PANASONIC DP-UB150 UHD Blu-ray player

Everybody’s streaming, of course, but there are good reasons to stick with physical media as well. With less compression, more reliable delivery and all those disc extras, a disc library and 4K Blu-ray player are essentials for any self-respecting movie f

With a 4K Blu-ray player this good under $350, it’s enough to persuade anyone away from streaming and back to the beauty of physical media.

The Panasonic DP-UB150 UHD Blu-ray player is a more important piece of kit than perhaps its makers realise. It occupies a golden niche for the product category — a 4K Blu-ray player for less than $300. And with Panasonic withdrawing from televisions in Australia, these will lose out on ‘bundled’ sales, so we anticipate there may be even lower prices if you shop around.

Of course, you can spend a whole lot more on a UHD Blu-ray player. While the legendary Oppo players are no longer around, Panasonic itself pushes into the same rarefied air with its Sound+Image award-winning DP-UB9000, currently at $1799; Pioneer also has an award-winner at $1999, and another at $3999. These all offer high-quality audio circuits as well as the 4K video, with balanced audio outputs and much more besides.

But for many wanting a 4K disc spinner, $300 may be the more attractive level; indeed with streaming services continuing their rise, some may wonder why to invest at all in a disc-spinner — plus a collection of 4K Blu-ray discs — when you could get subscriptions to Netflix and many other streaming services for a whole lot less.

In other words, even a budget 4K Blu-ray player such as this Panasonic UB150 is under pressure to deliver.

Equipment

Panasonic has taken an understandably no-frills approach here in order to keep the price down. If it’s features you’re looking for, look elsewhere, or further up the range — Panasonic currently has four UHD Blu-ray players on its books, and one networked non-4K player.

The UB150 is a boxy and pleasantly compact device at just 32cm wide and weighing 1.2kg. There are very few buttons, just on/off and

eject within easy reach on the top. There’s also a humble but predictably useful remote control with buttons just big enough to fit the bill.

We like that the USB 2.0 port is easily accessible on the front for playback from a hard drive or memory stick.

The back is pretty much bare — just three holes: one for the power cable, an HDMI out and an Ethernet socket for software updates only. Possibly important omissions here are the lack of a second HDMI out delivering audio only (in case you have a TV or receiver without 4K HDMI inputs), nor indeed any form of standby audio output, analogue or digital. Analogue video outputs were banned several years ago under the Blu-ray ‘digital sunset’ rules, but an analogue or digital audio output can be useful if you’re using your player for music discs. While there’s no SACD compatibility, the UB150 handles standard music CDs, and from discs or through that USB 2.0 port it can play audio files, including high-res FLAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC and DSD as well as MP3s and AACs. These will all have to play via HDMI through your TV or HDMI-equipped amp/receiver. Mind you, with no display on the front of this player, you’d have a hard time navigating discs or sticks without using the on-screen menu anyway.

As noted, the Ethernet connection here does not network the player other than for software updates. That means no apps or smart features at all — at this price, really, we’ve no right to expect them. It will also disable any BD-Live content available for your discs, but again this early attempt to link the worlds of disc and web has all but disappeared from usage now.

Performance

Even without Wi-Fi, apps or a display, the DP-UB150 certainly manages to fulfil its core responsibilities. It plays optical discs of almost all kinds. It can upscale DVDs and Blu-rays up to 4K approximations (and does do well, as is Panasonic’s habit), as well as spin 4K native discs.

The Panasonic can decode up to 7.1 channels of audio in both Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio formats. If you have that many speakers in your home cinema set-up, then you’re likely to have an AVR to do the work instead and will want to have this Panasonic player set to deliver the audio as bitstream. It can pass on Dolby Atmos and DTS:X information as bitstream too, which your AVR can then decode into more channels still. If you want Dolby Vision though, you’ll have to stretch to Panasonic’s pricier $659 UB820 model.

We pop in the first episode of Game Of Thrones on 4K HDR and the Panasonic takes a little longer than more expensive players to get from the tray closing to the action (about a minute) but at this price, it’s not a delay that’s out of the ordinary. The audio processing renders impressive sonics from the DP-UB150 as the drawbridge raises on Castle Black and the three members of the Night’s Watch head through the tunnel. The gate opens with a boom that rumbles on against the tinkling of the portcullis chains. It’s a dramatic beginning to the show, and reproduced really well by this player.

There’s some decent detail on show throughout the tonal range too: nice, low wind-rippled flames of the torches in the tunnel, a higher-pitched echo of the horses’ hooves and the whispers of a gentle snowfall all clear and adding to the fantastic sense of atmosphere.

At this price, it’s a stellar performance. In video terms, dark details are easily strong enough as we see the three Watchmen head into the tunnel. Their torchlight gives way to the sunless gloom as they press on. No matter how far they go, it’s still possible to see the rafters and rocks of the tunnel’s sides in the foreground in the growing darkness. The texture of the fur on the Watchmen’s black outfits, however, does get a touch lost. But while a player at the next level up may deliver more dark detail, there’s little wanting in the depth of those blacks.

Once back out into the daylight, detail in the whole is good, with HDR contrast handled well. There’s plenty of differentiation in the ice and the snow, and the bark of the trees is lifelike.

How do standard Blu-rays look? Excellent; the Panasonic upscales very well. With Jack Reacher in 1080p, colours are still strong — bold even — as the camera pans the autumn leaves of the Pittsburgh suburbs.

Conclusion

The Panasonic DP-UB150EB might lack the audio specs and low noise levels of more premium 4K Blu-ray players, and it’s worth comparing this player to Sony’s UBP-X700, with an RRP only $30 more, boasting Wi-Fi and apps, Dolby Vision, a second HDMI audio output and a coaxial digital audio output too. But for the money, this Panasonic still makes an excellent case for itself, especially delivering video quality which is all but comparable with higher levels of player. And it certainly shows how 4K discs (and standard Blu-ray, too) offer a firm step up in sound and picture quality from streaming. That will reward those prepared to make the effort and stick with physical media.

“With streaming services continuing their meteoric rise, even a budget 4K Blu-ray player such as this Panasonic UB150 is under pressure to deliver...”