The Panasonic DMP-UB900 received Sound and Vision magazines top pick for 2016

[HDTV1080P]

The Panasonic DMP-UB900 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player received Sound and Vision magazines top pick for 2016

(Review located on pages 40-42 of the Sound and Vision magazine)

The following are my personal comments and not part of the official Sound and Vision magazine review

OPPO, Panasonic, and Sony are 3 of the best Blu-ray players on the market with excellent build quality, and reliable firmware updates over the life of the Blu-ray player. Personally, I came very close to purchasing the Panasonic DMP-UB900, however since Panasonic Blu-ray players do not offer Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio playback, I decided to go with the OPPO UDP-203 that does offer SACD and DVD-Audio playback (Also the OPPO UDP-203 has 1GB of internal memory for BD-LIVE and 2 USB 3.0 Ports on the back, which the new Panasonic model is lacking in those areas). For most consumers the Panasonic DMP-UB900 is all they need since it will play audio CD’s, DVD’s, standard 2-D Blu-rays, Blu-ray 3-D, and the new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. No Dolby Vision disc support on the new Panasonic, however the new OPPO UDP-203 will offer Dolby Vision with a future promised firmware update. The Panasonic DMP-UB900 has an excellent build quality. The Panasonic DMP-UB900 also has 1Gbps Ethernet networking built in which is faster and more reliable then wireless, and is ideal for those consumers that have a wired CAT8, CAT7A, CAT7, CAT6A, CAT6, and CAT5e home 1Gbps network (or some people have the cutting edge 10Gbps network using CAT6A or above). In addition, wireless is built in for those consumers that need wireless. For some reason Panasonic only placed a slower USB 2.0 port on the front of the player instead of using a faster USB 3.0 port (also there is no rear USB ports). The Panasonic DMP-UB900 is just like the OPPO UDP-203 when it comes to file support (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS file systems are supported). The Panasonic DMP-UB900 does not have any internal memory built in for BD-LIVE, and just like older Panasonic Blu-ray players consumers need to use a SD, SDHC, or SDXC card for BD-LIVE (1GB or larger is required for BD-LIVE, on my old model Panasonic Blu-ray players I use a minimum of 4GB for BD-LIVE).

When using HDMI for both video and audio, the picture and sound quality is exactly the same on all 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players when playing native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. However, when it comes to upscaling 1080P Blu-ray discs to 4K Ultra HD resolutions, according to the Sound and Vision magazine review the Panasonic DMP-UB900 upscaling outperformed the picture quality on the Samsung UBD-K8500. The OPPO UDP-203 did not get released until December 12th 2016, so Sound and Vision magazine has not published a review on the new OPPO player yet. The Panasonic DMP-UB900 is ideal for consumers that require or want analog audio outputs for legacy audio equipment. In fact the Panasonic DMP-UB900 has more analog audio outputs when compared to the OPPO UDP-203. The new Panasonic has 7.1 analog audio outputs just like the new OPPO, however the Panasonic DMP-UB900 also includes addition dedicated 2 channel analog audio outputs for those consumers that need it for items like A/V receivers with the multi-zone second room audio feature (On the OPPO Blu-ray players, 2 channel multi room audio is also possible, however there is only one set of left and right analog audio outputs, not 2 sets like Panasonic offers). In addition, digital coaxial audio and digital optical audio are offered on both the Panasonic and OPPO Blu-ray players. There is no RS-232 control port on the Panasonic (OPPO players have RS-232). When Sound and Vision magazine compared the Panasonic DMP-UB900 analog audio outputs to the old $2,000 Pioneer BDP-88FD, they liked the analog audio quality better on the much cheaper Panasonic DMP-UB900 since it sounded warmer and better for vocals.

The OPPO UDP-203 does not currently offer any streaming features under its current firmware, however according to the review the Panasonic DMP-UB900 does offer Netflix 4K with HDR, plus Youtube, and Amazon Instant. However currently there is no VUDU app at all and only standard 1080P Youtube is supported at this time. Therefore at launch date the Panasonic DMP-UB900 at least offered some 4K streaming and standard streaming, but its limited at launch since there is currently no VUDU app at all according to the review. That could always change on the Panasonic with a future firmware update.

When Sound and Vision magazine publishes the printed magazine review online, I will most likely post the link in this thread.

[HDTV1080P]

Here is the link to the Sound and Vision magazine review:


http://www.soundandvision.com/conten...xGd2p8re60K.97

[wormraper]

it looks like a nice player. I'd like to upgrade from my K8500 Sammy, but not at that price point. cut it to about $200 and we have deal

[Geoff D]

Interesting that they don't like the SDR conversion, calling it too "dim", but without any clarification on what TV settings they were using (and indeed, what TV) then it's hard to gauge just where the problem lies, as the SDR conversion is largely intended to be used with a display that's packing more brightness than standard 100-nit SDR.

[elwaylite]

Finally fed up enough with my 203. Sold it on AVS today for $500. Ill be 900 100% until something better comes along.

All I need from the player is to play a disc reliably, and my 203 could not even do that. Add in that over 40 days we get ONE FW update with many acknowledged bugs, bye Felicia.

[DJJez]

Originally Posted by elwaylite

Finally fed up enough with my 203. Sold it on AVS today for $500. Ill be 900 100% until something better comes along.

All I need from the player is to play a disc reliably, and my 203 could not even do that. Add in that over 40 days we get ONE FW update with many acknowledged bugs, bye Felicia.

the UB900 is king when it comes to reliability. played all of my 50 discs, never had even one problem.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by elwaylite

Finally fed up enough with my 203. Sold it on AVS today for $500. Ill be 900 100% until something better comes along.

All I need from the player is to play a disc reliably, and my 203 could not even do that. Add in that over 40 days we get ONE FW update with many acknowledged bugs, bye Felicia.

Maybe I need to spend more time using the UDP-203, however so far I have had no problems with playing back optical discs. I need DVD-Audio and SACD playback. If the Panasonic did that I would have went with that model. The new 4K Ultra HD Sony Blu-ray player offers DVD-Audio and SACD playback, and I would be interested in getting one of those models in the future.