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.

[Robert Zohn]

Nice catch. Here's the link to the Amazon DMP-UB900 page translated by Google.

This player is high quality build with excellent fit and finish and a lot of useful advanced technology features and a very nice full sized back-lit remote control. Love the SD card slot/reader, beefy power supply, Hi-Res audio decoders, high-end audio DAC and all of the audio outputs.

Can't say enough about this beautiful Ultra HD player/streaming device and I'm excited to see them become available in the USA.

Here's the link to the USA .pdf data sheet I built.

[Geoff D]

You should see what some AVF members have been saying about the build of the UB900, some think it's a pitifully plasticky POS compared to their Denons, Oppos and whatnot. While it's true that it's not built like a tank, it's still far better than the ultra-weedy boxes coming from the bigger manufacturers that pass for Blu-ray players these days. And I won't be using mine as a doorstop or driving a truck over it or whatever, so I'm happy with it.

Interesting that there's a version without all the audio gubbins at virtually half the price. If only Panasonic had released that over here, there would simply be no contest between this and the Samsung if the UB90 had debuted for £300!

[dvdmike]

Yeah I read about these in Hcc and thought it was a misprint or a model number change.
They also need to stop harping on about audio if they ate universal disc players

[Robert Zohn]

I'm very surprised to hear folks in the UK not loving the build quality and fit and finish. The chassis, design and components are very high performance and quality.

This is premium 4K BD player with high performance and more features than anyone could expect.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

Yeah I read about these in Hcc and thought it was a misprint or a model number change.
They also need to stop harping on about audio if they ate universal disc players

I'm sure they'll be quite full up

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

I'm very surprised to hear folks in the UK not loving the build quality and fit and finish. The chases, design and components are very high performance and quality.

This is premium 4K BD player with high performance and more features than anyone could expect.

Bar file support 99¢ players have and no universal disc support

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

I'm very surprised to hear folks in the UK not loving the build quality and fit and finish. The chassis, design and components are very high performance and quality.

This is premium 4K BD player with high performance and more features than anyone could expect.

Have you looked inside to see what $699 buys you?

From HDfever.fr review of the UB900

[Opips3]

Samsung 4K UHD Player UBD-K8500



Oppo BDP-83

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Have you looked inside to see what $699 buys you?

From HDfever.fr review of the UB900

[Show spoiler]

Not much. Quality ain't what it used to be.

[Opips3]

I wonder about little Phillips UHD player... What's inside?

[d514]

Size doesn't equal quality...

[JohnAV]

The Phillips transport is a lower price adaption of Panasonic DMP-UB900, as the players GUI is the same. But in this case you cannot put anything more then a basic transport into a package of that size, so yes size still matters when you start increasing the versatility of a UHD 4K BD player. Not like you expect a tablet to mimic a real computer, right?