Panasonic’s latest Blu-ray player, which was first announced back at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and supports both the Dolby Vision and HDR10+ High Dynamic Range formats, has finally gone on sale in Europe.
The company’s new UB450 UHD Blu-ray player should get some attention as it’s the first truly affordable hardware device in its class to support all of the common HDR formats. Previous Blu-ray players have also supported both of the premium HDR options, but these have been quite pricey models. In contrast, Panasonic’s UB450 is priced at just £199 at most outlets, according to PriceRunner.
In fact, the UB450 supports four HDR formats in total, including the older HDR10 standard and Hybrid-Log Gamma.
The Blu-ray player is also equipped with Panasonic’s latest HCX video processor, comes with two HDMI ports, one for video/audio and one for audio alone. It can play HD Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, DVDs and CDs, the company said, and also supports object-based audio such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
Panasonic’s commitment to the UHD Blu-ray format will be welcomed by enthusiasts who may have been concerned by news of other vendors exiting the market. In the last year, both Samsung and Oppo said they’ll be discontinuing their Blu-ray hardware product lines, while Sony decided not to implement the technology in its latest PlayStation 4 Pro console. LG, which hasn’t officially said it’s exiting Blu-ray, also hasn’t launched any new players for 2019 either.
Along with the UB450, Panasonic launched a second, cheaper Blu-ray player called the UB154, which offers just a single HDMI port and doesn’t support Dolby Vision.
