Panasonic UB400 & UB300 Optimise HDR for SDR TV & Bright Room

[gadgtfreek]

Be curious to see if the 400 or 300 make it to the US, hopefully one will. The 900 is a great machine but way pricey for some. Also makes me think the 700 and 900 will get 2 year lifecycles since they will get the new feature.

Compared with the step-up UB900 and UB700, Panasonic’s new 4K BD players do not feature Ultra HD Premium certification or the pair’s 4K High-Precision Chroma processor. Instead, they are powered by an HCX (Hollywood Cinema Experience) processor which inherits many aspects of the UB900/ UB700?s image processing including multi-tap filter and 4K Direct Chroma upscaling. Here’s a quick rundown of the key differences between all 5 Panasonic UHD Blu-ray players:

• DMP-UB300: HCX processor, 1 HDMI output, no Wifi, no optical out
• DMP-UB310: Adds Wifi
• DMP-UB400: Adds 2 HDMI outputs for split audio/video, and High Clarity Sound Premium with optical out
• DMP-UB700: Adds 4K High Precision Chroma processor, Ultra HD Premium certification, and front-loading SD card slot
• DMP-UB900: Adds THX certification, 7.1 analogue audio output, classy backlit remote and isolation feet.

Each of these Panasonic 4K Blu-ray players will support 3D Blu-ray playback and 4K streaming though not Dolby Vision. Perhaps the most interesting new features on the Panasonic UB400, UB310 and UB300 are optimised HDR-to-SDR conversion and bright-room HDR presentation. With the former advancement, the Japanese brand aims to extract the extra detail found on Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, and provide a user-adjustable tone-mapping function to display them on an SDR TV with a final picture that surpasses 1080p Blu-rays in brightness and beauty.

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/panasonic-ub400-201701044398.htm

 

[harshness]

These seem pretty pedestrian and destined for those with non-HDR/non-WCG displays. The absence of digital audio options on the 300 series would be a deal breaker for many.

Unless they plan to offer these at well under $200, they're probably not going to generate a lot of interest. I think they should skip the 300 series altogether.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Huh? No optical, who really cares nowadays in the UHD format? You would have a 300 for people that don't need dual HDMI, and a 400 for people that do, and I'm sure pricing would be nice.

Not sure why you think they have anything to do with people who have no HDR or WCG on their displays. They are basically basic UHD players with either a single or dual HDMI out.

 

[harshness]

No optical, who really cares nowadays in the UHD format?

Those who use existing sound bars or AVRs that don't do HDMI 2.x?

You would have a 300 for people that don't need dual HDMI, and a 400 for people that do, and I'm sure pricing would be nice.

Who doesn't need digital audio? It isn't like these devices are bristling with audio output options and as time goes on, the output options of TVs seem to be diminishing as well.

They are basically basic UHD players with either a single or dual HDMI out.

If it isn't going to be a whole lot better than Blu-ray, what's the point?

Of course if they don't deliver more than a half-dozen titles that you might want to buy, what's the point of a UHD Blu-ray player? At this point I see two or three that I might be interested in and I'm betting I could buy digital copies (and the storage to hold them) cheaper.