Panasonic has just unveiled a successor to its first 4K Blu-ray player, and it comes with a significant price cut.
The DMP-UB700 is set to be priced at £400 (around $524 / AU$700), which is almost a third cheaper than its predecessor, the Panasonic DMP-UB900, which was priced at £599 ($785 / AU$1046).
However this reduction in price doesn't quite make it the cheapest dedicated 4K Blu-ray player on the market. That award goes to the Samsung UBD-K8500, which can currently be found for around £350 ($460 / AU$610), although when it launched it was priced at £430 ($565 / AU$750).
Like its predecessor, the new player is set to be fully UHD Premium certified, meaning it offers HDR, and a BT.2020 color gamut in addition to 4K resolution.
Dropping in price, not features
Although its price means that the player is still firmly in the high-end section of the market, it's reassuring to see the prices of Ultra HD Blu-ray players come down so quickly.
Given we gave the UB900 5-stars in our review, we're hoping this reduction has been achieved without cutting corners. The only thing that we can see that's different so far is that the new model comes without THX certification.
There are some new features to compensate, though. The player has two HDMI outputs which mean that it can separate its audio and video outputs. Panasonic claims this will increase the clarity and accuracy of both the picture and the sound.
No word yet on official international pricing or availability, but Panasonic has said that it expects the new player to be available to buy at the end of October / early November.
- Check out the competition in our guide to the best 4K Blu-ray players.
