Samsung’s Ultra HD Blu-ray player goes on sale early in USA

By Max Langridge
published

The player was due to go on sale in March, but Best Buy stores in the US have listed it as shipping on 10th February.

The Samsung UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player was first announced at IFA in September 2015. We were treated to more information about it at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, Samsung announcing then that it would go on sale in March for $400.

It was available to pre-order from January, but now certain shops in the US, including Best Buy, have told customers they can expect to receive their player soon after 10th February. One shop in Santa Monica, California, Video & Audio Center, had stock in on 5th February and all of it quickly sold out.

Unfortunately for those customers, there aren’t yet any Ultra HD discs to play on it. Amazon has a range of films (opens in new tab) on its US site, but these are listed as pre-order only, and are expected to be available from 1st March.

However the K8500 can stream 4K content from on-demand video services Netflix and Amazon, and will play normal Blu-rays and DVDs. There’s still no word on when the player will make it to the UK, but we’ll bring you any news as soon as we have it.

MORE: Ultra HD Blu-ray - everything you need to know

Source: The Verge

Max Langridge

Max was a staff writer on What Hi-Fi? and subsequently spent a good few years writing news and features for various technology and hi-fi publications, before jumping on a plane in search of a more fruitful life in Australia. Now based in Byron Bay, he writes about tech, health, fitness and style.