LG has released its first UHD Blu-ray player, dubbed UP970, for $300 / Ł350. It will also be one of the first capable of outputting movies in the Dolby Vision HDR format.
UP970 with Dolby Vision
LG’s UP970 player is available now but you will have to wait a little longer for the firmware that activates Dolby Vision playback, the company says. That is OK because at the moment there are no Dolby Vision Blu-ray discs available to buy.
UP970 is the company’s first UHD Blu-ray player. When other manufacturers launched players last year, LG decided to wait for Dolby Vision. Dolby has teamed up with 3 Hollywood studios to make discs available by “early 2017”. That the deadline has passed but the first 2 titles have been confirmed to be Despicable Me 1 and 2.
It is important to emphasize that UHD Blu-ray discs with Dolby Vision can also be enjoyed on players and TVs that support only HDR10. In this case your equipment will output a “standard” HDR10 version of the movie, which is also stored on the disc.
Besides spinning UHD Blu-ray discs, UP970 offers access to streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Video, and YouTube. In the UK, it also offers access to Now TV. A WiFi antenna is built in but you can also connect to the internet via Ethernet. There are 2 HDMI outputs; one for video and one for audio.
LG UP970 is shipping now in the US for $300 and the UK for Ł350.
