Panasonic DMP-UB900

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Updated July 20, 2020
Reader Rating4 Votes
7.6
9
Expert Rating

Have you been looking for something to upgrade your home theater system? Maybe the resolution or color contrast from just Netflix isn’t doing it. Well whichever it is, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 comes with an astoundingly high resolution along with Wi-Fi compatibility in a blu-ray player which also has a pretty well built design. You might also want to record your favorite shows with our TiVo premiere digital video recorder too. From allowing you to play those high resolution 4K or even 3D Blue-ray discs to CD and DVDs as well, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 stands out with it’s exceptional picture quality. While it can’t allow you to play games and browse the internet like the XBOX One S, it does hold its own as potentially the best Blu Ray Player for watching movies and shows. If you’re looking to watch home movies, learn how to save your VHS tapes in our Elgato Video Capture review.

Why We Like It – Panasonic DMP-UB900

Being the one of the very first Ultra HD Blu-ray players Panasonic DMP-UB900 still holds on with it’s excellent picture quality and functionality to this day. You get everything ranging from Wi-Fi compatibility to two HDMI outputs designed to offer you the best viewing experience. And paired with the playback BitRate of upto a 100Mbps, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 may just be the perfect addition to your home theater system.

Pros
  • Ultra HD 4K resolution
  • Both DVD and Wi-Fi compatible
  • Higher playback bitrate than that of Netflix 4K
Cons
  • Sound isn’t the best out there
  • Sort of expensive compared to other more functional Blu-ray Players

Performance

The Pananonic DMP-UB900 comes with a full 4K support with a maximum resolution of 3840×2160 as well as HDR(High Dynamic Range) capability. While you will need a 4K TV to be able to play anything at 4K, it also comes with on-board Wi-Fi compatibility which allows you to stream through apps like Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime Video. This makes it possible for you to use a 4K TV which doesn’t come with a smart interface of its own, cutting down on the rest of your costs. Moreover, having a playback bitrate of upto 100Mbps, it performs astoundingly well over Netflix’s own 4K resolution which has a max bit rate of 25Mbps. You also won’t need a very high broadband connection to play at 4K and along with the onboard 4K High Precision Chroma Processor and the THX certification you get a premium image quality which has a high contrast ratio and pristine details.

Furthermore, being a Blu-Ray player, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 provides you with the capability to play both 4K blu-rays and older Blu-Ray discs as well as CD’s, DVD’s but not SACD or DVD-Audio discs. The Blu-Ray and CD(to 192Hz) are both upscaled to a greater much better picture quality.

Moving onto the HDMI ports and their compatibility, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 comes with two HDMI Outputs at the back, one for both video and audio while the other is only for audio. What this does is that, as many discs require your receiver, TV and Blu-Ray player to be HDCP(High Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection) 2.2 compliant, if you have an older receiver for your audio devices, you can simply connect it to the second HDMI input leaving the video to still remain at 4K instead of being downgraded. But, if your AV receiver is HDCP 2.2 compliant then it’s not an issue at all as you can use the provided HDMI cable ,which supports a transfer speed of 18Gbps, to connect to your TV. However, do know that HDCP doesn’t affect the audio quality no matter whether your receiver is HDCP compliant or not. As for the other forms of connectivity, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 provides you with an Ethernet port, 7.1-channel analogue audio outputs, a SD card slot and USB port upfront as well as Wi-Fi and Miracast for network functionality. You can use the Miracast to mirror any of your other devices screen onto your TV without any added receiver.

Aside from that, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 also automatically turns off certain parts of the connection circuitry when not in use. For example if you’re listening to music rather than watching a video disc, it will automatically turn off the video output port for both power saving and greater flexibility in terms of use.

Finally, while the audio isn’t the best out there, with Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, your movie experience won’t be that far from a theater experience. All in all, the Panasonic DMP-UB90 Blu Ray Player is one of the best out there, but in the end you will need a good display to play the provided two movies and more at the best picture quality.

Design

A metal box measuring to be 435 x 68 x 199 mm and weighing about 5.3lbs, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 looks like any other regular Blu-Ray Player. It has a pretty great build quality and a standard design with the disc tray upfront and a small display to the right of it along with the SD card slot and USB Port player. You also get two touch button up top for eject and power respectively. Now, while they may become hard to reach if you place the UHD Blu-Ray player in a space where it is hard to reach, you can simply use the remote control provided that controls the disc player with ease. You get a backlit keypad to use it in a dark room and it will also allow you to easily navigate through any app you may be using. As for the rest of the design, you get a glossy plastic panel as well as some brushed metal effects on the sides and top of the front, giving the Panasonic DMP-UB900 a pretty standard yet elegant look.

Value

Priced at about $500, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 is designed to be for those 4K movie and video enthusiasts out there. It is considerably much more expensive than the Samsung UBD-K8500 as well as the Philips BDP7501 both of which also support 4K video playback. But with a great playback bitrate as well as a good amount of automatic features, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 stands out with it’s picture quality as well as a decent sound quality. And so, unless you absolutely need the best of the best picture quality, getting yourself a Xbox One S might be a better choice as you can also play games and do much more. But for just viewing movies and watching videos, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 may be worth the price for you.

Panasonic DMP-UB900 Wrap Up

While it may not come with a very compact design or any form of gaming capability, as a Blu Ray player the Panasonic DMP-UB900 does stand out. You get one of the best picture qualities with a good amount of ports as well as a backlit remote. It is even backwards compatible with HD Blu-Rays and DVDs whilst providing you with a better upscaled image quality. And so with all that, and a price that may be worth it depending on you, the Panasonic DMP-UB900 may just be one of the best Blu Ray Players for you.

Bottom Line
Performance
9.2
Design
9.1
Value
8.6
Reader Rating4 Votes
7.6
What We Liked
What We Didn’t
9
Expert Rating