*** 4K Player Thread ***

I have just reserved an LG 55UH850V tv for £899. So I am thinking of a 4K player.

But unsure where to go with it, I dont actually like the build of the Samsung, and not sure just how many movies I will buy.

Currently I downgrade all my audio to PCM also and just listen in stereo. To top it off the old Xbox One hard drive has just failed grrr.

So is the Xbox One S really a 4k player? Worth considering?
 
I'm considering ordering, just uncertain on which one to get. They all do the same basic thing, and I'll only need HDMI & Ethernet sockets on them, so the extra connectivity of the Panny 900 isn't needed.

The main difference between the Panny 700 & 900 is the THX certification, what does this actually mean, I'll be getting a THX certified AV amp when I upgrade (still watching the market). But in reality will having a Blu-Ray player without it really make a difference, or is it just a marketing thing?
 
The differences between the 700 and 900 are unclear tbh. Many claim they're fundamentally the same player just the 700 is missing a few connections and the chassis isn't quite as nice yet the WhatHifi review said the quality from the 900 was noticably better than the 700.
 
This is the best 900 review you can read about the objective/subjective quality of the dac/analog outputs that are the prinicpal difference (and seemed pretty compelling) - you will need to get your translator out though.

The Panasonic DMP-UB700 is an Ultra HD Blu-ray Player BD Profile 6.0, so compatible with Blu-ray 3D and Ultra HD Blu-ray. It takes the same design, functions and features as its older brother the DMP-UB900, but loses THX certification and analog output 7.1. On the other hand, it retains the UHD Premium certification which ensures perfect compatibility with Ultra HD Blu-ray discs (BT.2020, HDR10, 2160p at 24, 50 and 60 fps, 10-bit color coding and DTS audio tracks: X and Dolby Atmos in bitstream, etc.). On the other hand, this player still offers an HDR10 / SDR conversion for better compatibility with all UHD TVs.

If the analog audio outputs 2.0 and 7.1 have disappeared, the Panasonic DMP-UB700 still retains two HDMI 2.0a outputs to separate the audio and video. There is also Optical Out, Ethernet and USB Host 2.0, Wi-Fi and Miracast compatibility. This player retains the same digital circuit as the DMP-UB900 with the famous 4K High Precision Chroma Processor which offers one of the best upscaling UHD of the moment and a very interesting postprocessing and performance. You can see in detail all the possibilities offered by this processing video on the test of the Panasonic UB900, but as a reminder, here are the filters available.
...
Also note that the two players (UB700 and UB900) will benefit from a new firmware to make the playback of the videos HEVC and HDR10 in Ultra HD or 1080p. On the other hand, Panasonic should also correct the worries of bitstream DTS-HD and TrueHD in multimedia playback (with the MKV among others).
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here
 
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The Panasonic 700 is currently £330 on the jungle with free ghostbusters movie.. if i did not already have the samsung i would have gone for that :)
 
I just can't decide, it's going to be one of the Panasonics, I keep going to buy one, then I change my mind and want to go for the other! I think I'll give it some thought tomorrow and read a few reviews.
 
jpaul said:
This is the best 900 review you can read about the objective/subjective quality of the dac/analog outputs that are the prinicpal difference (and seemed pretty compelling) - you will need to get your translator out though.

here
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This is exactly what I'm on about - too many reviews seem to be focusing on the obvious sound connectivity differences and assuming that the video side wil be identical as it has the same specs, save for the lack of THX certification. This is a dangerous assumption and one with which WhatHifi disagreed:

It may not have THX certification, but the DMP-UB700 does have the same 4K High-Precision Chrome Processor as the UB900 – so in theory, the picture quality should be identical. In reality, it’s not quite as clear-cut as that.

We start off with the 4K Blu-ray of Deadpool, and the UB700’s picture impresses us with its clarity and well-balanced colour palette. It’s a similar character to the UB900.

There’s a natural touch to the UB700’s picture, with grey, concrete highways and black cars looking realistic in overcast weather. Skin tones are fleshed out with plenty of detail to show off stubble, scars and wrinkles.

Motion is a strong point: when the action gets frantic or during any of the slow-motion scenes, the UB700 remains stable.

It makes for a comfortable, enjoyable experience. But what’s odd though, is that it doesn’t wow us in the way the DMP-UB900 does when watching the same disc.

On the £600 player, the picture just pops – the edges are that bit crisper, there’s a touch more subtlety that adds shine and depth to the picture, and there’s a proper sense of watching a superior picture format.

In contrast, the UB700 looks more like a good conventional Blu-ray player, not a 4K one.

Switch over to the Blu-ray of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and we’re struck by how much glossier and defined the shiny black interior of Starkiller Base looks on the UB900.

As the First Order stomps about looking menacing, the Stormtrooper uniforms gleam and hallways glisten as if newly cleaned on the UB900; it doesn’t look quite as polished on the UB700.

We want a better sense of the sweeping, desert landscape of Jakku, too.

The UB700 does a decent job of showing the ruins of former starships as Rey speeds past them, but the more insightful UB900 gets the huge scale of the set pieces across better.

The DMP-UB700’s upscaling talents are commendable, though. We watch The Lady In The Van on DVD and are impressed.

Noise levels are minimal, the picture doesn’t lose its balanced palette or its stable motion handling, and detail is decent, too. The fire in Maggie Smith’s eyes is conveyed well through the UB700, as is the yellow paint covering the old van
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Fairly conclusive for me, unless the 700 they reviewed was broken in some way. Bear in mind that the 900 retails at 50% more than the 700 (MSRP before discounts etc) and I would expect more differences than a few missing sound outputs, lack of shiny feet and a THX logo for that price differential so it does sound totally plausible to me that the 900 has superior video circuitry too.

The 700 is still a stellar machine and I'd take one any day over the Samsung, about which I've read of far too many little issues, but I think the 900 is a slightly better player all round.
 
Right, done, ordered! I decided it was time to make a snap decision, I've gone for the 900, should be delivered on Wednesday.

Now time to decide on a 4K TV and order a new AV amp, could be an expensive couple of months...
 
Nice one :)

Mine arrived today, been away but grabbed it from work on the way home and set it up this evening. Does feel and look like a quality product, from the packaging to the player itself.
 
I think the ub900 is worth the delta if you want the dac and want a 2.0 output into a regular hifi.
£330 forest for 700 seems good - whether to take a £50 5yr guarantee though ?

Is there any 700 feedback on avforums yet -
otherwise what hi fi journalism is not very objective/rigorous versus the details(video captures etc) in 900 review I ref'd;
what hifi (is it still in newsagents?) mag half full of prices (like What Car) just mediocre - each to his own.

Glad to see they have enabled usb/dnla playbaack of hevc codec now, that had seemed a major omission.
 
Jamauk said:
Right, done, ordered! I decided it was time to make a snap decision, I've gone for the 900, should be delivered on Wednesday.

Now time to decide on a 4K TV and order a new AV amp, could be an expensive couple of months...
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OLED :D;) oh i have a Denon AVR-X2300 coming tomorrow:D
 
Vertigo1 said:
This is exactly what I'm on about - too many reviews seem to be focusing on the obvious sound connectivity differences and assuming that the video side wil be identical as it has the same specs, save for the lack of THX certification. This is a dangerous assumption and one with which WhatHifi disagreed:
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And what kind of review is WhatHIFIs?

We say the 900 is better so that's that. Believe us. ?

WhatHIFI like to invent talking points in their reviews. Apparently, the 700 could sound better even though it's only streaming audio off the disc. Such a bold statement but where's the proof? There never is any.

Get it on the bench, test it and show us the results, WhatHIFI - it's not difficult.
 
I was about to say - who trusts whathifi these days? It used to be reasonable quite a while ago, now their reviews are as bad as car reviews in a daily paper (if you are going to buy a car actually get reviews from decent motoring mags / online)
 
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