The Panasonic has some reliability issues that you want to search for. One year warranty and lots of people have been burned after the initial warranty runs out. If you do go with a Panasonic, I would recommend the service plan from BB or Crutchfield.

If you’re going to spend that amount on a UHD player, I would look at the already mentioned Oppo 203 model which does all SACD and DVD-A, but it’s a bummer that it has no XLR outs. It’s super quiet and built like a tank. You could also look at a Pioneer UDP-500 if you wanted to keep it really old school. That has the best build out of all players. Too bad they only made them for 2 years I think.

Maybe being zone/region free for DVD and BD is a requirement?

I don't know about the Panasonic players but, for the OPPO BDP-10x/UDP-20x there is another interesting value if you are willing to jailbreak the firmware (it's actually quite easy, even fully automated for US versions).

It gives you the following:

• DVD/BD/UHD/SACD ISOs <= These work for me
• DVD-Audio ISO <= These work for me
• BDMW (2D/3D) files
• ACVHD files
• DVD region free <= confirmed, + mine was region-free at purchase
• DB region switching <= confirmed, it erased my initial region-free version but setting the menu language changes the region

This gives 2 main benefits:

1/ You will be using the optical block a lot less, potentially extending the player's life.
2/ If you have a NAS, you don't even need to get up and get the disc to play your movies.

Julien

I want to jailbreak my 203 but i'm too chicken sh*t to try it. Do you have a mod that is recommended?

The Panasonic UB820/824 UB9000/9004 can be region free, UOP/PUO off and several other things with a patched firmware. So I'd say currently the best choice. I don't see any reason for the overpriced UB9000.

https://www.avforums.com/threads/lets-try-again-to-put-the-free-in-regionfreedom.2441584