Sony introduces relatively compact, cheap UHD Blu-ray player

Sony has introduced the UBP-X500, a UHD Blu-ray player that will cost two hundred euros. The player can play the usual discs, and can handle HDR10 and Dolby Atmos. Dolby Vision is probably not supported.

The fairly compact and slim UBP-X500 will be released in the middle of this month and will cost two hundred euros, according to Sony. In addition to playing UHD Blu-rays, there is also support for regular Blu-rays, DVDs and CDs. Furthermore, according to Sony, the player is able to properly upscale video material with lower resolutions to 4k. The UBP-X500 can also play a number of video files via a USB stick, although it is not clear whether the passthrough of Dolby Atmos is also supported via USB. As far as connections are concerned, the device only has a single HDMI output and a connection for an internet connection. Wifi is not built-in and Sony does not mention the support of apps such as YouTube and Netflix.

The apparent lack of Dolby Vision is striking, because the existing UBP-X700 currently has a comparable price and does support this HDR format; this player is listed in the Pricewatch for around two hundred euros. Sony’s more expensive TVs also support Dolby Vision. In addition, this HDR format with dynamic metadata is ending up on more and more UHD Blu-rays, and the Xbox One S and X, for example, will eventually also be able to play UHD Blu-rays with Dolby Vision. It is possible that Sony will add Dolby Vision via a software update in the future, but nothing is known about this yet.