Significant improvement to be had going from Xbox OneX to dedicated 4k Bluray Player?

[Dirtbag]

Very recently, I discovered that my Xbox One X cannot decode Dolby Vision when playing Blurays. I've used it for the last years and generally I'm happy with its performance, but the non-support of Dolby Vision for Bluray playback is quite disappointing.

Now, I'm wondering if I should get a dedicated 4k player in addition. With the market shrinking, there's not much options out there anymore, but the Panasonic DP-UB9004 looks interesting.

As for the overall setup: TV is a Sony ZD9, everything sound is taken care of by a Denon X8500H.

Question is:
Is there a real, clearly discernible difference in a) overall image quality, b) HDR quality between HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and c) sound quality if I'd switch from the OneX to a dedicated Bluray player (or to the Panasonic UB9004)?

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I've found DB to be a little less impressive than HDR10, but it's hard to comment because you cannot (to the best of my knowledge) turn either off. I'm not aware that either improves image quality - they just increase brightness and contrast to more realistic levels. That said, with some older films where the 4k transfer is less Earth-shattering in impact than a newer film, the HDR is actually a bigger gain than the increased resolution.

 

[Dirtbag]

Thanks for the reply!

With regard to the image quality, I put too many questions into a single sentence, I guess...
Actually, there are two questions related to the "Xbox vs dedicated player" topic. These two are:

1) Would you expect a significant, clearly discernible difference in image quality when going from the Xbox One X to a dedicated 4k player (say the Panasonic DP-UB9004), all else being equal (same movie, same TV, same HDR format)?

2) Would you expect an improvement in sound quality going from Xbox to a dedicated player?

Then, thirdly, there's the topic of HDR. Here, it's not about image quality but rather about perceived liveliness/punch/detail levels of HDR content. Again, all else being equal (same movie, same TV).
In theory, Dolby Vision is said to be superior to HDR10 due to the dynamic information, but I wonder if there's really that much of a perceivable difference to warrant the purchase of a Dolby Vision capable playback device...
If I go with the arguments presented by @12th Monkey, that's rather doubtable.

Just from my gut I'd answer "no" or "not enough to matter" to all of these questions. Alas, I might be mistaken and, unsurprisingly, I want to use my hardware to its fullest. And with the knowledge about the (theoretical) superiority of Dobly Vision over HDR10 it kind of bothers me that my TV is Dolby Vision capable but my 4k playback device (aka Xbox One X) is not...

 

[Deleted member 196519]

My experience is somewhat different and I would probably buy the Panasonic UB820 4K Blu-ray player if I was you.

 

[bigboss]

Thanks for the reply!

With regard to the image quality, I put too many questions into a single sentence, I guess...
Actually, there are two questions related to the "Xbox vs dedicated player" topic. These two are:

1) Would you expect a significant, clearly discernible difference in image quality when going from the Xbox One X to a dedicated 4k player (say the Panasonic DP-UB9004), all else being equal (same movie, same TV, same HDR format)?

2) Would you expect an improvement in sound quality going from Xbox to a dedicated player?

Then, thirdly, there's the topic of HDR. Here, it's not about image quality but rather about perceived liveliness/punch/detail levels of HDR content. Again, all else being equal (same movie, same TV).
In theory, Dolby Vision is said to be superior to HDR10 due to the dynamic information, but I wonder if there's really that much of a perceivable difference to warrant the purchase of a Dolby Vision capable playback device...
If I go with the arguments presented by @12th Monkey, that's rather doubtable.

Just from my gut I'd answer "no" or "not enough to matter" to all of these questions. Alas, I might be mistaken and, unsurprisingly, I want to use my hardware to its fullest. And with the knowledge about the (theoretical) superiority of Dobly Vision over HDR10 it kind of bothers me that my TV is Dolby Vision capable but my 4k playback device (aka Xbox One X) is not...

1) No. It's digital.

2) No, if your Denon is processing sound anyway.

 

[Dirtbag]

Well, I've got some news...
A 10% discount on the Panasonic UB9004 in concert with the ongoing chip shortage and all the prices for eletronic devices going up turned out to be enough of a motivation to buy a unit.
And what can I say: Amazing!


The big surprise is not the 4k stuff, though.
Dolby Vision does look better indeed (more contrast, better highlights) and non-DV material also enjoys increased detail levels when played back from the Panasonic as compared to the Xbox One X. Compared it with Godzilla vs Kong (DV vs HDR10) and Tenet(Panasonic vs Xbox overall). I'm aware Tenet is not ideal in terms of HDR, but I was mainly looking for overall improvement in 4k playback here (details, sharpness). In short, the Panasonic does handle 4k playback better in every aspect, and you see a difference. But it's not breath-taking.

The big surprise is 3D playback.
As it's quite niche nowadays, no review I read has taken a look at the 3D capabalities of this player. With the Xbox One X, I always thought the 3D effect was pretty awesome already, with nice pop-outs and good depth but suffering from double images with some movies.
The Panasonic, then, completely and absolutely blows the Xbox out of the water. We just watched the 3D Bluray of Avatar, and I think this was the single biggest WOW-moment I had in a loooong time. Impressive depth, impressive sharpness, impressive clarity, no double images whatsoever... Feels like I've seen this movie the first time for real.