Microsoft Xbox One S 4K UHD Player Review

Nice review, but are you reviewing the complete package here or just the UHD player as stated in your review title, because I feel 9/10 is very generous if the review is based just on the UHD player which going by your pro's and con's is not.

Going by past experience of one of these I would give it a 7/10 at best (for UHD player), noise levels of the thing was so off-putting during movie playback.
 
I agree about the noise levels but there are ways to mitigate that and in all other respects it's a very capable player and the equal of Panasonic UB300. It's about the same price as the UB300 and includes built-in WiFi which the Panasonic doesn't, so personally I feel both represent excellent value for money.
 
Nice review, but are you reviewing the complete package here or just the UHD player as stated in your review title, because I feel 9/10 is very generous if the review is based just on the UHD player which going by your pro's and con's is not.

Going by past experience of one of these I would give it a 7/10 at best (for UHD player), noise levels of the thing was so off-putting during movie playback.
I would say noise is its only real failing (and its not actually that bad) but then you've got the addition of wi-fi (versus the £200 ish budget players) Atmos on netflix, HDR apps etc so even taking the gaming out of it for a minute - against the other £200 ish players, its got some great extra features.
 
Steve, thanks for the complete set of UHD players - which in terms of providing digital transports appear to provide consistent performance - as we should expect.

My own view if that opting for a cheaper model (e.g. Panasonic DMP-UB300) and putting the “savings” into a higher spec AVR is the way forward.

However my slight hesitation is that currently UHD discs account for a small % of my library – the remainder 30:70 Blu-ray:DVD.

Do you have any thoughts / comments on the capabilities of the UHD players reviewed in terms of up-scaling or other general performance when it comes to these legacy formats? Or is up-scaling something we should leave to other elements of the system anyway?
 
I agree about the noise levels but there are ways to mitigate that and in all other respects it's a very capable player and the equal of Panasonic UB300. It's about the same price as the UB300 and includes built-in WiFi which the Panasonic doesn't, so personally I feel both represent excellent value for money.

Yeah I agree with your points. Ive owned two, but I could not get on with the fan noise and could not find any ways to solve the noise issues, Im also very sensitive to noise. In the end I returned two of the S version consoles due to fan noise.
Guess that's why personally I cant score it any higher than a 7/10. For me, if the consoles I had owned were quite (varies by console) I would still have owned one of them and would happily have scored it higher.
 
I have never noticed the fan noise on mine. When in lounge it sits below TV at knee level about 9 feet away.
When in cinema room, it sits at ear level behind and.to the right about 6 feet away.
So don't let it put you off if that is your own worry.
 
Reading the reviews on Amazon.co.uk for this model, the fan noise appears to be a known issue and fixed in newer revisions of the hardware. Can anyone else confirm? Thanks.
 
Steve, thanks for the complete set of UHD players - which in terms of providing digital transports appear to provide consistent performance - as we should expect.

My own view if that opting for a cheaper model (e.g. Panasonic DMP-UB300) and putting the “savings” into a higher spec AVR is the way forward.

However my slight hesitation is that currently UHD discs account for a small % of my library – the remainder 30:70 Blu-ray:DVD.

Do you have any thoughts / comments on the capabilities of the UHD players reviewed in terms of up-scaling or other general performance when it comes to these legacy formats? Or is up-scaling something we should leave to other elements of the system anyway?
I wouldn't worry the upscaling in all the players I've tested has actually been very good and the Panasonics in particular are excellent, so I'm sure you'd be very happy with the results from the UB300. The scaling on the Samsung players is also excellent, so if you were looking for a cheap option then the K8500 is definitely worth considering, especially as it has built-in WiFi and two HDMI outputs, which might be useful depending on your AV receiver. There was nothing wrong with the scaling on the Xbox either, although I do think the standalone players had a slight advantage in this area. Of course, depending on your display, you might prefer to let that do the scaling anyway.
 
Reading the reviews on Amazon.co.uk for this model, the fan noise appears to be a known issue and fixed in newer revisions of the hardware. Can anyone else confirm? Thanks.
I haven't heard earlier versions but I didn't find the fan noise to be that bad, it was certainly better than the first generation PS3 I used to own and the Xbox 360, both of which were really noisy. I'm sure the fan noise varies from unit to unit and how annoying you'll find it will also vary from person to person.
 
Reading the reviews on Amazon.co.uk for this model, the fan noise appears to be a known issue and fixed in newer revisions of the hardware. Can anyone else confirm? Thanks.
Mine is a launch day model and never had an issue. Even when the kids play FIFA all day long never noticed the fan noise.
 
Back in the day, the receivers were always considered the best stage for upscaling. The general consensus these days is to let the display do it.(?)
 
I have both an Xbox One S and a Sony X800 and feel that this review is spot on.

Picture wise I cannot see any difference between the Sony and the Xbox - as you would expect.

The apps on the Xbox One S are better - you get HDR on both Netflix and Amazon - whereas on the Sony you only get HDR on one of them. (I cannot remember which one.) The Xbox One apps get regular updates - I don't know for how long Sony will support the X800 apps.

The Sony is faster to get up and running and a bit quieter but I rarely notice the noise on the Xbox. The Sony also feels better built i.e. heavy and solid - which is probably why it is quieter - although the eject button is spongey. The Sony has far more configuration options for how it outputs video and sound. (I don't remember any options on the Xbox One.)

The media remote on the Xbox One S is a cheap option (£15 from Amazon) and much, much better than using a controller. I control both the Sony and the Xbox using a Harmony anyway.

Unless Sony can provide DV I cannot see any real advantage for it. (As DV can be implemented in software it is theoretically possible that the Xbox One S could support DV one day.)
 
Thanks Steve.... playback on mine has been poor...several discs skip at least once during playback. Microsoft say my xbox one s is fine and its a software issue that will be fixed..!...not sure when .....and some discs don't even play....resident evil afterlife for one. Some discs play fine though..it does seem to be a lottery. When it works its great.
 
Thanks Steve.... playback on mine has been poor...several discs skip at least once during playback. Microsoft say my xbox one s is fine and its a software issue that will be fixed..!...not sure when .....and some discs don't even play....resident evil afterlife for one. Some discs play fine though..it does seem to be a lottery. When it works its great.
I had read of disc playback problems, so I deliberately chose some discs that I knew people had problems with to see if I could replicate them. I didn't have any issues myself but of course Microsoft may have already addressed those specific discs in a firmware update. For example I had heard of people having problems with Planet Earth II but it played fine in the Xbox One S I had.
 
Reading the reviews on Amazon.co.uk for this model, the fan noise appears to be a known issue and fixed in newer revisions of the hardware. Can anyone else confirm? Thanks.

I have a later edition, the Gears of War Ltd edition one in the bedroom. I have a habit of leaving it on overnight as it's so quiet I can't hear it so forget it's on


Also worth pointing out you can use the Xbox app to be a controller as well, it's a lot easier than using the pad as they turn off after so long to conserve energy
 
I have both an Xbox One S and a Sony X800 and feel that this review is spot on.

Picture wise I cannot see any difference between the Sony and the Xbox - as you would expect.

The apps on the Xbox One S are better - you get HDR on both Netflix and Amazon - whereas on the Sony you only get HDR on one of them. (I cannot remember which one.) The Xbox One apps get regular updates - I don't know for how long Sony will support the X800 apps.

The Sony is faster to get up and running and a bit quieter but I rarely notice the noise on the Xbox. The Sony also feels better built i.e. heavy and solid - which is probably why it is quieter - although the eject button is spongey. The Sony has far more configuration options for how it outputs video and sound. (I don't remember any options on the Xbox One.)

The media remote on the Xbox One S is a cheap option (£15 from Amazon) and much, much better than using a controller. I control both the Sony and the Xbox using a Harmony anyway.

Unless Sony can provide DV I cannot see any real advantage for it. (As DV can be implemented in software it is theoretically possible that the Xbox One S could support DV one day.)
Just picked one of these up in graphite to blend in better paid £175 at cex unwanted gift and in mint condition with 2yr warranty...no brainer but I was concerned it might fall short of dedicated players this review has put that to bed its excellent for the money.
 
Thanks for the review - I'll be getting an Xbox One (S or X) at some stage for the kids, so this is useful although I have no 4K displays yet.

Does the Xbox support multi-region Blurays and DVDs? I still have a few region A blurays.
Also, wouldn't it be great if you could hook in the Xbox 360 HDHDVD players and download an app to playback HDDVDs :)
 
My first 1S had a noisy fan, it had a rattle to it. I had read about the issue so complained and got a replacement. The fan is audbile but its more like air moving rather than a rattle. I sit 2.5m away from it andcan't hear a thing even during quiet scenes.

I use mine as a main BD player currently and I'm very happy with it. I wish there was an option to auto play BDs though which would save 10 seconds of navigation
 
It's a great little machine and fine value for money considering what it can do. I use it mainly for gaming now - Forza Horizon 3 in HDR is a real blast, especially night scenes, where the HDR really excels.
 
Thanks for the review - I'll be getting an Xbox One (S or X) at some stage for the kids, so this is useful although I have no 4K displays yet.

Does the Xbox support multi-region Blurays and DVDs? I still have a few region A blurays.
Also, wouldn't it be great if you could hook in the Xbox 360 HDHDVD players and download an app to playback HDDVDs :)

On DVD's no, it is region locked.

The odds of HD-DVD support are extremely remote, I could only ever see that happening in two scenarios.
A) The Xbox 360 back compatibility team reaches it's limits and turns to whatever is left like HD-DVD.

B) A more realistic scenario would be to open the console to application development so a third party could make a HD-DVD media player but that is unlikely too. The UWP based apps system has no access to the optical drive so that needs to evolve to allow more complex apps.
 

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