Panasonic has announced that its DMP-UB900 Ultra HD Blu-ray player will go on sale in Europe mid-April, which is much earlier than expected and will definitely be music to the ears of video enthusiasts. The Japanese manufacturer made the announcement at its annual product launch convention that’s taking place in Frankfurt this week.
Pricing has already been revealed too, with the 4K BD deck expected to command a suggested retail price of £600. This certainly came in lower than than the sub-€1000 figure bandied about at CES 2016. While this price is more expensive than Samsung’s first-to-market UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the difference isn’t as massive as first thought, and true videophiles may well be happy paying £200 more for Panasonic’s version which should feature superior chroma upsampling and gradation processing that has filtered through from the efforts of Panasonic’s Hollywood Laboratory.
In addition, the Panasonic UB900 boasts audiophile-grade pedigree through the use of hifi-quality components, separate handling of video and audio outputs, not to mention the support of high-res audio codecs like DSD and ALAC on top of the more common MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV and FLAC formats.
At the event, Panasonic also announced a collaboration with Warner Bros: every DMPUB900 player purchased will be bundled with two free 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray movies, namely San Andreas and Mad Max: Fury Road. We’ve been informed that the discs will be shipped with the UHD BD player itself, instead of having to be redeemed later.
There’s undoubtedly throwback to the early days of 3D when different 3D TV makers tied up with different studios to offer exclusive 3D Blu-rays – the Samsung K8500 will ship with a complimentary copy of The Martian Ultra HD Blu-ray in certain regions. However, we believe that the combination of 4K and HDR should prove to be more successful than 3D which was always hampered by the need to wear 3-D glasses”.
Watching 4k at a distance shows no visual upgrade whilst watching blu ray 1080p at the same distance.
And hdr is going to be so limited that youre better off waiting a few years – right now its pointless
It would be pointless if there was no improvement in picture quality at all but with hdr and oled that has made up my mind to jump in and enjoy what is going to be a much better viewing than 1080p lcd tv.
For sure it is pricey but for anyone who can afford it and is looking to upgrade their tv and blu ray player then go for it.
Prices will drop that is a given and better tvs and blu players will come along but how a long a person will want to wait for that to happen is very much a personal choice and what they can afford.
I like it, shame about about panas bent tv though being so expensive and not even having the proper hdr speck. I am just glad they haven’t messed up this 4k player. It looks the business. I am excited.
I think the improvements in streaming technology as provided by services like Netflix will determine future viewing habits. Electronics manufacturers will be looking to upgrade their product software to accept the incremental improvements in this broadband based market especially with Google matching it’s technology with Apple TV etc. Blue-rays and DVR’s will still have a place for a while as shows will be recorded and some will still want to collect Blue-ray disks but the writings on the wall for these devices. The irony for those looking for the Holy Grail of TV’s is that streaming may finally settle the optimum screen definition used by manufacturers as a production standard rather than aiming for the perfection that videophiles yearn for .
‘Watching 4k at a distance shows no visual upgrade whilst watching blu ray 1080p at the same distance.
And hdr is going to be so limited that your better off waiting a few years – right now its pointless’
What distance is that?? 4K looks incredible in my front room even better then my 1080p blurays. And HDR is available this year and if i’m able to experience it i will. Calling something pointless because you cant benefit is sad
Joseph im comparing house of cards 4k on a oled compared to the 1080 oled coudnt tell the difference.
Maybe you have a superior lcd which i need to know about.
My point was maybe the distance you sit from the set isn’t the same as everyone else, so labeling something pointless based of of that is pointless in itself.
UHD Marco Polo looks far better on my 58″ with my viewing distance than 1080p Marco Polo does
(2-2.5m away)
Can’t believe 3D is on the wane. On my Oled it offers a far more immersive experience than pure resolution improvements can. Would rather watch the 3D version of the Martian than the 4K version. Will be interesting to see what HDR brings to the party.
@James
So, Netflix streaming will have 100 Mbits/s in the near future?