We're big fans of physical media here at What Hi-Fi?, but there is one rather big downside to hoarding it, as we do – how to store it.

While we love the idea of keeping all our Blu-rays and DVDs on show, that would take up a huge amount of space, which many of us simply don't have. Hence, lots of people turn to more space-efficient storage methods.

While a CD wallet will save you acres of shelf space, it could possibly damage your discs. Here's what you need to know and how to keep the shiny discs looking pristine.

How CD wallets can damage your discs

The issue concerns the plastic sleeves into which you slide your DVDs and Blu-rays.

The very act of sliding your disc into one of these sleeves can cause fine scratches on the disc's surface, especially if the sleeve is tight. But that's not the only danger.

If these sleeves are made of a cheap plastic like PVC, they can melt in high temperatures, melding with your disc and damaging it irretrievably. These high temperatures are more likely if the disc wallet is left in a car in direct sun, but thanks to the increasing number of heatwaves we're experiencing, it could happen in the home as well.

But even if you're extremely careful with how you slide in your discs, and you keep your CD wallet somewhere nice and cool, it's still not completely free of risk. How you store the wallet could also damage your discs.

If you keep your CD wallet on its end, the weight of the discs will bear down on those at the bottom, which could, in time, cause those discs to warp. Not only will this warped disc fail to be read by your Blu-ray player, it could also damage your player's spinning mechanism. Which isn't ideal.

How to store your discs safely

So what can you do? Thankfully, there are some pretty simple steps you can take to future-proof your Blu-rays and DVDs.

The safest option is to keep them in their original packaging, but if you want to save space, invest in a disc wallet whose sleeves are made from a soft, forgiving material like polypropylene, polyethene, felt, microfibre or netting. This will help prevent your delicate discs from picking up scratches while they're being slid in or out of the sleeves.

To avoid heat extremes, keep the sleeve out of direct sunlight, and don't take it anywhere in your car during the hotter months, unless you have extremely effective air conditioning. And definitely don't leave your CD wallet – or your money wallet, for that matter – in your car.

While it might be more convenient to store your wallet lying down, keeping it standing up will reduce the risk of any of your discs warping.

Follow these rules, and your discs should continue to give you much enjoyment for years to come and with no monthly fee. Take that, Netflix!

MORE:

Why I'll never give up my DVD collection

I never thought I’d see Netflix embrace physical media – but things are changing

Sony has waged war on physical media, and I think it’s terrible news for consumers and 4K Blu-ray alike

Fans of Blu-rays have suffered relentless waves of bad news lately, the latest being that Sony's next PlayStation will likely be an all-digital affair with no disc drive in sight. But at last, there is some good news, of sorts.

Japanese manufacturer Buffalo will continue to make Blu-ray disc drives (as reported by PC Watch, via TechRadar), despite previously saying it would stop because of a lack of available components. However, there are a couple of caveats.

First of all, Buffalo will only keep making drives as long as the newly sourced components last. Once they dry up, production will stop, possibly for good. The exact end date will depend on inventory, so no warning will be given.

Also, Buffalo drives will cost more than they did previously. PC Watch reports that the price hikes will be between 33 per cent and 51 per cent, depending on the model of the disc drive. These price rises are said to be due to the global semiconductor shortage and the rising prices of raw materials.

Buffalo is far from the only company affected by these factors. Apple recently raised prices on certain devices, citing the same issues.

Buffalo's drives were due to cease production this month, according to the firm's announcement in February. The one silver lining is that the reason given is component shortages, and not lack of demand. But it's a very small crumb of comfort for us fans of physical media formats.

Previously, Pioneer and LG announced they would withdraw from the disc drive market.

So could this be the end of Blu-ray as we know it? Or could the format 'do a vinyl' and continue to live on?

MORE:

Sony has waged war on physical media, and I think it’s terrible news for consumers and 4K Blu-ray alike

The best Blu-ray players you can buy

Which is the best 4K Blu-ray player, PS5 or Xbox Series X?

There has been a revelation in the ongoing decline of physical media – and, as someone who treasures their 4K Blu-ray library, it was the update I’ve been waiting for.

A recent report from the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) confirmed that after an extensive period of decline, 4K Blu-ray sales returned to growth in the United States, with a 12 per cent rise in 2025 compared with 2024.

While physical media sales fell overall, this was only by 9.3 per cent. That's undoubtedly still a drop, but it’s much less severe than expected; and it could well be a sign that optical media is coming back into fashion.

With streaming fatigue setting in from the abundance of available services, all of which offer various tiers that lock features behind pay walls and slowly increasing subscription costs overall, the renewed uptake of physical media seems to be a natural step.

Furthermore, more people are striving to get the best picture and sound performance out of their TVs, projectors, soundbars and surround sound speaker systems – and 4K Blu-ray is the best way to accomplish this.

There is, however, one slight issue, and it's one I've drawn attention to before. It’s undeniably great to see sales figures rise for 4K Blu-rays; but what will people play them on?

There are very few manufacturers still producing dedicated 4K Blu-ray players. Sony and Panasonic are the only remaining brands in the mainstream space, while Magnetar is one of the only options for enthusiasts who don’t want to scour eBay and pay above the odds for a discontinued Oppo or Pioneer player.

We’re willing to bet that most people are feeding their UHD Blu-rays into a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. They are the most readily available and current 4K Blu-ray players on the market – and, of course, they have the dual-purpose appeal of also being game consoles.

Unfortunately, from our testing, we have found that these consoles don't perform to the same level as a dedicated Blu-ray player – though they certainly aren’t bad options.

All the entries on our best 4K Blu-ray players list launched in either 2018 or 2019, apart from the Sony UBP-X700, which had an incremental update last year to remove the streaming features. There has been no official word from Panasonic on whether it will update its 4K players any time soon.

Pair that with prices that have actually increased rather than decreased since launch (Panasonic's entire range has gone up in price since our initial reviews), and I can see why 4K Blu-rays haven't been the most compelling option for consumers in recent years.

I've done my bit to promote the format to anyone who will listen, but these manufacturers also need to show their commitment to ensure the format continues this reported growth.

While we’re at it, I’d be thrilled to see the likes of Samsung and LG return to the optical disc player market. They pulled out years ago despite offering some seriously impressive disc players.

The likelihood of this happening is, of course, quite slim, but I shall continue my campaign for new players regardless.

MORE:

Read our full Panasonic DP-UB820EB review

As well as our Sony UBP-X700 review

And check out our picks for the best streaming devices

Everyone knows Blu-ray looks fantastic, but its audio properties are less well known. In fact, the superior sound quality could be what helps the format not only survive the streaming age, but thrive.

With sales of Blu-ray audio discs up almost 7000 per cent in the last seven years, according to Key Production, a physical music and packaging manufacturing agency, the format is carving out a niche as a higher-quality alternative not only to video streaming, but music streaming services too.

So what sound quality can you expect? What equipment do you need to enjoy Blu-ray audio discs at their best? And what other advantages does it have over streaming? Here’s everything you need to know.

What is Blu-ray audio?

Simply put, it’s the audio track of a Blu-ray disc. But what differentiates a Blu-ray audio disc from a standard Blu-ray is the fact that “the high-quality audio experience is the main feature,” according to Mike Hicks, group joint head of sales at Key Production Group.

This doesn’t mean a Blu-ray audio disc can’t have visuals as well. For example, the Pink Floyd At Pompeii MCMLXXII 4K Blu-ray that was announced last month definitely qualifies as a Blu-ray audio disc, not only because the content is focused on the music, but also because it features a new audio mix in stereo, 5.1 and Dolby Atmos. There’s also a version of the film that’s ‘concert-only’, if all you want is the music.

Some Blu-ray audio discs don’t even need a TV. Instead, you navigate them using the Blu-ray player’s remote control. You can switch between stereo and multichannel audio using the remote’s coloured buttons.

Why choose Blu-ray audio?

The obvious reason is the quality. Like other physical media formats, Blu-ray discs can hold a lot more information than the digital files transmitted by streaming services. The high-bitrate, lossless Dolby TrueHD foundation preserves a lot more data than a Dolby Digital Plus file of the type used by music streaming services.

Streaming services have to compress the files to decrease their size and use less bandwidth, which strips out more data and degrades the sound quality. So just as 4K Blu-ray discs are better quality than 4K video streaming services, Blu-ray audio is far superior to the compressed audio of even the best music streaming services.

Blu-ray audio has “wider dynamic range, deeper bass, with greater detail and more immersive surround effects,” Hicks says.

But the sound isn’t just superior in terms of quality, it’s also more consistent. Because streaming relies on an internet connection, the quality can vary depending on the speed or robustness of the connection. Whereas with Blu-ray audio – as with any physical music format – you’ll get the same high-quality audio experience every time, as long as all the components are working as they should.

And then there’s the question of ownership. Fans of physical media will know all about this – you pay once, and then the content is yours forever. With the subscription model of streaming, it’s true, a relatively low monthly payment gets you access to far more audio content. But you’re only ever renting it – the minute you stop subscribing, all that music is gone forever.

The physical aspect of this should not be overlooked. As the vinyl revival has shown, there’s a definite appetite for something tactile to go with the audio, and the packaging plays a big part of that. As Hicks says: “Taking the disc out of its packaging and putting it on is a commitment to sit and really listen.” It’s a proper meal to savour, in the order the artist intended, rather than the ‘bit of this, bit of that’ approach from Spotify's all-you-can-eat buffet.

Manufacturers realise this, and have pulled out all the stops when it comes to deluxe packaging and extras. Blu-ray audio discs are often part of deluxe boxsets from the likes of Kevin Ayers, Roger Waters, Hawkwind and John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest. Which include extras like booklets, posters and rare unseen footage.

What sound quality is Blu-ray audio?

Blu-ray audio is hi-res (i.e. better than CD quality), at 24 bits with sampling rates of 96kHz or 192kHz. For comparison, CD quality (i.e. lossless) is 16-bit / 44.1kHz.

What equipment do you need to play Blu-ray audio discs?

First and foremost, you’ll need a Blu-ray player. While one of the best Blu-ray players will obviously serve you better than a bog-standard one, even the PS5 is capable of playing Blu-ray audio discs, including in Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

If you’re using a surround sound setup, you’ll also need an AV receiver that supports lossless formats – check our guide to the best AV receivers. Or you could just use one of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars with added height channels.

What albums are available on Blu-ray audio?

Your choice is more limited than the older and more established format of vinyl, but there’s still plenty to choose from. The Alan Parsons Project, Jethro Tull, Yes, King Crimson, David Gilmour, Pearl Jam and David Bowie have all released on Blu-ray audio, many featuring Dolby Atmos. Retailers to check out include Pure Audio, SDE and of course Amazon. Happy listening!

MORE:

Check out the best Blu-ray players around

The best 4K Blu-ray releases to test your sound system

I'm a huge advocate for the 4K Blu-ray format, hence why I've been listing the gains of physical media to anyone who will listen for the last three years.

Higher fidelity audio, no lagging or buffering and, most importantly, a much more consistent and sharper image are among the main benefits, and any home cinema enthusiast who's pulled the trigger on starting a 4K Blu-ray collection will echo my sentiment.

Investing in a 4K media library does, of course, require a quality disc player, and I'm recommending the one that I own and use frequently for the physical media-curious this Black Friday.

The Sony UBP-X700 is my weapon of choice when it comes to spinning high-resolution discs, and it's served me well ever since I welcomed it into my home around two years ago.

We bestowed this player with a five-star review back in 2018, which may sound like a long time ago, but we need to remember that the 4K Blu-ray player market hasn't seen much movement in years.

In fact, a slightly tweaked version called the UBP-X700/K currently features on Sony's disc player lineup; it assures us that it's basically the same player without network features. It's the first "new" player that the company has launched in over five years, which should tell you how stagnant the scene is for 4K Blu-ray players.

Back in 2018, the UBP-X700 launched at £249, but Amazon has it priced at just £225 during the Black Friday sales; not a huge discount, granted, but here me out on this discount...

At £225, the UBP-X700 is currently cheaper than a year of Netflix's 4K subscription tier, and frankly, I would pick this disc player over Netflix any day of the week.

Netflix upped the price of its Premium tier in the UK to £18.99/month in February of this year. That option is the only way to stream in 4K HDR from Netflix, meaning you'll have to settle for 1080p if you opt for one of the "standard" plans; we also wouldn't be surprised if this price increases again in the near future.

Therefore, a year of Netflix Premium will run you approximately £228, which is slightly more than the cost of this player.

There are, admittedly, pros and cons to this comparison. You will need to factor in the cost of 4K Blu-ray discs, and you don't have the same range of content at your fingertips as Netflix offers.

Netflix has had a run of cancelling shows and offloading content recently, and I've noticed that a fair amount of its third-party content doesn't even stream in 4K HDR; either defaulting to 4K SDR or, in some cases, HD.

And to soften the blow regarding the price of 4K Blu-ray discs, I've compiled a few tempting 4K Blu-ray offers from my personal collection and our AV testing library to kick start your collection:

Benefits of physical media include the fact that you won't have to rely on an internet connection to play your content, meaning you won't notice a dip in picture quality if your wi-fi is struggling.

Furthermore, when you own a 4K disc, you own it for life; unlike streaming services, in which content is frequently removed or rotated to a whole other service.

The picture and sound benefits also speak for themselves. Being someone who spends a lot of their time staring at screens and switching between 4K discs and streaming, I've become particularly sensitive to the blocky gradation that's often present on streaming services.

I've also watched my fair share of Netflix and 4K Blu-ray content (using this exact Blu-ray player) on my Sony A80L OLED TV, and can vouch that the UBP-X700 delivers a sharper image with better contrast, and sound is richer and more cinematic too.

It's also worth mentioning that I am aware of reports relating to this player occasionally sticking and freezing when playing 4K discs; however, this has happened only twice in my time using this from memory.

For £225 at Amazon, I think this plucky 4K player is a great option for anyone looking to leave streaming behind this Black Friday.

Black Friday quick links

• Amazon: browse all of today's best deals
• B&W speakers: save £200
• Bluetooth speaker: 48% off five-star JBL
• Bose QC Ultra Earbuds: save £100
• Bravia 8 TV: save 34% on 55in Sony TV
• Denon AV receiver: save £500
• Dolby Atmos soundbar: down to £299
• ELAC Debut 2: five-star speakers now £199
• Headphones: Sennheiser Momentum 4 now £169
• LG C5 55-inch: lowest-ever price at Richer Sounds
• JBL soundbar: now better than half price
• John Lewis: £500 off LG and Sony OLED TVs
• Richer Sounds: browse Black Friday deals
• Sevenoaks: £150 off Award-winning speakers
• Sony headphones: now just £29
• Stereo amplifier: Cambridge Audio now £299
• TVs, movies, home cinema: browse the best deals
• Vinyl: 3 for £66 at Amazon
• Wireless earbuds: Award winners now £75

Need a reason to ditch streaming this Black Friday? Panasonic has you covered, as its entire range of 4K Blu-ray players is on sale, making now the perfect time to invest in physical media.

You can find discounts on the Award-winning DP-UB820EB (which currently takes residence in our very own AV and home cinema testing room), as well as the flagship DP-UB9000, which will be the top choice for serious cinephiles. 4K Blu-ray fans on a budget will find plenty to like in the DP-UB150EB, too.

We have reviewed all three players, and each has earned its place on our best 4K Blu-ray players list – so you can't go wrong really, regardless of which one you opt for.

That being said, not every deal here is equal. You'll notice that we are highlighting the DP-UB820EB at £299, which is £9 more than the price at which we initially reviewed it. Panasonic, though, raised the price of this player to £349 since its launch back in 2019. It has stuck at this price for quite some time too, which is the reason for us highlighting this deal now.

It's a similar story with the flagship DP-UB900. We originally reviewed it at £849, but its price has since ballooned to £999. Now, though, it can be yours for £799 at Richer Sounds, a hearty £200 saving on that most recent higher price.

We have said time and time again that if you're looking to achieve the best picture and sound quality, you'll find no better alternative than 4K Blu-ray discs. While streaming has its benefits when it comes to convenience and choice, we're still team disc thanks to the higher-fidelity picture and audio, and the fact that you don't need to rely on a stable internet connection; who wants their movie to be interrupted by constant buffering?

Panasonic remains one of the few manufacturers still producing 4K Blu-ray players, alongside Sony and Magnetar. The likes of Pioneer, Oppo, Samsung, LG, and Reavon have all ended production of their models or have pulled out of the market entirely. It's a good job, therefore, that we think Panasonic has made a particularly good bunch of 4K disc players.

Whichever one you choose, you're guaranteed to get a crisp and punchy picture with equally impressive sound. Check out the savings at Richer Sounds and Amazon if you're looking to leave streaming in the dust this Black Friday.

• Amazon: browse all of today's best deals
• B&W speakers: save £200
• Bluetooth speaker: 48% off five-star JBL
• Bose QC Ultra Earbuds: save £100
• Bravia 8 TV: save 34% on 55in Sony TV
• Denon AV receiver: save £500
• Dolby Atmos soundbar: down to £299
• ELAC Debut 2: five-star speakers now £199
• Headphones: Sennheiser Momentum 4 now £169
• John Lewis: £500 off LG and Sony OLED TVs
• Richer Sounds: browse Black Friday deals
• Sevenoaks: £150 off Award-winning speakers
• TVs, movies, home cinema: browse the best deals

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best 4K Blu-ray players

As well as the best OLED TVs

And the best early Black Friday TV deals

• We rank the best Blu-ray players money can buy

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days has thrown us a few pleasant surprises when it comes to savings on Award-winning home cinema gear, and this Panasonic Blu-ray player happens to be one of my favourites to come from the savings event so far.

If there was ever a time to reject streaming and embrace the disc life, it's now, as the Panasonic DP-UB820EB has dropped from £350 to £285 at Amazon; that's a saving of £65, which should comfortably cover the cost of a couple of 4K Blu-rays to start your collection.

• Browse all the Amazon Prime Day deals

This Blu-ray player has won the coveted Product of the Year title in the Best Blu-ray players category for six years running, which should stand as a testament to how great we think it is.

We'll start with a quick disclaimer: we initially tested this 4K Blu-ray player at its launch price of £290, which is the price you'll see in our full review. However, that was all the way back in 2019, and since then, we've seen the price creep up to £350 at all major retailers. That's why I've highlighted this deal, as it still offers a decent saving from its new, widely available price.

Back to the player itself, the DP-UB820EB may not have a catchy name, but it provides the goods when it comes to the two most important aspects: picture performance and sound quality.

We praised the Panasonic's ability to deliver an "eye-catching and immersive picture", complete with punchy colours and clean details, which is why we continue to champion it in our AV testing room to this very day.

It supports up to 4K in a handful of HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+. But don't worry if you haven't got any 4K Blu-ray discs yet, as you can still play HD and standard definition Blu-rays and DVDs on this player, which will be upscaled for a sharper picture. We do, of course, recommend feeding it the highest quality material for the best results.

And it nails cinematic sound too. Action movie fans will be pleased to hear that it boasts a "weighty and powerful performance that’s capable of delivering explosions with plenty of gusto", and movie scores build with a "weighty and deliberate swell of sound".

Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are both supported on this player, meaning you can get the best immersive cinematic sound from your 4K Blu-rays (providing you have a Dolby Atmos soundbar or AVR that supports these formats).

Its success is mostly since it shares most of its picture processing technology with the flagship DP-UB9000, which happens to cost three times the price.

For those who want an uncompromising cinematic experience, but are perhaps on a slightly stricter budget, then the DP-UB820EB is a sensational pick, especially at this discounted price at Amazon.

MORE:

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2025: the best deals on headphones, TVs, speakers, home cinema and more

All four of the best 2025 flagship OLED TVs are on sale, and I've ranked them so you know which to buy

Here are the best 4K Blu-ray players

There’s some sad news for Blu-ray lovers, with French manufacturer Reavon ceasing production of its UHD Blu-ray players.

The company says this is down to a shortage of parts, confirming to CE Critic that there are “no plans for replacement models at this time due to lack of specific components on the market".

The relatively young company only launched in 2021, with two high-end 4K Blu-ray players to its name.

Reavon's exit hits particularly hard as its UBR-X100 received an impressive four-star rating from us. This was down to its excellent picture quality and good range of features, with its lack of HDR10+ and slightly limited sound field holding it back from the full five stars.

When Oppo announced its own exit from the industry, Reavon was one of the only companies producing high-end UHD Blu-ray players. Now Magnetar is left to carry the torch solo.

This won't come as a surprise, but manufacturers have been pulling out of the Blu-ray player market at a disappointing rate, with Pioneer and LG being the most recent major brands to pull the plug.

All is not lost, however. As mentioned, Magnetar is still going strong and released its latest model, the UDP900, in 2023. It will set you back an eye-watering £2699 / $2999 (around AU$5620), though.

At the more affordable end of the market, Panasonic and Sony continue to offer UHD Blu-ray players at a lower price.

MORE:

These are the best 4K Blu-ray players right now

Check out the best OLED TVs

I watched a 4K Blu-ray for the first time in years – and was left disappointed

Japanese brand Pioneer has announced that it has bid farewell to the optical disc market.

It was one of the last big Japanese companies to make optical drives after more than 30 years as a leader in CD, DVD, and Blu-ray drive technology.

The last 4K Blu-ray players the company produced were the UDP-LX500 and UDP-LX800 in 2019. We had the former in our test rooms, and gave it five stars for its crisp picture and expressive sound.

Since then, it has been radio silence, and we hadn’t truthfully expected a new home cinema Blu-ray player to be produced by the brand.

This announcement is more about the brand’s computer disc drives, which it has continued to produce since pulling out of the Blu-ray player market.

Stereonet reports that sales of Pioneer’s optical products are scheduled to close at the end of this month, and production of Blu-ray drives has already come to an end.

After taking a look at its website, we can see the company’s remaining optical drives for computers “will be discontinued as soon as Amazon's stock runs out.”

While this news won’t make a huge difference to home cinema fans, who have already got used to Pioneer’s absence, it does firmly shut the door on any possible return of Pioneer Blu-ray players and represents another step in the depressing decline of physical media as a whole.

As I’m sure you’re aware, manufacturers have been pulling out of the Blu-ray player market at a disappointing rate, with LG the last major brand to have pulled the plug.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Sony launched its first new 4K Blu-ray player in over five years in March, the UBP-X700/K, though that perhaps isn’t the sort of new model we were all hoping for, as my colleague Lewis Empson recently discussed.

MORE:

These are the best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players we recommend

Check out our full review of the Pioneer UDP-LX500

And here are the best turntables we have reviewed

Sony quietly dropped a new 4K Blu-ray player in March of this year, and it really did come out of the blue. At the time, Sony hadn't updated its Blu-ray player line-up for over five years, so I had to pinch myself upon seeing a model tagged as "new" on the company's website.

Generally speaking, the current crop of 4K Blu-ray players has begun to show their age; take Panasonic's DP-UB820EB player, for example, which still holds the top spot on our best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players list, despite it launching in 2018.

So, surely Sony's new player was the saving grace for 4K Blu-ray; a format that I've anxiously monitored since my first Adventure into AV back in 2022, titled 4K Blu-ray is on the verge of dying out, and no one seems to care. Well, it's a good sign, but not the one that I and many other people were quite hoping for.

Sony's new player, the UBP-X700/K appears to be a fairly modest update on the UBP-X700, which was also released in 2018. It looks practically identical from the outside, and there doesn't appear to be any grand statements regarding picture and sound enhancements.

If anything, the biggest news is that this new player will be dropping features, which is admittedly quite a large red flag on paper. The UBP-X700/K seems to drop wireless network functionality, meaning no streaming or screen mirroring features as found on the previous version of this player.

Understandably, I've seen plenty of reader comments on our social platforms and my news article centred on the new player, which rightfully point out that a new player with fewer features isn't a glowing indictment for the future of 4K Blu-ray.

I get it, streamlining your AV setup by having one convenient box to handle all of your disc-based and streaming needs is useful, but I have to ask... who is streaming on their Blu-ray player?

I have the Sony UBP-X700 at home hooked up to my Philips OLED907 TV, and the only things I've watched on it are Blu-rays.

In fact, I deleted the included streaming apps just a couple of weeks ago, simply because they were cluttering the home menu of my player; and that didn't take long considering it was only Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and YouTube that were supported.

Most modern smart TVs include all the apps you'll need anyway, and there is plenty to be said for investing in one of the best streaming devices.

Instead, I would point to this new player feeling like a lazy repackage of an existing player above all else; an all-new player would have been preferable, so why didn't Sony give us one? My guess is that this is merely a spec bump to keep the player relevant; it has the same design, same remote and even the same name.

A new player could have breathed life into the 4K Blu-ray format, instead of merely keeping it ticking over. Admittedly, we haven't reviewed the Sony UBP-X700/K, and I'm hoping that I'll be blindsided by a serious picture and sound upgrade – but my hopes aren't sky high.

Ultimately, I'm delighted to see the 4K Blu-ray format get a vital lifeline, but I can't help feeling like the first new mainstream 4K Blu-ray player in half a decade is a bit half-hearted.

The lack of streaming credentials truly doesn't phase me, and I really don't think it should bother prospective buyers either.

That being said, it would have been nice if Sony substituted in a notable upgrade (perhaps HDR10+ support or an upgraded DAC?) to offset the loss of this feature.

MORE:

Read our full Sony UBP-X700 review

Check out our picks for the best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players

As well as the best OLED TVs

It's been a nail-biting time to be a 4K Blu-ray fan, as the players we rely on to spin our discs are beginning to show their age. Thankfully, Sony has given the format a vital lifeline, as it has just launched its first new model in over five years – a refreshed version of a five-star favourite that can be found on our best 4K Blu-ray players list.

The UBP-X700/K is an updated version of the UBP-X700, which we awarded five stars back when it was released in 2018. This new model doesn't appear to be a radical departure; it sports an almost identical design, support for both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR, and it features DTS:X and Dolby Atmos audio support. It even comes with the same remote as the original version, and it supports Bravia Centre Sync audio if you have a compatible Sony Bravia TV.

However, in some ways, this new player looks like a downgrade from the original. It's reportedly losing network functions entirely, including video streaming services, Spotify Connect, and screen mirroring. These downgrades have been reported by Japanese publication Monohika (via FlatpanelsHD), and Sony's official website also lists that the UBP-X700/K does not have wi-fi built in.

Curiously, the player still features an ethernet socket for wired network connectivity, though this could be for firmware updates rather than accessing streaming services.

While fewer features on a new model feels like a sting on paper, we're not convinced that many people relied on their Blu-ray player for streaming services; we've also seen that the network streaming apps on Blu-ray players tend to get less attention when it comes to updates compared to their respective smart TV and media streamer apps, so we're not chalking this up as a great loss.

What's looking less promising regarding this new disc player is the pricing. Officially speaking, pricing is yet to be revealed, however, the player is available in Japan now with a reportedly 25 per cent higher retail price than the original model. Will we see this price rise translate to other markets? Only time will tell, as this player is set to release this April or May, depending on the region.

MORE:

Read our full Sony UBP-X700 review

As well as our Panasonic DP-UB820EB review

4K Blu-ray is on the verge of dying out, and no one seems to care

Sony has announced that it will cease production of Blu-ray discs next month. In a statement shared by the company, it announced that "Blu-ray disc media, recording mini discs, recording MD data, mini DV cassettes" will all get the axe in February, confirming towards the end of the announcement that "there will be no successor models".

This marks the end of an 18-year journey for the company after Blu-ray became commercially available to the masses in 2006. It follows a decision to end production of recordable Blu-ray discs for the consumer market in July of last year. During that time, Sony stated that it would continue producing optical discs for business and corporate use (specifically for storing data for secure, long-term usage) until it became unprofitable; unfortunately, it appears that the time has come.

As streaming services have become the preferred way to watch movies and TV shows, sales of physical media have declined rapidly, resulting in this move from Sony. That being said, other manufacturers such as Panasonic don't yet appear to be following suit.

There are also plenty of other use cases for Blu-ray which should ensure its survival for the time being; for example, PlayStation and Xbox games use Blu-ray discs, and we're seeing its uptake in the music industry increase as artists release their work on the higher resolution format.

There is also the question of 4K Blu-ray which is still a relatively new format in the grand scheme of things. There have been questions regarding its future, especially considering that the current lineup of 4K Blu-ray players (almost entirely manned by Sony and Pansonic, aside from some specialist brands such as Magnetar and Reavon) hasn't been updated in many years. The good news is that, to our knowledge, they are produced by a separate entity, with pressing plants in Mexico and Germany remaining operational.

Sony's withdrawal from the Blu-ray manufacturing scene is still a huge loss, however. It's an especially tough pill to swallow when we consider how it has pioneered the format by including a Blu-ray disc drive on the PlayStation 3. That being said, there are still plenty of manufacturers producing the format, so we hope to see it live on in an increasingly difficult uphill battle against streaming.

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4K Blu-ray is on the verge of dying out and no one seems to care

Check out our picks for the best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players

And our picks for the best media streamers

Ridley Scott's latest action epic and the long-awaited sequel to one of the best films of the 2000s was finally released in cinemas late last year, and it has since found its way to Apple, Amazon, YouTube (formerly Google Play) and Sky storefronts. It was a divisive blockbuster, with many heated discussions centred around loving it or hating it taking place at What Hi-Fi? towers; however, we could all agree it will make a superb reference disc for testing picture and sound performance in our upcoming 2025 TV and home cinema reviews.

Slight story woes aside, the film has plenty of tense moments and brutal battles throughout its runtime; how could you not be entertained? The BAFTA and Critics Choice Awards-nominated film also features a star-studded cast, with the likes of Paul Mescal (Normal People, Aftersun), Denzel Washington (Training Day, The Book of Eli), and Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, The Last of Us) all putting in engaging performances. The score is also a highlight, with frequent Ridley Scott collaborator Harry Gregson-Williams building upon the legendary score of the original (composed by Hans Zimmer) with a fresh twist.

From its epic battle sequences with arrows flying overhead that are begging to be heard on a top-quality Dolby Atmos soundbar or surround sound speaker package, to the enthralling battle sequences that are certain to impress on an OLED TV, this film deserves the best medium; so we are patiently awaiting the 4K Blu-ray release – and we think you should too.

While it might be tempting to spend the £13.99 on any of the aforementioned digital marketplaces listed above, if you want to watch this film with the best picture and sound quality, we urge you to wait until the official 4K Blu-ray release on March 3rd. We admit that the convenience of not having to wait for the release date to roll around, or for your disc to be delivered, is nice – but considering we have waited more than 24 years for this sequel, another month and a half, surely, isn't too much to ask.

While the Apple TV store (formerly iTunes Movies) is our preferred method of watching movies digitally – or, if your budget allows, a Kaleidescape system – you will still find a sharper picture and more detailed sound on the 4K disc. Furthermore, you won't be relying on an internet connection, meaning a drop in signal strength won't degrade your picture, or force you to wait for pesky buffering. Best of all, you will actually own the film, with no chance of it suddenly disappearing from your library; call us paranoid, but we have seen plenty of people be caught out by their preferred service suddenly shutting down or deleting content from their library.

For AV aficionados waiting to return to the Colosseum to experience the bloodshed, you can already pre-order the 4K Blu-ray on Amazon, HMV and Zavvi.

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Check out our picks for the best 4K Blu-ray players

And the best movies and TV shows of 2024 to test your home cinema

Read our full Apple TV 4K (2022) review

• Check out our general best Blu-ray player buying guide

Disney has announced that it will begin supporting Dolby Vision on its upcoming 4K Blu-ray releases, and it's already announced that two upcoming releases will support the HDR format. The company has released most of its recent films in the basic HDR10 format and hasn't officially supported Dolby Vision since it released Star Wars: The Last Jedi back in 2018 (aside from some special releases overseen by director James Cameron).

As reported by Forbes, the first two films to be released will be Deadpool & Wolverine on the 22nd of October and Alien: Romulus on the 3rd of December. Disney also confirmed that it plans to use this as an opportunity to include Dolby Vision on most (if not all) of its upcoming physical releases. 

It might come as a shock that Disney has not supported Dolby Vision on its physical media releases for quite some time, especially considering it champions the dynamic HDR format on its streaming platform. Disney Plus notably supports an extensive catalogue of content that supports both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, especially with Disney's original and exclusive content.

Disney has been criticised in the past for not supporting the latest picture and sound features on its physical releases, and there has been no reason attributed as to why it has suddenly decided now is the time to revamp its Blu-ray release strategy; especially in the wake of ceasing physical releases in select markets. It's worth noting that Disney recently sold a large portion of its home entertainment business to Sony,  which may have played a part in this sudden change of tact. This deal has meant that Sony now manufactures and distributes Disney's home video release in the US.  

Regardless, we can chalk this up as a win for Blu-ray, which is something we always like to do especially considering the turbulent status of the format as of late. Now we can only hope that Disney looks back into its existing catalogue and upgrades some of its already released films with updated 4K Blu-rays complete with Dolby Vision. 

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Dolby Vision HDR: everything you need to know

Check out our picks for the best 4K Blu-ray players

As well as the best Dolby Atmos of the decade (so far) to test your home cinema

Sony's detachable disc drive accessory for the PS5 Slim and upcoming PS5 Pro consoles is reportedly selling out after the announcement that the Pro variant of the console will not feature one out of the box. The optional optical drive will be a necessary purchase for gamers who have a library of physical games and movies, though that might be easier said than done with rising reports of stock shortages ahead of the PS5 Pro's launch in November.

Stock for the 4K Blu-ray drive, which retails for £100 / $80 / AU$159, is drying up in the US according to gaming publication IGN, with retailers such as Amazon, Target and Best Buy all showing as sold out. Here in the UK, the disc drive is sold out on Amazon and PlayStation Direct (Sony's official online retailer for the gaming platform), so we could be seeing a similar phenomenon on this side of the pond. 

Furthermore, listings for the accessory have begun cropping up on the likes of eBay with inflated price tags; we've spotted listings with prices from around £150 to £250, which is extremely discouraging. Questions are beginning to arise as to whether Sony has shot itself in the foot (proverbially, of course) by not including a disc drive on its £700 / $700 / AU$1200 console, though only time will tell if it can rectify this issue by producing more drives or addressing scalpers head-on by implementing a "one-per-customer" system akin to what was in place during the early days of the PS5.

While the disc drive isn't an essential accessory for using the PS5 Pro, those who have an existing collection of games on disc will be put at a disadvantage, and it removes the PS5's dual function as a games console and 4K Blu-ray player. This is, of course, our main concern, as losing AV functionality while retailing at a much higher price is a recipe for disaster in our books, especially if you can't buy the part that restores said functionality.   

Shortages of the PS5 disc drive are echoing the launch of the original version of the console, with limited stock being released in waves from 2020 to 2022. We sincerely hope that Sony isn't in for another botched PlayStation launch that's plagued with hardware shortages, but only time will tell if this issue will have an impact on the PS5 Pro overall.

MORE:

Read our full Sony PlayStation 5 review

PS5 vs Xbox Series X: which console is better for movies and gaming?

PS5 Slim vs PS5: what's the difference?

If you've been a long-time reader of What Hi-Fi? you will know that we're fond of physical media. Despite near-constant headlines of declining sales and retailers ceasing sales in bricks-and-mortar stores, there is finally some good news coming from one of Britain's largest entertainment retailers. 

HMV has reported that DVD and Blu-ray sales are on the rise, despite a decline in previous years due to the popularity of streaming services like Disney Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. ITV reports that the managing director of HMV, Phil Halliday, has made promising statements regarding the business, with the "physical visual" side being a particular highlight. 

Halliday attributes collectors as a key demographic for increased Blu-ray sales, alongside growing frustrations with streaming services such as rising subscription prices and confusion as to what content is available on certain streaming platforms. This has reportedly driven people back to buying physical discs to avoid these streaming pitfalls.

"It’s been really positive to see the physical products in visual back in growth – 4K and Blu-ray have been doing particularly well," says Halliday, which is music to our ears. He went on to say "It’s a bit like people buying music physically, in that we are getting a lot of people wanting to collect certain titles. Releases have picked up as well, and we have some really good titles like Challengers coming out at the moment [...] people are willing to pay for a physical copy of shows or films they know they will rewatch."

Seeing 4K Blu-ray doing well is especially important to us, especially as just a year ago we had fears that the format might be dying out. We still always prefer the superior picture and sound quality that 4K Blu-ray provides over streaming, and the security of always having our favourite content on hand without worrying about licenses expiring or subscription prices rising. 

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Check out our picks for the best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players

And the best OLED TVs

As well as this quirky Panasonic TV with a built-in 4k Blu-ray player

As physical media enthusiasts, it's only natural that a deal promoting the expansion of our collection of physical discs gets our attention. Online entertainment retailer Zavvi is offering a great deal on a range of Disney and Pixar 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases 

Everything included in this section of the site is currently reduced from £20 to £10, and you can even bundle up and get five movies for £30, or 10 for just £50. The list of classic titles includes A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, Up, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, Cars, and many more favourites.

Ultra HD Blu-ray discs often aren't cheap, so this is an excellent offer for anyone looking to expand their family library or rewatch childhood classics. The format has become a mainstay for almost all major film releases over the last few years, and 4K TVs are becoming more and more of a staple for many users. 

We recently reported on Disney announcing the sale of a large portion of its home entertainment division to Sony. This means Sony will handle the production of Disney's DVDs, Blu-rays, and 4K Blu-rays. The deal covers both the manufacturing and distribution side of things and is currently exclusive to North America. While we don't know whether future potential deals could cover other regions, this is still good news for the future of physical media. 

Are you looking to get your hands on some high-quality Disney Pixar discs for less than ever? Head over to Zavvi to check out what's on offer.

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Disney enlists Sony to take over its 4K Blu-ray business

The best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players: budget to premium disc players

Our picks for the best TVs in 2024: flagship OLEDs and affordable flatscreens tried and tested

Disney has announced it will sell a large portion of its home entertainment division to Sony in order to continue the production of its DVDs, Blu-rays and 4K Blu-rays. The pair have struck a deal that covers both the manufacturing and distribution sides of things, which is certainly good news for 4K Blu-ray fans like ourselves. 

However, before we get too excited we have to caveat some things. This deal is currently exclusive to North America, meaning distribution will only reach retailers in the US and Canada (no word on whether Mexico is included in this deal yet). That'll likely be disappointing news to our friends Down Under, as Disney pulled its physical media releases from Australia last year; this deal doesn't appear to reverse that decision, unfortunately. This also offers no security to the physical media market here in the UK, something we'd obviously like to see. 

It also won't address the fact that, despite this being a predominantly US-focused deal, one of the biggest retailers has already dropped out of selling physical discs altogether. Best Buy, the county's largest specialist technology and entertainment retailer, purged its stock of 4K Blu-rays (and all other physical movie discs) recently, and it doesn't look like it'll be walking back on that decision. 

That being said, Disney's renewed interest in producing more physical media discs does subdue our anxiety surrounding the death of 4K Blu-rays, even if this isn't the perfect solution. It's also worth noting that Disney will continue to manage the digital aspect of its home entertainment releases, including premium video on demand. There's also no word on how this will impact Disney Plus, although we expect interference to be minimal. 

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Check out our picks for the best 4K Blu-ray players

As well as the  best TVs

And the best Blu-ray player deals

UPDATE 21/02/2024: Xbox boss Phil Spencer has clarified the company's approach towards physical media on future Xbox consoles, and thankfully it sounds like good news. In an interview with Game File's Stephen Totilo, Spencer stated that the company's future doesn't “hinge on people moving all-digital.”

Spencer affirms that Xbox will "follow what the customers are doing", adding that it'll respond to the demands proportionately. He noted that a large proportion of customers still buy physical disc version of games, and in response to that Xbox will continue to support physical media, but won't push it further than the market demands. 

So does this mean the new Xbox that Microsoft has hinted at won't ditch the disc drive? We're not sure yet, although Phil Spencer has since confirmed that leaks that sprung up last year have all undergone various changes as development continues. 

ORIGINAL STORY 16/02/2024: Remember last year when Microsoft suffered an information leak that unearthed two new Xbox models? It looks like those leaks and rumours could be coming to fruition, as Microsoft has teased a future Xbox model that is set to feature the "largest technical leap" yet.

Confirmation that Microsoft is working on a powerful next-generation console came during the most recent edition of its Official Xbox Podcast, in which it also confirmed that exclusive titles from the Xbox games catalogue will also come to PS5 and Nintendo Switch. 

Xbox president Sarah Bond confirmed new hardware is on the way, with further announcements expected "this holiday" (we presume this means the end of the year). Bond also stated that Microsoft is "invested in the next-generation roadmap", in which it will deliver "the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation".

If this is a nod towards the leaked consoles that surfaced in September of last year, then we have some concerns. The Xbox Series X refresh that we caught sight of featured a controversial change by dropping the disc drive, meaning that (hypothetically) you'll only be able to play games and watch content via digital versions or streaming services.

The Xbox Series S is also set to get a refresh, although it looks to be a spec bump with upgraded ports, a new wi-fi module and an upgrade to 1TB of storage. Ultimately, it probably will not feature a 4K Blu-ray disc drive either, as is the case with the current Xbox Series S model. This means that the likelihood that you'll be able to use your 4K Blu-Ray movie discs on either of these new models is very slim.

We're unsure of what the new Xbox models will feature in terms of AV features, however going off the very well-specced current-gen consoles, we can begin to make some speculations. HDMI 2.1 for 4K/120Hz gaming is a given, with support for VRR and ALLM expected too. Dolby Vision HDR, Dolby Vision Gaming and Dolby Atmos are also featured on the current Xbox models, so we'd be surprised to see these features not make their return on the upcoming model.

With LG, Samsung and Panasonic announcing that their respective G4, S95D and Z95A OLED TVs will feature a new, higher 144Hz maximum frame rate, could we see this new Xbox support it? Only time will tell, as the leaked documents that hint at this new console reference a 2028 launch. As for now, we're just clutching onto our 4K Blu-rays while we still can. 

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Check out our picks for the best gaming TVs

As well as the best TVs overall

And the best TV deals

Panasonic has become one of the last bastions in the world of 4K Blu-ray players, as options continue to deplete. Other than Sony and (at the much higher end) Magnetar, there isn't much choice out there since Samsung, LG, Oppo and Pioneer dropped out of the game in recent years. 

I've already made my concerns regarding this very clear by raising awareness about the death of 4K Blu-ray (perhaps slightly dramatic, I know); however, a glimmer of hope was presented to me while I was scrolling X (formerly Twitter) one night a few weeks ago; thanks to @UltraHDBluray for spotting this one. 

Panasonic is launching two new 4K LCD TVs, both with 4K Blu-ray players built into the stands; it's simple, pure and brilliant. Invoking memories of the TVs with built-in DVD players that played a key role in my childhood, this all-in-one solution is a modern-day retelling using more up-to-date technology. Available in either 43- or 50-inches, the Panasonic MR770 series has been on my mind for weeks now; however, there is a catch, and it is quite a big one.

These TVs are exclusive to Japan, and as is the case with a lot of the more weird and wonderful creations from companies like Panasonic, it's looking like it'll stay that way. Panasonic is also launching a selection of standalone 4K Blu-ray players, which I'd like to see come to the UK market too — but I'm not holding my breath. 

As frustrating as that is, it's also given me some inspiration for what I'd like to see Panasonic do if it were to bring this hybrid TV to the UK and beyond. The obvious choice would be to swap the LCD out for an OLED; I like Panasonic OLED TVs (especially the MZ1500) and I like Panasonic Blu-ray players, so naturally it would make sense to combine the two. 

While the chunky unit that holds the Blu-ray drive is the antithesis of the svelte OLED TV form factor we've come to expect, I'm willing to sacrifice some form for the sake of function. 

Speaking of which, Panasonic's recent set of OLEDs including the MZ1500 and MZ2000 have included chunky and (if we're being frank) fairly mediocre sound systems. The soundbar below the screen on both models doesn't facilitate the middling performance, and we always recommend an external sound system with your TV anyway; whether that's a Dolby Atmos soundbar or an AVR and home cinema speaker system. So why not swap that so-so sound system out for an integrated Blu-ray player?

Personally, I'd find a built-in high-quality disc player much more useful than a sound system that will become obsolete as soon as I hook up an external option. However, this does highlight a concern regarding the quality of the built-in Blu-ray drive, as (much like the soundbar) if it's not decent quality, then you'd be better off just hooking up an external alternative instead. 

While I've come to terms with the fact that a niche product such as these Panasonic sets won't come to the UK market, it's always comforting to see innovation in this category continue, even if the future of 4K Blu-ray remains uncertain. 

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Check out our full Panasonic MZ980 review

And our picks for the best 4K Blu-ray player

And the best OLED TVs

Black Friday has been a bit of a dud for those waiting for a seriously good 4K Blu-ray player deal. It's unfortunate as we've been harking on about dwindling options for some time now, with the hopes that Black Friday might avert our fears and deliver a discount worth paying attention to.

Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case, with measly savings on some models and no savings on others. While this is disheartening, we've remained steadfast in our effort to find a 4K Blu-ray player deal that's actually worth buying, and we might have just found one.

Panasonic's five-star, Award-winning DP-U8820EBK 4K player is down to £299 at Currys; that's a respectable saving of £70. Usually retailing for £369, this deal might be your only option if you want a top-notch disc player at a reasonable discount. 

Despite the fact it's five years old, Panasonic's DP-UB820 is still one of the best (and only) 4K Blu-ray players on the market. It's held a spot on our yearly Awards list for quite some time now and is easily the best option for those looking for a 4K player this Black Friday.

With its vibrant, punchy, yet balanced, colours, it's a good job that the last mass market 4K player that we've been left with is a rather good one. Details are pin-sharp and the Dolby Vision HDR presentation offers a visual feast of vivid highlights. Overall Panasonic delivers a clean, crisp and thoroughly cinematic picture that's hard to pick flaws in.

Better yet, it also happens to sound very good too, with a powerful and weighty sound. Explosions are delivered with snappy dynamics and plenty of power, making for an exciting and engaging performer in the sound department. It's equally adept in quieter moments, with a rich muscular sound that adds texture to dialogue. 

So is this deal truly worth it? Well, we're not just recommending it because it's the only option; you're actually getting a top-notch 4K player at a quality discount, making this a personal favourite Black Friday deal of ours.

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Check out the best Black Friday deals live now

And the best Black Friday home cinema deals

As well as the best Black Friday TV deals

Best Buy, one of the United States' more prominent technology retail chains, has announced that it will cease sales of Blu-rays and DVDs in 2024. Not only that, it will stop selling physical releases of video games too, merely days after Sony announced its new PS5 with a detachable disc drive. 

The death of physical media has been weighing heavy on our minds for some time now, with a dwindling supply of 4K Blu-ray players on the market and Disney already announcing that it will no longer sell physical discs in Australia signalling the end times. However, this might be yet another nail in the coffin for one of the biggest markets in the world. 

The report suggests that Best Buy will end physical media sales by the first quarter of 2024. It's also worth noting that the report seems to infer that this will apply to physical brick-and-mortar shops and its online store. 

The blame seems to lie on the increase in digital film and game sales, as well as the influx of video game streaming services. Film and television streaming services, such as Netflix and Disney Plus, and physical media formats have lived (mostly) in harmony, although the former has been a clear contributing factor in the latter's slow demise.

While it is worth taking this report with a pinch of salt, as Best Buy has neither confirmed nor denied these claims as of yet, we wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be true. 

MORE:

4K Blu-ray is on the verge of dying out and no one seems to care

Check out our picks for the best 4K Blu-ray players

As well as the best 4K Blu-ray player deals

• Want more choice? Check out our long list of the best Blu-ray players

• Want more choice? Check out our long list of the best media streamers

After heavy speculation and plenty of leaks, Sony has finally unveiled its refreshed PS5 design. As anticipated, it's slimmer, lighter, smaller and most importantly, it has a trick up its sleeve for lovers of physical media - so of course, we're intrigued. 

The new PS5 model is supposedly 30% smaller and 24% or 18% lighter, depending on if you opt for the version that includes the disc drive. But if you decide to purchase the digital model, and regret your decision later down the line, then fret not, as you can purchase a modular, detachable disc drive later down the line. After concerns that Xbox is planning to ditch physical discs, this has reignited hope that gaming companies won't be ditching physical formats quite so soon.

This might just be the announcement we needed, as we've been existing in a state of peril as the security of the 4K physical format seems to have dwindled as of late. This new modular PS5 will give users the option to add a physical disc driver later down the line, even if they choose not to get one initially, which sure looks like a good sign to us.

As for other upgrades, the new PS5 gets an additional USB-C connector, an upgrade to 1TB of internal SSD storage and a new two-tone half glossy and half matte finish to the exterior. Performance is expected to stay the same, with no noticeable upgrades to the internal specifications, although a new design will likely mean a change to how the console handles cooling.

The same DualSense controller seems to be included with this new model that first appeared with the launch model PS5, and there doesn't seem to be any new notable accessories apart from the vertical stand now being sold separately for £25 / $30 (around AU$50).

The new refreshed PS5 (already unofficially being dubbed as the PS5 Slim) will first release in the US in November, expanding to other markets in later months. Sony confirms that once the remaining stock of the current PS5 models is depleted, the new PS5 will be the only available model. 

The Digital Edition starts at £390 / $450, while the version with the disc drive costs £480 / $500 (Australia prices are still pending). This is more expensive than the launch price of the original PS5 Digital Edition (£360 / $400 / AU$600) and Physical Edition (£450 / $500 / AU$750) however this is in line with current PS5 prices as both models received a price hike earlier this year. 

The all-important detachable disc drive comes in at £100 / $80, meaning you'll save £10 or $30 if you decide to get the disc-drive included model from the get-go. 

MORE:

Read our full PS5 review

As well as our Xbox Series X review 

Can't decide? Read our PS5 vs Xbox Series X comparisons

Disney is set to release a 100-film Blu-Ray collection in the US titled the Disney Legacy Animated Film Collection on 14 November.

The collection will celebrate 100 years of animated storytelling and will include movies from Disney and Pixar, ranging from this year’s Elemental all the way back to 1937’s Snow White.

The set will feature three volumes containing 18 discs in total, alongside artwork that unfolds like a personal storybook through the storied history of Disney.  

It also comes packed with original theatrical poster art, a lithograph from Disney’s upcoming musical comedy Wish, and a collectible crystal Mickey Mouse ears hat. 

One thing we noticed was the apparent lack of 4K content. At present, only a handful of the movies included in this set have been remastered for 4K, which means it’s highly unlikely that the complete roster will be available in that resolution. There’s also no word yet on the audio resolution available. 

Considering the fact that Disney+ is great for streaming 4K and HDR-compatible content, we think this is a little bit disappointing. Especially when you factor in the reported price of this set…

With a rumoured retail price of $1500, this new Disney collection will definitely reside in the realm of hardcore collectors. However, we can’t help but wonder: Does the future of physical media lie in this type of special edition boxset?

For most of us (but not all), the days of buying individual movies on DVD or Blu-ray is in the rear view. However, a nicely curated collection (or all-encompassing, in this case) with extra goodies and artwork gives an incentive to invest, and it would also take up far less space than 100 individual Blu-ray cases would! 

Granted, the price of this particular collection puts it out of reach for most fans – it’s a commemorative set and very expansive – but perhaps we’ll see more studios put some of their best works in a similar kind of collection in the future. 

MORE:

Disney discontinues DVD and Blu-ray production in Australia effective immediately

4K Blu-ray is on the verge of dying out and no one seems to care

A Panasonic 43-inch 4K TV now comes with a free Blu-ray/DVD player worth £160 over at John Lewis.

We haven’t tested this particular TV (TX-43LX800B) or Blu-ray player (DP-UB154EB), though Panasonic has a great track record in both AV categories, and a few years back we gave the slightly cheaper Panasonic DP-UB150EB Blu-ray player a five-star review, praising its image, sound, and excellent value.

For just £380, this 4K TV and disc player combo could be a real steal.

The 43-inch LX800B uses the Android TV OS, which is a decent gateway to video streaming apps. The TV also supports Auto AI to analyse and adjust incoming video signals to optimise your viewing experience, while Dolby Vision IQ delivers similar processing for Dolby Vision pictures.

Speaking of picture quality, the LX800B has a 4K Ultra HD resolution with Dolby Vision HDR to help deliver sharp, punchy pictures.

In terms of connectivity, the Panasonic LX800 features three HDMI inputs, with all three supporting ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) for next-gen gaming, and one supporting the ARC connection. It also offers two USB ports, an Ethernet port, and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. 

Use promo Code ‘BLURAY’ at checkout when buying the Panasonic 43-inch LX800B TV at John Lewis to claim this offer while it lasts. 

MORE: 

Panasonic DP-UB150EB review

Panasonic 2023 TV lineup: everything you need to know

Hands on: Panasonic MZ1500 review

Disney has announced that it will no longer release its movies or TV shows on physical media formats in Australia; meaning no more DVD, Blu-rays or 4K Blu-ray discs from the House of Mouse if you live down under. Instead, the media monopoly will shift its focus to digital releases and its Disney+ streaming service in Oz, effective immediately. 

This transition is expected to begin after the release of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 in the coming week, marking the final movie that Disney will release on the continent before it switches to its digital-only strategy.

This has much wider implications than just princess fairytale films and Marvel blockbusters, as Disney also owns the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and The Simpsons franchises, as well as National Geographic and the entire 20th Century Fox content catalogue, plus much more. This means that any intellectual property relating to these franchises will no longer receive physical home video discs in Australia, whether thats for upcoming films and television programmes, or re-releases of older content such as 4K remasters. 

We raised our concerns relating to the impending death of 4K Blu-ray just last week, and this seems to be the first official nail in the coffin. While we hope this trend is directly attributed to Australia's dwindling physical media sales, we can't help but get slightly nervous, especially as this is being spearheaded by the biggest media brand on the planet.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best Blu-ray players

As well as our best TV roundup

And the best TV deals

Allow me to introduce myself before we embark on the latest of our Adventures in AV. My name is Lewis, I'm a staff writer on What Hi-Fi?, and I'll be stepping in for Tom who is away on holiday this week. And I am a sucker for physical media. I know we bang on about it a lot here at What Hi-Fi?, but we do so for good reason. 

The thing about streaming is that while it's convenient, cheap, and there's a wide variety of content across the varying platforms, the picture and sound performance can't quite rival that of a 4K Blu-ray. And after all, we're all about performance-per-pound value. 

As with every rule, there is an exception, and that's a streaming service that's exclusive to the best Sony TVs called Bravia Core. Sony says that it's the only streaming service that plays at the same bitrate as a 4K Blu-ray – we want to test it further to validate that claim. And there are a few catches here, the most obvious being that you'll need a Sony TV to use this service. Bravia Core also uses a token-style system to redeem films; you get a handful when you buy a Sony product, but after that, you'll need to buy additional tokens. Finally, the content library is rather Sony PIctures heavy, which isn't a great surprise, so this service doesn't really compare to streaming rivals' libraries in terms of size and variety.

All this means that ultimately, services that advertise 4K streaming just don't look as good as 4K discs. Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus and Apple TV+ all stream in 4K, there's no doubting that, but it's important to recognise that not all 4K is created equally; basically, due to various factors around bandwidth and network speed, you will be seeing a lower bitrate version than you would receive on a disc.

The other issue with streaming services is that you never own the content on there. A rotating library of films and TV shows means you can log on one day to see your favourite movie suddenly not available on the service. Digital movie purchases are less risky, but still, the thought of a platform removing my video library or shutting down one day leaving my videos inaccessible gives me enough anxiety. Touch wood, this shouldn't be an issue with your disc collection. 

I've consolidated these facts for quite some time, which has led to a borderline unhealthy obsession with collecting discs for the films I love. In fact, it got slightly out of control a few years ago. I attempted to curb this obsession by only buying Collector's Edition Blu-rays, complete with lovely "SteelBook" cases and special features – but that's just resulted in a very heavy collection that's become a nuisance now that I'm packing up to move house. 

Would I trade it for the world? Absolutely not; my Blade Runner 2049 4K SteelBook and numbered Collector's Edition of Birdman (limited to 2000 copies) are two of my most prized possessions, and the fact that they're physical editions means no one can take them away from me (hopefully).

There is one slight issue here, and that's the fact that I am using a PS5 as a Blu-ray player which, while not the worst option out there, certainly isn't ideal for someone concerned with optimum picture and sound quality. 

There are a few missing features on the PS5 that make it a less-than-stellar movie machine, such as a lack of Dolby Vision support, slightly clumsy Dolby Atmos and DTS:X integration that requires manual selection after already selecting Bitstream audio and the fact that its picture and sound performance don't rival a dedicated 4K player. 

So, I thought to myself, "Why not scope out a new 4K Blu-ray player?" My browsing quickly led me to the damning reality – no one makes them any more. 

Well, no one might be a bit dramatic. Panasonic seems to be working overtime to keep the market afloat, and Sony seems to be offering some backup in the form of a couple of models, but that's about it for the mainstream brands. 

There are enthusiast brands, such as Magnetar, with its awesome reference 4K players that also happen to cost between £1700 and £3100 – so they will remain a pipe dream for now. Most of the manufacturers known for producing 4K Blu-ray players, such as Oppo, Pioneer, Samsung and LG, have all packed up production and stopped selling 4K players. Another sign of the streaming times? 

Well, it doesn't seem entirely so. 4K Blu-ray discs have seen record sales figures as of late. This jump, reported by Media Play News, was mostly due to the success of Top Gun: Maverick, which created a surge of interest in 4K Blu-ray back in November 2022.

But whether it's new releases or 4K re-releases of classic movies, there's an abundance of new films coming to 4K Blu-ray, so where are the players that we need to, you know, play the discs? 

My pre-order basket is already a cause for concern with the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, John Wick Chapter 4 and a new edition of Dune all sitting there waiting for me to check out, but truthfully I want a player that does these films justice. 

Furthermore, this lack of available Blu-ray players has me worried about the future of the format. Sure, there's an abundance of 4K discs available now, but what happens if Panasonic stops producing players? Will the industry keep producing discs at the same rate if there isn't any new hardware to play them on? And will streaming platforms and digital sales ultimately offer superior quality than we can find on disc? 

Dark times for physical media enthusiasts like myself could be ahead, so I'd implore you to invest in a good 4K Blu-ray player sooner rather than later. 

I hope movie fans will always have physical media collections; if there's a film I see that truly resonates with me I will still go out of my way to buy a physical copy. (And I know many people feel the same way about music.) I just hope the wider home entertainment industry, right down to Blu-ray player manufacturers, continue to support the market. Not least so I can upgrade my PS5...

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best 4K Blu-ray players

As well as our list of the best TVs

And the best projectors for your home cinema 

Record Store Day 2023 is fast approaching and, as noted by What Hi-Fi? managing editor Becky Roberts, there are plenty of reasons to get excited. 

I myself have big plans to hit my local shops and rummage like a pig for truffles the moment I can over the weekend. And, having seen the growing number of young people rummaging alongside me in said stores over the past year, I know I’m not alone in my love of vinyl hunting.

But despite my excitement, over the past few days, I’ve had a separate thought growing in my head. Specifically, I feel the exact same way about Blu-ray.

Now before you go rolling your eyes, hear me out. If you take an objective view of why I, and most of the people I know, love vinyl, in pretty much every instance you can say the exact same thing about Blu-ray.

Let’s start with the obvious: the joy of actually owning the media. We all know that there’s something special about owning a bit of music you love in a physical format. This is a key reason I own a vinyl copy of my most loved albums – sometimes more than one if it’s particularly awesome, like Rush’s Permanent Waves – even if it’s also available on streaming.

I know I’m not alone. Cambridge Audio’s CEO Stuart George listed a desire for people to own their music as a key reason he sees CDs getting a similar renaissance to vinyl during an interview with What Hi-Fi? earlier this year.

For me, the same’s true of Blu-ray. Most recently this was evidenced by a sudden impulse I had to revisit one of my favourite cartoons – Dragon Ball Z. This happened when I finally finished watching Dragon Ball Super on Crunchyroll and then felt a hankering to rewatch the original show. However, fate was not on my side and to my dismay I rapidly realised no streaming service in the UK that I use has Dragon Ball Z in its library.

Since then I’ve been counting the days until my next payday and have been in ongoing negotiations with my other half about why I need to buy this rather swish-looking Dragon Ball Z Blu-ray collection. In my mind, £300 is a more than fair price to have permanent access to one of my favourite cartoons.

Then there’s the collectibility. One of the big things collectors love is finding rare items. That’s why, as well as vinyl, you can find everything from old computer game cartridges to first-generation iPhones selling for astronomical amounts.

This is also 100 per cent true of Blu-ray, with some out-of-print discs already selling for excessive amounts. Let’s take Kevin Smith’s Dogma as an example. Is it the best movie ever made? Nah. But because it’s been out of print for ages, even less than top-condition second-hand copies are retailing for hundreds of pounds on eBay. This is the cheapest copy I could find at the time of writing – if you don’t know the movie, trust me, it’s not worth spending £160 just to watch Dogma. The price is all about rarity.

Then finally, there are the extras. Vinyl’s been doing an excellent job enticing me to buy different versions of the albums I love using cool things like alternative album covers, unheard B-sides, and the ilk. This is a key reason the latest collector’s edition of Miles Davis’ On the Corner Sessions is top of my purchase list at the moment. I mean look at it, it’s blue! How cool is that?

The same is true of Blu-ray with Steelbook and special editions all coming with cool extras. These Event Horizon 25th Anniversary Edition and Masters Of The Universe Steelbook are great examples of what I mean. Both have funky cases and come with collectible pamphlets and extra interviews with the cast and crew that more than justify their upfront cost, in my mind.

And it’s for all these reasons, that I can’t help but feel Blu-ray is on the verge of having a similar renaissance to vinyl, which I’m all for.

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Magnetar has taken the wraps off its gloriously high-end second 4K Blu-ray player – the UDP900.

As you can see from the image above, it's a hugely hefty device, and it weighs 15.5kg, which is ridiculously heavy for a Blu-ray player. As you can also see, its aluminium body features a very snazzy quartered front panel.

Seemingly accounting for much of the UDP900's size and weight is its dual power supply design, which consists of one 60W toroidal transformer for analogue audio and a separate 60W 'high power low noise' transformer for surround sound and hi-res music. Separate metal casework for the power supplies is intended to reduce noise and maintain the purity of audio signals.

Audio quality is clearly being taken very seriously here, as the UDP900 features a Sabre ES9038PRO DAC (the same DAC that's used in the extremely sweet-sounding JBL SDR-35 AV receiver) that can output stereo sound via twin balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA outputs, and surround sound via a 7.1 RCA array. The player can also obviously output audio digitally, via HDMI, optical or coax.

On the video side, the UDP900 supports HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, and while we're referring to it here as a '4K Blu-ray player', it is in fact a universal disc player capable of handling myriad optical disc formats, including Super Audio CD.

And the price? A cool 2500 Euros, which currently translates to around £2210 / $2730 / AU$4075. Magnetar does have distribution in the UK and US, but official pricing and availability for these regions are still to be confirmed. Stay tuned for more when we have it.

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These are the best 4K Blu-ray players you can buy right now

You'll also want to check out the best TVs

Sharing most of the picture processing technology with the more expensive DP-UB9000, this step-down 4K Blu-ray player from Panasonic began as an interesting proposition and has since become a mainstay of our AV test room.

The Panasonic DP-UB820EB has stood the test of time remaining our go-to recommendation for a 4K Blu-ray player that won't blow the budget. That being said, it has seen various price increases since it first launched, so does that mean we can still recommend it?

Well, while it does complicate the matter somewhat, the bottom line is yes. The flagship model still costs three times as much, and 4K Blu-ray player options have become more scarce since the UB820EB launched. That being said, just because options are limited, it doesn't mean you have to settle for a subpar-performing player, and the Panasonic proves that with its brilliant picture and sound.

Features

The Panasonic DP-UB820EB is a chunky rectangle of a deck. It’s a lot wider and taller than proper budget Blu-ray players and the beefier dimensions give it a more substantial look. The bevel cut finish around its edges looks attractive enough, as does the brushed effect on the top panel. But up close, the player looks and feels a little cheap and plasticky.

You get a matching chunky remote that fits nicely in the palm of your hand. It’s textbook Panasonic – the buttons are a good size and spread out instead of feeling cramped. It’s easy for your thumb to find its way around the wand, even if it doesn’t have a backlight. 

The main unit is pretty minimalist in terms of design, with just two buttons on the top panel for power and opening/closing the drawer. The front panel drops down as the drawer extends out, revealing the player’s display (which is also visible with the panel up) and one of the DP-UB820’s two USB inputs. This particular one allows you to play content from a portable hard drive.

There aren’t many surprises on the back of the Panasonic, but it does tick all of the boxes you’d probably expect at this price. There’s ethernet for a wired internet connection (recommended if you’re streaming via the player’s built-in apps) while twin HDMI outputs give added flexibility for owners who prefer to split the picture and sound for their display and amp.

The provision of a set of 7.1-channel analogue outputs isn’t vital given the specifications of modern AV receivers, but it’s nice to have added flexibility should your system need it.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use the Panasonic to help revive any old SACD or DVD-Audio disc collections – neither of these formats is on the spec sheet. But it will handle the full gamut of surround sound codecs found on modern 4K Blu-rays and streaming services, including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

The DP-UB820 also covers all the necessary bases where HDR (high dynamic range) formats are concerned. There’s HDR10 and Dolby Vision support out of the box, and HDR10+ support too. If your TV supports these formats, the Panasonic will be happy to oblige. The same can’t be said for a number of rival manufacturers’ players. HDR10+ content is still relatively thin on the ground, but it’s starting to appear on more 4K Blu-ray releases.

Like its more expensive sibling, the DP-UB9000, the DP-UB820 is powered by Panasonic’s clever, second-generation HCX (Hollywood Cinema Experience) picture processing engine. This means it can call upon the chip’s HDR Optimiser, which Panasonic claims will improve tone-mapping in an HDR picture with static metadata. It takes into account the brightness limitations of your display and tweaks the image to extract the most detail, particularly in whites and bright scenes.

A press of the ‘HDR Setting’ button on the remote also gives you the option of tweaking the HDR intensity to compensate for different lighting conditions. The brighter your room, for example, the harder it can be for the extra punch of HDR to make a mark.

If you are watching content in Dolby Vision, which already uses dynamic metadata, the deck recognises this and will bypass the Optimiser completely. If required, the player can even downconvert HDR to SDR, which can be useful if you’re running a 4K projector that doesn’t support HDR.

All the key catch-up and on-demand video streaming services are at your disposal, including BBC iPlayer, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Not exactly a big deal if your 4K TV already has them, but handy to have if you’re plugging the Panasonic straight into a projector, which is likely pretty dumb by smart TV standards.

Picture

We fire up the player with Blue Planet II in 4K and HDR10. We head to the Galapagos Islands, where we’re greeted with a detailed and sharply drawn volcanic landscape. The picture proves to be as vibrant and immersive above sea level as it is below. 

As marine iguanas nibble away at vegetation on the sea floor, the Panasonic picks up an impressive level of detail on their skin, claws, face and even the fine lines that separate their teeth. They convene on a sun-kissed clifftop, where the DP-UB820 paints an eye-catching and immersive picture.

There’s a sudden burst of vibrant colour as a crab appears to feed on dead skin from the iguana’s back. The crab’s reds, oranges and bluey-whites appear punchy, contrasting with the darker skin of their hosts. 

We switch to Aquaman in Dolby Vision and the Panasonic raises the bar even higher. As the pirates arrive to board the Russian submarine, the headlights and the red landing lights on their underwater submersible punch through the murky depths.

As the action moves inside, the muzzle flash from a machine gun lights up your screen with concentrated and precise explosions. There’s a real sense of intensity to each blast. The clean, noise-free picture looks realistic and easily draws you in to admire details and textures in the black suits of armour.

The Panasonic delivers stable Sicilian rocky outcrops, adorned with rich green foliage – and combined with the bluey-green hues of the sea, it makes for one inviting picture. The player gives the rays of sunshine impact, but doesn’t overplay the sun-kissed scene as Arthur and Mera wander around the village market.

The DP-UB820 is a decent upscaler too. The original Transformers movie on Blu-ray is a stern test – there’s plenty of noise and the colour balance has a warmish tint – but the Panasonic does a good job of working the picture into something watchable.

Sound

The Panasonic compliments its exciting picture with a sound to match. The DP-UB820 delivers a weighty and powerful performance that’s capable of delivering explosions with plenty of gusto, but also in a controlled manner.

It’s a more muscular and grown up sound than many budget players, with rich dialogue irrespective of whether the scene is quiet or characters are caught up in an avalanche of surround effects.

We spin the Dolby Atmos soundtrack to Spiderman Homecoming on 4K Blu-ray and head to the chapter where our intrepid hero meets the Vulture for the first time on the Staten Island Ferry. 

As the Vulture’s high-tech weapon rips through the ship, the laser pulses with weight and purpose as it tears through the ferry’s metal structure. The Panasonic delivers each slicing blow with with plenty of force before one final huge pulse puts an exclamation point on the whole scene. It’s an exciting performer that doesn’t struggle to hold your attention.

It’s a similar case with music playback too. During Inception, as the team attempt to breach the snow fortress, the orchestral score kicks off with a weighty and deliberate swell of sound, setting the tone for the action that follows. There’s a weight and depth to bass notes that adds to the drama unfolding in front of you. The Panasonic could be a bit more communicative with subtle low-level shifts and swings in dynamics, but otherwise it’s an accomplished performer.

Verdict

If you’ve bought into the 4K Blu-ray format and have a suitable home cinema set-up, you need a dedicated player that can deliver on multiple fronts. The Panasonic DP-UB820 is just that, supporting all major HDR formats, delivering a hugely immersive and impactful picture, backed up by a strong audio performance. At this price, it’s a great buy.

Review published: 2019. Review updated: November 2024.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 5
• Features 4

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Best 4K Blu-ray players

Read our Panasonic DP-UB9000 review

• Want more choice? Check out our long list of the best media streamers

• Want more choice? Check out our long list of the best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players

With streaming services becoming the new norm for how many of us watch films and TV in 4K, it can be easy to forget that there is a way to enjoy your favourite content with even better picture and sound quality.

Enter 4K Blu-rays, which use a higher bitrate than streaming to create a better overall experience. But which player is best to take advantage of your high-resolution discs?

Sadly, the 4K Blu-ray player market can be best likened to a deserted town from a Western movie; it's tumbleweeds when it comes to new releases. Big hitters like Pioneer and Reavon both exited the market last year, and the biggest news recently when it comes to new player launches is Sony's "new" UBP-X700/K model, which appears to be the same as the best mid-range model on this list, just without any internet functionality.

But don't worry, there are still some top-notch models on the market. Panasonic and Sony are holding down the fort with a handful of excellent options, even if they are starting to show their age.

We have crafted a list of the best models right now, with various price points ranging from under £150 all the way up to just shy of £1000. Each entry has been thoroughly tested and reviewed by our expert team (you can find out how we test Blu-ray players here), and you can find full reviews attached to each.

With that out of the way, here are the best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players on the market...

The quick list

Here's a quick breakdown of our picks for the best Blu-ray players with a short summary and some of the key features that they individually offer. If you're after more details, click the image of the streaming service to drop down to the in-depth entry.

Best overall

With the DP-UB820EB, Panasonic has taken the video processing tech out of the flagship DP-UB9000 – which features further down this list – and placed it in a more affordable package. And the results are sensational. The player serves up a wonderfully inviting and immersive picture, bursting with colour and detail. It also produces a meaty and exciting sound, which complements the picture perfectly.

All the main flavours of HDR are supported, including HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, which means you can extract the most from 4K content. It's a very good upscaler too, so normal Blu-rays should look the part on your shiny new 4K TV. For the money, you'll struggle to find a better all-round machine, which is why we've placed this What Hi-Fi? Award-winner at the top of our list of the best Blu-ray players.

Read the full review: Panasonic DP-UB820EB

Best cheap

This Panasonic 4K player represents great value for money. Feature-wise, it's a little sparse – the main one missing is Dolby Vision support, which could put some buyers off. But it's the performance that matters, and on that front it delivers. It can provide 7.1 surround sound (using a supported system), and the audio is nicely detailed, with an impressive sense of scale. There's a lot to admire when it comes to picture quality too - dark details are easily strong enough, while it handles 4K upscaling with aplomb. A great buy for those working on a tight budget.

Read the full review: Panasonic DP-UB150EB

Best mid-range

If you want an affordable route into the world of 4K Blu-ray players, the Sony UBP-X700 is a great option. It's one of the most talented 4K players we've seen at this kind of money. It’s a fun, involving performance - pictures are stacked with detail. The Sony displays a wonderfully subtle picture that’s impeccably judged while being hugely entertaining. Sound quality is equally stirring with its zippy, dynamic character complementing that class-leading picture.

The Sony ticks most of the boxes you'd expect a player to at this price, and includes both Dolby Vision and HDR10 support but no HDR10+.

Despite not flashing the hi-res audio badge, the X700 can also play up to 24bit/192kHz files and supports a number of formats, including WAV, FLAC and DSD. There's also smart functionality and twin HDMI outputs. This Sony machine is good enough to boost all manner of home cinema systems, so you can buy with confidence.

Read the full review: Sony UBP-X700

Best non-4k

Making a Blu-ray player for such a low price is no easy feat. Making a good Blu-ray player at this level is more difficult, and a great one harder still. But somehow Panasonic has managed it with the DMP-BDT180EB. If you can live without the 4K Blu-ray playback, the Panasonic is perfect for any entry-level home cinema set-up. Detail levels, colour balance and motion handling are all excellent for the money.

It doesn’t hold back when it comes to audio quality either. Its dynamic delivery is exciting to listen to, voices sound clear and the whole presentation is pretty balanced. If you want a solid upgrade on an old DVD spinner, this Panasonic Blu-ray player won't let you down.

Read the full review: Panasonic DMP-BDT180EB

Best high end

There are some great budget 4K Blu-ray players in this list, but the Panasonic DP-UB9000 is the one to audition if you're in the market for a premium machine.

Its menu system is a little overcomplicated, but once you've got the Panasonic set up for your particular display, it serves up an entertaining and attention-grabbing image, bursting with colour. There's a great sense of depth and realism to 4K images that makes you sit up and take notice.

Soundtracks are delivered with plenty of weight and power, which is just what you want from a premium player like this. The provision of a 7.1 multi-channel analogue is great news for owners of legacy AV receivers, while the choice of either balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA connections for stereo playback and the provision of support for WAV, FLAC, AIFF and AAC audio formats shows this player means business.

Read the full review: Panasonic DP-UB9000

How to choose

How to choose the best Blu-ray player for you

As filming technology advances with increasingly impressive stunts, sets, and graphics, filmed at ever-higher resolutions and frame rates, 4K Blu-rays really let you appreciate the artistry of today's filmmakers with sharp details, seamless motion and rich colours.

To make the most of a 4K Blu-ray player you'll need to pair it with a 4K TV or projector and for top-notch visuals look out for which HDR formats are supported such as Dolby Vision and HDR10+.

4K Blu-ray players not only enhance your viewing experience, but they can also support lossless object-based surround formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. But you'll need to partner it with either a compatible sound system and AVR or a soundbar capable of outputting immersive audio.

4K players are backwards compatible so you can play normal Blu-rays and DVDs without issue, though if this is something you're likely to do frequently pay close attention to a model's upscaling abilities. Some 4K players are also universal decks that can play more niche audio disc formats such as SACD and DVD-Audio.

Almost all players have Ethernet ports for a wired network connection and a large number even have wireless built-in and USB ports that you can use to access an external hard drive. Expect to find HDMI outputs as standard on modern players and, for flexibility, many Blu-ray players have an additional audio-only output.

Our list of the best 4K Blu-ray players only contains models reviewed by our test team in our dedicated test rooms. Each model has been through our rigorous testing process so you can be 100% confident that they all serve up brilliant pictures and sound at their respective price points.

Also consider

Sony PlayStation 5: Chances are, if you're a console gamer you'll already have one of these. The PS5 is a very capable 4K Blu-ray player, with features such as Dolby Atmos and HDR10 playback both supported. Unlike its Xbox counterpart, it doesn't feature Dolby Vision which is a bit of a shame, but considering it's half the price of the premium Panaosnic and has the ability to stream and play games, its certainly a solid deal.

Microsoft Xbox Series X: An alternative option to the above choice, the Xbox Series X does much of what the PS5 does but with the added benefit of Dolby Vision. The Xbox also seems to have more picture and sound settings to tweak, making it the better console for those who like the squeeze out the very best AV experience from their console.

Reavon UBR-X100: It's pricey, but this enthusiast level 4K media player is a solid choice for those who want to try something new. Featuring excellent picture quality and detailed sound, the Reavon is an impressive piece of kit. However, it skips out on HDR10+, so we'd recommend giving it a miss if you own a Samsung TV.

How we test

How we test blu-ray players

Here at What Hi-Fi? we review hundreds of products every year, from TVs to speakers, headphones to hi-fi systems. So how do we come to our review verdicts? And why can you trust them? Allow us to explain.

The What Hi-Fi? team has more than 100 years of experience in reviewing, testing and writing about consumer electronics. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London and Bath, where our team of expert reviewers do all our in-house testing. This gives us complete control over the testing process, ensuring consistency.

This includes a dedicated home cinema room where we spend plenty of time with every Blu-ray player that passes through our doors. When testing picture quality we try players with reference TVs and projectors trying a wide range of content, including SDR and HDR.

To assess sound quality, we connect them up to our reference AV receiver and surround sound package so we can hear just what they're capable of. We'll also use the player with a more price-comparable system to see how it works with electronics and speakers that would be a better fit price-wise.

We also compare 4K Blu-ray players with rival products in the same category, and the current class-leaders to see where they sit in the current market and to help us decide where they should feature in this buying guide.

All review verdicts are agreed upon by the team as a whole rather than a single reviewer, helping to ensure consistency and avoid individual subjectivity. That's why our reviews are trusted by retailers and manufacturers as well as consumers.

F.A.Q

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Ohio-based start-up Folio Photonics has announced new innovations in the world of data storage, promising to pave the way for affordable optical discs that can store up to 1TB per disc.

In comparison, a 4K Blu-ray disc can store up to 100GB, while a theoretical 8K Blu-ray disc that doesn't even exist yet is expected to hold 200GB or 250GB. Folio is planning on bringing 10TB cartridges packed with 1TB discs to market in 2024.

What's more, this is not being developed with the intention of creating a high-capacity, ultra-expensive storage format that only the biggest companies in the world with the most pressing data storage needs can afford. Currently, a 1TB hard drive costs about $25, while Folio's development is expected to cost less than $5 per TB.

How exactly is Folio managing to massively increase capacity and simultaneously bring down costs, you ask? Of course, the secret sauce is, well, secret – and now inevitably patented. But Folio says that it has made breakthroughs in optical disc layering, being able to create discs with eight or even sixteen discrete layers. This contrasts to the traditional three-layer optical discs of today.

Discs have been cheap for a long time, and we've relied on them heavily for a long time, but an increasing limitation of discs in today's media-hungry world has become capacity. In general, for consumer media, we're limited to 4K Blu-rays with 100GB of storage, and these are already fairly expensive. 8K Blu-ray may never be a thing, and even if it is it will be expensive and limited to around 250GB max.

If Folio truly can build high-capacity, low-cost discs, this could be a true successor to Blu-ray and the saving grace of physical media that is, right now, slowly being phased out as storage requirements keep increasing. Of course, enterprise data archival storage technology is not the same thing as a Blu-ray disc. However, if Folio's new disc is as high-capacity and as affordable as the firm claims it will be at launch, and if it can be used for consumer media effectively, this could give physical media a new lease of life, perhaps becoming the best and last storage format of our age.

According to Folio, 1TB per disc isn't even the ceiling of this new optical disc technology either. Further development will be carried out with the aim of enabling even more layers per disc to further increase storage capacity. Theoretically, then, we could see discs with multiple terabytes of storage materialise in the next few years.

Folio isn't bringing this tech to market until 2024, and if everything goes according to plan it will initially be targeted at the enterprise storage market. Don't expect this on store shelves and revolutionising consumer physical media anytime soon, but be sure to keep an eye on it. Because it might just be the future.

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You’ve probably already read articles about the death of DVD and Blu-ray movies, and you possibly thought ‘who cares? I stream all my movies anyway.'

But the thing is that the death of movie discs matters and, those impacted most by it are actually gamers. If Blu-ray goes, it means an end to the reign of the optical disc. Nothing is likely to take its place, and games everywhere are going to become download-only, as they have on PC.

Unfortunately, we’ll all soon be paying the same (or more) for less, and it will also inevitably mean the end of the secondhand market, which is vital to gamers on a budget.

• I watched a 4K Blu-ray for the first time in years – and was left disappointed

Blu-ray only prolonged the inevitable… 

Blu-ray is awesome, a great upgrade over DVD, and the journey from DVD to Blu-ray to 4K Blu-ray has allowed for the continued existence of physical games.

However, you can find articles over a decade old proclaiming that physical media is dead in much the same way you can point to people opining that ‘3D is the future’ and that ‘singleplayer games are dying’ if you look for it. As time has shown us, these people were mistaken, because 3D isn’t much of a thing in the modern day, and single-player games are still some of the hottest, biggest games around.

Unfortunately, though, these folks weren’t wrong about physical media. It may be taking longer to die out than many people expected, but today, frankly, there’s no way to look at video games and not think that physical media is either dead now or will be soon. Sure, you can still buy games on Blu-rays, but you don’t actually own the games you buy. More often than not you aren’t even getting the game on the disc.

Since the release of the PS3 and Xbox 360, games on discs have become increasingly incomplete. During the PlayStation 2 era, you bought a game, you put it into your console, and you played the game. That was it. You could still do this with a PS3 or 360, more or less, but if you wanted to play online and/or not be forced to deal with bugs and glitches that were addressed by patches, well, you’d need an internet connection to download some data.

As time went on, games got bigger, and the problem with discs got worse, even if the jump to Blu-ray, starting with the PS3, increased storage capacity. What were once patches that needed to be downloaded are now games so large that they can’t fit onto discs at all, so a big chunk of data has to be downloaded from a server to even play.

At this point, you might be wondering why it has to be like this. After all, 8K TVs exist, so surely a new format like 8K Blu-ray must be coming with more storage than ever? Then, you could get everything but new patches right off the disc. Problem solved, right?

…because profits killed physical media 

Unfortunately, no. It all comes down to dollars. Back in the day when PlayStation Network and Xbox Live were relatively new things, game companies first started pushing for digital purchases. I mean, if you could cut out the middleman and sell your games directly to your customers, why wouldn’t you?

Plus, because you wouldn’t have to invest in discs and distribution, you could charge less for your games and still make more money than you did before. This was a big selling point companies were pushing back then: the idea that if we all started buying games digitally, well, games would be cheaper.

Spoiler alert: they aren't cheaper.

Companies quickly realised that since everybody was used to paying a certain price for games they could just charge the same price digitally.

If people are willing to download their games, or at least have the ability to, why invest in a fancy new Blu-ray spec with more expensive discs? Why even bother to pack multiple Blu-ray discs into a case, increasing costs? If we wanted to solve these problems, we could sell games on cartridges or flash drives or SSDs that could hold even gigantic games and their updates, but it’s not about solving problems, it’s about money.

…and Blu-ray can’t bring any of it back to life

The PlayStation 3 used Blu-ray, while the Xbox 360 used traditional DVDs, offering an HD-DVD attachment that quickly fell out of fashion. At the time, a Blu-ray could have 25GB or 50GB (with dual-layer discs) of storage, while your average dual-layer DVD could hold 9GBs of storage. Blu-rays, however, were new at the time of the PS3 and 360, so they were much more expensive than DVDs, making it cost-effective to just use multiple DVDs for games when necessary, as the 360 did.

Importantly, though, Blu-ray support was also a compelling media feature, making the PlayStation 3, at launch, one of the best Blu-ray players money could buy. On top of that, the costs of Blu-ray would inevitably go down. So, Sony not only supported the superior format but also got a hot new feature out of it and could expect costs, realistically, to go down in time. All things considered, Blu-ray was a huge win for everybody, guaranteeing physical games could keep coming.

Today, things are a lot different. Blu-rays can hold up to 100GB, and both Xbox and PlayStation rely on Blu-rays, while PC has just almost completely eliminated the tradition of selling physical games altogether. However, games are much bigger than they were on PS3 and 360. On PC, today, a game like Call Of Duty: Warzone can take up over 250GB of storage.

Whether or not we could further increase the capacity of a Blu-ray with a next-generation 8K Blu-ray, the economics of it are unlikely to make much sense. It'll be costly, and it won't permanently solve the storage problem, just kick it down the road. All told, it's not likely we start seeing higher-capacity media Blu-rays anytime soon, if ever.

What’s more is that, sure, for now, we could return to the tradition of packing multiple discs into physical games when we need access to more storage, but how long would that make sense? If 8K Blu-rays aren’t on the horizon, maybe we could do two discs or three discs, but what happens when PS6 has games that are over 500GBs in size? And how many discs would it take before games became to expensive for the average gamer?

Quickly, we’re going to reach even the theoretical limits of Blu-ray as a format, and the only option will be the extraordinarily expensive method of selling games on SSDs or flash drives with hundreds of gigabytes of storage, and that’s just never going to happen, not when companies can just completely eliminate discs altogether and charge the same, if not more. It just doesn’t make any kind of business sense.

Say goodbye to secondhand games

Right now, second-hand games are in a bad spot. You can't really trade PC games, because it's all digital now, and it's a non-starter for mobile games. If we're talking about Nintendo, you're good to go with no major problems, but this is less the case when it comes to Xbox and PlayStation in the modern day.

You can trade physical console games, but there can be limitations to this. Some parts of a game might be tied to a code that's been paired with your account, and it's likely that you won't just be able to pop the disc into an offline console and play.

We've already got the digital-only PS5 and Xbox Series S, so if the next-gen versions of these consoles launch and they're all disc-less, the second-hand market is going to die. Look at second-hand PC games right now: *tumbleweed*. There's nothing. Secondhand PC games don't really exist, not physically, not anymore

Sure, there's the option of trading, buying, and selling accounts (or even sharing accounts) that can and does create a sort of 'digital secondhand' marketplace, but it's very niche, throws up security concerns, and isn't a great replacement for trading physical games.

But the second-hand market isn't just about access, it's about savings, too. Buying games used, and trading in games you've finished, has been an essential way to claw back some of the money lost when buying new. If you aren't extremely well off, you probably aren't able to afford every new blockbuster game at launch.

We're going to need a bigger hard drive

But the demise of the secondhand games market isn't the only way ditching Blu-ray is going to hit gamers.

As we transition into this glistening, halcyon all-digital future, storage is actually still a major concern, and internet speeds also become a huge issue. In terms of storage, if a single game requires hundreds of gigabytes of space, you're only going to be able to store a couple of games at a time on your console. You'll either need to buy more storage or buy a more expensive console with more space that still may require upgrading in future.

Then, you're going to need a good internet connection. Not just a connection capable of streaming video or playing a game online, but a fast, stable connection capable of regularly downloading hundreds of gigabytes without too much of a wait. This might not sound like a big ask if you live in Silicon Valley and work in tech, but this is actually a huge ask for many parts of the world. Those fortunate enough to have ultra-fast broadband won't feel the effects, but for those that don't, downloading the latest and greatest games could turn into a chore.

If you can't rely on buying secondhand, have slow internet, and can't easily afford to spend more on storage, you're going to be out of a luck in a way that those with more to spend never will be.

So, buy physical games while you still can 

Luckily, depending on the kind of gamer you are, physical media isn’t totally dead just yet. In terms of Xbox and PlayStation, a healthy chunk of sales are still physical, and if you’re a Nintendo fan, you probably have a few generations left before games get big enough to need to leave physical copies behind.

Plus, of course, the practice of buying old games on discs will continue until the supply of a particular game is exhausted. Though, if a game relies on a server for multiplayer or to access patches, this can and will cause problems.

However, it’s hard to imagine that in 10 years you’ll be able to walk into a games store and see racks on racks on racks of the latest, newest titles on discs. More likely is that we’ll keep up the tradition of selling plastic cases with artwork on them, and instead of a disc, there'll be a code inside that you can use to download the game. This is, more or less, what a physical copy of a PC game is today.

If Blu-ray is breathing its last few breaths, now’s the time to load up on physical discs, because the PS5 and Series X generation of consoles may be the last where physical games are widely accessible.

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Video streaming services might be losing subscribers and getting more expensive, but they are still the future of home entertainment. Here's more proof: sales of video discs continue to drop, according to US statistics released by VideoScan / MediaPlayNews (via flatpanelshd).

Ultra HD Blu-ray is taking a larger share of that market, but there's no getting around the fact the market is shrinking. UHD Blu-rays accounted for 13.4 per cent of all video discs sold in the US in the second quarter of 2022 – that's the highest since the format launched.

But this growth comes at the expense of regular Blu-ray discs.

UHD and standard Blu-rays account for almost 50 per cent of the US market. The rest are DVDs.

Monetarily speaking, US video disc sales amounted to $3.29 billion in 2019, $2.45 billion in 2020 and $1.97 billion in 2021. The first quarter of 2022 saw this drop another 19 per cent. Plot these figures on a graph and you can see where this might be headed. 

Still, never say never. Vinyl and even CDs have made something of a comeback, though admittedly both formats are still far from their peak. Could video discs see a similar resurgence? Let us know in the comments below.

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I watched a 4K Blu-ray for the first time in years – and was left disappointed

“What are you doing?”, asked my partner at the sight of me fiddling with cables underneath the TV. “We’re going to watch Dune… on Blu-ray. 4K Blu-ray.” 

Maybe it’s not something I should admit in my position but, like lots of people, it has probably been a few years since I dusted off the Blu-ray player. It’s there underneath the TV but for a good while now has been playing a distant third or fourth fiddle to Netflix, Disney+, and the rest. 

For I am only human, and the convenience of streaming services has most certainly turned my head. All that content at the touch of a button and for a relatively low, sign-up-and-try-and-forget-about-it monthly fee. 

What’s more, those of us who care about quality now needn’t worry unduly that we’re getting short-changed, with 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and more, all making their way to streaming services. So why would anyone bother with a disc?

The devil is in the detail. Aside from the whole argument for the value of physical media over streaming - which, in the case of vinyl, I'm very much on board with - 4K Blu-ray discs have still clung on in my mind as the superior choice when it comes to performance. For not all 4K pictures, nor all next-gen audio formats, are equal. 

See, 4K Blu-ray discs run at up to 128Mbps. This is the amount of data sent to your screen every second. By contrast, streaming services tend to top out at around 17Mbps. And this will drop further depending on the speed of your internet connection and demand on the wider network. So 4K on disc should be better than 4K via your favourite streaming service.

What about sound? It's a closer call but there's still an edge for Ultra HD Blu-ray. Yes, you can get Dolby Atmos pretty much everywhere, but streaming services deliver it in the compressed Dolby Digital+ format while discs generally carry it in full-fat Dolby TrueHD. As for DTS:X, you need to be watching on a disc. And of the two next-gen audio formats, DTS:X is a bit more flexible. It works with standard surround sound set-ups and doesn't require extra overhead speakers the way Atmos generally does. You can also manually adjust sound objects, meaning you can crank up the volume of voices on a soundtrack making it easier to hear dialogue (a common gripe).

Ultimately, my old Blu-ray player should still deliver a better picture and sound performance than the same thing via a streaming service. Hurrah. I knew I should have been buying more 4K Blu-rays. So now, having finally decided to soak up those extra megabits, why was I left disappointed?

Well, for the most part, the experience. Sure, the sweating and fiddling with cables was my fault but the subsequent wait for the disc to load was not – and it seemed like an eternity. While I was somewhat prepared for this and doing my best to act unperturbed, despite being shocked by quite how slow it seemed, my partner was incredulous. “We could be half way through a film on Netflix by now…” With a sleeping baby upstairs, every second counts in our household.

I gripped the remote and stared straight ahead, waiting for the disc to load – the stunning picture and sound about to enter our eyes and ears would soon have her convinced, I thought. 

Once I’d checked the sound options and marvelled at the “old school” menu screen, we were off. Lights dimmed, sound turned up loud, we were ready to immerse ourselves in a true home cinema experience… But hang on, what was that noise? Was there a car outside with the engine running? A light aircraft overhead? Is the boiler overheating? Ah no... that whirring noise was the Blu-ray player’s fan.

Memories of Group Tests of Blu-ray players came flooding back, wondering which player was quieter, and whether this particularly unit merited a "noisy fan" in the Against column. To be fair, my Sky Q box is no shrinking violet, and I also couldn’t rule out that my Blu-ray player really was literally as well as metaphorically dusty and old, and this could be spurring the fan into action. But regardless; loud mechanisms on disc players is definitely a thing. And another reason to feel somewhat deflated at the Blu-ray experience.

But, ultimately, the epic sandscapes and trademark stirring Hans Zimmer soundtrack had us hooked. Of course there was no buffering, no drop in quality, just 59.80Mbps of 4K HDR10 goodness complete with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. What’s not to like?

And herein lies the real disappointment: we're simply not getting the full-fat, best-possible AV experience from the streaming services that so many of us are watching 99% of the time. 

There’s no arguing with the content, from great documentaries to brilliant TV shows, and many blockbuster films now going straight to streaming, but that only makes it more depressing that we're not getting to enjoy this content in the best possible quality.

Alright, if you don't have the latest TV, you're watching on a smaller screen or you don't have much of a sound system, you may not notice these differences, but for those of us eager to be getting our TV and films "as the director intended", we don't want to miss out on so much as a smidgeon of AV information.

We've been here before of course, when low-quality MP3 downloads and then streams replaced CDs, despite being far inferior sonically. The good news is that we did eventually get lossless and high-resolution audio from streaming services. The quality did catch up with the convenience. And it's fair to say the gap between Netflix and 4K Blu-ray is already much (much) closer than MP3 and CD. 

So we could all keep (or start) buying more 4K Blu-rays. I know plenty of people who do, whether for the reasons above or because they love physical media (and steelbooks). But for those who have left discs behind and have no desire to go back, there is hope. 

Both Apple TV+ and Disney+ now boast up to 40Mbps and 30Mbps top data speeds respectively, though your experience will depend on your devices and network. Sony's Bravia Core service, meanwhile, offers genuine 4K Blu-ray-baiting data rates but is exclusive to Sony's flagship TVs. Bravia Core does point to the future of streaming, though, and of course the beauty of software is that it can be upgraded and improve over time.

But until then, you might want to remember to splash the cash on a 4K Blu-ray disc from time to time – you soon get used to the fan, after all.

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French company Reavon has launched a new universal disc player, the UBR-X110. Following on from the UBR-X100, it spins all the discs of its predecessor (UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, DVD Audio, CD) with the addition of SACD. About the only disc format it won't play is HD-DVD, if anyone remembers that.

Previously, if you wanted SACD compatibility from Reavon, you had to step up to the brand's flagship X200.

As well as all these disc formats, it also plays various file formats for music, video and audio. These include FLAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF, JPG, TIFF, MKV and M2TS. That means you can hook up an external drive via USB or DLNA and enjoy your entire media collection using the X110.

SACD aside, it's a very similar proposition to the X100. Connections include dual HDMIs (one for audio/video, and one for audio only), optical, coaxial and Ethernet, while it also supports the Dolby Vision and HDR10 codecs of HDR.

The X110 is available now in Europe, with prices starting around €850 (around £700 / $925 / AU$1200).

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The latest Intel-powered PCs and laptops will no longer be able to act as a media player for 4K HDR films as the company has eliminated support for the SGX (Software Guard Extension) technology required to play UHD Blu-ray discs.

SGX is a DRM (Digital rights management) security mechanism needed to support the playback of protected UHD Blu-ray discs on PCs. Intel had supported SGX since 2016, when it launched its Sky Lake Core i-6000 chips. But recently, several security vulnerabilities have been found in the software leading to its removal.

As relatively few PCs even contain disc drives, the move is unlikely to impact many users. However, CyberLink, which produces the media playback application PowerDVD that comes bundled with PCs, has warned that although older processors continue to support SGX, it could be withdrawn in future driver updates. 

Cyberlink’s FAQ page addressed the issue, saying that “the elimination of the SGX capability, as well as its compatibility with the current Windows operating system and drivers, has created a significant hurdle for CyberLink in terms of continuing to offer Ultra HD Blu-ray movie playback in our player software.

“As a result, CyberLink has determined that it is no longer practicable to support Ultra HD Blu-ray playing on newer CPUs and Windows systems.”

The change will only affect 4K Blu-ray, so you can still playback 1080p discs, and currently only its 11th and 12th generation chips are impacted. However, concerned users with hardware containing 7000, 8000, 9000, and 10000 series chips may wish to exhibit caution when next installing an update.

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If you really want to see what your brand new 4K TV and AV set-up is capable of, you'll need one of the very best 4K Blu-ray discs around.

The selection of 4K Blu-rays below includes nature documentaries, sci-fi films, musicals, dramas and more, and all with blockbusting soundtracks and perfect pictures to help put your home cinema system through its paces. Oh, and some great films too.

Whether you want to entertain the family during movie night or simply marvel at some cutting-edge picture quality, slide one of these 4K Blu-rays into your player and let the film do all the work.

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Nobody (2021)

Bob Odenkirk is excellent once again, here as a "nobody" turned action man who turns into an everyman John Wick following a burglary at his family home. The image looks great in HDR and Dolby Atmos, deliberately delivered in a grainy style but still packing contrast and detail. 

Some great action scenes ensure your sound system will get a work out too, with a nicely balanced soundtrack that's full of the expected Hollywood hits. The Atmos sound is done well, with plenty for your height channels to get their teeth into not to mention plenty of sweeping surrounds.

View Nobody 4K Blu-ray on Amazon

Tenet (2020)

You can rely on Christopher Nolan for an audio-visual treat and despite some slightly questionable mixing levels at times - hearing the dialogue seems to have become optional for Nolan - this is undoubtedly an excellent disc. 

The picture is the highlight, certainly providing a thorough and all-encompassing test for your TV or projector but also just allowing you to appreciate once more how good a film can look. Sonically, expect bass aplenty. 

The film left many of us slightly confused and even cold but it certainly bears repeat viewing as a result. 

View Tenet 4K Blu-ray on Amazon

Seven Worlds, One Planet (2019)

One of the best visual experience available in 4K HDR, Seven Worlds, One Planet is yet another staggering achievement from the BBC's nature documentary team. Voiced by the inimitable Sir David Attenborough, the continent by continent format is slightly irrelevant but it makes absolutely no difference. It's yet another marvellous excuse to bring us the best looking set of big cat hunts, mating rituals and migrations around right now.

It's filmed across a huge variety of landscapes - mountains, jungles, deserts, grasslands, cities, arctic tundra - each with thistle-sharp definition and its own incredible palette of colours. If we had to call a favourite, it would be the cheetahs but it's all bloomin' amazing and is arguably the very best 4K Blu-ray disc for testing your system from top to bottom.

1917 (2019)

Sam Mendes’s World War I film is an incredible technical achievement that’s designed to look as if it’s composed of just two consecutive camera shots. It’s also an absolute belter of a test disc that throws challenge after challenge at your system.

The greatest of these is to your display’s motion processing. The film is jam-packed with slow pans over the decimated French countryside. There are very few TVs and projectors out there that can handle those without a fair bit of judder and/or blur. Colour is thin on the ground but the open flames seen later in the film should be vibrant, toasty and bright against the darkness.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

This is a truly sumptuous disc that will give your whole system a workout right from the first frame. That uncomfortable close-up of an eye should be stunningly detailed and strikingly blue, and the overhead pans across the concentrically arranged solar farms are a stern test of your display’s motion processing.

The scenes in downtown LA are an excellent way to test your TV’s contrast: you’re looking for differentiation between the inky blacks and grey smog, plus bright, vibrant colours from the neon signs and holographic advertisements.

The soundtrack is just as challenging. The Hans Zimmer-composed, Vangelis-like score is full of deep, bold, oppressive bass frequencies that the average TV and even soundbar will find impossible to recreate, and that will cause a poor quality subwoofer to warble or rattle.

Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk is a film of scale - the gigantic wide shots of the never-ending Normandy sky; the enormous sweeps of the huge, flat beaches; the sheer number of soldiers stranded on the barren sands; the extra big 65mm IMAX film that Christopher Nolan used to shoot this wartime epic. Pop this in your player and you'll know why you bought a big TV, but it's got more than size going for it.

The other watchword for Dunkirk is 'texture'. There's a kind of a dulled colour grade to the finished piece and such uniformity of hue that it makes it a brilliant playground for highly capable HDR TVs to really show off what they can do with shading. The grey clouds, the grainy beach and the choppy Channel become characters all of their own.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 (2017)

If Dunkirk is texture, then Guardians 2 is all about colour. You can rely on many of the Marvel films to have a good, even balance of colour and, set in space, filled with aliens and featuring one main character with bright green skin and another in bright blue, this one has got to be the most vibrant in the MCU.

After a brief opener in Missouri, it's one of the most vivid films you'll find. From the stunning gold of the Sovereign to the Kaleidoscope of Ego's World, it's a feast of colour. The 1970s/80s soundtrack is also a great one for testing the music ability of your AV sound.

The Martian (2015)

From colour to contrast - the harsh, cloudless glare of the sun moving through the Martian sky makes for some incredibly stark lighting in the many exterior shots of this film. The various oranges of the planet's surface are struck by patterns of pitch dark shadows, giving your TV a real test of how well it can render images of very bright and very dark areas at the same time.

Once inside the Mars habitat, there's then a great opportunity to appreciate how well your set can handle white details with all the NASA suits and equipment mostly white and light grey. 

Life of Pi (2012)

The film version of Yann Martel's Man-Booker Prize winner pushes every AV slider up to the max. It's all supposed to look a little unreal and that's partly done by pushing the colours through the roof and using visual effects perhaps a little more than most filmmakers would consider wise.

It's not one to calibrate your set by but it needs to look magical without coming across too plastic and fake. The shots in the lifeboat should start making you a little bit queasy, the Piscine Molitor must be a place you need to swim, and if you don't develop a healthy fear of 300lb Bengal tigers, then your TV's not doing its job.

The Greatest Showman (2017)

This old-time style film musical is what big screens were made for. The countless wide shots, the large scale choreography and so much of the action set on huge stages in front of enormous crowds - it should all snap into focus when watched in 4K HDR on a capable system.

Bigger still, though, is the soundtrack. Naturally, we'd advise at least a soundbar to go with your TV.  Otherwise, anything less than the very best TVs for audio will not do this film justice. A lack of precision will be terminal for a sense of clarity and rhythmic drive, and it's all too easy for most sets to boost bass at this expense. If you're in any doubt, try playing the soundtrack on your hi-fi and see what it should be like.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

The Last Jedi is a braver, more divisive and diverse film than the crowd-pleasing The Force Awakens, getting more interesting with successive watches as you dig deeper into the themes played out in the film.

The 4K HDR picture is stunning as the action hops around different planets (the Battle of Crait, with the red soil streaking through the white salt layer, looks gorgeous) and the soundtrack - well, it's done by John Williams again so of course it's epic and rousing. Snoke's throne room is a thing of dark, surreal beauty and there's a scene towards the end played out in total silence that will take your breath away.

The Matrix (1999)

It's over 20 years old, but there's still something unique about The Matrix. If you've forgotten just how groundbreaking and stunning this film is, you owe it to yourself to get it on 4K Blu-ray.

Detail is just incredible at times, very sharp and revealing, and the epic corridor sequence is still an excellent showcase. Colours are far from natural but strong in a deep and vivid way that produces a rich, textured look. We're happy to follow that white rabbit again and again and again.

Baby Driver (2017)

Director Edgar Wright returns with another kinetic and idiosyncratic film in the music-obsessed Baby Driver. The real draw is the integration of soundtrack into the narrative – Wright cleverly weaves musical motifs with the action on screen, with the film having as much in common with a musical as a classic heist film.

The 4K image is solid, retaining the film's bright sense of colour and natural detail, and you'll need a great sound system to really make the most of that energetic soundtrack.

The Shape of Water (2017)

At the centre of this Oscar-winning film is a lonely, mute janitor at a top-secret laboratory, who falls in love with an amphibious creature. Unusual, but this has sprung from the inventive mind of Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, Mimic, Crimson Peak) whose imagination runs visually wild while still drawing you in with engaging characters and a story full of pathos.

More to the point, it looks ravishing in 4K, bringing the grim 1960s setting and fantastical elements to life with lush detail, beautifully contrasting colours and rich textures. There's no Atmos or DTS:X soundtrack here, but Alexandre Desplat's score is sweeping, whimsical and emotional at turns.

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Until now, we haven’t encountered a budget 4K Blu-ray player that wowed us in the way we believe 4K and HDR picture quality should.

The Sony UBP-X700, however, endeavours to deliver a five-star performance where rivals have failed – and it succeeds with flying colours.

Launched way back at CES 2017 for just £269 (and now available for under £200 / $200 / AU$400), this affordable Sony player boasts virtually identical features to the Award-winning UBP-X800. The main difference? The UBP-X700 supports Dolby Vision HDR.

Sony joins LG as the only big TV brands to support Dolby Vision alongside the standard HDR10 format (the other three are backing HDR10+).

Picture quality

We start with the 4K Blu-ray of Thor: Ragnarok – a kaleidoscope of vivid colours, from the multi-hued, gaudy garbage planet to the gilded halls of Asgard.

And the Sony player juggles all these colours with an incredibly deft hand. Every blade of grass is etched cleanly, Thor’s red cape has depths of gradations within its folds, and sparks of lightning split the screen with startling brightness. It’s a fun, involving performance with stacks of detail.

In our review of the 4K Blu-ray, we note how the film “strikes an impressively naturalistic look for a fantasy film” - and it’s this quality that comes to the fore with the Sony X700.

We’ve always lauded Sony for its natural-looking disc-players, but the X700 surpasses even that of the X800 in how it displays a wonderfully subtle picture that’s impeccably judged while being hugely entertaining.

It balances the colourful, fantastical elements – the rainbow bridge, a scintillating Jeff Goldblum – with the more realistic hues of our Earth world.

Skin-tones are natural, action scenes are handled with smooth and stable motion, and there’s a lifelike quality to the picture that just draws you in.

The X700 may be cheaper, but it’s a newer model than the X800 – and ultimately that shows. It’s the better value of the two.

The X800’s picture performance is glossier: everything gleams, colours are richer and everything pops. It’s an impressive display but, next to the more naturalistic X700, the X800 looks a tad overblown at times.

Play the Blu-ray of Looper and this quality is most noticeable through skin tones and landscapes – the green grass is too saturated through the X800.

The X700 is simply more natural in how it handles gradations of hues, preventing purples and oranges and sparkling blues from clashing with each other but still letting them wave their respective flags.

Sound quality

You’ll want a comparable quality of sound to accompany that superb picture, and the Sony doesn’t disappoint. Voices are front and centre, and blissfully clear.

So much of Thor: Ragnarok hinges on humour, and the Sony player relays every joyous quip, sarcastic rejoinder and laugh-out-loud line with punctual timing. It’s full of character.

Special effects are flung about with agility and precision, and there’s a good amount of attack and punch when fists and hammer smack into humans and Hulks alike.

We’d like a bit more gusto and heft to the overall sound, though. The Sony UBP-X800’s expansive and muscular sound elicits a more visceral reaction to crashes, wallops and thunderous blows.

The X700 sounds a tad lightweight in comparison, though it never suffers any wince-inducing brightness despite the leaner tone.

The X700 remains an engaging listen, and comes well-equipped on all fronts. It supports all surround-sound formats, including the latest Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks.

Despite not flashing the hi-res audio badge, the X700 can play up to 24bit/192kHz files in all popular files, including WAV, FLAC and DSD.

That zippy, dynamic character comes through with stereo music, with each instrument and voice ringing through loud and clear on The Dead Weather’s 60 Feet Tall on CD.

If you want to hear all the intricacies of the brooding composition, however, you’ll need a dedicated hi-fi machine for the job.

Features and connections

The UBP-X700 shares nearly every other feature with the UBP-X800. It supports 4K 60p pictures and can play all types of discs, including SACDs and 3D Blu-rays (even if your new 4K TV doesn’t support 3D).

If you’re a fan of streaming 4K, you’ll be happy to know the Sony player supports 4K HDR streams on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Other apps found on the player’s home page include BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport, Demand 5, Spotify, Rakuten TV, YouTube and more.

Connecting to your home network using wi-fi or ethernet is a painless process. A close inspection of the specs sheet shows the X700 supports only single band 2.4GHz wi-fi, while the X800 model supports dual band 5GHz as well.

The latter adds an extra layer of stability, but the X700’s 4K stream of Jessica Jones holds up nicely without any drop outs during testing.

On the connections side, you get twin HDMI outputs – handy if you want to separate the video and audio feeds in your home cinema set up – a coaxial digital output, and a USB port for playing content stored on media drives or USB sticks.

Build quality

Being a more affordable model, we’re not surprised Sony has fitted the X700 with a different chassis to the X800. The X700 is smaller – about two-thirds the size of the hefty, metallic rectangle of the X800. It’s lighter, too.

But it’s not an all-plastic affair. The thin metal panels around the X700’s angled body prevent it from feeling cheap, and while the power and eject buttons are plastic, they’re prompt and work without fail.

The included remote control, on the other hand, is small, plastic and lightweight – it won’t suit everyone. All the buttons are functional and easy to use, though, even in a dark room.

Button-prodding leads to instant responses, the disc loads quietly and, overall, the X700 is a breeze to use the second you hook it up to your TV.

Verdict

The X700 is a fantastic player that makes watching 4K discs an affordable reality.

It may not exude the same sensation of premium quality as its older sibling, but the fact that it can deliver a subtler, more lifelike 4K picture on a tighter budget is remarkable.

It’ll take quite some rival to knock this superb 4K player off its five-star perch.

Also consider

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a new 4K Blu-ray player. So, to have the Reavon UBR-X100 in for review, which is not only new but from an entirely new home cinema brand, is something of a double win. ‘Excited’ is only putting it mildly.

The Reavon UBR-X100 is one of two launch products from the France-based home cinema company. It’s designed as a universal disc player for DVDs, Blu-rays, 4K Blu-rays, 3D Blu-rays and CDs too, but also comes with the mod-cons of USB and network playback for any photos, videos or music files you might have on your NAS or thumb drive.

Perhaps what’s most exciting is that the Reavon UBR-X100 sits at a price point that’s all too underpopulated. More serious than a budget or mid-ranged machine and not quite as costly as the super-premium, we’d firmly class it at the affordable enthusiast level. That means getting the most from the picture stored on your discs and damn near all of the sound too. Let us play.

Price

The price of the Reavon UBR-X100 is £699/$799. If you want to add SACD and DSD support as well as analogue audio outputs, then you’ll need to go for the more expensive Reavon UBR-X200 instead.

Features

Physically speaking, the Reavon UBR-X100 is very much a player of its class. Its 1.6mm thick chassis is reinforced at the bottom by a 3mm rigid steel plate designed to minimise the mechanical vibrations of the optical spinner and keep playback as quiet as possible. Together that creates a good, solid 6.3kg mass that feels suitably weighty.

There are playback buttons on the front face but, apart from eject and power, doubtless you’ll be saving most of the finger tapping for the remote control. That remote is typically fully-featured with options for menus, audio tracks, subtitles and a few other options too. It’s also backlit but you’ll have to press ‘light’, hidden among the jumble of other similar-sized buttons, to activate it. It would be nice if it illuminated when it sensed movement instead.

There are two USB ports to use for local file playback. The one on the front, for easier access, is a USB 2.0, and the one on the rear is a fancy USB 3.0, so it boasts faster transfer rates. Both ports support MKV, FLAC, AIFF, MP3, JPG, M4A, AIF, DSF, OGG and APE file formats.

Also on the rear are dual HDMI ports (main and audio-only), optical and coax outs, and an Ethernet port for networked playback, including DLNA support. There is no on-board wi-fi and no smart platform.

Powering up the device presents no significant delays and it’s as speedy to read discs as one would hope, although the tray is a little bit jerky when it opens and not quite as silky smooth as we’d like it to be at this price. The only other minor gripe is that it’s a little bit noisier as it spins than others we’ve tested. It’s only going to be a problem during quiet moments if it’s positioned close to your ears when watching (an unlikely setup for most), and it’s nothing compared to the noise of most projectors.

On the playback front, the UBR-X100 can itself decode up to 7.1 channels, supporting both DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD. Anything more complicated that’s layered on, such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, can be bitstreamed over to your AVR.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that while HDR10 and Dolby Vision are supported, there’s no place for HDR10+. If you’re invested in Samsung’s dynamic HDR standard, then this might not be the disc player for you.

Sound

Plugging the Reavon into our reference system, we sit back to a cinematic treat with Taxi Driver on Blu-ray. There’s a wonderfully glossy haze to Bernard Herrmann’s score as it drifts through our speakers, ebbing and flowing between the casual jazz riffs and the dangerous, all-instrument chords that remind us of Travis Bickell’s unsettled psyche. The lighter moments come out with a particular sweetness to the midrange underpinned by an excellent rhythmic prowess from this player, which picks out the beat from the plucks of the double bass with real expertise.

There’s some lovely detail too as our anti-hero walks back to his apartment from his job interview. Half-heard conversations from nearby, the sounds of pigeons and the distant hum of traffic pop up at enough angles in the soundstage for us to get an excellent feeling of the 1970s New York streets. It’s a real pleasure to listen to, transporting us right back to another age of cinema, now nearly 50 years ago.

Switching gears to something with more attack, in more ways than one, we head to the stars with the “massive space battle” in chapter 3 of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. There are bleeps and cheeps from the Milano’s navigation and defence systems that we rarely pick up on. The gunfire is nice and tight, no matter how busy the action, and there’s good clarity to the dialogue, with the High Priestess’ clicks of annoyance particularly fun.

What we don’t get quite as much of as we’d like is dynamics. There could be more expression to voices and a greater feeling of impact when drone ships are destroyed. Those sounds are definitely there, and to a reasonable scale, but having heard players such as the Panasonic DP-UB9000 and the once similarly priced but now sadly unavailable Oppo UDP-203, we know that it’s possible to feel a little more emotion in low-volume moments and experience more strikingly impactful explosions.

Similarly, the Reavon is a little bit stingy when it comes to pushing the sound around the speaker channels. The big zooms move well but don’t swing through our space quite as far and as often as we want them too.

Sticking with a similar theme but moving far closer to home, we head to Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk for some dogfighting over Northern France. Once again, the Reavon does a superb job of picking out the hum of the Spitfire engines, the rattle of the machine-gun fire and the splinters and pings of glass and metal as the bullets find their mark.

It’s a great performance that brings so much life and energy to this film but there is still room for some improvement when it comes to dynamics. The audio could be a little more revealing for texture at a lower level and there’s space for more drama when the sound gets big too.

As expected, we are moved to tears when Ken Branagh says that he sees home through his binoculars, and when we witness Tom Hardy’s character’s bravery, but the disc itself has more in the tank. The rousing score and the Jaws-like throbs to the music as the German aircraft swoops in for its deadly strafing attack could convey even more threat and emotion were they unleashed with a little more skill.

Picture

Switching to Blade Runner 2049 on 4K Blu-ray, with virtually every scene ideal for testing picture quality, we head for the sequence at the ruins of San Diego. The Reavon digs up everything we could want.

The texture and detail of the piles of scrap metal, the grit on the top of the spinner and K’s increasingly worn leather coat are right on the money. Pair this with a good TV or projector and you’ll find a punchy and colourful picture that never threatens to overcook the scene.

The overcast sky is bright but with the layers of clouds still differentiated and, as we head into the darkness of the orphanage, there’s dark detail in every corner of the dingy dome, even with shafts of light piercing through holes in the roof nearby.

There’s plenty of upscaling smarts built in too. Watching A Quiet Place in HD, the picture quality is as good as anything you’ll find at this price. There’s little noise whatsoever on the plain painted surfaces of the abandoned shop fronts in the opening scene. The colours hold true from the greens of the overgrowing plants to the creams and burgundies of the building facades, and skin tones look excellent as well.

Once more, tonal detail is easily handled inside the pharmacy, with the light streaming in through the window and the dark, ransacked shelves in the foreground. It’s strong work on the visuals here from Reavon and no mistake.

Verdict

This is a strong first player from Reavon that only falls a little short on the audio side, but we still very much recommend it if this is as far as your budget stretches. It outperforms entry-level and step-up models and is well worth the extra spend.

If you do have a little more in your pocket, though, the extra step to the Panasonic DP-UB9000 is one worth making in order to unlock some extra audio impact, home cinema experience and just a shade more physical class. It also adds HDR10+ support, which feels like something you shouldn’t really have to do without at the Reavon’s current price.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our round-up of the best Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players

Read our review of the Panasonic DP-UB9000

Read our Panasonic DP-UB820EB review

Read our Sony UBP-X1100ES review

We've spent over two years with Sony and Microsoft's latest consoles, and it's safe to say this generation has seen its ups and downs already. Whether its ongoing issues with supply or inflating prices of hardware and software, the Xbox Series X and PS5 have both faced adversity during their respective launches. However, the main priority with this comparison isn't technically these devices prowess as gaming consoles, but instead as Blu-ray players fo you home cinema. 

While fans have understandably been focused on games since the two new consoles came out, both the Xbox Series X and the premium PS5 model carry built-in 4K Blu-ray players. This means that between them, the new consoles have massively increased the number of 4K Blu-ray players tucked under TVs across the world.

Users of previous generation consoles will know that while Xbox already supported 4K Blu-ray playback with the Xbox One S and Xbox One X, Sony frustratingly decided not to implement 4K Blu-ray support with the PS4 Pro. Thankfully, next-gen gamers from both console factions can breath a sigh of relief knowing that both this generation's Xbox and PlayStation have standardised 4K Blu-ray support - that's if you have a console with a disc drive, sorry Xbox Series S.

This is a big deal to anyone who, like us, cares about getting the best home entertainment experiences. The more 4K Blu-ray players there are out there, after all, the more UHD-BD discs will hopefully be sold. And the more UHD-BD discs are sold, the more confident film studios will feel about sticking with the latest and greatest physical media format even as they go about setting up their own streaming platforms.

The extent to which the PS5 and Xbox Series X might impact 4K Blu-ray’s fortunes will depend, though, on two things: just how aware owners are of their new consoles’ 4K movie disc drives, and how good those disc drives are.

The first of these we can’t really predict. Sales of 4K Blu-ray discs as a percentage of the wider movie disc market do seem to have slightly improved in recent months, but perhaps not by enough to say for sure that it’s down to a new console ‘bounce’. 

We can, though, investigate how well the consoles perform as 4K movie players. Especially now that some initial technical issues (especially with the Series X) have been addressed by post-launch firmware updates. So how do they fare against standalone 4K Blu-ray players? And, more importantly, which of them is best at this specific job?

• Check out the best PS5 deals

4K Blu-ray features

Neither the premium PS5 nor Xbox Series X can claim to have particularly richly featured 4K disc drives. Particularly disappointing is their lack of support for either of the ‘premium’ HDR formats – Dolby Vision and HDR10+.

These two formats allow compatible TVs to deliver better HDR pictures by providing extra scene by scene information you don’t get with the standard HDR10 format. 

The lack of support from either console for the premium HDR formats won’t matter to you if your TV doesn’t support Dolby Vision or HDR10+. A growing number of TVs DO support at least one of these formats, though - and in some cases both. And most stand-alone 4K Blu-ray players now also support at least one of the premium HDR formats. 

Series X fans are holding out hope that the Dolby Vision support the console now carries for some streaming apps and gaming might eventually be extended to the 4K Blu-ray drive. Microsoft, though, has so far pointedly neglected to mention this as something in its feature pipeline.

There’s no support on either console’s 4K Blu-ray player, either, for 3D discs, SACDs (Super Audio CDs), or DVD Audio discs, though it’s unlikely that too many people will be overwhelmingly upset by any of those omissions. You do get playback of standard Blu-rays and DVDs on top of the 4K Blu-ray support, though, as well as CD support on the Series X. For some reason, Sony continues to ignore CD playback on its consoles.

*Winner* Xbox Series X

4K Blu-ray audio format support

Both consoles support playback of all the audio formats currently found on 4K Blu-rays, including the awesome Dolby Atmos and DTS:X systems. Both consoles can be a bit fiddly to set up for these premium audio formats, though. 

On the PS5, you need to enter the options menu while a Blu-ray disc is playing; there are other audio output options in the main settings menu, but this appears to be focused on gaming audio. Instead, press the "options" button on the PS5 remote, click the three dots, then click settings, navigate to audio formats, and then select Bitstream.

On the Xbox, you need to use the Dolby and DTS apps, making sure that you have Pass Audio To Receiver selected in the Atmos app if you’re using an external Dolby Atmos soundbar or AV receiver. Bear in mind that Dolby Atmos headphone support on the Xbox, if you don’t want to use a separates-based Atmos audio system, requires you to pay a one-off subscription fee.

One odd issue experienced with the Xbox Series X is the console’s unwillingness to play DTS soundtracks into TVs that don’t have DTS decoding. It throws up an error message in such circumstances saying you need to turn Pass To Receiver off. The vast majority of 4K Blu-ray players, by comparison, simply downgrade the sound it outputs to something the TV can handle, without any manual intervention required.

*Winner* PS5

4K Blu-ray picture performance

Running against a range of standalone 4K Blu-ray players from Oppo, Panasonic and Sony that cover a wide variety of price points, neither the PS5 nor the Xbox Series X give a particularly stellar account of themselves where picture quality is concerned. 

For starters, players that support HDR10+, or particularly Dolby Vision, instantly prove the worth of these formats on compatible TVs. Both types of ‘active’ HDR content enjoy noticeably better dynamics and slightly richer but also more natural looking colours on compatible displays than the standard HDR10 feeds the consoles can provide.

Even with standard HDR10 discs, though, almost all of the standalone players - even a £169 Panasonic DP-UB450EB - outperform both new consoles overall, typically enjoying greater sharpness and detail, less noise, and marginally more refined and balanced colours. 

One of the consoles does at least outgun the UB450EB in one or two areas, though, as well as, more importantly for the purposes of this article, comfortably outperforming its great console rival. And that console is the PS5.

The PS5’s player most clearly makes its mark over its Xbox rival when it comes to sharpness. Crisp 4K transfers enjoy more clarity and detail on Sony’s device, putting more clear blue water between the picture quality of HD and 4K Blu-ray than the Series X does. The extra sharpness also makes the PS5’s 4K Blu-ray pictures look more three-dimensional.

The Series X’s 4K Blu-ray pictures do still look 4K, to be clear. But there’s an extra level of clarity with the PS5 that’s easily visible with the naked eye.

Sticking with resolution, the PS5 also does a much better job of upscaling standard, 1080p Blu-rays to 4K than the Xbox Series X. The Series X’s upscaled pictures look softer and more artificial than those of the PS5. They’re noisier, too - as if the Xbox’s processing isn’t as clever about spotting the difference between noise and ‘real’ picture information in low-resolution sources.

In fact, while you can quite happily leave the PS5 to do the upscaling of HD Blu-rays and DVDs, if you have a good quality 4K TV you might find you get better results with a Series X if you set the console to output 1080p when watching HD Blu-rays, so that your TV is left to do the 4K upscaling instead.

The Series X doesn’t just exhibit more video noise than the PS5 with upscaled images, either. Its 4K images tend to look a little ‘rougher’ too, with slightly more dot crawl in areas of fine detail or subtle colour blends; a more jagged look to some curved or very thin lines; and even some faint but occasionally noticeable horizontal line structure over certain types of image elements - especially clouds and thin horizontal lines.

The PS5 suffers with some colour noise too - more so than any of the standalone players we tested the consoles against. But overall its images are cleaner and more immersive than those of its console rival.

The PS5 also holds an advantage - albeit a very small one this time - with motion when playing 24fps 4K Blu-ray films. While the Series X handles motion much more consistently well than the One X does, just occasionally there’s a slightly laboured look to the judder. Whereas the PS5 maintains a slightly more consistently cinematic look.

• Our pick of the best PS5 games 2021

Neither the PS5 nor the Xbox Series X run as quietly when playing 4K Blu-ray films as the vast majority of stand-alone players do, and the Xbox is definitely the noisier of the two. The noise made by both disc drives and cooling fans is typically smooth enough to let you tune it out pretty well, particularly from the other side of the room, but you’re more likely to hear the Xbox during very quiet scenes than you are the PS5. It’s also worth noting that the Xbox often produces extra, short-lived audible buzz when skipping chapters or fast-forwarding/rewinding.

The Series X holds its own against the PS5 when it comes to colour balance and naturalism. At launch the Series X suffered with a pretty severe raised brightness issue that affected both its colour and contrast with 4K Blu-ray playback. This was swiftly fixed by a firmware update, though, and now the Series X is at least as good as the PS5 where contrast is concerned. In fact, the PS5 very (very!) occasionally exhibits a touch of instability in extremely dark scenes when running on some high-contrast OLED TVs that the Xbox now does not. But this really is a rare issue indeed.

*Winner* PS5

4K Blu-ray sound quality

Once you’ve figured out how to get them outputting Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks from 4K Blu-rays that carry them (and most do carry one or the other these days), both consoles perform reasonably well sonically, albeit not as well as a standalone Blu-ray player.

Spinning up the bombing-run scene of Unbroken via Blu-ray, it turns out that the PS5 can do a very good job of Dolby Atmos soundtracks when given the chance (remember; it only supports Dolby Atmos when playing Blu-rays). It doesn’t quite have the crispness or dynamic punch of a dedicated player, but the console produces a muscular, room-filling sound with good clarity and well-placed sound effects.

For a games console, the Series X is very capable, too. It’s not quite as precise or weighty as the PS5, but it does get to the core of a soundtrack, delivering it with reasonably impressive clarity, solidity and atmosphere. Play an Atmos-enabled film, such as 1917, and the console delivers a great sense of place, filling the room with effects that sweep across the soundstage as the action unfolds.

That said, if you once again compare the Series X to the Sony UBP-X700 Blu-ray player, it’s clear that the latter is a sonic step-up in just about every way. As Lance Corporal Schofield makes his mad dash through the enemy-infested streets in 1917, the Sony’s added punch, detail, precision and dynamic expression combine for a more intense and engaging experience.

You probably wouldn’t want to use either the PS5 nor the Series X as serious music players; don’t forget that the PS5 doesn’t even play CDs. For movie soundtracks, though, while neither console is as capable as a standalone 4K Blu-ray player, both are perfectly decent in their own right.

*Winner* Draw

4K Blu-ray verdict

Neither of the latest Sony and Microsoft consoles are exactly great as 4K Blu-ray movie players. They both come up short versus even some very affordable standalone players in both feature and performance terms. 

That said, both consoles give you at least some of the picture quality advantages that the UHD Blu-ray format’s technology is renowned for; native 4K resolution and, especially, high dynamic range. Some may argue that this is fair enough for products that are built first and foremost as games consoles rather than home cinema sources.

If you are as into home cinema as you are gaming, though, and you don’t want to invest in a separate standalone 4K Blu-ray player, then the disc drive-carrying PS5’s movie spinning skills comfortably outperform those of its Microsoft rival.

*Overall winner* PS5

MORE:

Check out our PS5 v Xbox Series X comparison

Read our Xbox Series X review

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It took a few years to gain momentum, but 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray is now a firm fixture of virtually all major film releases.

The first 4K TVs went on sale back in 2012, but it wasn't until 2016 that the first 4K Blu-ray players from Samsung and Panasonic went on sale - alongside, thankfully, an increasing number of 4K Blu-ray discs. Today there are a number of 4K players on the market, you can pick up a 4K Blu-ray film in your local supermarket or online and, as streaming services step up to compete with 4K content, both are getting more affordable by the day.

So what is Ultra HD Blu-ray, how can you get it and how much does it all cost? Allow us to provide some answers...

• Best 4K Blu-ray players

What is the Ultra HD Blu-ray specification?

The preliminary spec for 4K discs was revealed at CES 2015, after which the Blu-ray Disc Association made the Ultra HD Blu-ray spec official (along with the name and the logo).

This format supports a resolution of 3840 x 2160, and while the specification is no guarantee that a film was actually shot and edited in 4K it does also offer additional technologies that improve picture quality such as higher frame rates of up to 60fps (frames per second) and high dynamic range (HDR). In physical media, HDR is currently delivered in three main formats: HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR.

The majority of 4K discs come with the standard HDR10. What sets Dolby Vision and HDR10+ apart from HDR10 is the inclusion of dynamic metadata, a proprietary HDR technology that adapts its image frame-by-frame and, theoretically, renders each shot at its best. And what sets HDR10+ apart from Dolby Vision is its lack of licensing cost – TV manufacturers and content studios have to pay Dolby to use Dolby Vision and have little control over its development and implementation.

Initially, HDR10+ had only Amazon Prime Video promising supported content on its streaming site, and although Amazon remains the only major VOD service to offer it, more and more 4K discs in HDR10+ have made their way to market. Nevertheless, it's fair to say that Dolby Vision is comfortably the more widely available of the two formats.

• HDR10 vs Dolby Vision - which is better?

4K Blu-rays are encoded using the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard (also known as H.265), use 10-bit colour depth and can cover the full spectrum of the Rec.2020 colour space. 

The discs themselves can be produced in three sizes: 50GB with support for an 82Mbit/s data rate, 66GB with 108Mbit/s and 100GB with 128Mbit/s.

What about Ultra HD Blu-ray audio?

The UHD Blu-ray specification also includes object-based immersive soundtracks such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Some Blu-ray discs already support these formats, so it's not unique to UHD Blu-ray, but the next-gen audio soundtracks are more prevalent on Ultra HD Blu-ray discs.

So far Dolby Atmos has been the prevalent format on 4K disc releases, but DTS:X discs do exist. It's worth noting you won't find Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks on the same disc. It's one or the other.

What else does Ultra HD Blu-ray offer?

4K discs also support an optional digital bridge feature, allowing you to copy Ultra HD Blu-ray content to an external hard disk drive and portable devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The spec also mandates all Ultra HD Blu-ray players be able to play legacy Blu-ray discs. Sadly, 3D isn't featured in the Ultra HD Blu-ray spec – but with the majority of TV manufacturers having abandoned 3D ages ago, that's understandable.

OPINION: Here's why 4K Blu-ray is even better than 4K streaming

What Ultra HD Blu-ray players are on sale?

Current UHD Blu-ray players can be sorted into two categories: the under-£400 (affordable) models and the £600-and-above (high-end) players.

The Panasonic DP-UB9000 is the high-end Blu-ray player of choice these days (we're also big fans of the Pioneer UDP-LX500 and Oppo UDP-203, but both have now been discontinued), and it's a serious bit of kit that's worthy of its £900 ($1000, AU$1799) asking price, delivering a picture and sound performance that's well beyond that of its more affordable rivals.

Those more affordable models still offer an excellent performance, though, delivering quality that streaming services simply can't match. Our current favourites include the Sony UBP-X700 and Panasonic DP-UB820EB.

Other budget models from Panasonic and LG do exist, though new models are now released fairly infrequently. Moreover, Samsung dropped a bombshell in February 2019 by confirming it would end Blu-ray player production entirely.

• What Hi-Fi? Awards 2020: Blu-ray players

On the games console front, Microsoft's Xbox One S was the first console to be compatible with 4K Blu-rays, though be warned, it's not quite up to scratch compared to rival standalone players.

The Xbox One X also incorporates a UHD Blu-ray disc player with native 4K, HDR and Dolby Atmos support. It’s pricier, has a more powerful processor to handle 4K gaming and, while dedicated players still win out, is an entertaining performer with 4K HDR discs.

The latest console from Microsoft, the Xbox Series X, also plays 4K Blu-rays but without Dolby Vision support despite the format being available via streaming apps (there'll be Dolby Vision games soon, too). That major disappointment, combined with its noisy disc drive, dents the Series X’s credentials as a 4K Blu-ray player – which is a shame because the picture performance is broadly good, with lots of detail, nicely judged colours and sharp edges.

As for the PS4 Pro and PS5? Surprisingly, Sony chose not to give the former the capability, focusing instead on 4K streaming. However, the PS5 does play 4K discs – though once again without Dolby Vision. While the picture is impressive in terms of deep blacks, drama, dynamism and colours it isn't really a match for even the most affordable dedicated 4K Blu-ray players when it comes to subtlety of shading and stability in motion.

• PS5 vs Xbox Series X: specs, power, features, pricing and controllers compared

What Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are on sale?

Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are now on sale worldwide, with major studios such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros all in on the action.

Disney joined the ranks in 2017 with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as its first 4K disc release (and still one of our most-used test discs) before following up with Thor: Ragnarok in 2018.

The likes of Amazon, HMV and Zavvi all stock loads of Ultra HD Blu-ray releases, with the average price of a 4K disc around £20.

Will Ultra HD Blu-ray players play existing Blu-rays?

Yes, Ultra HD Blu-ray players are fully backwards-compatible with existing Blu-rays. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs won't play on old players, though, and you can't upgrade old decks, so you will need a 4K Blu-ray player in order to play 4K Blu-ray discs.

When it comes to regional restrictions, the good news is 4K Blu-ray discs have just one region code: worldwide. Essentially, they’re region-free. They can be played on any 4K player, in any part of the world.

However, your new UHD Blu-ray player will still have to observe the regional restrictions for DVDs and standard Blu-rays that continue to exist.

Most 4K Blu-ray discs come bundled with a standard Blu-ray version of the same film and those discs tend to be region-free as well. Search for the 'ABC' logo or read the fine print on the box, or look it up online to be sure – especially if you're thinking of importing the latest discs from outside your region.

However, it very much depends on the studio that owns the rights and the distribution of individual films as to whether a Blu-ray has region restrictions or not. We've noticed the major film studios (20th Century Fox, Sony and Warner Bros) have released their Blu-rays as region-free, but smaller studios are more likely to have restrictions.

• Best Blu-player deals, cheap Blu-ray discs and 4K film bargains

What TV do you need for Ultra HD Blu-ray?

An Ultra HD Blu-ray player will work with pretty much any TV, but unless it's a 4K Ultra HD TV you won't see the disc's full-fat 4K resolution on screen. If your TV doesn't support it, the player will downscale the disc's content accordingly.

Any 4K TV should deliver a 4K picture, but only TVs with more recent specs will be able to take full advantage of what Ultra HD Blu-rays can offer. This includes HDR, which is one of the key factors for getting the best possible picture.

Most - if not all - 4K TVs on sale now support the standard HDR10 spec. When it comes to Dolby Vision and HDR10+, it depends on which manufacturer has backed which tech. LG and Sony are all in on Dolby Vision, with no HDR10+ TVs in their lineups, while Samsung is the opposite – all HDR10+ and no Dolby Vision.

Higher end models from Panasonic and Philips support Dolby Vision and HDR10+, which is great news for those who don't want to pick a side in this particular format war.

While 4K and HDR (or Dolby Vision) aren't necessarily linked technologies, if you're looking for a TV with one, it should ideally have the other in order to get the best picture performance.

Look also for a TV bearing the Ultra HD Premium logo - this means it meets certain 4K HDR standards, including support for standard HDR10. However, it doesn't mean the set necessarily supports Dolby Vision HDR.

• Best 4K TVs 2021

Do you need a new AV receiver for Ultra HD Blu-ray?

Yes and no. If your system currently uses an AV receiver to do the HDMI switching, and carry audio/video over HDMI around your system, then this won't work with 4K Blu-ray unless your AV receiver is 4K-compatible.

The good news is most, if not all home cinema amplifiers in the market now are 4K compatible, including the excellent Denon AVR-X2700H and Sony STR-DN1080. Look for HDCP 2.2 and HDMI 2.0a (or HDMI 2.1) in the specifications for a clear indication of 4K compatibility.

Some higher end 4K Blu-ray players have two HDMI outputs so that video can be sent via one to the TV and audio can be sent to an AVR via the other. Alternatively, you can send video and audio from a 4K Blu-ray player straight to your TV and then have the audio sent from the TV to your AVR via optical cable or HDMI ARC.

Is Ultra HD Blu-ray worth it?

We certainly think so. It may be an increasingly niche market but 4K Blu-ray continues to impress us with its incredibly detailed picture quality, and better hardware and advances in HDR technology have improved performance even further.

Ron Martin, VP of Panasonic's Hollywood Lab and a crucial player in the development of Ultra HD Blu-ray, told What Hi-Fi? 4K discs will beat 4K streaming: "[a disc format] is the only repeatable, reliable way to do it. Streaming has certain advantages but many disadvantages."

We've compared how 4K streaming stacks up against 4K Blu-rays and standard full HD Blu-rays - and it's no surprise that 4K Blu-ray beats them all.

What about 8K Blu-ray?

You shouldn't hold your breath for 8K Blu-ray players or 8K Blu-ray discs. While 4K Blu-ray has proven fairly popular and will likely stick around for a long time to come, it's still a drop in the ocean compared to the popularity of streaming and we can't see a future in which any company is prepared to invest the huge sums of money into a new physical movie format when the war is so clearly already lost.

Given the inherent qualitative advantages of physical formats, that's certainly a shame, but with internet connections generally becoming exponentially faster with each year that passes, there's plenty of hope for higher quality movie streaming. Sony's new Bravia Core service, while not 8K, delivers streams in far higher quality than any service before it, potentially pointing the way to a future in which physical media isn't necessary in order to get the best picture and sound.

MORE:

The best 4K TV shows and films to watch right now

These are the best 4K Blu-ray discs to test your system

Check out our round-up of the best TVs you can buy right now

Get the sound right with one of the best AV receivers

Finally, here are the best 4K Blu-ray players

Despite lacking an Oxbridge education, the Humax Aura PVR managed a double-first at launch by being not only Humax's first Freeview set-top box with Android TV, but also its first with 4K HDR support.

The Humax Aura can be a number of things to different people and it feels as though it has been priced to interest everyone. Its most obvious use is of course as a Freeview Play recorder, with enough internal storage options to capture hours of live Full HD and standard-definition television.

However, with its Android TV platform, you can also use it as a Chromecast with benefits – a way of adding over 5000 apps and streaming services to feed your television or projector with plenty of 4K fun. With its USB sockets, hi-res audio and 3D home cinema codec support, there’s an option to use it for local film file playback too – it’s quite the box of tricks.

Having first reviewed the Humax Aura back in 2021, our expert testers are now taking another look at it, primarily because its predecessor, the excellent FVP-5000T, has finally been discontinued.

Pricing

The Humax Aura costs £249 for the 1TB model, which can store up to 250 hours of HD (or 500 of SD) programming, and £279 for the 2TB model, which can store up to 500 hours of Full HD (1000 of SD) programming.

If you’re serious enough about live TV to want to record it on a regular basis, then the extra £30 for double the amount of space feels like a no-brainer.

Despite having now been available for roughly three years, the price hasn't permanently dropped, though slight, short-term discounts aren't unheard of.

Features

Humax has had great success with its What Hi-Fi? Award-winning FVP-5000T set-top box and, four years into its life, a replacement was long overdue when the Aura launched in 2020. For both specs and looks, the Aura was the upgrade we had been waiting for.

Stand the two next to one another and the sculpted lines of the low-slung Aura more easily fit into the category of contemporary industrial design, and while it's large by the standards of streaming boxes such as the Sky Stream Puck, it still looks fairly smart today. 

The Aura is a tidy 26cm by 20cm box that takes up about the same space as your wi-fi router. Its gloss black body is accented by an LED strip on the underside, which changes from red to blue to violet to orange depending on whether it’s off, on, recording or recording in standby. It’s a useful indicator and reminiscent of K.I.T.T from Knight Rider in standby mode.

But if it’s a party at the front of the Aura, then around the back is the serious business. Here you’ll find the single HDMI 2.1-out along with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 (Type A) sockets for local media. There’s also an optical audio-out and a LAN connection if you’d rather leave the 2.4/5GHz wi-fi alone.

The Aura remote feels a bit cheap, particularly in the spongey buttons, but it's fully featured, with dedicated buttons for just about everything you could need, including shortcuts to streaming services, recordings, the guide, the Freeview Play platform and the Android TV homepage. You’ll need to pair the remote with the Aura box using Bluetooth for the Google Assistant voice system to work.

The Humax Aura’s three Freeview Play tuners bring access to over 70 non-subscription live TV channels and over 20,000 hours of on-demand entertainment through the catch-up services, with BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and My5 all present. Those tuners allow you to pause and rewind TV, as well as record up to four channels while watching a fifth one live.

The Aura mobile app is a handy tool in its own right. It brings a full view of the electronic programme guide (EPG) to your small screen and allows users to schedule recordings, watch recordings and even enjoy live TV on mobile – just the ticket for keeping track of Countdown while you put the kettle on.

The Aura’s big-screen offering is also bolstered by Android TV, and that means another 5000 or so apps from Google Play are at your disposal, with apps for big-hitters such as Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV (including the excellent pay-as-you-go movie service), alongside some more niche but useful apps, such as Discovery+ (the new home of TNT Sports, previously known as BT Sport).

There are significant gaps, though, most notably Now and the Netflix app. Somewhat ironically, Netflix is actually one of the few non-catch-up apps available on the older FVP-5000T. Fortunately, the Aura’s built-in Chromecast functionality allows users to cast these missing apps from mobile, tablet or browser instead, but that solution is far from ideal.

Away from the video side, the hi-res audio support is a welcome addition. It means those connecting the Aura to a decent external speaker system can get a strong performance from locally stored or streamed audio files, even if connecting through the HDMI, which can handle up to 24-bit/192 kHz levels.

You’ll need to download a third-party app such as VLC to play local media and Plex if you want to connect a NAS drive or similar from your home network. The Aura’s support for 4K HDR (HDR10 and HLG) and 3D audio codecs offers the potential to do justice to any high-quality movie files you own.

In our original review, we stated that the quad-core 1.8GHz CPU and 3GB RAM combo resulted in a snappy user experience, but in our recent re-test it feels a bit sluggish. You might assume that this is down to newer features and updates slowing the system down, but Humax itself hasn't issued a firmware update since 2021 – itself something of a concern.

The twinning of Freeview Play and Android TV doesn’t make for the easiest of combinations, either. Each offers its own home page experience, leaving the user unsure as to which one to use. You’ll find some apps on both, but others just on one, and both home pages have their own settings menus. Fortunately, the shortcuts on the remote mean that you can sometimes go straight to whatever it is that you’re looking for, but that doesn't really excuse the poor integration of the two interfaces.

Each interface is good in its own right, at least. We particularly like Freeview Play's Kids' Zone – a brightly coloured area with TV programmes specially selected for younger viewers. Content can be searched according to duration and timeslot, and parents can use this to block certain apps and channels from appearing.

Picture

The picture quality through the Freeview Play tuners in both SD and Full HD is every bit as good as that of the FVP-5000T. Watching Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is on BBC2, we get some inviting shots of a French antiques market on a cloudless summer’s day. The cobbled streets and stalls are bright and colourful, but with a realistic sense of tonality and texture.

The Aura trades a touch of detail for this better blending and, while some might prefer harder edges to stone walls, it feels like a well-judged decision from Humax. There’s a proper sense of complexity to the bright blue TV shelf as one of the bargain hunters haggles over a few Euros. It makes for a more natural aesthetic to the picture and feels believable when upscaled to 4K.

That arrangement is justified even further when switching to SD on the BBC News channel. Low-res content can seem particularly harsh and blocky when upscaled, but the Aura’s slightly softer approach smooths out a few more of those unwanted edges than its predecessor and adds some much-needed subtlety to clothing colours and skin tones.

However, the app platform is not quite as adept. Compared with a budget streaming stick, the Aura’s skill with a 4K HDR app is a little less assured than it might be. We watch The Boys on Prime Video and while the picture is punchy and dynamic, some of the finer detail is lost, particularly at the brightest and darkest extremes of the contrast spectrum. Viewing a scene set in the White House, the backlit silk curtains are missing folds in the material and the Aura doesn’t reveal the number of freckles on ex-CIA Deputy Director Grace Mallory’s skin that we might expect.

One aspect of the Aura's performance that has been improved since launch is the addition of comparatively straightforward dynamic range and refresh rate matching options. There are lots of specific settings here that you can dig into if you like, but there are also broader, catch-all options that should mean that even the uninitiated should get a consistent and smooth performance across different content types.

Sound

The Aura’s hi-res music support offers an excellent opportunity to get good quality sound from this box through both locally stored files and streamed music services. Plugging it into our reference system, we fire up the Tidal Masters version of Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival and, by the standards of PVRs and video streamers, we’re struck by how well it captures the recording.

There’s a spacious sound to the vocals and guitars that gives a fabulous feel to the acoustics of the room where the recording was made. Compared with other, similarly priced streaming products, there is an added dimension to the track. There’s a good dose of dynamics that brings excitement and character to all of the instruments. We can visualise the drums at the start of the track and every time the first snare of each bar is hit with an accent.

The back and forth between the guitar and the vocals is like listening to a conversation. It’s a cohesive sound from top to bottom and we feel confident that there’s little we’re missing in the music. Some streamers at this level might offer a touch more crispness to the rhythm, but not without some loss of the excitement we get with the Aura.

All of that translates to an enjoyably emotional feel for home cinema as we switch to AV with the Live Aid scene at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody on Prime Video. The thuds of the kick drum are wonderfully solid and offer a genuine sense of timbre and resonance as the pedal first hits the skin at the beginning of the set.

When Brian May plays his solo at the end of the piece, it’s like he’s making his guitar sing. Again, the sense of place is captured brilliantly in a credible rendition of the sound of the old Wembley Stadium full of 72,000 people clapping in time and singing along to Radio Ga Ga.

Sound such as this is a huge leg up for any home cinema device. Whether capturing the atmosphere of a rock concert or the special effects of an action scene, the Aura really delivers on this front.

Verdict

The Humax Aura does its main job well. It’s a good Freeview recorder for both Full HD and standard definition with an easy-to-use TV guide, plenty of space and handy remote recording features. The problem is that Humax has offered – and is charging – more this time around and this box doesn’t deliver these extras quite so well.

If you’re going to promise more apps, then the omission of the most popular one of all is an issue. You also need to make sure your handling of streamed TV and film content is up to the same high standards as the competition, and that isn’t quite the case with the Aura. Tacking on the Android TV platform also means that the overall user interface loses a little focus.

While the Aura is spot on for sound, we still recommend that you buy the cheaper but still brilliant Humax FVP-5000T while you still can, and add a Google Chromecast with Google TV if you also want streaming. The experience won’t feel much more split than the Aura already does but, more importantly, the smart offering will be more complete and a little better for picture quality too.

That said, if you have your heart set on a single-box solution for your TV recording and video streaming, the Aura is a solid choice.

Review published: 2023. Review updated: November 2024.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 5
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our guide to the best set-top boxes

Read our Humax FVP-5000T review