LG has launched its UP970 Ultra HD Blu-ray Disk Player with HDR compatibility that was first previewed at CES earlier this year. The player supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 playback — both of which are the primary competing standards for HDR content. Of course, your TV will have to support Dolby Vision HDR to benefit, which LG and others will happily sell to you.
Dolby Vision claims to have greater brightness and contrast, and richer colors, while HDR10 content is the open standard and default for all 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray disks, as well as for content from Playstation 4 and Xbox One S. Netflix and YouTube can also be streamed via the player, though Dolby vision will only be available “later this year” after a software update.
Only a handful of titles available
At the moment, there’s only a handful of titles available on Blu-ray that support Dolby Vision including Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, The Fate of the Furious, and Power Rangers. In July, Dolby announced it would be partnering with Paramount Home Media to release more Dolby Vision titles for Blu-ray.
The LG UP970 is available from retailers in the US for $299, but you can currently get it at a promotional price of $239.99 if you’re quick.