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Panasonic DP-UB420 HDR 4K UHD Blu-ray Player Expired

$150
$199.99
+ Free Shipping
+41 Deal Score
21,548 Views
Best Buy has Panasonic DP-UB420 HDR 4K UHD Blu-ray Player for $149.99. Shipping is free or choose curbside pickup where stock permits.

Thanks to Community Member anya618 for finding this deal.

Note, pickup availability will vary by location.

Features:
  • 4K UHD Playback via HDMI
  • HDR10, HDR10+, HLG Compatibility
  • Near-4K Resolution Upscaling
  • Alexa & Google Assistant Control
  • Wi-Fi and Ethernet Network Connectivity
  • 3D Playback
  • Mobile Device Mirroring
  • HDMI and Optical Audio Outputs
  • Dual USB Ports
  • Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD Master Audio
Good Deal?

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Edited October 21, 2021 at 08:46 AM by
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Deal
Score
+41
21,548 Views
$150
$199.99

Price Intelligence

Model: Panasonic DP-UB420-K 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player with HDR10, HDR10+ and Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) Playback Plus Smart Voice Control

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02/16/24Best Buy$199.99
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02/11/24Best Buy$165
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12/17/22Amazon$168 frontpage
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11/17/22Best Buy$199.98
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05/30/22Best Buy$219.99
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12/18/21eBay$150 frontpage
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Current Prices

Sort: Lowest to Highest | Last Updated 3/29/2024, 12:05 AM
Sold By Sale Price
Best Buy$249.99

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Featured Comments

I don't think it has Dolby vision.
I own this with a Dolby Vision enabled LG OLED TV. Despite the lack of DV, it's a great player and the picture from a disc appears superior to any Dolby Vision 4K streaming content I've encountered. So with or without Dolby Vision, it's gorgeous. As an added plus, if you use it to listen to CDs or blu ray audio, the sound is excellent.
Tempting to buy for my Bedroom TV that I never watch movies on. But lack of DV has me wavering.

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hegemon13
10-21-2021 at 07:12 AM.
10-21-2021 at 07:12 AM.
Quote from ludoo00 :
Now if only we could have a way to make it region free! (Tried a couple of "hacks" out there which don't work)
You can pay for the Region Freedom firmware or get a solderable chip for this model. I went the firmware route on my 420. It works great, but the process is really a hassle. Jump on Reddit and read all the tips first because of you do anything to irritate the devs (such as a donation too small, a missed instruction, answer one question wrong in the pre survey), they'll permanently ban your player's Mac address.
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dbiagas52
10-21-2021 at 07:25 AM.
10-21-2021 at 07:25 AM.
In for one. Too cheap to pass up (open box ~$105). I have the ub820 and a ub420 already. Both have the amazing tone mapping feature. The ub820 supports dolby vision and has a few more options for tone mapping, but they're basically the same player! The ub420 is a little smaller too, if that matters to anyone.
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dbiagas52
10-21-2021 at 07:30 AM.
10-21-2021 at 07:30 AM.
Quote from coolerking101 :
I own this with a Dolby Vision enabled LG OLED TV. Despite the lack of DV, it's a great player and the picture from a disc appears superior to any Dolby Vision 4K streaming content I've encountered. So with or without Dolby Vision, it's gorgeous. As an added plus, if you use it to listen to CDs or blu ray audio, the sound is excellent.
https://www.audiosciencereview.co...iew.16305/

I don't know about that... the 820 dac didn't exactly receive a glowing recommendation for its dac. The HDR tone mapping is amazing though!
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unproductive
10-21-2021 at 03:29 PM.
10-21-2021 at 03:29 PM.
Quote from ludoo00 :
Now if only we could have a way to make it region free! (Tried a couple of "hacks" out there which don't work)
Both the UB420 and the UB820 play some Region B blurays by using a trick with the remote. Search for "top menu trick". I have several Master of Cinema region B discs that work this way on my UB420. But YMMV depending on the disc- the only way to be sure is through a firmware or hardware hack - the latter is quite expensive (I think that a region-free UB820 is over $800).

As for the person who asked about the "best" 4k player under $600, there's not much to chose from. Panasonic has the UB420 and UB8230 (biggest difference is Dolby Vision on the UB820), and also has a newer European UB450, which includes Dolby Vision but loses the tone mapping on the other models. I don't know if it will make it to the US. Sony has the X700 and the X800m2, both of which have Dolby Vision, but it has to be selected manually, which means you have to know that the disc is mastered in Dolby Vision.The X800m2 includes SCAD and DVD-Audio, if you're looking for a "universal"player. And LG has the LBK80 and the LBK90. The former doesn't have Dolby Vision and doesn't include some other features on the LBK90. I don't know what Samsung has, but I hear that it's getting out pf the 4K player business anyway. Not a great selection.
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DataMeister
10-21-2021 at 07:58 PM.
10-21-2021 at 07:58 PM.
Quote from hegemon13 :
If you have a projector and don't have this player, don't hesitate! Buy it! The HDR Optimizer and HDR-to-SDR conversion are both exceptional and make excellent use of the more limited contrast and brightness of a projector. It does frame-by-frame dynamic range adjustment based on the display limitations, so it will get the best HDR contrast out of each frame without crushing the shadows, blowing out the bright spots, or displaying an overly dark image. It's really incredible. Since no projector supports Dolby Vision (and by definition, can't), you don't need to spend more on the 820. At this price, nothing else can touch it.
That can't be true considering we have Dolby Vision cinema's out there.
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supermanrob
10-21-2021 at 09:49 PM.
10-21-2021 at 09:49 PM.
Quote from DataMeister :
That can't be true considering we have Dolby Vision cinema's out there.

Unfortunately his is correct there are no consumer PJ's that can do DV.

Long story short it has to do with knowing and controlling the output & matched to the screen.

A PJ can't get bright enough to take advantage of it either.

Technically no display can at this time also.
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DataMeister
10-21-2021 at 11:35 PM.
10-21-2021 at 11:35 PM.
Quote from supermanrob :
Unfortunately his is correct there are no consumer PJ's that can do DV.

Long story short it has to do with knowing and controlling the output & matched to the screen.

A PJ can't get bright enough to take advantage of it either.

Technically no display can at this time also.
I was more focused on the "and by definition can't" since there are actual projectors doing Dolby Vision in cinemas. There might be no consumer equipment for it, but obviously the definition includes projectors.

I would also argue that brightness isn't really a problem either since Dolby Vision keeps getting slapped onto sub 400 nit displays. 5,000 or 6,000 lumen laser projectors can probably achieve 400 nits on a 100 inch screen.

The biggest issue is really just one of calibration and Dolby not wanting to put their name on something they can't build a calibration profile for, yet.

Seems like a Dolby Vision A.I. projection system calibrator might be ripe for invention.
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Last edited by DataMeister October 21, 2021 at 11:39 PM.

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hegemon13
10-22-2021 at 06:44 AM.
10-22-2021 at 06:44 AM.
Quote from DataMeister :
I was more focused on the "and by definition can't" since there are actual projectors doing Dolby Vision in cinemas. There might be no consumer equipment for it, but obviously the definition includes projectors.

I would also argue that brightness isn't really a problem either since Dolby Vision keeps getting slapped onto sub 400 nit displays. 5,000 or 6,000 lumen laser projectors can probably achieve 400 nits on a 100 inch screen.

The biggest issue is really just one of calibration and Dolby not wanting to put their name on something they can't build a calibration profile for, yet.

Seems like a Dolby Vision A.I. projection system calibrator might be ripe for invention.
The Dolby Vision spec requires display-specific calibration. With projection, there are far too many variables: ambient lighting, screen gain, zoom level, screen size. The Dolby Cinema theaters you are talking about are controlled environments with exacting specifications.

Yes, in your theoretical world, Dolby could offer some sort of calibration option, but in the real world, it does not exist and Dolby has not shown any indication they plan to do this. Based on the current specs and requirements, a consumer projector cannot, by definition, have Dolby Vision.

Finally, even if Dolby did decide to offer some kind of in-home calibration option, it would require a level of brightness and contrast that will never (or at least within the lifespan of this player) be within the price range of anyone whose budget is impacted by the price difference between the 420 and the 820.
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Last edited by hegemon13 October 22, 2021 at 06:49 AM.
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supermanrob
10-22-2021 at 08:57 AM.
10-22-2021 at 08:57 AM.
Quote from DataMeister :
I was more focused on the "and by definition can't" since there are actual projectors doing Dolby Vision in cinemas. There might be no consumer equipment for it, but obviously the definition includes projectors.

I would also argue that brightness isn't really a problem either since Dolby Vision keeps getting slapped onto sub 400 nit displays. 5,000 or 6,000 lumen laser projectors can probably achieve 400 nits on a 100 inch screen.

The biggest issue is really just one of calibration and Dolby not wanting to put their name on something they can't build a calibration profile for, yet.

Seems like a Dolby Vision A.I. projection system calibrator might be ripe for invention.

Fair enough but not knowing how those DV cinemas actually work and having been to many.
I would argue that for me, my setup is way better than those DV cinemas except for size of screen.

You bring up a good point. When they "slap" DV(and they can,long story) on something, does it mean you actually getting a good DV representation of it if at all.

Keep in my mind one main advantage to HDR is brightness which as you pointed out is measured in nits.
To take full advantage of it the display should go up to around 8,000 nits.

DV goes beyond that and in a basic terms breaks that down frame by frame and increasing the nits to 10,000 nits.
There is no display that can get to 8,000 right now let alone 10,000, not even close.

So the processing has to downscale it to the displays capabilities.

In basic terms that calibration you mentioned has to happen frame by frame on the fly. That's the major hurdle for PJ's unlike other displays.
Another major hurdle, you pointed PJ's get to around 400 nits which is nowhere near 10,000 nits.

Not to mention this all starts with how well the transfer is, they are not all the same.
How well the processing of that transfer from a player plays an important role here also, there is no set standard how to do it.
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budster
10-22-2021 at 07:12 PM.
10-22-2021 at 07:12 PM.
In the HIGH QUALITY PICTURE specifications section at https://shop.panasonic.com/audio-...B420K.html, it says the 420 supports Dolby Vision with the following footnote:

*3 Enabled by software update. It already has been released (as of April, 2019).

Is this a mistake and Dolby Vision support cannot be added via firmware? Does it require certain hardware that the 420 doesn't have, but the 820 does have?
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Jesterrace
10-23-2021 at 07:39 AM.
10-23-2021 at 07:39 AM.
Quote from bamayer7 :
What is the best blue ray to buy under 600?
Panasonic ub820.
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ludoo00
10-23-2021 at 01:40 PM.
10-23-2021 at 01:40 PM.
Quote from budster :
In the HIGH QUALITY PICTURE specifications section at https://shop.panasonic.com/audio-...B420K.html, it says the 420 supports Dolby Vision with the following footnote:

*3 Enabled by software update. It already has been released (as of April, 2019).

Is this a mistake and Dolby Vision support cannot be added via firmware? Does it require certain hardware that the 420 doesn't have, but the 820 does have?

Good catch. I am wondering that as well. Anybody can confirm/deny?
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supermanrob
10-24-2021 at 08:40 AM.
10-24-2021 at 08:40 AM.
Quote from budster :
In the HIGH QUALITY PICTURE specifications section at https://shop.panasonic.com/audio-...B420K.html, it says the 420 supports Dolby Vision with the following footnote:

*3 Enabled by software update. It already has been released (as of April, 2019).

Is this a mistake and Dolby Vision support cannot be added via firmware? Does it require certain hardware that the 420 doesn't have, but the 820 does have?
Quote from ludoo00 :
Good catch. I am wondering that as well. Anybody can confirm/deny?
Ok I checked I had the latest FW on both the 820 & 420(1.69). There is no DV setting on the 420 like the 820 and playing a DV movie on both I did not get the notification on the 420 like you do with 820.
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budster
10-25-2021 at 11:46 AM.
10-25-2021 at 11:46 AM.
Quote from supermanrob :
Ok I checked I had the latest FW on both the 820 & 420(1.69). There is no DV setting on the 420 like the 820 and playing a DV movie on both I did not get the notification on the 420 like you do with 820.
Thanks for confirming. It didn't make sense to me that the 420 would support Dolby Vision. Maybe Panasonic just blindly copied the 820 specs into the 420 web page.
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heribertoh9774
11-08-2022 at 04:25 PM.
11-08-2022 at 04:25 PM.
Are we going to see another sale on these this year? It was $150 around this time last year.
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