony options would be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 1 hour ago, warek said: Thanks for the suggestions, I read on another forum that Cambridge gets firmware updates from Oppo and that could be an issue in the long term? I’ve owned 2 Cambridge units you work with them for updates. On one Occassion I lodged issue had fix overnight in an update on said specific issue... they shared the the platform with OPPO as always did in the part. The Cambridge units still appear to be on sale vs the oppo’s gone. Suggested as good way to buy player like OPPO without the highway robbery OPPO prices they’re going for The pana are not easily modded I have the 9000 model you have to give them your MAC address (unknown 3rd party) and rely on them fir updates rather than pana... not fan of this approach. I run an OPPO as 2nd player for region free duties the sony only one there worth buying otherwise but I have also read of Sony disc read issues a bit which is disconcerting ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warek Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 15 hours ago, betty boop said: I’ve owned 2 Cambridge units you work with them for updates. On one Occassion I lodged issue had fix overnight in an update on said specific issue... they shared the the platform with OPPO as always did in the part. The Cambridge units still appear to be on sale vs the oppo’s gone. Suggested as good way to buy player like OPPO without the highway robbery OPPO prices they’re going for The pana are not easily modded I have the 9000 model you have to give them your MAC address (unknown 3rd party) and rely on them fir updates rather than pana... not fan of this approach. I run an OPPO as 2nd player for region free duties the sony only one there worth buying otherwise but I have also read of Sony disc read issues a bit which is disconcerting ! Thanks for suggestions, seems that a panasonic 820 model for mid 500 price range and a budget modded gattiweb hd Blu ray player for 260 or new drive for OPPo 83 may be best options Does anyone have any thoughts about comparing Panasonic 820 with Cabridge cxuhd is it worth the extra? Have a good day Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 18 minutes ago, warek said: Thanks for suggestions, seems that a panasonic 820 model for mid 500 price range and a budget modded gattiweb hd Blu ray player for 260 or new drive for OPPo 83 may be best options Does anyone have any thoughts about comparing Panasonic 820 with Cabridge cxuhd is it worth the extra? Have a good day Kevin the CXUHD is a universal player and can take a modded chip to make universal free - simple open lid and plug it in. the 820 in build and fit and finish is in separate spectrum to your old oppo the cambridge is better built in fit and finish to your old oppo. i would think instead of replacing the 83 a new drive would be a better option ? also not sure where getting the drives from, but if a 2nd one has failed maybe review source ? the good thing about dual players is you can leave one setup on region A other on local region b. so no need to be changing codes and such to play discs.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwt Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 You have a p.m Kevin re oppo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warek Posted April 29, 2019 Author Share Posted April 29, 2019 On 28/04/2019 at 1:23 PM, betty boop said: As per snoopy above or... Cambridge cxuhd that will take mod from Gattiweb and should get you a pretty nice player ..... right on budget https://www.pacifichifi.com.au/products/cambridge-audio-cxuhd-uhd-universal-blu-ray-player Thanks for all replies I have been in contact with Gattiweb and they do not have a mod for the Cambridge player, They did highly recommend the Pioneer UBP-LX500 for 2300 or for a more reasonable price of 680 recommended a Sony UBP-X800 4k player modded to play all region HD Blu Ray Cheers Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobe1969 Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 Yeah, the Pioneer is a beast. The price though, and I'd say hard pressed to compete with the Panasonic 9000 for video tuning, especially for projectors. Definitely a shame the Panasonic has no mod, But given UHD is region free, getting a decent multi region blu ray player - or just something simple like a PS3 from Region A. The Panasonic has a feature though none of the others have - subtitle luminance drop as well as shift. I couldn't go back to a primary player without the luminance drop now, especially how bright gear is now, and you get 100% white subtitles... If the Panasonics were universal voltage, I'd buy a region A one... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abeernut Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 (edited) A cheap option is to get a Laser brand BLU-BD3000 blu ray player (however, as an extra device) to go with the 4K player. https://www.laserco.com.au/BLU-BD3000-blu-ray-player-multi-region-hdmi-digital-7-1-with-lan-for-bdlive Out of the box it will play all region Blu Ray discs and DVDs. DVDs automatically play any region. Blu Ray you need to manually choose which region is appropriate. No limit to how many times region can be changed. Local company. A basic player. USB media support, but no smart apps built in, or WiFi (has ethernet only) or upscaling to 4K (only to 1080). Has 3 year warranty (just hang on to receipt, not necessary to register). Cheap at $99.00, but occasionally 30% off at BIG W and/or Good Guys. Just a suggestion. Cheers. Edited April 30, 2019 by abeernut 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warek Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 3 hours ago, abeernut said: A cheap option is to get a Laser brand BLU-BD3000 blu ray player (however, as an extra device) to go with the 4K player. https://www.laserco.com.au/BLU-BD3000-blu-ray-player-multi-region-hdmi-digital-7-1-with-lan-for-bdlive Out of the box it will play all region Blu Ray discs and DVDs. DVDs automatically play any region. Blu Ray you need to manually choose which region is appropriate. No limit to how many times region can be changed. Local company. A basic player. USB media support, but no smart apps built in, or WiFi (has ethernet only) or upscaling to 4K (only to 1080). Has 3 year warranty (just hang on to receipt, not necessary to register). Cheap at $99.00, but occasionally 30% off at BIG W and/or Good Guys. Just a suggestion. Cheers. Thanks That sounds like an excellent idea, together with a standard Panasonic 820 player. Cheers Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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