The best 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players you can buy right now

Date:
Mon, 28 Jun 2021 15:00:13 +0000

Description:
There may not be many to choose from these days, but the best 4K Blu-ray players from the likes of Sony, Panasonic, and Pioneer are still available to buy.

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Are you looking for the best 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players for your home? Youre in the right place.

The best 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players are essential in the cinephile's search for the greatest home theater system around. Even if your home entertainment set-up is already great, a device built especially for watching movies and TV shows in 4K will significantly upgrade it.

However, even though plenty of us are well aware that a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player could make a big difference to how we watch films from now on, it can still be a tough decision to buy one. Thats because they take up extra room, theyre often not cheap and neither are the Blu-ray discs youll want to play.

These days, many of us are happy to get our movies and TV shows from a streaming service, like Netflix , Disney Plus or Amazon Prime Video .
However, issues like varying resolutions, buffering videos over home
internet, and patchy support for premium HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+, mean that the best 4K Blu-ray players offer a serious step up in terms of viewing quality, given the cabled input and offline viewing removes these limitations entirely. Got your player already? Check out our round-up
of the best 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray movies

But this isnt just about better quality viewing. Many of us tend to forget that with a physical DVD you can also get access to all of the fantastic behind-the-scenes, deleted scenes, interviews and other gems of exclusive content that so often accompanies the newest releases. A 4K Blu-ray player will be able to play HD DVDs, and even upscale low-resolution sources to 4K resolutions , too.

Now, it's pretty certain that Blu-ray as a technology won't be around forever
and the departure of both Oppo and Samsung from the market signals that new 4K Blu-ray player hardware is going to be few and far between.

We aren't holding our breath for 8K Blu-ray players either, despite the growing number of 8K TVs on the market. But, for now at least, these 4K Blu-ray players we've brought together still represent the best of home cinema, and aren't obsolete quite yet especially with next-gen games
consoles helping to keep the technology alive. What do I need to watch a 4K UHD Blu-ray?

Before you plunk down some money on a new player, make sure you already own a 4K TV in order to watch it if you don't have one, then check out our guide
to the best 4K TV .

If you only have an HD TV or monitor, your 4K Blu-ray player will still work, but it will only display images in 1080p whatever the max resolution of the disc.

On the flip-side of that, an HD Blu-ray disc will still play in 3840 2160 resolution on a 4K TV upscaled to fill in the extra pixels but it won't be
a native 4K image and will be noticeably different to an Ultra HD Blu-ray.
The best 4K Blu-ray players Image Credit: Panasonic 1. Panasonic DP-UB9000 4K Blu-ray player

The first 4K Blu-ray player to support HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision Supported resolution: 3840 x 2160 | Smart TV: Yes | Dimensions: 430 x 81 x
300 mm | Weight: 7.8 kg | UHD Upscaling?: Yes | Wi-Fi?: Yes | 3D support?:
Yes | HDR Formats supported: HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision Fantastic image quality Four types of HDR support Powerful HDR display optimizer No SACD or DVD-audio playback CD playback is acebric

The DP-UB9000 is Panasonics latest flagship 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player and, after Oppo started winding down its competing devices, the new model finds itself in one of the top spots in the high-end player market.

That said, beautifully made and enviably specified, this flagship 4K disc spinner is unashamedly premium. The plastic and tin build, familiar on mainstream Blu-ray players, has been replaced with heavy metal and luxe design.

Beyond its good looks, however, the DP-UB9000 is also the first UHD deck from Panasonic to support all key HDR flavours: vanilla HDR10 , its dynamic
sibling HDR10+ , HLG and Dolby Vision . The latter is included, despite the fact that Panasonic isnt supporting Dolby Vision on any of its 4K TVs.

Not only is the player more than capable with images, it has audiophile aspirations as well, sporting high quality DACs, two-channel and 7.1-channel analogue outputs, and Hi-Res Audio support. Toss in a host of smart features, and the UB9000 ticks nearly every box in the book.

Naturally all these flagship features dont come cheap - but, for those
seeking the ideal replacement Blu-ray player after Oppos collapse, the Panasonic DP-UB9000 is a more than adequate replacement.

Read the full review: Panasonic DP-UB9000 review Image Credit: Panasonic 2. Panasonic DMP-UB700 4K Blu-ray player

The best bang-for-buck 4K UHD Blu-ray performance Supported resolution: 3840
x 2160 | Smart TV: Yes | Dimensions: 430 x 61 x 199 mm | Weight: 2.3 kg | UHD Upscaling?: Yes | Wi-Fi?: Yes | 3D support?: Yes | HDR Formats supported: HDR10 Outstanding picture performance Hi-Res Audio file playback 4K Netflix and Amazon onboard Not as sexy as the DMP-UB900 No Dolby Vision support

The Panasonic DMP-U700 is the 4K Blu-ray player we end up recommending most often. It's more affordable than an Oppo deck, and still gets you the amazing picture quality of Panasonic's top-end DMP-U900.

Streaming service support, with HDR-enabled 4K Netflix, is well worth trumpeting and the player does a swell job with 24-bit audio. It supports
both FLAC and DSD files.

There's no Dolby Vision support, perhaps the main reason to upgrade to the DMP-UB900. But as it stands the UB700 offers the best balance of price, audio visual performance and features.

Read the full review: Panasonic DMP-UB700 Image Credit: Pioneer 3. Pioneer UDP-LX500 4K Blu-ray player

A premium player for your high-end A/V needs Supported resolution: 3840 x
2160 | Smart TV: N/A | Dimensions: 17-1/8 x 4-5/8 x 13-1/4 inches (435 x 118
x 337 mm) | Weight: 22.7 lbs. (10.3 kg) | UHD Upscaling?: Yes | Wi-Fi?: Yes | 3D support?: Yes | HDR Formats supported: HDR10, Dolby Vision, plus HDR10+ later Solid image quality Supports numerous formats No streaming services on board

While its 999 ($999, AU$1999) price tag might be a bit intimidating, Pioneer has produced a peach of a player with the UDP-LX500. This heavyweight home cinema hero deserves to be shortlisted by all high-end upgraders, and can comfortably claim to be one of the best universal 4K Blu-ray players
available for less than a grand.

There are caveats though. Its not quite as brilliant a video performer as its main rival, the cheaper Panasonic DMP-UB9000, and its not quite as well finished either. However, if music is as important as movies to you, its clearly got broader appeal. Move over Bradley and Gaga, a new AV star is
born.

Read the full review: Pioneer UDP-LX500 Image Credit: Sony 4. Sony UBP-X800 4K Blu-ray player

Great video matched with exceptional audio Supported resolution: 3840 x 2160
| Smart TV: MediaTek platform | Dimensions: 17 x 2 x 10.5 inches | Weight:
8.4 pounds | UHD Upscaling?: Yes | Wi-Fi?: Yes | 3D support?: Yes | HDR Formats supported: HDR10 Superb picture quality 4K Netflix and Amazon apps SACD, DVD-A and Hi-Res audio No analogue stereo output No Dolby Vision

Sony might have been a little late to the Ultra HD Blu-ray party, but its first player is a great machine. It's solidly made, and its overall image quality is superb.

As an added bonus, the player also supports a wide range of audio formats,
can play SACDs, and even DVD-As.

So why does the player sit the number three slot in our list? Well, unfortunately it lacks support for Dolby Vision, the high-end HDR format that discs are increasingly offering support for, and which the Oppo UDP-203 does now support thanks to a firmware update. Its also more expensive than our top pick, the Panasonic DMP-UB700.

If you want a UHD player that also doubles as a very capable music player, then the Sony UBP-X800 is a great choice, but if you're after something focussed solely on playing movies, then there are better or cheaper options out there.

Read the full review: Sony UBP-X800 Image Credit: Panasonic (Image credit: Panasonic) 5. Panasonic DMP-UB300 4K Blu-ray player

A solid budget performer Supported resolution: 3840 x 2160 | Smart TV: Yes | Dimensions: 193 x 320 x 45 mm | Weight: 1.3kg | UHD Upscaling?: Yes | Wi-Fi?: No | 3D support?: Yes | HDR Formats supported: HDR10 Top notch video playback Good compatibility modes No Wi-Fi Build quality is lacking

You'll make a couple of compromises if you want to take advantage of the DMP UB300's budget price-tag there's no built-in Wi-Fi for example, and rear ports are incredibly limited but thankfully the machine doesn't scrimp where it matters.

Picture quality is excellent, it supports a wide range of audio codecs and formats, and there's also streaming services built in if you're willing to go down the wired ethernet route.

Read the full review: Panasonic DMP-UB300 Consoles with 4K Blu-ray players (Image credit: Xbox) 6. Xbox Series X

The best next-gen console for AV enthusiasts Supported resolution: 3840 x
2160 | Smart TV apps: Yes | Dimensions: 301 x 151 x 151 mm | Weight: 4.45kg | Native 4K?: Yes | 3D support?: No | HDR Formats supported: Dolby Vision,
HDR10 | Dolby Atmos: Yes Supports Dolby Atmos Doubles as a game console Expensive No disc drive on Xbox Series S

If you're sussing out a gaming console to play your 4K Blu-rays and DVDs,
it's worth keeping in mind the Xbox Series X .

Granted, the console is hard to get hold of right now occasional restocks aside but it could be worth it as a long-term investment, both as a gaming machine and as a 4K Blu-ray player for your home, all combined in one piece
of hardware.

The Xbox Series X also supports Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision HDR neither of which you'll find on the PS5 though the Dolby Vision support is limited to streaming services and doesn't extend to the disc drive, hence why the console is so low in this list. (You'll only get regular HDR10 over
disc.)

As a stand-in for other 4K Blu-ray players in this list, the new Xbox is a pretty good bet, if you can accept its HDR limitations. Not to mention its native 4K gaming, incredibly powerful processing, and Quick Resume features set to elevate your stay-at-home gaming.

Just keep in mind that the cheaper Xbox Series S model doesn't come with the same built-in player capabilities, being a digital-only console (and one that relies on 4K upscaling, at that).

Read the full review: Xbox Series X

Find one now: Where to buy Xbox Series X (Image credit: Sony) 7. PS5

The PS5's 4K Blu-ray player is certainly worth considering Supported resolution: 3840 x 2160 | Smart TV: New Xbox Experience | Dimensions: 390 x 104 x 260 mm | Weight: 4.5kg | Native 4K?: Yes | Wi-Fi?: Yes | HDR Formats supported: HDR10 Native 4K Doubles as a games console No Dolby Vision No
Dolby Atmos

The Sony PS5 is helping to keep 4K Blu-ray technology alive with its
dedicated disc drive in the mainline console, at least. While you can buy a slightly cheaper discless version for $399.99 / 359.99 / AU$599.95, it's the standard edition console we're interested in here.

The PS5's disc drive can play 4K Blu-rays which is fitting, since Sony
helped to popularize Blu-ray players with the PS3 two whole console generations ago.

However, as an all-round media center, the PS5 isn't quite as advanced as the Xbox Series X. It doesn't support Dolby Atmos audio, nor does it support
Dolby Vision HDR over streaming (although neither console supports the
dynamic HDR format over disc).

As a games console with a 4K Blu-ray player baked in, though, it's a handy two-in-one solution and if you were already planning on buying a PS5
console, it may save you looking for additional disc-playing hardware alongside.

Read the full review: PS5 review

Find one now: Where to buy PS5 The PS5 will have a 4K Blu-ray player here's why that matters Deals



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