Cancel your streaming subscriptions and go back to discs with this deal on our favourite 4K Blu-ray player

Dolby Atmos AV system
(Image credit: Future)

You can't beat streaming for convenience, but it's pretty compromised in picture and sound quality terms – and it's steadily becoming unaffordable to subscribe to multiple services. You can 'buy' movies for streaming, of course, but do you actually then own them? Not always.

The solution to all of these issues is to ditch streaming altogether and get back into movies on disc. The quality is vastly better, there are great deals to be had on Blu-rays, and you physically own the movies you buy.

If that sounds good to you but you don't already have a 4K Blu-ray player, this is the perfect deal: the Panasonic DP-UB820EB, which has just won its sixth What Hi-Fi? Award in a row, is now just £296 at Amazon.

This is a great price on an absolutely brilliant player – if it drops further for Black Friday, it certainly won't be by much.

Panasonic DP-UB820EB 4K Blu-ray player was £349 now £296 at Amazon
What Hi-Fi? Award-winner 2024

Panasonic DP-UB820EB 4K Blu-ray player was £349 now £296 at Amazon
The excellent UB820EB has been a What Hi-Fi? Award-winner every year since its launch in 2018. It's still the best performance-per-pound 4K Blu-ray player you can buy, with awesome picture and sound quality that demolishes streaming.

Despite the fact it's six years old, Panasonic's DP-UB820EB is still our favourite 4K Blu-ray player. It's held a spot on our yearly Awards list ever since it first launched, and it's easily the best option for those looking for a premium movie experience without forking out for its flagship sibling, the DP-UP9000.

With its vibrant, punchy-yet-balanced colours, stunning sharpness and exceptional detail, this 4K HDR disc spinner makes a mockery of the quality you get from even the best streaming services – and the movies you buy for it are yours forever.

It also sounds great, too, with powerful and weighty audio. Explosions are delivered with snappy dynamics and plenty of power, making for an exciting and engaging performer in the sound department. It's equally adept in quieter moments, with a rich muscular sound that adds texture to dialogue.

So is this deal truly worth it? Well, while the DP-UB820EB is discounted from time to time, we haven't seen it go this low for quite a while, and we haven't spotted a bigger discount on it for a couple of years. If you're in the market, now seems to be the time to buy.

MORE:

These are the best early Black Friday deals

Here are the best Blu-ray players you can buy right now

And these are the best TV deals

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Tom Parsons

Tom Parsons has been writing about TV, AV and hi-fi products (not to mention plenty of other 'gadgets' and even cars) for over 15 years. He began his career as What Hi-Fi?'s Staff Writer and is now the TV and AV Editor. In between, he worked as Reviews Editor and then Deputy Editor at Stuff, and over the years has had his work featured in publications such as T3, The Telegraph and Louder. He's also appeared on BBC News, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Sky Swipe. In his spare time Tom is a runner and gamer.

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  • Thunderballs
    This player stops being able to opening disc tray after a few hundred times of being opened and closed. In my case on two different players from different batches just after the 1 year guarantee ran out.
    Reply