Panasonic 4K UHD Blu Ray Player DP-UB420-K - Amazon - $199.99 (2025)

Pro

The 420 is great for applications that don't need Dolbyvision like most projectors. I bought mine pre-covid at a lower price, but it hasn't come close to that price since. This is pretty good. It works well with my Epson 5050. The menus are super dated. You can technically use this for streaming, but I wouldn't. It's just too clumsy for that. Excellent Blu-Ray player though.

I bought a UB-420 since I have a Samsung S90C (No Dolby Vision) and the upscale on HD Blu-Rays has been superb. Obviously it shines with 4K content but I enjoy Blu-Ray disc playback on it just as much as UHD.

I have the bigger brother of this unit... The 820. The only major difference between these two is that the 820 has Dolby Vision feature. If you have a Dolby Vision enabled OLED 4K TV, I recommend paying the extra money for the 820. However, not all 4K TVs support Dolby Vision. Another option would be the Sony UBP-X800M2 which also plays SACD media. My only complaint with the Sony is that you have to manually shift it into Dolby Vision using the player's menu.

Yeah, if you have a Dolby Vision-capable display I wouldn't pick this player.

I'll echo the other comments here to say that if you have no use for Dolby Vision (projector or Samsung TV), this is the easily the 4k player to grab.

At half the cost of the 820 most of the time, it may be worth it for those just wanting a solid mid-range player anyways. Really don't know if Dolby Vision is worth double the cost. This has the same processor as the 820 and as such the same great upscaling performance for your 1080p Blu-Rays.

Pro

Great price as I bought an open box from Best Buy @ $150. Excellent player and the HDR Optimizer feature is killer. In my opinion, Dolby Vision won't be missed since HDR Optimizer is available.

Anyone know how this player compares to an XBSX capability?

Pro

Since Dolby Vision(& HDR10+) are dynamic HDR.
There isnt much manipulation, all quality is built in.

The bigger difference is the manipulation of static HDR and upscaling BR content.

Panasonic's HCX and optimizer work so well, how big a difference between DV & HDR varies from content to content, a majority of the time it's not significant.
That's if the content even includes dynamic content.
The upscaling is the same on both.

In the practical sense you're really better off getting the 420, unless budget isn't an issue and you just want it all.

Ugh. Been wanting to upgrade my player, since I have freezing issues. My Samsung TV does not support Dolbyvision, so my only reason to want the 820 is potential better performance handling the triple layer discs. I didn't want to buy another player that can't play certain (new) discs without freezing, but this is a good price.... (Yes, I'm aware of suggestions to clean even brand new discs...).