Official A/V Thread

joehate

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Does anyone here do music production (home studio)- can you recommend a good audio interface?
 
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fake

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Gaiz, is there any truth to the idea that all 4k UHD Blu-ray players suck? I have a tv with Dolby vision and uhd10 and want something that can take advantage of the features.
 

terry.330

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Gaiz, is there any truth to the idea that all 4k UHD Blu-ray players suck? I have a tv with Dolby vision and uhd10 and want something that can take advantage of the features.
Uh no, what have you been reading?

I have an Oppo and 2 Sony units and haven't had any issues. As long as you have a decent player the upgrade is pretty noticeable depending on the disc. Like any other video format it depends a lot on the mastering of the source material and correct TV settings.
 

fake

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Uh no, what have you been reading?

I have an Oppo and 2 Sony units and haven't had any issues. As long as you have a decent player the upgrade is pretty noticeable depending on the disc. Like any other video format it depends a lot on the mastering of the source material and correct TV settings.
My friends are insisting that you can’t get anything good for less than $700. I’m thinking of getting the Panasonic UB820 but it’s hard to stomach a $500 player.
 

terry.330

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My friends are insisting that you can’t get anything good for less than $700. I’m thinking of getting the Panasonic UB820 but it’s hard to stomach a $500 player.
That Panasonic is more than fine, even the $200-300 range models are adequate.

Just depends on how much you want to sperg over having a bunch of bells and whistles that might not even be supported by most releases unless you're only buying new release reference quality junk like Avatar 2 or whatever.

What happened to NeoAsh? That guy still alive?
He got some flack for being an arrogant conservative douche and couldn't take any criticism so he bailed.
 

Hattori Hanzo

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My friends are insisting that you can’t get anything good for less than $700. I’m thinking of getting the Panasonic UB820 but it’s hard to stomach a $500 player.
Had a Sony UBP-X700 and upgraded to the Panasonic DP-UB824EGK last year. The Sony was already good but the DVD and Blu-ray upscaling of the Panasonic is just awesome and much better. I bought a new player but fewer discs because of that.

Switching to Dolby Vision in the Sony menu was annoying enough to upgrade. It wasn't a problem on my old TV since it didn't have DV.
Both players are recommended but both also feel kind of cheap. Like a 100 € device you bought 10 years ago.
 

wataru330

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I maxed out at a Sony VB310U. It was the best thing Best Buy had at the time (pre-covid) and matched up nicely w/ our new at the time 4K TV.

That said, as mentioned earlier…many of these new decks at $400 and up have the fit and finish of something that cost $150, 15 years ago. It’s a bummer.

This last player underwhelming me along with the paradigm shift to streaming finally kicked me off the forced obsolescence hamster wheel.
 

fake

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That Panasonic is more than fine, even the $200-300 range models are adequate.

Just depends on how much you want to sperg over having a bunch of bells and whistles that might not even be supported by most releases unless you're only buying new release reference quality junk like Avatar 2 or whatever.
Gotcha. I mostly plan on the Criterion 4k releases, which do have Dolby Vision.
 

Hattori Hanzo

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Don't know if important for you Americans but there is also a region free firmware for the Panasonic players. DVD & Blu-ray.
Won't install it during the guarantee but definitely after.
 

prof

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As far as inexpensive UHD players with DV capability that I've used, the best sub-500 player is probably the Sony X800m2. Make sure the m2 though, the original 800 doesn't have DV. But those are usually around 300, and you can find them cheaper sometimes. The build quality is a step up from the 700, and it has a higher end video encoder which is particularly noticeable when upconverting DVD and Blu Ray dics.

That said, you have to manually turn dolby vision on and off in the home menu which is annoying. But it takes a few seconds, so not a big deal.
 

fake

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I found a NAD 7240PE today. It will be discounted to $190 at the end of the month. Any reason to go for this over a low end Cambridge Audio unit?
 

fake

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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I have discovered the amazing world of matrix switchers.
What for? Some of the venues I’ve worked at use them, but I’m not sure what purpose they’d have in a home system.
 

Tripredacus

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For computers, I have 3 of them that I wanted to be able to capture video from and also be able to see what I'm doing. So a 4x2 matrix switch for VGA lets me switch between the computers and each option will output to a monitor and to a capture device.
 
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