Panasonic Streaming 4K Blu Ray Player, Ultra HD – DP-UB420-K

Buena calidad y fácil de instalar, si tienes un Home Theater se escucha súper bien, no incluye el cable HDMI 4K tienes que comprarlo aparte.

*Update: The problem got worse the more I used it, so I decided to file a warranty claim with Panasonic. I was nervous they would not be able to replicate the problem, but they must have seen it since they sent me a replacement unit. The new unit has worked well so far. I’m hoping the first one I had was just defective. Updated the rating to 4 stars.

Original review: I did a lot of research before deciding to purchase this player. I needed a player with 2 hdmi outputs so I could send the 4k video to my projector and the audio to my older receiver. This feature is only available on a handful of players and is mostly found on higher end players. My decision came down to this player and the Sony 800mkii. There are a couple of differences between the two and many reviews about each. This player went on sale so I pulled the trigger.

After connecting the player, it guided my through a simple setup to get started. I went through the menu settings and configured it to my liking. I played numerous discs and most played without issue. On a couple of discs, the video would breakup for a second or two then clear up. I did some research and found that some 4k discs could have a layer of film on them from when they were made that could cause this issue. So I used a microfiber cloth and gently wiped them before playing. This seemed to help, but some discs still had occasional issues.

I called Panasonic tech support to verify this wasn’t a firmware issue or something I was missing. The tech support wasn’t very helpful, only suggesting that I would need to send the player in for repair. I have not yet sent it in for repair as I am concerned they won’t be able to replicate the issue as it only happens occasionally on some discs and it would cost me around $25 to ship the unit.

I have decided to just deal with the occasional issues and clean discs thoroughly before playing. I hope a future firmware update will resolve this issue completely as it seems is might be something related to how the player is reading the discs. That being said, every player I looked at had some reviews indicating some sort of issue.

When the player is working correctly, the picture quality is excellent on bath 4k discs and standard Blu rays. The streaming services work ok, but tend to be very slow when loading. I don’t use this device for streaming since it is pretty limited. It has prime and netflix as the major services, but lacks Disney plus.
I would rate this player a 3.5 overall.

I’m very pleased with my Panasonic UB420! The picture quality is great, especially for 4K and 1080P discs.

I also like the user interface including the remote. However I do miss having a display letting me know where I’m at in a movie time wise, so my next video player will be the Panasonic one step up from this one.

Unlike my last 4k player, the Sony x700, bought early this year, this Panasonic is head and shoulders better. It does everything it does better than the Sony–not just a little better–a lot better. It’s real close to perfect, imo. Don’t buy the x700 Sony player unless you plan to start a betting pool on whether or not your streaming movies from Netflix and Amazon or your DVDs, your BluRays, or your 4k discs will lock up and freeze–or you want to take bets on how often a single stream or disc will lockup and freeze. The only relief for the Sony x700 when it locks up (not if) is a power off. I’m not anti-Sony by any means, in fact I originally bought the x700 because my streaming and BluRay experience with my prior Sony BluRay player was excellent–not a single freeze or lockup in years of use–right up until Amazon Prime Video dropped the player due to its obsolescence. If you are skeptical, just Bing/Google/Duck “Sony x700 freezes” or something similar and you will be amazed at how many similar reports you will discover. Unfortunately, for me, I bought the x700 before I did my usual due diligence on my experience with my last Sony player/streamer because that experience had been so good. One guy I read commented that he had never had a lockup with his x700 over a 17-month period; another guy I read commented in various AV forums that he had to swap his x700 out *five times* before he got one that wouldn’t freeze. It’s such a common experience with the x700 that Sony even addresses the freezes on the official support site for the x700, and provides power-cycling instructions.

The only thing the UB420-k doesn’t have that some people want these days is Dolby Vision support. I don’t have a DV television, just an HDR 10 television, and didn’t want to pay $200 more for the UB-820 just to get Dolby VIsion support…;) (The x700 supports Dolby Vision, but in a constantly freezing product, who cares?)

Even the settings pages for the UB420 are simple, direct, extremely easy to understand, and every setting has an explanation included on-screen. The interface couldn’t be simpler to use. Just tick the feature boxes down the list and the UB-420 does it right. (The Sony x700 setting pages were enough to confuse even me, and I like to think I know what I’m doing…;))

One last comparative comment: the remote for the UB420 is far superior to the one included with the x700–because it not only is ~33% larger, which allows you to feel your way around the buttons comfortably, it also means the keys are often larger and spaced further apart. It’s very comfortable in my hands in use.

I read the negative comments about the UB-420 in this forum and they left me shaking my head…;) Not even close to my own experience. It works seamlessly and perfectly with my Sony AV receiver-amp, as well, btw.

Last, after ~48 total hours of disc playing consisting of DVD movies, BluRay movies and 4k movies, it’s a joy to report not a single lockup or freeze! (I use a ROKU Ultra to stream these days.)