Customer Ratings & Reviews

After years of relying on an Xbox or budget Blu-Ray players, I decided to go all-in with the Panasonic Streaming 4K Ultra HD Hi-Res Audio Blu-Ray Player for my new theater setup—and I’m so glad I did. This thing is a revelation. The picture quality is nothing short of incredible, delivering the kind of immersive, jaw-dropping experience you’d hope for from 4K UHD discs. Crisp details, vibrant colors, and Dolby Vision support make every movie feel like a theater-worthy event. What’s equally impressive is how it breathes new life into our older 1080p Blu-Ray collection. Discs from years back look surprisingly sharp and polished, proving this player’s upscaling chops are no gimmick. The 7.1-channel audio support is a dream for my setup, and the built-in Wi-Fi opens up seamless streaming options when I’m not spinning discs. It’s a perfect blend of modern versatility and classic disc playback.

This Panasonic UB820 blew me away with it's picture quality! The colors are deeper and brighter, definition is very refined, and the darks are truly black with no crush or grey to black blending issues. DVDs actually look as good as most blu-ray, and 4k discs are a higher class all their own. This is how 4k blu-ray is meant to be seen. I spend a lot of time so focused on how amazing the picture looks that I sometimes forget to focus on the movie itself. Also, the fact that the sound has it's own dedicated HDMI creates crisp, synced reproduction with surround sound, and gives you so many more playback options than an optical cable. After 2 years of owning the Sony X800 4k player, I was never fully satisfied with the picture quality. The Sony is great for streaming (it has a many great apps and fantastic sound quality, even for TV shows, since it's HDMI rather than optical), but lacks in disc picture quality playback. Every DVD I watched, and even some blu-ray and 4k discs, had bad black crush and picture pixelation in some parts of the films, particularly the dark scenes. It was so distracting in outdoor fireside scenes that I could hardly watch them with the fire glow and blacks fighting each other. I tweaked the settings on both the player and my television repeatedly on various movies trying to get it right. I have an LG OLED TV with HDR10, Dolby Vision, etc, and I knew the pic had to look better than what I was getting, so I decided to try a new player, and I have become a true believer in Panasonic's 4K player. If picture and sound quality matter to you, this player will impress you.

After a frustrating year attempting to get a Sony UBPX700 to work with my setup (with a Sony TV no less, but through a Marantz AV pre-amp) without freezing (exchanges through Best Buy and Sony, replacing cables, hours of troubleshooting, etc.), a user on an AVS forum recommended I try the Panasonic. When it came in shortly before Christmas, there was a huge dent in the box that looked like the sharp edge of something pierced the cardboard, but on further inspection only the manual was dented, but not the player. This player has been nothing short of spectacular for me, both in picture quality, reliability and features (sadly, yes, I still own a lot of 3D movies). The fact it auto-detects Dolby Vision is a relief so I don't have to examine the prescription size print on the back of a move case to see if it's Dolby Vision or not and then set it manually. I did not switch out any equipment or cables that I also had hooked up with the Sony, it all just worked. I'm not concerned with how solid it feels (companies can cheat on that one), how sturdy I perceive it to be, as long as it works out of the box and lasts, I am happy. Reading the various reviews on both the Sony and Panasonic models, I wonder if there are simply compatibility issues depending on existing user hardware (assuming a player isn't defective) no matter how well that hardware is rated. I gave my Sony player to my Dad since it was past the return period, and he hasn't had an issue with it hooked up to it on his Vizio TV. I guess these days, buyer beware, no matter what the reviews say, test it out as soon as you buy something to make sure you aren't going to have any issues during the return window.

What started as replacing a 10+ year old flat screen turned into a complete makeover of our ATMOS surround theater except for the speakers. The new flat screen exposed a weakness in the receiver and then the blu-ray player. The Panasonic was the last piece. Wow! What a change! All the major components are state-of-art and support all the present sound and video formats. Watched our first Ultra HD 4K blu-ray last night and it was like being in a whole new theater. Highly recommend this player.

The quality of this player is too notch! The only downside is probably the user interface but i don’t use it for streaming, only physical media.

Upgraded to this player after my previous one died. The automatic Dolby Vision detection is great. Not a single stutter or freeze even on larger 4K discs unlike my previous player. Blu-ray and DVD upscaling is impressive. Totally worth it.

I was initially prepared to spend a grand on the big brother to this Panny 820 fine player, until closer research showed me that spending twice as much, was NOT going to render double the performance or features. The 820 offers everything the Panny 9000 offers, except the 9000 is just more heavy duty. It's a great unit, but not twice the price great! I'm loving the quality and performance of the 820. My 4K UHD discs are fantastic on my LG-G2 "77 OLED and Dolby Vision is simply incredible with this combination! I couldn't be happier. Even the staff at Magnolia strongly recommended going with the 820 over the 9000 for all the aforementioned reasons. Even my ISF professional calibrator recommended the 820. I couldn't be happier with this choice.

If you want the best picture possible out of your discs get this. I have tried everything from DVD to 4K and have not had any issues yet. It’s great for upscaling any older discs in your collection. 4K looks amazing and Dolby Vision is supported. There are plenty of settings to customize your experience. Streaming services are also available.

Bought the ub820 in excellent condition paid around $399 with a $10 certificate. Works excellent. It was sent from Colorado Best Buy. No dings no scratches. Remote brand new condition. If you can get one in excellent condition might as well to save a littke bit of money. No streaming problems. I already knew it is a slow process.

There's a reason why this is always the 4K UHD player recommended by enthusiasts. Plays every disc without any issues, amazing picture and sound quality, Dolby Vision included, extremely quiet. Would like if the remote had at least some of the key buttons back lit, but that's the only quibble I have.

This is player is outstanding ! Ive owned several DVD players through the years and this the best player Ive ever owned.Excellent video and audio performance.Great piece of equipment.4K 's look awesome.Worth every penny.

I’m taking a star off the review only because my first attempt at getting one didn’t go so smoothly: I went with an Open Box - Excellent condition ub820 at first. After it was delivered, I was only able to get one 4K playback use out of it before it ceased reading any 4K discs. I’m sure not all open box versions of this are subject to this issue, but it’s something to be aware of. I exchanged it the day after it was delivered and promptly ordered a brand new one for not much more than the open box price. That unit has had zero issues since I’ve hooked it up, handles 4K discs beautifully. Not having to turn Dolby Vision on and off is really nice, and audio output is exceptional (I would argue that I can hear noticeable differences in audio when compared to my ps5’s disc player and yes, I had atmos set up on the ps5 too). If you enjoy still watching and collecting physical media and if it’s within your budget to pick one up l, you won’t regret it.

After weeks of researching, if you want auto detection of Dolby Vision by your 4k player then Panasonic ub820 is the only choice. All other 4k players have flaws...the x700 that dont auto detect DV......x800m2 is not that great and cost more than x700......not many manufacturers left in the 4k player market...the Ub820's optimizer feature make every HDR content better.....its simply the best 4k player in the current market.........man...I miss Oppo!! Fyi....if you have a Samsung tv and dont have DV anyway then I highly recommend the ub420.....same optimizer....just no DV support....and much cheaper!!

When I couldn't get an Oppo 203, I was sad. After this disc player came out, I did my research, pulled the trigger, and have been so happy watching my movies. Best feature is the DVR Enhancer. This Panasonic allows you to jack up the HDR to make those bright areas even brighter. It is truly amazing to these middle-aged eyes. It is a great upconverter. All blurays look great. Some higher quality DVDs look just fine. 4k UHD discs obviously look awesome. It is a region free player, as I've popped in some Region B discs with zero issue. I did get a hiccup on a couple new 4k UHD discs. Player stalled on startup. Unplugged it and then back in, and the disc started up fine. The physical player build isn't as solid as others, but it'll do. I dont want to spend $1000. I'm a Roku user, so I only needed a disc player. If you need everything in one for discs and streaming, then this Panasonic won't do. It can only stream Netflix and Prime fans no other mainstream apps. That said, Netflix looks WAY better through the Panasonic than my Roku Premiere. I also run a nice soundbar and the direct feed from the Panasonic sounds awesome. There are a gazillion other settings in this player. If you run a separate A/V receiver, I surely expect you to be able to find the settings to output to that.

Omg what a great upgrade from a ps5 the hdr optimizer is amazing !!! Makes my image so much better audio quality bumped up as well. Plays the disc fast and quiet. I love the auto Dolby vision playback as well hdr+. So happy with this purchase

Like many, I chose this 4K UHD blu-ray player because it's one of the highest-rated, most-versatile players out there right now. And while it does *meet* my expectations, it certainly does not surpass them. For example, the system menus and built-in Netflix (and other streaming) apps are pretty slow and clunky—I tend to just use the ones built-in to my TV instead. Additionally, the buttons on the top of the player (open/close, power, etc) do not always work as expected—for example, if I turn the player on, and it is still warming up/getting started, the open/close button sometimes is unresponsive. On this note, it also seems to take a minute or two for this player to turn on/off, which is fine but not what I expected for a top-of-the-line blu-ray player. Nevertheless, the player is very quiet, has excellent image quality, and has worked with every different type of disc I've ever tried to insert it in. If, like me, you are only interested in a really solid 4K blu-ray player—not any of the apps or special features—then you could probably save your money and get one of the more affordable options.

Awesome upgrade for my home theater! I live in an area without high speed Internet, and decided to try buying this DVD player in an attempt to get real use from my surround sound system. This has multiplied my enjoyment of watching movies at home ten fold. It is a bit of a scavenger hunt to find the 4k dvds (how disappointed was I when I discovered Best Buy no longer sells DVDs!?!). The sound and video quality compared to Blu-ray DVDs is worth the upgrade!

I've only used this for a couple weeks, but it has worked flawlessly so far. I upgraded from a Sony x700, which would freeze on about 50% of the discs played on it. I am happy to report that this Panasonic player has not had any problems with my discs. Even the ones that froze on the Sony player work fine on the Panasonic. The build quality seems solid. The output picture quality is great, and the overall functionality of the unit is implemented well, as expected for a player of this cost. The remote is only average, but it gets the job done. The other nice feature of this player is that it auto-detects dolby vision and enables it. This is something that was missing on the Sony x700, so I am happy about having that feature now. I would definitely recommend this player - especially as an upgrade to the cheaper Sony models for people who are experience problems with those units.

Great Blu-ray can't beat quality it's the best Blu-ray player I've ever owned and you cannot do any better my kids really enjoy it high definition 4K very great

Definitely a bit better quality video than my Xbox One X. Definitely better sound as I always had to mess with Xbox dropping my Atmos settings. This hooks directly into my Denon AVR-X2400. Cons: -Slow boot. -Slooow Disc tray open/close -UI is old (don’t care, only there to load a disc) -Known issue with some 4K discs stutter/freezing for a few seconds. “Midway” is one of them. Two scenes in the same spot as everyone else online. Overall very happy.