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)

 

[souravin]

Received a Pioneer BDP 450 (Pre owned) region free in immaculate condtion. Very happy. My blue ray discs and collection of oldies bollywood DVDs and VCDs are alive again. Oppo BDP is now for CD transport only to Denafrips.

 

[Nitin K]

Received a Pioneer BDP 450 (Pre owned) region free in immaculate condtion. Very happy. My blue ray discs and collection of oldies bollywood DVDs and VCDs are alive again. Oppo BDP is now for CD transport only to Denafrips.

The Pioneer reads just about everything and is very reliable. My BDP 180 still works without any issues.

 

[wishihadtubes]

For those seeking to purchase a 4K UHD (Ultra High Definition) display, reputable electronics retailers such as Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart offer a wide selection of options. Additionally, manufacturers' websites like Samsung, LG, and Sony provide direct access to their latest models, ensuring quality and customer satisfaction. Happy shopping.

Rarewaves in the UK for Blu-ray and 4K UHD discs. They ship by regular post and have been buying from them for almost two years now. I live in Noida and have not had any problems in receiving the discs, including duties. In one case, I didn't receive a Blu-ray I had ordered, informed Rarewaves and they sent it again, no extra charge. However, many of their Blu-rays are region B and they ship by ordinary post, so delivery time is usually two to three weeks.

 

[whencut86]

Which is the best way to source Panasonic UB820 BluRay player. Tanotis pricing is over 80K. Any pointers or deals would help. Thanks in Advance!

 

[Nagaraj S]

Which is the best way to source Panasonic UB820 BluRay player. Tanotis pricing is over 80K. Any pointers or deals would help. Thanks in Advance!

I recently ordered the Panasonic UB 820 4K Blu-ray player on Amazon UK. Not delivered yet. Amazon calculates import duties during check out, so that’s taken care of.
Paid INR 46.5 K including shipping and import duties.

https://amzn.eu/d/dHU62zL

 

[arnprasad]

Not sure about the legal or moral ramnification - what about subscribing to the 3-4 most popular OTTs with the assumption that 99% of the movies are released here and then download the movie from some pirate website? legally I am paying to watch it anyways and there are 20-40GB downloads which I guess are 95%+ of UHD?

I did own a Philips blu-ray player more than a decade ago and used to buy blu rays from abroad - never had a display that would take full advantage of the UHD discs.

I am not promoting piracy. But as Indians we are discriminated against and I see nothing wrong in skirting around the laws a bit. For example Nintendo never released its Wii..so bought one each from US and Europe, initially paid MRP for couple of games, got it to India, hacked it to make it play downloadable games. Would have been happy to pay MRP to buy and play but did not have the option.

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