Marantz UD5007 3D Universal Disc Player

Interesting alternative to the Oppo, wonder if there'll be a region-free mod.

I've always liked the look of their players. Hopefully the performance matches it's slick looks. They seem to always get close with their players but never quite hit it out of the park.

So the menus are clunky or navigating them is clunky? How are load times on intensive Java titles?
Edited by tkbryant - 9/16/12 at 4:58pm

Any of the Pirates of The Caribbean discs or Pixar films?

Interested in load times as well; I heard this one is about 30% faster than the old model.

I had the UD5005, but ended up selling it. I hope this new version is better. UD5005 was slow, clunky, had a fan, disappointing netflix PQ; Just wasn't good for the price considering it was outperformed by a < $200 Panasonic player. Gave up SACD, but my receiver couldn't do DSD over HDMI anyway.

I just got one of these for the HT rig to replace my Sony Google TV Blu Ray player since the Sony does not offer a VUDU app. I honestly dont care too much about the BDP, my main focus is streaming. VUDU is so close to Blu Ray, I'm good with streaming.
I wired it to the LAN but it does not seem to recognize the connection.. I know its good, I tested it with the laptop.. Also, just found out you cant control this with android without a current Marantz receiver or processor. I dont want one though since the Auddessey isnt the latest 32 series, its the older crappier version.. its in a control room, so no line of sight for the IR, and IR repeaters are so unnecessary with bluetooth technology.. dont want to drill the walls..
so I'm kinda stumped...
This unit kinda seems like a POS..maybe I'm missing something.. anybody have any suggestions ??

Thanks !
MP

Well, I figured out it was the ethernet terminations.. I redid them and it operates perfectly now.. I think the digital audio output is better than the Google TV.. so it gets a thumbs up

Just got Marantz ud5007

I've had this player about a week now, it's hooked up to my pioneer elite sc-55, hooked up to my Panasonic 55-vt50. I have to say, I set out for a stand alone player that would beat my ps3 and I found a winner, picture and sound quality are amazing, first movie I popped in was the dark knight, a movie I have seen 100 times or so I noticed so much more more detail in all aspects. Much more testing to be done, speed is amazing and the fanless design makes its dead quiet. I'd love to here other owners opinions on the player

anyone know why marantz decided to not do aluminum on the front panel this time its been bugging me since it really doesnt completely match my reciver?

Probaly to get you to buy the UD7007 instead, lol.

Hello everyone. I currently use a Pioneer BDP 051 for Blu-rays and CD's via HDMI to my AVR. I have an older Pioneer 578a DVD palyer that I use just for SACD's via analog multi channel RCA's. I am looking for a one box solution to reduce hardware and cables and this unit from Marantz caught my eye.

My question concerns SACD playback via HDMI. I understand this unit will output DSD via HDMI to my receiver but the AVR must be able to accept it. How do I know this? I have a Pioneer Elite SC-25 and sercahed all 154 pages in the owners manual for DSD. There is no reference to it. Does anyone know if the SC-25 will accept DSD via HDMI?

Hi all,
A couple of weeks ago, we set up our new Marantz SR 5007 with our Panasonic plasma mounted on the wall. The A/V company that set me up let me borrow an open box UD5005. We watched mostly DVD's in the past and we are new to blu-ray. I have to be honest, we are disappointed on how slow and unresponsive the UD5005 is compared to our Bose DVD 3-2-1 player that we used before. Can anyone tell me if the UD5007 is any faster and more responsive (whether DVD or blu-ray)? We have not used CD or SACD in the past as we mostly stream internet radio from the receiver. Is the UD5005 or UD5007 overkill for me if we just watch DVD or occasional blu-ray?

Thanks for your help.

I used to own the UD5005, and was frustrated with its slowness and buggy firmware. It would lock up on occasion. I switched to a Panasonic Blu-ray player, which was much faster, more stable and has Amazon video streaming and significantly cheaper. Unless you plan to use SACD, or use the analog CD output, want matching components, etc. I would not say the Marantz is worth the $600.

The UD5007 should certainly be faster than the UD5005. It is using newer support chips and has a fanless design. Many of the latest blu-ray players are all fanless now. Many models share the same technology under the hood as it is expensive to develop a complete player from scratch. Without having used this product, I'd say it's a definite improvement and is probably what the UD5005 should have been in the first place.

From the Marantz product webpage. It is unclear to me if it's 20% faster than the UD5005 or 20% faster than other blu-ray players. Of course it doesn't say which ones. Given that many players share the same media support chips I believe they mean previous generations of blu-ray players.

http://us.marantz.com/us/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?CatId=BluRayDVD&SubCatId=0&ProductId=UD5007
"Fast, Whisper-Quiet Performance
With a rigid, precision design, and because it contains no fan, the UD5007 offers exceptionally quiet performance--making it great for your family room. An advanced transport mechanism quickly loads and plays discs and has been shown to be 20 percent faster than comparable players."

Have you considered the top-of-the-line Panasonic DMP-BDT500 player? It can be had for less than half the price of the Marantz and loads quickly.

Thank you for your reply. I will look into the Panasonic player this weekend. When I contacted Marantz about the speed of the 5007 vs the 5005, they told me that it is the same load times. I can only assume the 5007, as described in the product description, is 20% faster than other comparable products. I think for me, we are looking for a DVD (or blu-ray) player with great load speeds and great picture quality. Now with Internet radio and digital music, I don't see the need to play music CD's from my blu-ray player.

Hello all ..I'm looking into this player to match my marantz a/v.been looking at the oppo bd103 also..strictly blue ray @ DVD playback...don't need internet,streaming ..etc..going from a Sony 200$ player..can any users let me know what they think about this player...picture & sound quality is most important..using straight wire super HDMI cables

The UD5007 is a great machine. Its HDMI sound beats my OPPO95 hands down on CDs and DVD-Audio with more high end sound. The OPPO's picture is sharper, but darker and has more edge noise. I prefer Blu-Rays on the UD5007 for a cleaner, brighter and more filmic look. I need HDMI to hook up to Meridian's HD620 and 861 V6 processor. The UD5007 seems to be hard to come by, since this thread has dropped dead recently. If you can get one, all things digital look and sound great on Marantz's UD5007.

Hi capnvid,just recieved mine yesterday.I will be hooking it up on Saturday.You say that sound is better thru HDMI both with dvd's and CD'S?
I am assumng you tried thru the RCA?

Hey Hi-Fi!
When I copy a CD I may use the RCA outputs. The reason I liked the UD5007 was I needed a really good HDMI for my Meridian set-up. I hope it is working out as well for you as it did for me. Hope to hear about it on your next post.

OK guys I just finished hooking mine up cleaning some wires off the back of my components.
So here it is My salesman told me not to go with the UD7007,since I own the Marantz AV7005,I would be paying extra for the scaler which I did not need.
Thanks to the salesman I saved almost half.Now I hooked it up using A HDMI and an RCA analog wire.
For video purposes I can not seem to see that much of an improvement over my Sony (maybe because of the scaler in my AV), butI did notice the picture to be crisper,cleaner and richer in color.
Now I was hoping that audio wise it would be good,to save me the expense of getting a separate cd player and...........all I can say is WOW............................This is where it really shines for me.So was it worth it, yes all the way.
I played with some CD'S and I tried both the HDMI and the ANALOG settings. All I did was to connect the analog to the cd analog part of my AV.and when I switch to Bluray it goes to HDMI,when I switch to cd it goes to analog automatically.With out switching the pure direct on It sounds amazing.I do not need to because it does it automatically.When I switch it to HDMI It sound a little more digitized,But to me both are amazing.

PS for some reason though older cd's sound better on the analog setting.

As for the Menus for people saying that it is a little clunky. I do not find it is the case.It is a pretty simple remote.
And I found it easy to use.

I am very very pleased I bought this unit.

Is there a forum for the UD 7007 bd player?

older cd's may sound better because they were made before the invention of mp3's. with the success of apple's ipod, many expect their music to be compressed into mp3 format. as a result, there seems to be a diminished desire to create and master a high-quality audio reproduction. perhaps they don't want to take the time or spend the money. i'm an old school guy who still likes to buy cds so i've noticed the seemingly reduced audio quality of the average cd recorded recently. it may not even be legit but it's my theory.

about one month ago, i bought the marantz sr 7007 to replace my denon avr 3806. i'm on the fence as to whether to commit to the ud 5007 or the oppo bpe 103 to replace my crappy sony blu-ray. i've been an av head for about 25 years and i've never had a device fail before i was ready to replace it. over the past 5 years, i've given sony a try, purchasing a few devices and they've all failed; even my ps3 with that ridiculous fan. based on the strength of this thread, i'm leaning towards the marantz. however, i'm in no rush. i'll do a bit more research. what's a certainty is i'll never buy another sony device.

I just picked up the UD5007 for the bedroom (for reference I have an Oppo BDP-93 installed in the living room). My first impression was that it is a solidly built player and looks very nice despite not having the aluminum face plate like the more expensive UD7007 or the Oppo 93 (that I also own). I did the requisite research so I knew that the feature set of the player would not compete with the lower priced Oppo 103. The included app feature set is lean and includes Hulu Plus, Netflix (like all players cheap to expensive), Vudu, and YouTube. It has sparse connections on the back of the unit with one HDMI, two channel analog out (RCA), ethernet port, and remote control (for amplifier). There is a single USB port on the front of the unit. I ran the player through the paces with HDMI connection for shiny disc playback including blu-ray, DVD, and CD. With an HDMI connection, SQ is dependent, of course, on the AVR/processor, which in this case is a Marantz NR1602. IMHO, the DVD upscaling and blu-ray PQ is excellent. Next, I experimented with the streaming apps (Netflix and Hulu plus only) and DLNA. With Netflix and Hulu, you're pretty much stuck with what they provide you so pretty much par-for-the-course performance for these apps. Using the media server (DLNA), I immediately noticed the clean but rather clunky interface. Also, the player is not compatible with NTFS formatted drives. The Oppo is not much better in this regard. One thing I don't like is that long song titles and album titles are cut-off in the display but I consider this a minor annoyance. The Oppo does not do this except for absurdly long titles (see Red Sparowes, a post rock band). Also, there is no gapless playback as usual unless you burn a single file (wav). I have not tried experimenting with cue files. Lastly, I switched to the 2-channel outs connected to a Parasound Zpre2 and 275 amplifier and listened to CD audio as well as flac from the usb connection. I was really impressed with the SQ. I much prefer it to the analog performance of the Oppo 93. I imagine the Oppo 95 or Oppo 105 are superior in this department but of course they cost twice as much. I know that logically a properly designed and manufactured DAC should be transparent but to me the Marantz just sounds better to my ears than the "clinical" sound of the Oppo. Final verdict: The UD5007 is a great no-frills universal player with decent PQ and exceptional SQ. Music was always my main focus for the player and it does not disappoint despite the clunky media player interface. Is it worth the $600 compared to the $500 Oppo 103? If you care more about music than my opinion is yes. If you care more about features the Oppo 103 is probably the best deal.