Bluray player as a transport.

[Nagaraj S]

Hi all,

Over the years, I have collected over 300 authentic Blu-ray titles largely sourced from Amazon UK and some titles from Amazon India.

I have an aging Sony x800 bought in 2018 from Europe that is still performing well. Now that Blu-ray manufacturers are extremely few, I think of buying an additional Blu-ray player, which should be useful if my existing player becomes no longer functional due to it’s age.

The players I have in mind are:

https://amzn.eu/d/4iOTyoe. (Panasonic 820, £350)
https://amzn.eu/d/ec4pWhK (Panasonic 450, £200)

I have a capable processor Arcam AV41.
I wanted ask if the extra price for Pana 820 player is really worth it since all the AV processing is done on the Arcam processor. In that case the less expensive Pana 450 should suffice as a transport. Please share your thoughts on this.
Sound quality is for more important me and I am really not that interested in videophile grade video reproduction.

It’s interesting to see that even with customs and Amazon shipping charges from Amazon UK, the price difference between Indian retailers and Amazon UK for Pana 450 is very significant, though there is a risk of warranty issues when the unit is imported.

Thanks,
Nagaraj

 

[matbhuvi]

If you are using a projector UB820 is ideal for dynamic HDR tone mapping. If it is TV, then 450 is enough

 

[Nagaraj S]

If you are using a projector UB820 is ideal for dynamic HDR tone mapping. If it is TV, then 450 is enough

I am using an LG C8 65’ OLED. Thanks.

 

[matbhuvi]

I am using an LG C8 65’ OLED. Thanks.

I would recommend UB820. I am also looking for one.

 

[saketb]

Just go for the UB820 and believe me you will love it, worth the extra cost. The HDR processing is just superb and beautiful especially for DV which is missing in the 450.

 

[Vinod.R]

The pana 820 is a very good player. Worth buying. However don't judge player cost based on the UK Amazon website link. You also have to factor duties and shipping in to the mix. If you convert just the price it's about Rs 40000 INR. Now add duties and shipping. Say about 7-8 thousand ? I am not sure. Other people can advise. THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE of this player is if your HDMI board has any sort of problems in the future you can still use analogue outs and get the sound out. But players with only HDMI outputs have this problem that the moment the HDMI goes, one is stuck. So its your call now. For my money it is 820.