Does a "goldilocks" player exist?

[madscot]

Hang on I'll dig one out and test it on mine. I was sure it plays SACD.

 

[Fred Lackey]

Yeah, it doesn't. Nor does it support DVD-A.

Ya know, @Rango , that was pretty cool of you to pull one out and double-check. I really do appreciate it.

 

[Rango]

Ya know, @Rango , that was pretty cool of you to pull one out and double-check. I really do appreciate it.

lol, no worries; just had to double check.

The Panasonic's been in the living room for a few years, I'd totally forgotten it wasn't SACD/DVD-A capable; even though it does have 7.1 RCA outs?

 

[MidiMagic]

Goldilocks ran away from the multiplicity of bears pushing too many formats.

 

[par4ken]

Goldilocks ran away from the multiplicity of bears pushing too many formats.

Just get a "universal player" then formats don't matter.

 

[Nick Loebner]

Just get a "universal player" then formats don't matter.

Such as?

 

[Owen Smith]

Such as?

The Oppo 205 ideally fits the bill, apart from no longer being in production.

 

[Nick Loebner]

The Oppo 205 ideally fits the bill, apart from no longer being in production.

....and blindingly expensive.

 

[par4ken]

....and blindingly expensive.

And worth every penny! Myself I don't care about 4K video, I have a BDP 103 and a 95. The 95 (being much older) doesn't do networking as well and won't play DSD from a flash or hard drive, but plays discs just fine.

Such as?

There are many other posts about this topic, myself I've previously posted about the many different players that you can find used (check eBay) for as little as $50.00. They don't all do Blu-ray but cover the other formats!

 

[marpow]

Sony UBP-X800M2 Plays SACD, DVD A & V, Blu Ray, USB In.

$279.00 No Brainer

PDF INSTRUCTIONS SEE PAGE 16

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Currently, the only cost effective 'universal disc' player available from a branded manufacturer is the Sony UBP-X800M2.

Edit: Looks like @marpow beat me to it

 

[Owen Smith]

....and blindingly expensive.

It was an entirely reasonable price when new for what it did.

 

[Sal1950]

Sony UBP-X800M2 Plays SACD, DVD A & V, Blu Ray, USB In.

$279.00 No Brainer

PDF INSTRUCTIONS SEE PAGE 16

That Sony is a great player, heavy chassis & transport, opens and closes smooth as glass.
Loads discs in a reasonably quick time.
If you need a player I can see no reason to get anything else today.

 

[Rango]

Sony UBP-X800M2 Plays SACD, DVD A & V, Blu Ray, USB In.

$279.00 No Brainer

PDF INSTRUCTIONS SEE PAGE 16

But it doesn't play DVD-R discs, so no content from small independent distributors such as surround-musik.de and as was mentioned above, you can't play DVD-R backups of your original discs.

And worth every penny! Myself I don't care about 4K video, I have a BDP 103 and a 95. The 95 (being much older) doesn't do networking as well and won't play DSD from a flash or hard drive, but plays discs just fine.

It was an entirely reasonable price when new for what it did.

From my perspective, it's less about whether or not it could be considered - by its target market - to be value for money...?...and more about whether or not a person has that kind of money to spend on such things...?...

...essentially a person's sense of whether something is good value for the money being asked for it, is largely subjective? For example (using the Pareto principle as a rough guideline) paying four times as much for a 20% increase in quality is objectively poor value for money...?...and a second hand UDP-205's current market value, at $3,999.99, is almost two and a half times its RRP, which puts it at almost eleven and a half times the cost of a new (presumably with warranty) UBP-X800M2...

...and I doubt whether the ratio for the Pareto principle is accurate to this particular example...?...as I shouldn't imagine the improvement in sound and/or image quality you'd get from the UDP-205 over a UBP- X800M2 (for sake of argument) is anywhere close to 20%...?...

...but, assuming (for sake of argument) a 20% improvement is accurate...?...deducting the cost of the UBP-X800M2 from the second hand market price for the UDP-205 and dividing the remainder by 20 for the "dollar per percentage improvement" value gives: $186 dollars per 1% improvement...

...being generous and assuming you get a 10% improvement in image and/or sound quality, (which, again, I would argue is probably an overestimation) that works out to $372 per 1% improvement.

Also, I would imagine the UDP-205 is incrementally better than the UBP-X800M2 in terms of audio, but only if paired with similar top-of-the-range audio equipment, all of which carries a large premium that further increases the $ to % improvement ratio.

That having been said, to fit the OP's criteria of a "Goldilocks" player, the player needs to be "not too cheap" and "not too expensive" but "just right" (as per the items in the folk tale it references) and I would submit that there probably isn't any one single player that matches that criteria...

...rather I think that the UBP-X800M2 is a good purchase (I have a UBP-X800), but you'll need a second player, if you want to play DVD-R discs from small independent distributors such as surround-musik.de, or to play CD-R backups of the discs you own, so that you don't have to handle and risk scratching items that seem to be becoming valuable collectors items, and/or so that you have backups in case of burglary.

Also, on a tangent, I don't know the market forces underpinning the limited edition releases, but I would imagine the discs themselves could be produced on demand and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they weren't just being released as "social psychology" based marketing gimmicks...

...similarly, I think a lot of this audio equipment could be produced en mass to bring the cost within reach of the average enthusiast, and that's probably what we do see at those price points; I personally feel that anything above that is really just fleecing the cash cow, if you forgive the mixed metaphor; to believe otherwise I think would probably be to believe that the equipment manufacturers are "holding quality hostage" and ransoming it to you, so-to-speak...

...don't take any wooden nickels ;0)

P.S. An argument in favour of the UDP-205: I know from experience it's an amazing feeling to own top of the range gear. I have an "MSI Godlike" motherboard that I bought second hand only slightly damaged (one of the RGB connectors was non-functional) after it was reduced at retail due to Intel dropping the ball on their line of compatible processors (after AMD pulled ahead of them in the CPU arms race), and I loved that thing!...

...at least until it was superseded a few months later. ;0)

There are many other posts about this topic, myself I've previously posted about the many different players that you can find used (check eBay) for as little as $50.00. They don't all do Blu-ray but cover the other formats!

Do you have a link?

 

[Owen Smith]

Does the Sony UBP-X800M2 really not play CDs on CD-R or DVD-A/V on DVD-R? That's appalling! I have CD-R recordings of my dad singing in a male voice choir. My brother has DVD-Rs of his children when they were young recorded on a camcorder. This is all entirely legitimate content, no copyright violations in sight.

 

[Rango]

Does the Sony UBP-X800M2 really not play CDs on CR-R or DVD-A/V on DVD-R? That's appalling! I have CD-R recordings of my dad singing in a male voice choir. My brother has DVD-Rs of his children when they were young recorded on a camcorder. This is all entirely legitimate content, no copyright violations in sight.

My UBP-X800 doesn't. I have DVD-R surround-musik.de discs that it just doesn't recognise.

Also, I'd love to back up my collection and just put the expensive limited releases in storage, but it means I'm going to have to get another player. It sucks, because if my place gets turned over it'll all just be gone.

 

[Owen Smith]

My UBP-X800 doesn't. I have DVD-R surround-musik.de discs that it just doesn't recognise.

Well that reduces my shortlist of players to replace my Oppo 95 if it dies to zero.

 

[madscot]

This is from the manual for the 800M2

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Well that reduces my shortlist of players to replace my Oppo 95 if it dies to zero.

According to the Sony UBP-X800M2's User Manual, it's able to play the following discs: -

EDIT: I've been beaten again...

 

[Rango]

This is from the manual for the 800M2

View attachment 90541

According to the Sony UBP-X800M2's User Manual, it's able to play the following discs: -

View attachment 90542

EDIT: I've been beaten again...

That's interesting:

*3 A CD or DVD disc will not play if it has not been correctly finalised or the disc is not in Mastered disc format.