Spears & Munsil 4K UHD HDR Benchmark (Test Discs) May 15, 2023

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by mrtickleuk

Absolutely, definitely, not!

I repeat, in case you missed this bit: I am simply NOT in the "high-end" market and will not be dragged up there just because I want a decent player that works.

That player is the high-end top-of-the-range and costs TRIPLE the cost of the UB820. It's not a helpful answer, sorry, because I was so very clear.

The market for mainstream (not high-end) players is utterly broken after the "race to the bottom", and it's a travesty.

(And it still doesn't meet my requirements anyway! It's got a fan! )

The problem with the race to the bottom is that the lower price range are “broken” (not that the UB9000 is perfect). Also, semantics, the UB9000 is double the orice of the 820, not triple. Sadly, there is still no perfect player out there. I’d go for it in a heartbeat.

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by mrtickleuk

Absolutely, definitely, not!

I repeat, in case you missed this bit: I am simply NOT in the "high-end" market and will not be dragged up there just because I want a decent player that works.

That player is the high-end top-of-the-range and costs TRIPLE the cost of the UB820. It's not a helpful answer, sorry, because I was so very clear.

The market for mainstream (not high-end) players is utterly broken after the "race to the bottom", and it's a travesty.

(And it still doesn't meet my requirements anyway! It's got a fan! )

What does the 9000 do that the 820 does not? in terms of video, it should be identical. I thought someone said that the 820 has fewer options in the HDR Optimizer, but that is not a feature I use on the player.

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

What does the 9000 do that the 820 does not? in terms of video, it should be identical. I thought someone said that the 820 has fewer options in the HDR Optimizer, but that is not a feature I use on the player.

For your usage case there is no difference. The optimizer difference applies to projectors only with the low nit setting. But the 820 will give similar performance with the SDR2020 output, which is also based on 350 nits.

[sapiendut]

Kris beat me to it.

[kansashoops]

Originally Posted by kristoffer

It amazes me to a high degree that no companies have been able to match or even better Oppo on pure untampered PQ. I mean the 203 was released three years ago!

Well that's not true. The Panasonic players (820 and 9000) surpass the Oppo in picture quality. I have both the Oppo 203 and the 820, and the 820 has it beat. I kept the Oppo for SACD playback and as a general backup, but I no longer use it for 4K blu ray playback. The Oppo is still superior in many regards, but PQ is not one of them.

[monroef]

Originally Posted by monroef

That was my thought as well. Unfortunately, I do not know of any other app that will launch a blu-ray menu.

It looks like it is the MrMC software. If I turn off hardware acceleration in the software, the clipping stops and the DVD ISO performs as it should.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

The chroma ringing is overshoot from their scaling filter. While it does go away at -4, so does the detail in the chroma resolution patches on the color space eval pattern. I decided to leave it at default myself. The odd ringing mostly goes away on the SDR version of the pattern, which is good since most of the HD will be SDR.

Edit: Just did a quick test using the Luma Zone Plate on the 2nd edition. With Edge at 0, it is nice and clean. At +1, you see moire (four groups of circles) on the left and right sides of the Zone Plate. The Winter Soldier scene is nice because it is a real world scene.

Yes exactly, it softens up chroma detail too much in order to get rid of the ringing at -4 so I just put the chroma on -1 and leave Edge Correction off now.

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

What does the 9000 do that the 820 does not? in terms of video, it should be identical. I thought someone said that the 820 has fewer options in the HDR Optimizer, but that is not a feature I use on the player.

Yep, even the 420 should have an identical video output to the 9000, lack of DV and certain other HDR conversion settings aside.

[kristoffer]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yes exactly, it softens up chroma detail too much in order to get rid of the ringing at -4 so I just put the chroma on -1 and leave Edge Correction off now.


Yep, even the 420 should have an identical video output to the 9000, lack of DV and certain other HDR conversion settings aside.

But despite these flaws you still prefer Panasonic’s PQ compared to the Oppo UDP 203? Because of the optimizer function or because of better upscaling?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by kristoffer

But despite these flaws you still prefer Panasonic’s PQ compared to the Oppo UDP 203? Because of the optimizer function or because of better upscaling?

No, I prefer the OPPO and I don't use the Optimiser.

[algu01]

DV is under saturated compared to HDR10 on my Sony AF9 and Oppo-203.

The pics are not taken with the camera settings locked between shots so the difference is even bigger in real life.

DV: https://photos.app.goo.gl/x85cLsxw2LxUStiA8

HDR10:https://photos.app.goo.gl/d98RAYvNwq1AXPz47

I prefer the saturation of the HDR10 but what is the correct picture?

It’s impressive to see the dynamic tonemapping on the Sony AF9 at work on HDR10 though!

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by kristoffer

But despite these flaws you still prefer Panasonic’s PQ compared to the Oppo UDP 203? Because of the optimizer function or because of better upscaling?

I sold my Oppo 205 because I prefer the upscaling on the 9000. Also I use a projector, so the low-nit projector setting in the Optimizer helps tremendously

[p5browne]

Disc arrived today in A-OK condition from Edmonton Alberta.

Orangy soap from the RockyMountainSoap Company in Canmore, Alberta, left earlier, and still missing in action!

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by algu01

DV is under saturated compared to HDR10 on my Sony AF9 and Oppo-203.

The pics are not taken with the camera settings locked between shots so the difference is even bigger in real life.

DV: https://photos.app.goo.gl/x85cLsxw2LxUStiA8

HDR10:https://photos.app.goo.gl/d98RAYvNwq1AXPz47

I prefer the saturation of the HDR10 but what is the correct picture?

It’s impressive to see the dynamic tonemapping on the Sony AF9 at work on HDR10 though!

This is why we have the note on the insert about using TV-led over player-led. LG and VIZIO may be the only two displays that support TV-led today. Long story short, its due to a bug that impacts player-led mode.

[HDTV1080P]

The Pioneer Elite UDP-LX500 has excellent tone mapping with SACD/DVD-Audio support, that is another player that people purchase if they do not want a Panasonic or a used OPPO player.

[algu01]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

This is why we have the note on the insert about using TV-led over player-led. LG and VIZIO may be the only two displays that support TV-led today. Long story short, its due to a bug that impacts player-led mode.

Thx! Are Oppo and/or Dolby aware of this?
Edit: or is it a bug isolated to Sony’s sets only perhaps?

[jibucha]

please (might you consider elaboration?)

note :: this is new information to me (TV-led & player led)

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

This is why we have the note on the insert about using TV-led over player-led. LG and VIZIO may be the only two displays that support TV-led today. Long story short, its due to a bug that impacts player-led mode.

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by algu01

Thx! Are Oppo and/or Dolby aware of this?
Edit: or is it a bug isolated to Sony’s sets only perhaps?

Its not a display issue and yes, they are aware.

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by jibucha

please (might you consider elaboration?)

note :: this is new information to me (TV-led & player led)

The OPPO has three settings for Dolby Vision. Auto, TV-led and Player-LED. Currently auto uses Player-led.

Panasonic does not expose this. They will use player-led for Sony and TV-led for LG.

Sony does not support TV-led for Blu-ray.

[jibucha]

thank you (appreciated)
follow-up :: what do these 'settings' do though?
meaning :: what does (TV-led) & (player-led) do/mean?
(and) :: why are there 'two approaches'?

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

The OPPO has three settings for Dolby Vision. Auto, TV-led and Player-LED. Currently auto uses Player-led.

Panasonic does not expose this. They will use player-led for Sony and TV-led for LG.

Sony does not support TV-led for Blu-ray.

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by jibucha

thank you (appreciated)
follow-up :: what do these 'settings' do though?
meaning :: what does (TV-led) & (player-led) do/mean?
(and) :: why are there 'two approaches'?

Player-led means Dolby Vision processing is done in the player. This is also known as Low Latency mode.
TV-led means the Dolby Vision processing is done in the display.

You would have to ask Dolby why they have two approaches. I don't know.