Sony’s first consumer Ultra HD Blu-ray player will hit stores in March, the company announced via press release. The Sony UBP-X800 will carry a retail price of $299, and feature support for HDR color and immersive Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio formats. [Update: This model has been replaced with the Sony UBP-X800M2.]
It’s been curious, really, why Sony waited so long to release a player for the disc format they pioneered. The UBP-X800 comes a year after Samsung released their UBD-K8500 curved UHD BD player, and also follows consumer-level 4k disc players from Philips and Panasonic.
Sony did, however, previously announce a professional-grade Ultra HD Blu-ray player (Model # UBP-X1000ES) that is supposed to be available this Spring. The deck will only be sold through authorized custom installers.
Sony’s new UBP-X800 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player supports 2160p video, the BT2020 color space, upscaling to 4k, and multiple disc formats such as Blu-ray 3D, DVD Audio, DVD Video, Super Audio CD, and DVD-ROM using their Precision HD drive.
Audio can be played at up to 192kHz/24-bit and DSD 11.2MHz (with a future firmware update), and standard audio can be upscaled to near high resolution via Sony’s DSEE HX technology. What’s also nice is the UBP-X800 integrates Bluetooth to allow wireless headphone use.
The Sony 4k Blu-ray player is available to pre-order, and the company is offering two free Ultra HD Blu-ray titles free to those who purchase before June 30, 2017. Sony mentioned Inferno, The Magnificent Seven, and The Shallows as two qualifying movies from a selection of 15.
