Customer Ratings & Reviews

$199 used to be what the low to middle tier Blu-ray players went for ”back in the day". And back then you didn't get much. You were lucky if you got your disc back out half the time (don't ask me how I know). Well, I just wanted to be part of the excitement back then I guess. The Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Player DP-UB154P-K on the other hand, reminds me of the players that were "off-limits" due to their price. The Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Player DP-UB154P-K's form and function is also reminiscent of those "look but don't touch" players. BUT NOW we have the benefit of technology getting better. So, in my opinion, this player is actually better than those previous "hi-end" models. Let's explore why. First we have a bevy of HD image formats, where previously high end models did not come anywhere near the amount of formats. The Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Player DP-UB154P-K supports HDR10, the new kid on the block HDR10+DM, UHD, and HLG. But what really blows this baby out of the park is the hdr optimizer and the chroma processor technology which makes even older things like TV shows on DVD and some very old Blu-ray discs look better! I wouldn't call this upscaling as that looks (to me at least) very unnatural. This to me, is very different, very natural, VERY GOOD, and very welcome! On the audio side of things, the Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Player DP-UB154P-K scores again providing HD Master sound. And I am a huge stickler/audio-phile that would take the world's greatest looking Blu-ray player back to the store if it came up short in the sound department. One sentence: I'm not taking this one back! Just like it's bevy of supported video formats, it hits a home run with the audio formats, including ALAC, DSD in multiple high bitrates, WAV, FLAC, AAC and AIFF just to name a few. But if you have a home theater, or even an amp and some speakers, this baby again can make ALL of those and more sound like studio master sound quality to my ears, and to Panasonic's claims (so I can't be THAT crazy!). And to round things out, it of course supports Dolby, and claims to support Dolby Atmos (my up firing speakers are in the shop. Perfect timing). so i couldn't test that. What comes in the box? The essentials my friend. The sleek, player itself, which would make any room pop. And the easy to use remote. but don't despair! The player itself has a usb port (!!!), the usual HDMI out port --- go ahead and splurge on the fancy cable this time around! And (wait for it!!) a LAN connection for *cough* *cough* endless possibilities *wink**wink*.... I personally, last night, just watched the latest bio/docudrama that i knew came out recently on Blu Ray starring our most famous resident. And I'll tell you what, the visual reproduction, and the sound made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up, especially when it was coming to the final scenes. No other player has come close, in my experience. It just looks/sounds THAT good! So if you are like me, and you care about getting the best audio and video experience as well as bang for your buck, the the Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Player DP-UB154P-K has your name all over it! I have a feeling these babies are going to sell out FAST!!!

Overall it's a Blu-ray player. Unbox, plug-in power, a non supplied optical cable, a non supplied HDMI cable and you are ready to go after 2-3 clicks of setup. There's nothing really spectacular to speak of. Reading times are quick with a 3 second splash screen when going from home to disc contents. With the right cables, both video and audio are clear and precise. Considerations Several things i would have preferred or expected at this price point. Bundled HDMI cable, 2.0 minimum or 2.1. Bundled Ethernet cable. WiFi. Actual purpose to internet besides updates. The placement of the buttons on the Blu-ray player feel poorly planned. i hit those a few times handling it's placement on the shelf. The frame/chassis feels weak/cheap. Certainly something far more brittle than a desktop or gaming console. Maybe on par with the cheapest of laptops. If you're like me, you have a storage location for excess cables such as for audio and video equipment. What you likely don't have are labeled cables to differentiate a 1.0, 1.4, 2.0 or other spec variation of HDMI cable. You either trial and error what comes out of the bin or compare cables until you find something suitable. WiFi would have been nice. At least in certain parts of my house, I don't keep Ethernet jacks where there isn't much equipment to use it. Besides updates, there seems to be little if any reason to connect it to internet. Upon setting it up, it presented a prompt or logo for something called BD-Live. My initial response was to check what that meant in the manual. There was an absence to that function there. I then assumed it meant some kind of streaming function to be able to view the video on another device since I've seen similar functionality across AV equipment. In the end, I found no real explanation to it but came to the conclusion that this model had no real use for Ethernet. Conclusion As a Blu-ray player, this meets that functionally perfectly. However, this particular unit brings back memories of the old days, when the VHS or DVD were the standard. You purchased a DVD player or VCR to play that medium and nothing more. That feels somewhat out of touch with the times as just about everything else in your entertainment shelf has a secondary functionally. If all you need is a Blu-ray player, this is perfect. If you need more, look elsewhere. This is worth 4-starts.

We picked this up because we didn't have a DVD player in our main, downstairs family room. We have a media room upstairs that has a premium 4K UHD player, but I wanted something more basic for downstairs because it's not something that I see us using all that frequently. There were just a few times when having a disc player downstairs would've been helpful. Out of the box, this feels very light and not as hefty as the one we have upstairs in the media room. I was a bit disappointed to see that the box comes with just the player, basic remote, and power cord. No HDMI or network cable provided, but I guess that's because this is more of a "bargain" option. They sure loved to tell you what kind of specs you need in your un-supplied HDMI cable though. If you're going to be prescriptive in requirements, maybe consider tossing the cable in? As connections go, there's a simple HDMI-out, Ethernet-in, and power port in the back, that's it. There's a USB port in the front if you're still relying on USB media... I haven't in years, so I can't speak to that ports usefulness. I hooked it up to my TV, dropped in Zack Snyder's Justice League UHD, and sat back to see how it handled. From a playback perspective, the disc spun up pretty quickly and off we went. Picture quality and sound were fine, the TV is a 4K OLED set and the sound bar also supports Dolby Atmos, so sound was good. All in all, I feel that this is a good 4K UHD disc player. DVDs, Blu-Ray's, and 4K UHDs all played fine, but you could obviously tell what kind of a disc you were watching, so don't expect this thing to make your DVD's look like UHD's... not a knock against the player, just setting expectations. No disc player will make a DVD at 480p look like a 4K UHD at 2160p.

Work awesome amazing quality for its price well worth

I’m happy to see that we can still get a really good multi-media player as most everything is moving to digital delivery. I’ve got an extremely large collection of DVDs, CDs, Blu-Rays, and some 4K Blu-Ray, not to mention a lot of digital media. More and more the physical media is disappearing but what to do with your decades old collection? You certainly don’t want to toss them (lesson learned after tossing all of my 8-Track music). Heck, I still have a decent collection of tape format media (cassette, VHS and 8mm movies). Sadly you can’t even find a newer computer with optical drive and you would be forced to purchase and external drive but at least those are still somewhat affordable. But if you have a home entertainment center nothing beats a good hi-def player. Panasonic has continued to support the DVD/CD/Blu-Ray technology but providing a refreshed player and adding Ultra 4K to it’s capability. Setup is really easy. Power, HDMI cable and ethernet cable if you have a connection handy. I would have loved to see wifi capability for the unit but streaming 4K via wifi might negate the ultra format. You can check firmware and update once connected to the internet via the ethernet cable. Interface is clean and simple. Movie, photos, music, USB content. Once media is loaded in the tray it will automatically determine what it is and get you to the media menu. I pulled one of my Ultra 4K Blu-Ray movies off the shelf and had a very pleasurable viewing especially taking advantage of my Dolby Atmos soundbar (which Atmos is supported with this player). It also supports HDR videio output (high dynamic range) for a more vibrant display. Paired with a supporting TV and soundbar you can get the most out of this player. One of my movies that really shows how beneficial it is to have HDR is “Avatar”. Playback was flawless with no ghosting or dropped frames. I realize a lot has to do with the TV you have as well but having a media player that can push the content at a high resolution makes for an extremely enjoyable experience. It would have been great to add the ability to stream from services like Hulu, Vudo, Netflix or Amazon Prime (or the multitude of other services) but some folks do run other devices that support that function or they may have a smart TV with those features built in. For the feature set at this price point it’s hard to beat if you still have a huge library of media. Now if someone would just make a decent VHS player 😉

I noticed ppl were hollering cuz it didnt play 4k movies read before you buy it is NOT a 4k player it is a 4k upskaleing all it does is supposed to make ur bluray movies look like 4k

In a world of smart devices where every device is trying to do everything, this is a remarkably simple blueray player. All you have to do is plug it in with an HDMI cable capable of handling a 4k signal, and you're good to go. There is an ethernet port on the back, which I initially connected, but there were no updates and there are no features requiring the connection, so it has since been disconnected and the blueray player is now behind my TV which is mounted on the wall. As the player is behind my TV, I don't have a line-of-sight to it for the remote, but I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that line-of-sight is not required for the remote to work. Now, I don't have to have the player where it is always visible, but I can still control it with the remote without contorting myself into odd positions to get the remote to where it can see the player. Everything is as simple as can be. You connect it to power and to an HDMI cable, put in a disc and play it. No smart features, nothing to set up, just simple and easy.

Super easy set up and very lightweight! Works amazing!

As far as Blue Ray players go you cannot get more basic than this model. Set up is easy as you just connect the power adaptor, connect an HDMI cable to it from you TV, insert a disk, and then watch your movie. There is an Ethernet connection on the back but the ony thing I can tell that it is for is just software updates. So, let's talk about feature. Or lack of. The mentioned Ethernet port for software updates. Why bother? There are no streaming features, either video or music, so I'm left to wonder why they included this "feature". Personally going Wi-Fi would have made more sense as I simply cannot seeing justifying taking up an Ethernet port on my router for this player. My next issue is with the power adaptor. This thing is so flimsy that I'm afraid to look at it wrong for fear of it crapping out on me. But I guess Panasonic had to cut costs somewhere and this must have been an easy cut. To give you an idea, the power adaptor for my Panasonic rechargeable beard trimmer is more sturdy than the on included with the player. Build quality is seriously in need of improvement. I can't see someone paying this much for this player when you can get off brand with better build quality at other retailers for half the cost. Picture quality is where this player redeems itself with Blue Rays being rather crisp and clear. It does an admirable job upscaling old school DVD's.

Easy peasy! Recommended. Highly recommended in fact.

Best blue Ray and DVD &c d player. Works very well.. Glad I purchased it.

Easy setup, great picture! Nice part of our home theatre system!

The dvd player was broken when i recived it but not reason for 1 star / box that dvd player in was placed in another box no packing to prevent being bounced around then label stating inspected by someone i never buy from this store again so little care to prevent damage during shiping and then going through process to return item all due to lack care prevent damage during shipping

We bought this and tried it on 2 TVs. 1 without access to the modem and 1 with. It loads the main screen of the 4k and it is amazlingl clear. As soon as you hit play it goes to a black screen and then goes blank and it loads the main screen again. I read that it may need updates, tried that, it didnt change anything.