Someone polled 4K Blu-ray player owners about the reliability of different models over time, and there's a clear winner

Nearly 400 4K Blu-ray users shared info about player problems There's a huge gap between the best and worst in the poll Panasonic will be happy; Sony not so much One of the things I like best about Reddit is the way people share their experiences of particular products: whether it's a kitchen knife,

<![CDATA[ <article> <ul><li><strong>Nearly 400 4K Blu-ray users shared info about player problems</strong></li><li><strong>There's a huge gap between the best and worst in the poll</strong></li><li><strong>Panasonic will be happy; Sony not so much</strong></li></ul><p>One of the things I like best about Reddit is the way people share their experiences of particular products: whether it's a kitchen knife, a portable AC or a Gibson guitar I know I'll be able to find sage advice on what to buy and what to watch out for. And now the good people of r/hometheater have come together to talk about the <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/video/the-best-4k-blu-ray-players-you-can-buy-right-now-1321481">best 4K Blu-ray players</a> and their reliability.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater/comments/1uyew9h/the_4k_bluray_standalone_player_reliability_poll/" target="_blank">poll</a> was carried out by r/hometheater poster "requieminadream" and generated nearly 400 responses — almost double the number of previous poll respondents — from r/4KBluray, r/Bluray, r/PhysicalMediaMatters, the AVS Forums, and the Blu-ray.com forums. And there are some very clear differences between different firms' Blu-ray devices.</p><p>Requieminadream very kindly summarized the results in a sentence: "The <a href="https://www.techradar.com/televisions/blu-ray/sony-ubp-x700-review">Sony UBP-X700</a> is still the problem child, the <a href="https://www.techradar.com/televisions/home-theater/blu-ray-media-players/panasonic-dp-ub820-review" target="_blank">Panasonic DP-UB820</a> is still champ, and the pricey <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/hands-on-panasonic-dp-ub9000-review">UB-9000</a> posted the cleanest numbers (small sample though)." </p><p>But there were some interesting discoveries in the detail too, so it's definitely worth looking at if you're considering a pre-owned 4K Blu-ray player purchase, or just which one seems to make people the happiest long-term.</p><blockquote class="reddit-card" ><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater/comments/1uyew9h/the_4k_bluray_standalone_player_reliability_poll">The 4K Blu-ray Standalone Player Reliability Poll numbers ARE IN!</a> from <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater">r/hometheater</a></blockquote><script async src="//embed.redditmedia.com/widgets/platform.js" charset="UTF-8"></script><h2 id="which-4k-blu-ray-players-are-the-best">Which 4K Blu-ray players are the best?</h2><p>One of the reasons I like Reddit wisdom is because with few exceptions, reviewers can't spend years with the products they test — so the reviews of my car don't know about the software issues that drive me wild and sometimes require a reboot at traffic lights, and the reviews of my router don't know about its tendency to misbehave every few weeks. </p><p>It's the same with Blu-ray players: even the most in-depth review won't be able to tell you if a player's likely to pack up in year two or three. (Though one exception is our <a href="https://www.techradar.com/televisions/home-theater/blu-ray-media-players/panasonic-dp-ub820-review">Panasonic DP-UB820 review</a>, written by our TV Hardware senior writer James Davidson, because he wrote us a fresh review based on combining using it in our test room <em>and</em> having used it daily for several years beforehand.)</p><p>But in general, polls like this are a brilliant resource.</p><p>By a large margin, the Panasonic DP-UB820 is the community's favored player: 43.4% of respondents have one, and its problem rate was around half that of the Sony UBP-X700. The rate of serious issues was very low, at just 8% — backing up what James had said, when he called it "the workhorse of the 4K Blu-ray player world".</p><p>The "problem child" that emerged from this latest poll is the Sony UBP-X700. Of the 103 Sony users, some 77.7% reported some issues over time; recurring and/or serious issues were 23%. The number one complaint is freezing during triple-layer transitions, which is something that has long been discussed on Blu-ray forums.</p><p>The poll shows another interesting pattern, which is problems over time. For the Sony, issues became more common over time — but for the Panasonic the pattern was of any failures showing up early, but better long-term reliability.</p><p>The other players in the survey came in between the two extremes, but some of the best results were from "other" players including games consoles and more niche Blu-ray products. </p><p>Satisfaction with those products was exceptionally high, with the PS5 getting a significantly higher rating than the Xbox. That's all the more striking given the Sony X700's performance: the PS5 is a more premium product and that seems to be reflected in its reliability — alas, <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/i-will-quit-buying-games-sony-is-killing-physical-discs-in-2028-and-now-unhappy-fans-are-concerned-about-what-it-means-for-game-ownership">we shouldn't expect any more PlayStations to arrive with a disc player</a>.</p><p>I should make clear, as the original Redditor did, that in some cases the sample sizes for ownership in these polls is pretty low, so we should take the results with a pinch of salt. However, the Panasonic UB820 and the Sony X700 were the best-represented, and are the two most popular players, so their data is arguably the most useful anyway.</p> </article> ]]>