At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), currently held in Las Vegas, not only Panasonic announced a new Ultra HD Blu-ray player, also LG and Sony revealed new models. Besides playback of Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, they also support HDR.
Sony has revealed the UBP-X800 which it claims has been developed together with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Similar to the Panasonic one, this device also has two HDMI ports. One is for audio and one for video. The separate HDMI ports should suppress unwanted noise and achieve high-quality audio reproduction. When it comes to audio, the Sony plays back most audio codecs and it support high-res audio up to 192 kHz/24-bit and DSD 11.2MHz. The device has support for bluetooth headphones for private listening.
Like the Panasonic, also the Sony device supports 4K video streaming and Ultra HD Blu-ray features like high dynamic range (HDR) and better color depth (BT.2020).
The LG Ultra HD Blu-ray player is the UP970, and like the Panasonic and Sony model, also this device has two HDMI ports with separate audio and video output. The player will receive an update to support Dolby Vision (Dolby's HDR) variant after its release. This update is scheduled to be around the same time of the release of Ultra HD Blu-ray discs that contain Dolby Vision content. Besides Dolby Vision HDR, which is not supported by the Sony and Panasonic player, the device also supports the widely supported HDR10 standard.
Also this player is able to stream 4K content such as from Youtube and Netflix. The player also supports Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD.
The Sony UBP-X800 will be released some time in spring this year, Sony hasn't disclosed any pricing details. The LG UP970 will be available in March, also for an unknown price.
