Panasonic DMP-UB900 and DMP-UB90 coming to Japan

[McCrutchy]

Panasonic recently announced two more Japanese UHD BD players for Japan. Unlike the first one, the DMR-UBZ1 (released in November 2015 for ¥400,000, or approx. $3,750 USD), these will not be Panasonic DIGA Blu-ray recorders, and will be substantially cheaper in price. They will be released in June and July, respectively, timed to coincide with the end of the first wave of domestic UHD Blu-ray releases in Japan from Fox, WB and Sony in late June / early July.

Here they are at Amazon Japan: DMP-UB900, DMP-UB90, DMR-UBZ1

Note that Amazon themselves will not ship the units beyond Japan.

The DMP-UB900 is the higher-end model, thanks to its additional high-resolution and analog audio support, but unsurprisingly, no SACD, (or even DVD-Audio) support is specified. It is also being offered in the West already, but probably without Panasonic's Master Grade Video Coding technology, which I believe is exclusive to their Japanese units. The list price is ¥130,000, which is approx. $1,215 USD, or about one-third of the price of the DMR-UBZ1.

The DMP-UB90 is the standard model, without the additional audio support. This unit appears to be only available in Japan for the time being. For the record, it also has 3D and MGVC built-in, but at a list price of ¥70,000, or approx $655 USD.

Hopefully, the deployment of two vastly more affordable UHD players means that more domestic Japanese UHD Blu-rays are in the offing shortly. I would be really curious to see what the first UHD title from a Japanese domestic distributor is, particularly if there are any Western/Hollywood films right out of the gate, from, say, Amuse Soft, or perhaps licensed films from the Japanese arms of the majors. Certainly, Panasonic now has incentive to ensure there is a larger market of titles available in Japan, so this is only good news.