Oct. 20, 2017
In the run up to Black Friday we thought we’d give you a quick run down on the best UHD players on the market. There are no guarantees that these will go on sale but you can use these models as a reference point. The information come from three sites that we use for our own research.
Best Ultra HD Blu-ray player for audiophiles and home-theater aficionados: Oppo Digital UDP-205 $1299. There is no better Ultra Blu-ray player on the market, especially when it comes to audio. It's not for the average user, but audiophiles, especially those seeking high-quality analog output, will appreciate the high-performance components and analog 7.1 surround output.
Best Ultra HD Blu-ray player for most people: Samsung UBD-K8500 $299.99. If you want everything Ultra HD Blu-ray can deliver, but are on a tight budget, Samsung's UBD-K8500 is the player to buy. Just be aware that you might have to tweak some settings to clear up the judder issue with non-Samsung TVs.
Sony UBP-X800 $298. The Sony UBP-X800 4K Blu-ray player offers excellent design and oozes a "premium" vibe. Video quality is as good as any player we've tested. It's incredibly fast at loading apps and has some impressive features including Bluetooth streaming.
It can be slow to load 4K discs. Limited number of audio outputs: no optical digital or stereo analog. The player requires a little hands-on fine-tuning to get the most out of music and DVD replay. No Dolby Vision.
The Bottom Line, the Sony UBP-X800 4K Blu-ray player has impressive build quality and video performance, but the incumbent Samsung is better value.
Samsung UBD-M9500 $299.99. The Samsung UBD-M9500 isn't the most fully-featured Ultra HD Blu-ray player on the market - it lacks in the high-end audio stakes - but it's one of the nicest to use because Samsung has been paying a lot of attention to its user interface over the past few years. This 2017 model is leaps and bounds ahead of the K8500 of 2016, especially if you want to take advantage of the smart apps that are included, like Netflix and Amazon Video.
It offers excellent performance on the video front, but is a little quirky on the design, with a curved body, so it probably won't match anything else you have in your AV setup. You probably won't ever get Dolby Vision support from Samsung, but you are getting a player that gives you a lot for the money, then the M9500 is worthy of your attention. If you're completely happy with your streaming services already then you might want to look elsewhere, perhaps to the K8500 player instead.
