Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[bokes]

If what I'm reading is correct- the Panasonics actually deliver a better image quality than the Oppo?

[Robert Zohn]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Do you have the Pioneer in stock and are waiting on UB9000? That a/b comparison will help a lot to find out which one is best for our specific high end systems. Thanks for doing it!

Thank you! I love doing this as it's my hobby too. I have an engineering production UB9000 that Panasonic HQ Japan sent me for evaluation and we're waiting for our Pioneer LX500 shipment

Originally Posted by idlebrain

Upcoming JVC 4K projectors are advertising this feature or similar one...we need to see how that fares.
Personally I prefer video processing features like upscaling, tone mapping done through players than displays.

I spent a lot of time at JVC's booth at CEIDA and watched the NX9 demo theater. All looks great, but without having it in my hands with the UB820 or UB9000 feeding it I can't say if for HDR BDs and streaming if we still have HDR tone mapping benefits from Panasonic new and exclusive "HDR Optimizer" circuitry.

[Apari]

Just got my 820 today. What settings should I have to get best pq and sounds. I have denon x4400h with 5.1 system and 65E6 oled. I quickly tried saving private ryan and the audio delay was about a second. Is that normal? I have an older hdmi cable which might not be fast enough, could that be the issue?

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by idlebrain

Upcoming JVC 4K projectors are advertising this feature or similar one...we need to see how that fares.
Personally I prefer video processing features like upscaling, tone mapping done through players than displays.

I am curious to see how the new JVC tone mapping performs myself, however, I will be very surprised if it matches the 820. I think Panasonic's in-house research and development for video processing is going to be tough for anyone to beat in this regard.

I've been using the 820 for some time on my JVC RS440 and have been very impressed with every UHD disc I throw at it. And I'm coming from Chad B calibrated custom Arve curves (which are very good in their own right), but the 820 takes things to a level higher.

If you are a projector user watching UHD BD, you need to be using the 820 unless you have a (very expensive) 4K Lumagen or MadVr (which is still a work in progress and requires a HTPC, 'ugh' IMO).

[Kris Deering]

I agree that a lot of the comments on JVC's auto tone mapping may be a bit too hopeful. I absolutely expect it to be better than their stock performance from before, but matching the performance of the 820 or a Radiance Pro/MadVR type solution seems very over optimistic. I am looking forward to testing one soon though and will definitely be studying this closely and comparing it directly to the Panasonic and Lumagen solutions.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Yes, I agree, with one caveat, Panasonic's new "HDR Optimizer" feature may be a patent protected or difficult to replicate by other manufacturers.

With that said, technology advancements keep rolling on.

Pioneer's new UDP-LX500 may have some circuit that does some of what Panasonic has mastered in the HDR Optimizer, but I have not done my a/b comparison and tested them to learn about the HDR tome mapping abilities.

Likely a good project for Kris Deering to partner with me.

I like Kris' reviews. He's on top of things. ...Like you are too, working with some of the best.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I am curious to see how the new JVC tone mapping performs myself, however, I will be very surprised if it matches the 820. I think Panasonic's in-house research and development for video processing is going to be tough for anyone to beat in this regard.

I've been using the 820 for some time on my JVC RS440 and have been very impressed with every UHD disc I throw at it. And I'm coming from Chad B calibrated custom Arve curves (which are very good in their own right), but the 820 takes things to a level higher.

If you are a projector user watching UHD BD, you need to be using the 820 unless you have a (very expensive) 4K Lumagen or MadVr (which is still a work in progress and requires a HTPC, 'ugh' IMO).

The JVC tone mapping will be based on the discs’ HDR metadata... which at times can be wrong and often times don’t even exist.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Apari

Just got my 820 today. What settings should I have to get best pq and sounds. I have denon x4400h with 5.1 system and 65E6 oled. I quickly tried saving private ryan and the audio delay was about a second. Is that normal? I have an older hdmi cable which might not be fast enough, could that be the issue?

Definitely not hdmi cable issue. Try 30 msec. Usually that’s the case. I use sync signal though, sync in the movies should never be used to do synchronization

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by bokes

If what I'm reading is correct- the Panasonics actually deliver a better image quality than the Oppo?

Better? I don’t know. But I prefer it. On the upscaling side, it is noticeably better than the Oppo.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

Good question. List is $499 US. I don't see why not sometimes going on sale for say $399, and with time for $349-299

Everything outside Oppo Blu-ray players go on sale eventually.
The Panasonic 820 is not built like a $549 Oppo 203 player, it is more build like a $299 player, in my balanced and calculated financial and sense of well observed opinion.

From my financial sense, it doesn’t make sense for Panasonic to drop the price this early. It’s difficult to receive enough stock to sell even at full pop according to several Panasonic dealers I know of.

[GiuseppeM]

Good morning. I’ve just finished watching Earth One Amazing Day in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on the new 9000. The impression is that the image doesn’t change very much from the 820, it’s a little bit more accurate and less saturated. Said this, the trial has been made on a Sony A1, while my 820 is linked to a LGC8, that is a little brighter. Sound instead is way way better than in the 820, if you own a good home theatre setup this device is going to give you enourmous satisfactions. One more thing, I haven’t tried Netflix yet but I have experimented Amazon Prime, both with Jack Ryan that comes already in Dolby Vision and with The marvelous Mrs. Mazel that only comes in HDR and permits you to test the HDR luminance and tone mapping enhancer. It works really well, my advice is to watch it via Panny, it’s way better than Apple TV, as Amazon Prime on the latter hasn’t got Dolby Vision. The Panny 9000 is a wonderful device.

[Bigbro]

Could not agree more. Netflix looks much much better than using the ATV 4K or the app preinstalled in my LG 65c7. A lot of series are now really bright and the sort of greyiness like fog is gone.

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by GiuseppeM

Good morning. I’ve just finished watching Earth One Amazing Day in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on the new 9000. The impression is that the image doesn’t change very much from the 820, it’s a little bit more accurate and less saturated. Said this, the trial has been made on a Sony A1, while my 820 is linked to a LGC8, that is a little brighter. Sound instead is way way better than in the 820, if you own a good home theatre setup this device is going to give you enourmous satisfactions. One more thing, I haven’t tried Netflix yet but I have experimented Amazon Prime, both with Jack Ryan that comes already in Dolby Vision and with The marvelous Mrs. Mazel that only comes in HDR and permits you to test the HDR luminance and tone mapping enhancer. It works really well, my advice is to watch it via Panny, it’s way better than Apple TV, as Amazon Prime on the latter hasn’t got Dolby Vision. The Panny 9000 is a wonderful device.

So hdr optimizer does work on the apps via the 820?

[Apari]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Definitely not hdmi cable issue. Try 30 msec. Usually that’s the case. I use sync signal though, sync in the movies should never be used to do synchronization

I had to put the audio delay to 80ms. Seems quite high..

Do other 6 series oled users use truemotion or any other tv side stuff? I put all to off and the picture didn't look smooth at all. When i put trumotion to low the picture is smooth. I'm quite new to this stuff so I kinda need all the help I can get to achieve the best possible picture quality.

[GiuseppeM]

Originally Posted by ray0414

So hdr optimizer does work on the apps via the 820?

Yes I've already tried it since when I installed it, moreless 6 weeks.

[Clark Burk]

Originally Posted by GiuseppeM

Good morning. I’ve just finished watching Earth One Amazing Day in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on the new 9000. The impression is that the image doesn’t change very much from the 820, it’s a little bit more accurate and less saturated. Said this, the trial has been made on a Sony A1, while my 820 is linked to a LGC8, that is a little brighter. Sound instead is way way better than in the 820, if you own a good home theatre setup this device is going to give you enourmous satisfactions. One more thing, I haven’t tried Netflix yet but I have experimented Amazon Prime, both with Jack Ryan that comes already in Dolby Vision and with The marvelous Mrs. Mazel that only comes in HDR and permits you to test the HDR luminance and tone mapping enhancer. It works really well, my advice is to watch it via Panny, it’s way better than Apple TV, as Amazon Prime on the latter hasn’t got Dolby Vision. The Panny 9000 is a wonderful device.

Do you use the analog outputs or the HDMI output going to your processor?

[tommyboy81]

On thw 820, what are some good scenes to properly test out the White and Black Tone Curve?

And am wondering what the difference is between Super High Luv and Med/Lum?

[GiuseppeM]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

On thw 820, what are some good scenes to properly test out the White and Black Tone Curve?

And am wondering what the difference is between Super High Luv and Med/Lum?

Sully.

[GiuseppeM]

Originally Posted by Clark Burk

Do you use the analog outputs or the HDMI output going to your processor?

HDMI and actually unique since on AV Forum UK somebody has reported an issue about sound delay when you use separate HDMI. Really I had a very short time this week so I started to use the Panny 9000 not in the proper, deep way it would deserve.

[scottybs]

Good Morning,

What should I put the "resolution" output on for my JVC RS600 projector? I would assume 4K but when I check the info on the projector it always says 4K. Does that mean the player is doing the upscaling? Just not 100% sure which way to run it? Thanks in advance!!