Across various industries, gadgets, gizmos and appliances are going up in price while people like you and me are taking it on the chin. Alas, my favorite 4K Blu-ray player is the latest device to get more expensive.
According to the brand’s official listing, the Panasonic DP-UB820 is officially $649 — up about $100 from its price just a few short weeks ago. As someone who relies on the UB820 for my day-to-day job of testing and reviewing TVs, I must admit that I’m relieved to already own one.
But there’s a glimmer of good news for anyone who’s been dragging their feet on upgrading to the best 4K Blu-ray player on the market: If you hurry, you can still get it for its older price. The Panasonic DP-UB820 is still $549 at Best Buy at the time of publishing, and with tech costs trending up, who knows when it’ll be this price again.
With an ever-shrinking list of options, the UB820 is arguably the best 4K Blu-ray player still standing. That means it should have a place in your home if you care about physical media and don't already own a proper player.
For a while, I relied on my Xbox Series X to play discs at home. Over time, this setup drove me nuts. I hated fumbling with my Xbox controller whenever I wanted to pause a movie, rewind, or skip ahead a chapter. The remote control included with the Panasonic DP-UB820 isn't as sleek and convenient as some of the clickers that ship with high-end TVs, but it's far better in practice than the same device I use to play video games.
It ought to have a place in your home if you care about physical media.
But the Panasonic DP-UB820's biggest advantage over a game console is its support for Dolby Vision, one of the most popular HDR formats. Neither the Xbox Series X nor the PlayStation 5 supports Dolby Vision playback for 4K discs, which immediately limits their value to me as someone who appreciates picture quality.
In addition, the UB820 features much better picture processing than my Xbox. As a result, everything from brand-new 4K discs to my old-school DVDs looks better than it would on a laptop or console.
If you've already invested a good deal of money in both physical media and an impressive TV, you owe it to yourself (and your collection) to play movies on a proper device. I can't tell you if (or when) the UB820 will come back down in price, but I can tell you that this isn't the first time its price has shot up.
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