The Blu-ray industry is in a bind these days. While there’s been a groundswell of interest in 4K UHD, presumably in reaction to the absurd cost of “premium” streaming plans, it can be surprisingly hard to track down an affordable, well-reviewed player from a reputable brand. You can blame that on the overall decline of disc sales. There just isn’t enough of a market to support the industry as it used to be.
All this is to say that you should be as careful as you can when hunting for a new player. With a limited selection, it’s too easy to be trapped into buying the wrong one. I’m actually looking into getting a new model myself, and below are some of the principles I plan to follow.
Buying a 1080p player instead of 4K
Not the worst crime
Despite the fact that we’re approaching the year 2030, and 4K HDR has been around for over a decade, many Blu-ray players are still limited to 1080p. In fact, unless 4K is specifically mentioned in a product description, you should assume you’re getting the lower resolution. A rule of thumb is that you’re not going to find a 4K model under $200, and the best hardware is north of $300. It’s no wonder many people just rely on their PlayStation or Xbox’s Blu-ray drive.
It can still be worth picking up a 1080p player, mind. At high bitrates and with proper upscaling, the tech should still look fantastic on any TV sized 65 inches or less. In my case, the main reason I’m shopping for a Blu-ray player is so my wife can resurrect her DVD collection — and there’s no point in buying a 4K model when everything has to be upscaled from 480p anyway.
Critical audio and HDR standard omissions
Keep your options open
Realistically, any player you buy will load the discs you have, but you might be surprised at how many lack one or more of the audio and HDR standards that have come to define both Blu-ray and high-end streaming. In terms of HDR, anything you buy should at least support Dolby Vision or HDR10, and HDR10+ is a preferable addition if you can find it. Native Dolby Atmos support is harder to find than it should be, but you may be able to tackle that issue with audio passthrough.
Be especially vigilant if you want a player with support for DTS audio. In most mediums, Dolby has won the battle, so you may run into players that lack any kind of DTS compatibility, never mind its Atmos equivalent, DTS:X. You’re going to have to spend big if you want a player that can tackle any disc ever released at maximum quality.
Region-locked playback
A relic of a bygone age
Prior to streaming, movie and TV studios were obsessed with anti-piracy protections. They’re still a priority — it’s just that in the 2000s, when Blu-ray was born, there was a fantasy that with the right copy protection, you could eliminate or at least severely reduce piracy. The reality is that no DRM is unbreakable, and it’s mostly just inconveniencing legitimate customers.
4K UHD discs are all region-free by default, likely an admission that locks didn’t deter piracy enough to be worth the complicated manufacturing. Many 1080p discs do have restrictions, however, so you’ll either need to buy a multi-region player or scrutinize each new movie or show you buy. In North America, region-locked players can only handle 4K UHD, Region A, or ABC discs. A title you import from England, China, or Japan might refuse to play.
Awkward mode or layer switching
Read the reviews, people
All of the previous problems I’ve talked about are issues you can identify relatively quickly. That is, if they’re not in a label or product description, there should be official tech specs somewhere online. What’s harder to catch are usability issues that only manifest when you sit down to watch something.
I could list a few of those here, but something that stood out to me is the need for mode switching. With cheaper players, you might be forced to switch between audio and/or video modes to enable them for particular discs. At first, that might not seem like a big deal — but you might reconsider that the 10th time a movie doesn’t look right because you forgot to enable (or disable) Dolby Vision.
As for layer switching, units like the Sony UBP-X700 can potentially freeze or skip when dealing with triple-layer (100GB) discs. That’s an irritation I can live with — you might want to spring for something better, however. Panasonic players seem to be the most reputable in this regard. No matter what, read reviews before you buy anything. It’s at least worth it to avoid the hassle of a return, and you might avoid buying a replacement a few years down the road.
