Jordan O'BrienSamsung’s first 4K UHD Blu-ray player has officially gone on sale in the UK, with it going head-to-head with Panasonic’s player.
While Panasonic’s player has a lead on Samsung’s in terms of how long it has been on sale, Samsung has managed to undercut Panasonic’s player by almost £200, making it the more affordable option costing £429.99 RRP.
For that price users will get an array of features, but the most important is the ability to play the new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray standard. While not much content is available in the higher resolution format just yet, a whole array of content is scheduled for this year (including 100 4K UHD Blu-rays from Universal) after the floodgates finally opened last week.
Not only will the Blu-ray player be able to play the higher resolution discs however, Samsung also says that users will be able upscale their 1080p and conventional DVDs – something Sony’s Blu-ray players have been doing for a long time, but they don’t support the native 4K resolution discs. Samsung’s player is also HDR compatible.
Currently Samsung’s player is available in all the usual high street spaces, such as Currys, John Lewis, Richer Sounds and Samsung itself. For custom installers, AWE Europe in the UK also has the UBD-K8500 available for those wanting to use the player in their upcoming installations – rather conveniently, the distributor also stocks the Panasonic unit.