4K UHD - Where to buy

[souravin]

I'm looking for a Blue Ray Player and find nothing except desertcart or tatonis. Any lead (even pre-owned-region free) would be great. The seller in Amazon India is not at all reliable

 

[akd]

I'm looking for a Blue Ray Player and find nothing except desertcart or tatonis. Any lead (even pre-owned-region free) would be great. The seller in Amazon India is not at all reliable

I have been collecting Blu-ray/UHDs for more than 12 years and I would love to share my experience and views.....

Blu-ray/4K UHD playback options assuming one has a sufficiently large screen 4K display

option 1
Buy a high quality 4K player from Amazon US or UK. The two best options are Panasonic UB820 and Sony x700. Both are excellent players. I use the first one (Region B). My experience has been nothing less than fully satisfying. 4K UHDs are Region free, but Blu-ray are Region locked. Thus, keeping a region A and one Region B players make sense. There are plenty of sellers offer hardware tweak Region free players, but the prices are way too high. Keeping two players always help as Blu-rays are unpredictable. I also a Sony series 3 Region A Blu-ray player.

option 2
Buy a 4K enabled Blu-ray drive and flash the firmware. It is very simple and straight forward. Thereby one can rip and make a compressed/uncompressed file out of a Blu-ray or 4K UHD. These files (H.265 based MKV or MP4) can be easily played in any modern smart TV with USB input. Alternatively, one can buy a 4K media player/streamer. I use Nvidia Shield Pro 4K player which plays the uncompressed files with ease. In this option one can elliminate a Blu-ray/4K player. I have one Asus and a LG 4K enabled drives, they rip the discs with charm.

I can provide links if someone need them.

Now physical media....

I would like to describe Indian releases are "below par" and hardly has resale value. Amazon UK, US, DE, ES, IT are the best options. The prices are very competitive, shipping is also reasonable. However, Indian customs hits badly even people who have no business interest. A whopping 42% duty makes these purchases expensive. But theose two sources are worth it as they have excellent stock. Indian releases are worth exploring sometimes.

rarewaves based in UK is another option, they ship every order with GBP 6 as shipping and does not charge any duty upfront. Again at the Indian foreign post office (FPO) duties are imposed which random, unpredictable and devoid of reason/logic. I have enough experience to back my views. I have been charged duty more than the value of the parcel, while often I was not charged a single penny.

In my opinion there is no option that can beat buying locally from ebay US, UK, DE, FR as used Blu-rays are on offer at a price as low as USD 1/GBP 1. One needs to keep an eye, have patience and have a friend who stays there and can bring the items.

Make a learned choice and plunge into this hobby.

 

[gururaj026]

I have been collecting Blu-ray/UHDs for more than 12 years and I would love to share my experience and views.....

Blu-ray/4K UHD playback options assuming one has a sufficiently large screen 4K display

option 1
Buy a high quality 4K player from Amazon US or UK. The two best options are Panasonic UB820 and Sony x700. Both are excellent players. I use the first one (Region B). My experience has been nothing less than fully satisfying. 4K UHDs are Region free, but Blu-ray are Region locked. Thus, keeping a region A and one Region B players make sense. There are plenty of sellers offer hardware tweak Region free players, but the prices are way too high. Keeping two players always help as Blu-rays are unpredictable. I also a Sony series 3 Region A Blu-ray player.

option 2
Buy a 4K enabled Blu-ray drive and flash the firmware. It is very simple and straight forward. Thereby one can rip and make a compressed/uncompressed file out of a Blu-ray or 4K UHD. These files (H.265 based MKV or MP4) can be easily played in any modern smart TV with USB input. Alternatively, one can buy a 4K media player/streamer. I use Nvidia Shield Pro 4K player which plays the uncompressed files with ease. In this option one can elliminate a Blu-ray/4K player. I have one Asus and a LG 4K enabled drives, they rip the discs with charm.

I can provide links if someone need them.

Now physical media....

I would like to describe Indian releases are "below par" and hardly has resale value. Amazon UK, US, DE, ES, IT are the best options. The prices are very competitive, shipping is also reasonable. However, Indian customs hits badly even people who have no business interest. A whopping 42% duty makes these purchases expensive. But theose two sources are worth it as they have excellent stock. Indian releases are worth exploring sometimes.

rarewaves based in UK is another option, they ship every order with GBP 6 as shipping and does not charge any duty upfront. Again at the Indian foreign post office (FPO) duties are imposed which random, unpredictable and devoid of reason/logic. I have enough experience to back my views. I have been charged duty more than the value of the parcel, while often I was not charged a single penny.

In my opinion there is no option that can beat buying locally from ebay US, UK, DE, FR as used Blu-rays are on offer at a price as low as USD 1/GBP 1. One needs to keep an eye, have patience and have a friend who stays there and can bring the items.

Make a learned choice and plunge into this hobby.

Thanks so much for your detailed post! Really appreciate the time and effort you put into sharing all that valuable info. I wish more people get into this hobby so that the Indian Bluray market revives and makes it easier for us to get our hands on these disks.

 

[souravin]

I have been collecting Blu-ray/UHDs for more than 12 years and I would love to share my experience and views.....

Blu-ray/4K UHD playback options assuming one has a sufficiently large screen 4K display

option 1
Buy a high quality 4K player from Amazon US or UK. The two best options are Panasonic UB820 and Sony x700. Both are excellent players. I use the first one (Region B). My experience has been nothing less than fully satisfying. 4K UHDs are Region free, but Blu-ray are Region locked. Thus, keeping a region A and one Region B players make sense. There are plenty of sellers offer hardware tweak Region free players, but the prices are way too high. Keeping two players always help as Blu-rays are unpredictable. I also a Sony series 3 Region A Blu-ray player.

option 2
Buy a 4K enabled Blu-ray drive and flash the firmware. It is very simple and straight forward. Thereby one can rip and make a compressed/uncompressed file out of a Blu-ray or 4K UHD. These files (H.265 based MKV or MP4) can be easily played in any modern smart TV with USB input. Alternatively, one can buy a 4K media player/streamer. I use Nvidia Shield Pro 4K player which plays the uncompressed files with ease. In this option one can elliminate a Blu-ray/4K player. I have one Asus and a LG 4K enabled drives, they rip the discs with charm.

I can provide links if someone need them.

Now physical media....

I would like to describe Indian releases are "below par" and hardly has resale value. Amazon UK, US, DE, ES, IT are the best options. The prices are very competitive, shipping is also reasonable. However, Indian customs hits badly even people who have no business interest. A whopping 42% duty makes these purchases expensive. But theose two sources are worth it as they have excellent stock. Indian releases are worth exploring sometimes.

rarewaves based in UK is another option, they ship every order with GBP 6 as shipping and does not charge any duty upfront. Again at the Indian foreign post office (FPO) duties are imposed which random, unpredictable and devoid of reason/logic. I have enough experience to back my views. I have been charged duty more than the value of the parcel, while often I was not charged a single penny.

In my opinion there is no option that can beat buying locally from ebay US, UK, DE, FR as used Blu-rays are on offer at a price as low as USD 1/GBP 1. One needs to keep an eye, have patience and have a friend who stays there and can bring the items.

Make a learned choice and plunge into this hobby.

Thank you AKD, long time. Very insightful indeed. BD play of my Oppo BDP has suddenly stopped, however the CD is working, a strange issue. That is why I'm hunting for a BDP and finally got a region tweaked Pioneer BDP 450 (pre owned)