Como ávido coleccionista de medios físicos, como fanático de Godzilla y como alguien a quien le encantó la película Minus One, personalmente estoy muy contento con este lanzamiento. Agregaré esto a mi estantería y disfrutaré estos discos con mucho gusto. Sin embargo, algunos coleccionistas pueden estar contentos de tener una versión estándar más modesta que cuesta entre 20 y 30 dólares y que pueden pedir en Amazon con envío gratuito. Esta es una expectativa razonable. Como tal, esta versión puede parecer un poco decepcionante al principio.
Sin embargo, este es el primer lanzamiento físico oficial anunciado en los Estados Unidos. Seamos realistas sobre esto por un momento: “Minus One” es la película japonesa de Godzilla más taquillera de todos los tiemposEs una película de gran éxito que recibió elogios generalizados y se convirtió en la primera película en los setenta años de historia de la franquicia en ganar un Premio de la Academia. Es probable que en algún momento se anuncie otro lanzamiento físico a un precio más bajo. Toho ha estado atendiendo a coleccionistas incondicionales desde el principio. Es posible que todos necesiten tener un poco de paciencia.
De todos modos, es bueno que esta película se estrene en cines. Pero estas cosas no se pueden garantizar cada vez más. Películas como “Bárbaro” y “El hombre vacío” aún no están disponibles en Blu-ray. Es reconfortante, por decir lo menos, que una película de esta calidad esté disponible de alguna forma para quienes la deseen.
Se espera que el disco Blu-ray “Godzilla Minus One Deluxe Japan Collector's Edition” llegue en septiembre. Puedes reservar una copia ahora en Godzilla.comdonde también puedes ver un desglose completo, disco por disco, de las características especiales del conjunto.
“Somos grandes fanáticos de la serie MONSTER y nuestro equipo disfruta colaborando con los creadores de Riot y Fortiche para crear un paquete increíble para los fanáticos”, dijo Eric Beckman, fundador y director ejecutivo de GKIDS, en un comunicado. “Este proyecto fue concebido en el césped junto al lago de Annecy, por lo que estamos muy contentos de poder anunciar esta colaboración en el festival y en el verdadero hogar de la animación”.
Esta es una noticia extremadamente rara para Netflix y para los programas de transmisión en general. Una de las peores cosas que ha surgido de la era del streaming es la falta de lanzamientos físicos. Esto simplemente lo hace Eliminar títulos es más fácil, amenaza con traer de vuelta la era clásica de Hollywood en la que las películas queridas desaparecen para siempre todos los días. Cuando se trata de Netflix, muchos de los títulos originales del transmisor solo están disponibles en su plataforma (Hasta que sacan a Zaslav y deciden presionar el botón de eliminar.). Seguro que hay algunas excepciones, como conseguir películas Emitido por el Grupo de EstándaresIncluyendo “Roma” y “Pinocho”. Los programas de Netflix de Mike Flanagan “The Haunting of Hill House” y “The Haunting of Bly Manor” han recibido lanzamientos en Blu-ray producidos por Paramount, pero “Midnight Mass”, “The Midnight Club” y “The Fall of the House” de Usher” sólo está disponible si compras una copia ilegal (algo El propio Flanagan está de acuerdo).
Los medios físicos son la preservación de los medios; Sin él, los estudios tienen el poder de borrar títulos de la existencia. hasta Los mejores esfuerzos de nuestros mejores directores como Martin Scorsese. No es suficiente para evitar que se pierdan todos los viejos clásicos. Afortunadamente, la primera temporada de “Arcane” pronto estará disponible para que todos la archiven.
With streaming services bundling up and raising prices, investing in DVDs or 4K Blu-rays is starting to sound like a good idea; it lets you watch the title whenever you’d like and avoid making a recurring purchase.
And if you already collect Blu-rays, have a collection, or are inclined to try them, we have some good news. Thanks to Studio Distribution Services, which handles the physical releases for Universal Pictures and Warner Bros, you’ll soon be able to buy 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVDs at 132 Fred Meyer grocery stores and 170 GameStop stores in the United States, along with GameStop.com.
This means that titles like Dune: Part II will soon be available physically and with potentially higher-quality visuals. This way, you can enjoy the film and get immersed without worrying about buffering, bitrates, or even having an internet connection. The release announcing the partnership notes that titles at Fred Meyer and GameStop will cycle and be feature-length films and TV shows.
Your first disc
Dune: Part II will be the first at Fred Meyer, available at 132 stores on May 14, 2024. However, the partnership will expand with more titles and larger displays. The GameStop rollout will be more prominent from the start, with 20 titles on a main wall at the 170 stores across the United States. You’ll also find a mix of 4K UHD, Blu-rays, and classic DVDs. It also makes a lot of sense, considering the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 feature disc drives with support for playback.
This is a big expansion for both retailers that will get all three types of discs in front of more folks. For those who have previously gone to retailers like BestBuy, which have since discontinued offering the physical media discs, this is a win for the category and for retailers that sell them.
If you’re planning to visit Fred Meyer or GameStop, check out TechRadar’s guide on how to get started with 4K Blu-rays, including the best players to watch them on.
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It may seem like 4K Blu-ray (and physical media in general) is dying, but many still like to collect their favorite movies in physical format. That’s not surprising since streaming sites are not only raising their prices, meaning people have to resort to ‘subscription hopping’ (subscribing to streaming sites for certain shows and movies each month before canceling) to save money, but they can’t be relied upon to keep movies on their platforms. How many times does Spider-Man (the 2002 version with Tobey Maguire) have to change from Netflix to Prime Video before it settles?
If you have bought one of the best TVs, it’s a shame not to feed it the best quality. But what does that mean? 4K Blu-ray and 4K streaming are both the same, right? Sadly, that’s not the case. With 4K streaming, data is transferred at a rate of 17-25 Mbps whereas 4K Blu-ray can transfer data at 128 Mbps. That means with 4K Blu-ray you’re getting a more detailed picture thanks to substantially lower data compression.
If you’re getting into 4K Blu-ray, you’ll need one of the best 4K Blu-ray players. Below, I’ve listed two players I recommend, along with five movies I believe can be the perfect launch pad for your new addiction: 4K Blu-ray collecting.
4K Blu-ray player: Panasonic DP-UB150/154
The Panasonic DP-UB154 (pictured) is easily one of the best budget 4K Blu-ray players on the market. (Image credit: Future)
Panasonic makes some of the best 4K Blu-ray players on the market, and these can vary in price dramatically. The first player I recommend checking out is the Panasonic DP-UB150/154, one of its budget models. (The UB150 and UB154 are identical and their availability depends on your region.)
Even though the UB150/154 is a budget model, you’ll still be getting HDR10 and HDR10+ HDR support and effective upscaling for lower-resolution sources. Performance is also fantastic, with excellent contrast and a natural, life-like quality to images.
With no smart features or Wi-Fi capabilities, the UB150/154 may not be as feature-packed as more premium 4K Blu-ray players, but it can still pass through Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks. For budding home theater enthusiasts on a budget, the UB150/154 is a great place to start – you can expect to pay under £160/$200 for this brilliant 4K Blu-ray player.
4K Blu-ray player: Panasonic DP-UB820
The Panasonic DP-UB820 (pictured), the best 4K Blu-ray player, balances features for price perfectly. (Image credit: Future)
The Panasonic DP-UB820 is the gold standard of value for money in a 4K Blu-ray player. It offers outstanding picture reproduction, with refined details and textures, punchy colors and contrast, and effective upscaling of regular Blu-ray discs and DVDs.
It also comes brimming with features, including both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support. That means no matter what TV you have, the UB820 has you covered when it comes to HDR, whereas other players around this price such as the Sony UBP-X800m2 only support Dolby Vision and not HDR10+. It also features 7.1-channel analog, optical digital and dedicated HDMI audio outputs plus smart features such as streaming.
You’ll need to stretch the budget a bit further on the DP-UB820 – you can expect to pay $449/£349, though we’ve seen it lower – but it is a significant step up over more budget players and even rivals in its price category.
4K Blu-ray disc 1: Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick (pictured on the Panasonic MZ1500 TV) is great for motion and textures. (Image credit: Future)
Top Gun: Maverick (2022), starring Tom Cruise, is a phenomenal 4K Blu-ray disc, and one that will show you the capabilities of your 4K Blu-ray player. Stacked with plenty of fast-paced action and quick, panning shots as jets zoom through the air, Maverick is an excellent resource for evaluating motion handling in any home theater setup and will quickly reveal any display-induced picture judder or blur.
Maverick is also a great reference disc for evaluating skin tones and textures. With its many well-lit close-up shots of characters’ faces, both in the cockpit and in the California sun, it will effectively demonstrate the level of detail you can get from a 4K Blu-ray disc.
Thanks to its many flight sequences, Maverick also showcases 4K Blu-ray audio, and how well the best soundbars or home theater systems handle lossless soundtracks on disc. When I did a comparative test of Blu-ray vs streaming, audio was an area where Blu-ray shined.
4K Blu-ray disc 2: The Batman
The Batman (pictured on the Philips OLED808 TV) is fantastic for showing shadow detail and black levels. (Image credit: Future)
One movie I find essential for testing TVs at TechRadar and for showcasing what 4K Blu-ray can do is The Batman (2022) starring Robert Pattinson. A dark, grainy movie with plenty of muted colors, The Batman is perfect for evaluating a TV’s black depth and shadow detail.
Throughout the movie, there are long sequences with low light or near darkness, and only the best TVs and 4K Blu-ray players can handle these darker tones without losing detail. Mastered at 400 nits instead of the more typical 1,000 nits, The Batman can easily reveal any imperfections in an LED-based TV’s backlight. The Panasonic players mentioned above do an excellent job with The Batman. Plus, it’s the best Batman movie ever made in my opinion.
4K Blu-ray disc 3: Blade Runner: 2049
Blade Runner: 2049 (pictured on a 98-inch TCL C805 TV) is an extremely popular 4K Blu-ray. (Image credit: Future)
Wonderfully shot and beautifully detailed, Blade Runner: 2049, released in 2017 and starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, is another fantastic disc for demonstrating 4K Blu-ray’s potential. Directed by Denis Villenueve and with cinematography by the legendary Roger Deakins, Blade Runner: 2049 was destined to look incredible on a 4K disc.
The movie is packed with scenes that have changing lighting conditions, which makes it perfect for evaluating contrast and color. The night market scene is perfect for testing contrast and the Dolby Atmos soundtrack is powerful. Blade Runner: 2049 is a slam-dunk disc to add to your collection if you want to see the benefits of 4K Blu-ray.
4K Blu-ray disc 4: Alien
Alien on the Panasonic MZ1500 TV (pictured) shows how older movies can be given new life on 4K Blu-ray. (Image credit: Future)
The sci-fi/horror classic movie Alien (1979), starring Sigourney Weaver, is an example of an older movie getting new life through a proper 4K treatment on disc. On 4K Blu-ray, Alien gains refinement and detail, which enhances the tired and almost ghostlike complexions of the Nostromo crew.
A recent spate of James Cameron-directed 4K Blu-ray releases including Aliens met with mixed reception, as people felt the color palette was heavily altered and the movies looked too digitized and clean. The 4K Blu-ray of Alien, on the other hand, demonstrates how an older movie can be cleaned up and revitalized without going too far. Alien on 4K Blu-ray lacks a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, but its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is nonetheless an excellent example of atmospheric and tension-inducing movie sound.
4K Blu-ray disc 5: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (pictured on the Philips OLED808 TV) is good for testing colors, particularly the throne room fight scene. (Image credit: Future)
Now, hear me out. Despite its polarizing nature (most opinions fall on the side of bad), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) looks very good on 4K Blu-ray, and so do all of the sequel Star Warsmovies for that matter. There are plenty of reference scenes here for testing different aspects of a 4K Blu-ray player and TV, but there’s one sequence in particular that I frequently return to.
The throne room fight scene in Star Wars: TLJ is punctuated with plenty of vibrant reds – a lightsaber, the walls, the guards’ uniforms – and in 4K this scene has a dynamic, punchy look. It’s also a good example of how sharpness and subtlety can combine, with plenty of refined detail in objects and faces. Star Wars: TLJ may not be to everyone’s tastes, but it’s an excellent ambassador for the 4K Blu-ray format.
Final thoughts
Collecting 4K Blu-ray can be expensive and all those discs can be a real space-stealer, but it offers the best video and audio quality most people can get in a home theater setup. For any movie fan, adding a 4K Blu-ray player to your 4K TV is a no-brainer.
An important part of how we test TVs at TechRadar is subjective testing. That’s the part of the process where our reviewers run the best TVs through tests looking at picture quality, sound quality, gaming features, smart TV features and more. To test picture quality, we use 4K Blu-ray and streaming, HD Blu-ray and streaming and lower-resolution sources such as DVD.
The specific movies, TV shows, and other media we use are important for our picture quality tests. We’ll use the same scenes for reference across every TV or projector because we know what to look out for when it comes to contrast, black levels, color accuracy, motion, brightness and more using these scenes. And it’s not just picture quality – we’ll also use some of these movie scenes to test the TV’s built-in audio quality.
The movies and scenes we use vary from reviewer to reviewer (apart from one disc that I’ll get into later) but will have been carefully picked as references because they can quickly show a TV’s strengths and weaknesses on the criteria listed above.
Here are the four movies (a mixture of both SDR and HDR across discs and streaming) that I use whenever I’m testing a new TV, along with a bonus disc at the end that no reviewer can live without.
1. The Batman
The Batman (pictured) is excellent for showing black level and shadow detail. (Image credit: Future)
For me, The Batman, the 2022 movie starring Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz, is an excellent resource for testing several aspects of a TV’s picture. An extremely grainy, dark and gritty movie, The Batman used “available natural light” and is “an urban noir film”, according to cinematographer Greg Fraisier ACS ASC (via Cinematography World). The film is also mastered at a very dim 400 nits (most movies are mastered at 1,000 nits).
The Batman is a no-brainer for testing shadow detail and black levels on a TV. If a set can reveal the details and textures in such a dark movie by keeping dark tones accurate, it’s a big positive. Much of the movie takes place at night, so it’s also great for testing black uniformity – the ability to evenly display dark tones across the screen. This is usually no problem for the best OLED TVs but can be a real issue for edge-lit LED TVs such as the Samsung CU8000, for instance, which makes black areas in images appear gray and cloudy instead.
There’s a noticeable amount of grain in The Batman – an intentional choice by the director – but the movie still aims to maintain true-to-life skin tones and textures. That’s why I use it to test a TV’s digital processing to see if it reduces grain too much, giving the image an artificially clean look – something that typically happens in picture modes such as Standard and Vivid.
Along with picture quality, The Batman is excellent for testing audio. The speech is a bit mumbled (again, maybe intentionally?), so it’s a great disc to test dialogue clarity. There’s also the brilliant Batmobile chase scene, which can test the power and weight of a TV’s built-in audio, primarily through the rumble of the Batmobile’s roaring engine.
2. Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick (pictured) is good for showcasing daylight scenes and skin tones. (Image credit: Future)
Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to 1986’s Top Gun (both starring Tom Cruise), is almost polar opposite to The Batman. Both of these 4K Blu-rays are excellent for evaluating skin tones and a TV’s ability to display true-to-life textures. But a lot of Maverick is shot during the day, so it lets me see how a TV handles those characteristics in a well-lit scene.
The main reason I use Maverick, though, is to test motion. In 2018, Tom Cruise commented on TV motion settings, saying “it takes the cinematic look out of any image and makes it look like a soap opera shot on a cheap video camera” (via BBC News). He made these comments whilst shooting Top Gun Maverick, so clearly natural-looking cinematic fast-paced action was what he was aiming for.
Maverick is filled with plenty of long, panning shots – across landscapes, following cascading, rolling jets and even boats and motorcycles. There are also plenty of intense flight scenes including the first ‘dogfight’ training mission, which I use a lot. This sequence lets me easily see if motion looks smooth or choppy on a TV. When using Filmmaker Mode (generally the most accurate TV picture preset), motion smoothing settings get turned off and that’s a real challenge for TVs. More premium models tend to handle this fine, whereas more budget sets, contrary to what Mr. Cruise says, need a bit of motion help via blur and judder reduction adjustments.
Again, this disc is one I use not just for picture quality tests but audio as well because, you guessed it, jet engines make a fantastic workout for a TV’s built-in speakers. Also, it has many shots of jets flying across the screen, which tests the TV’s soundstage (the wider the better), virtual surround sound, and the positioning of sound effects relative to the on-screen action.
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi demonstrates color, particularly in the scene pictured above. (Image credit: Future)
Despite what many people think of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it is a wonderfully shot and beautiful-looking movie. Details, motion, contrast – you name it, this movie has it. However, I use it for one test in particular: color.
In the ‘throne room’ fight scene between Rey, Kylo Ren and the red-suited guards late in the movie, so much dynamic and punchy color appears on screen and it really tests a TV’s color rendition. In particular, this scene uses the color red (the guards’ armor, the walls of the room, Kylo Ren’s lightsaber) and it can reveal a TV’s color strengths and weaknesses. Budget models often display a more faded and dull hue whereas more premium sets provide the eye-catching red I’m looking for, though without oversaturation.
The lightsabers are another excellent test for color. Several scenes make these the focal point of the shot and can be very useful for showing a TV’s effectiveness in displaying HDR highlights. TVs I’ve tested that have handled this successfully include OLEDs such as the Panasonic MZ2000, Philips OLED808 and LG G3.
4. The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man (pictured) DVD is good for showing a TV’s upscaling. (Image credit: Future)
This choice is less about the movie itself and more about a legacy format: DVD. The Amazing Spider-Man is a superb-looking movie, but not all 4K TVs handle it equally. Textures can appear soft and fuzzy – unsurprising considering the picture needs to be heavily upscaled.
A good 4K TV will provide blur-free upscaling and sharpen textures to give more life and punch to the picture. On larger screens such as the best 65-inch TVs, 4K upscaling of a standard-definition image will never be perfect, but a good TV should be able to make a DVD watchable.
The Amazing Spider-Man is a colorful, fast-paced movie with plenty of alternating day and night sequences, so it covers all the picture quality testing bases. More importantly, the DVD version tests a TV’s upscaling to see if it can bring a vivid visual punch to the movie even from a lower-resolution source.
Bonus disc: Spears & Munsil UHD Benchmark 4K Blu-ray
The Spears & Munsil 4K Blu-ray (demo footage pictured) is a testing essential. (Image credit: Future)
Many readers will be unaware of Spears & Munsil UHD Benchmark 4K Blu-ray, but it is an essential disc for TV reviewers. Spread across three discs, it is designed to test every performance aspect of a TV. The UHD Benchmark features test patterns for color gamut, grayscale, sharpness, motion, skin tones and much more, and for me is a must-have.
A section I regularly use is the demonstration material, a 7-minute reel of footage mastered in all HDR formats – HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision – that highlights every area of a TV’s picture performance mentioned above. Snowy scenes reveal how a TV handles vibrant whites, night landscapes show its ability to reproduce a truly black sky, while animal shots contain intricate textures and details in feathers and scales.
This disc will enable home theater enthusiasts to calibrate their TVs for the absolute best picture and is highly recommended.
When you buy one of the best TVs, most of which now have 4K resolution, you want to feed it the best quality possible. I recently tested 4K Blu-ray vs streaming, and although I found the picture with both to be closer than expected, it became clear during my comparison that 4K Blu-ray was superior – especially when it came to audio quality.
If you’re thinking of buying one of the best 4K Blu-ray players, you’ll find that, in terms of price and features, the market can be as diverse as TVs themselves. You can pay as little as $199 / £159 / AU$399 for a basic player, up to over $999 / £999/ AU$1,699 for a premium model.
While there are competitors within the 4K Blu-ray player market, the main manufacturer is Panasonic, which makes consistently high-quality, well-built models that rate highly regardless of whether they are budget, mid-range or premium. Other manufacturers include Sony, Raevon and Magnetar (with the latter two at the premium end of the market).
It should be no problem to opt for a budget model because a 4K Blu-ray player just plays discs, right? Well, a budget player will give you 4K Blu-ray disc playback, but there are a lot of other factors to consider including HDR support, upscaling, audio quality, connectivity and even built-in smart features. The best 4K Blu-ray players do more than just play discs nowadays.
Whilst there are many great 4K Blu-ray players, I’ll primarily discuss three models here: the Panasonic DP-UB154 (and DP-UB150) as the budget entry, the Panasonic DP-UB820 for the mid-range, and the Panasonic DP-UB9000 as the premium option (with a few more at the premium end).
Godzilla vs Kong (pictured) played through the Panasonic DP-UB820 on a Panasonic MZ1500 OLED TV (Image credit: Future)
Picture
While your display, be it a TV, monitor or projector, is extremely important for overall picture quality, the 4K Blu-ray player you use is also important. The player decodes the digital information on the disc and passes it on to the display, applying digital processing such as noise reduction and other image enhancements that can make or break picture quality.
When I tested the UB154 and UB820, the picture quality of both impressed me. I haven’t tested the premium UB9000 in the same way, but it was the 4K Blu-ray player of choice in the demo room at my AV retail job, so I was very familiar with it and impressed. But what makes the two players different?
The 4K picture reproduction is brilliant across the board on these three players, which provide crisp detailed textures and strong contrast. But as you go up the range, there is a noticeable step-up in picture quality, with the UB9000 offering the smoothest visuals. Even the mid-range UB820 provides greater detail than the entry-level UB154.
Upscaling of HD Blu-rays and lower-resolution DVDs is effective across all three players, but once again, the higher up the range you go, the more effective the upscaling gets. We said in our review of the UB9000 that its upscaling provides a “slick, detailed presentation”. There is a difference in upscaling quality between the UB154 and UB820 as well, with the UB820 delivering a picture with finer detail and less noise compared to the UB154.
HDR support is where the UB154 differs from its more premium counterparts. It doesn’t offer Dolby Vision, but does support the less commonly used HDR10+ format. So, if you have one of the best OLED TVs that does support Dolby Vision, sadly you’re out of luck with the UB154. There is a slightly pricier alternative with Dolby Vision, but not HDR10+ support, the Sony UBPX700 ($259 / £229 / AU$399).
The Panasonic DP-UB820 (Image credit: Future)
Audio
Audio decoding and support is a surprisingly even playing field among these models. Each supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD and more, so if you have a home theater setup with one of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars or a TV that supports those formats, these players will have you covered.
Hi-res audio and music codecs are also widely supported, though the UB820 and UB-9000 support ALAC up to 7.1 channels. This was the only difference in terms of codec support that I could see.
For audiophiles, it’s worth noting that none of these players support SACD or DVD-A playback. For that, you’ll want the Magnetar UDP800 or Reavon UBRX-200, though with both you’ll be paying at least $500 more than the premium Panasonic UB9000. However, all these named players support CD playback if you want to hold on to your CD collection.
The Panasonic DP-UB820 (pictured) comes with a good amount of connections for a mid-range player (Image credit: Future)
Features
Features are where your budget matters with 4K Blu-ray players. As a budget player, the UB154 comes up short compared to the rest of the range. Primarily, it has no analog audio outputs or Wi-Fi support, whereas the UB820 and UB9000 have 7.1-channel analog and optical digital audio outputs (the UB9000 even has XLR outputs) and Wi-Fi for streaming from apps including Netflix and YouTube.
Among the most noticeable differences between these players are their menus and usability. The UB820 and UB9000 offer more video and audio settings to tweak compared with the UB154 and also more responsive navigation and disc loading times. For example, the time elapsed from first loading a disc to seeing logos on screen can take almost 30 seconds longer with the UB154 than with the UB820.
The build quality of these players suits their prices – the UB154 feels cheap, while the UB9000 has a sturdy, solid metal chassis that makes it feel premium. The UB820 is the real standout here, as it feels suitably tough, and is also a workhorse.
Panasonic Blu-ray players feature settings to tailor picture and audio to your taste (Image credit: Future)
Final thoughts
Unsurprisingly, spending more on a player will get you a more premium 4K Blu-ray experience. The UB9000 has all the bells and whistles (barring SACD) that you need and delivers audio and video at the highest quality level. But then again, none of these 4K Blu-ray players will let you down, and they offer enough positives at their respective prices.
If you can stretch your budget for the UB820 ($425 / £349 / AU$769), you’ll find it absolutely worth it. Panasonic’s mid-range player has many of the premium UB9000’s features at just over a third of that player’s price. From my personal experience, the UB820 is built to last and delivers excellent picture quality. There are good reasons why the Panasonic UB820 sits at the top of our list of the best 4K Blu-ray players.
