Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[eddievanhalen]

My Panasonic DP-UB420 which is an HDMI-only version of the 820 has starting to have issues with triple layer discs. Dual layer discs either BD or UHD BD play fine.
When the player gets to the third layer it starts to freeze, picture brakes into macroblocks and sound playing get jerky with continuous cut offs.
With the Alien UHD BD it doesn't even load the main menu, it first plays the Fox intro without issues, then the loading logo shows up,it takes quite some time loading and then the movie picture from the menu plays but the options to play the disc, choose audio tracks and subtitles and so on don't show up making the disc unplayable.
I tried several triple layer discs like John Wick 3 Parabellum, The Shining, both seasons of Westworld and Game Of Thrones season 1 and all of them play the last part of the disc, I assume that's the third layer, with these issues.
It may be the disc reading unit that got the laser pick up lens dirty (I doubt it, the player is inside a cabinet that I only open when playing a movie or music) or maybe the laser pick up has worn out.
I did a factory reset but that didn't solved the problem. I'm going to read the owner's manual to look for a way to do a hard reset.
I've had this player since April and all this time has worked fine but since yesterday while I was watching the UHD BD of The Shining almost at the end of the movie these issues started, I then tested all the discs I mention.
Fortunately I also own a Sony X-800 so I can still my UHD BD's.
I got this player from the UK (I live in Spain) and before buying it Panasonic Spain told me that the UK warranty is valid in Spain, in all EU countries 'though I suspect when I take the player to be serviced the repair shop will tell me that as this is a UK only model (it's sold in Spain with a different reference but the player is the same) warranty is not actually valid.
I've order from Amazon a BD specific lens cleaner disc, let's see if this solves the problem.
Do Panasonic players use to have issues with their disc reading drive?

[Spartan21]

Originally Posted by Spartan21

Thank you for the information Mr. Robert. You are a true A/V enthusiast!

I do have a question. Do you know if Panasonic is planning or is in the works of creating dynamic tone mapping abilities for their 4K players? I know they have the HDR optimizer, which is great, but the next step is dynamic tone mapping (like what JVC has with their projectors). Perhaps you can let your Panasonic contacts know that there are people who want dynamic tone mapping abilities in their players. If the players can be updated with those abilities via firmware, that would be really fantastic! Or perhaps there needs to be some kind of new hardware addition to make DTM possible, which means new players. Either way, I would be really ecstatic of Panasonic can do this.

Robert, can you please comment on this? I'm looking forward to your response

[Spartan21]

Originally Posted by roar

Well I bit the bullet and went in and negotiated a deal on a 9000. Didn’t want to wait until Black Friday... gave my dad my old 4K player for his new Sony 4K TV and new movies are backing up here looking forward to getting it and see how nice it plays with the JVC NX5

Negotiated with who?

[roar]

With the GM at my local store... Visions. Got a couple hundred bucks off.

[TJtennispro]

Originally Posted by Spartan21

Robert, can you please comment on this? I'm looking forward to your response

Dude you asked him a question on a Thursday and you expect him to respond by Saturday? A question that requires him to contact Panasonic. Your patience and expectations are ridiculous.

[sapiendut]

Even Panasonic then needs to contact Japan and it takes at a minimum of 1-2 weeks to receive response from Panasonic Japan.

People here are just nuts.

[eddievanhalen]

Has anybody had problems with triple layer discs on Panasonic players? My Panasonic UB-DP420 (an HDMI-only version of the 820) has been having issues with triple layer discs since last Friday when I played The Shining UHD BD and on the last part of the movie it started to freeze and picture break into macroblocks. I assume this is on the 3rd layer. This happens on all the triple layer discs I own except for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind that plays fine.
I assume this is the disc reading drive, maybe the laser pick uphas worn out in only 8 months.
Let's see if the BD specific cleaning disc that I ordered from Amazon and that has 8 little brushes corrects this problems but I honestly don't think it'l do anything.

[sapiendut]

I have to double check The Shining but I’ve never had any problem with any movie on both my 820 and 9000.

[eddievanhalen]

Neither did I until last Friday. I've watched The Shining on UHD BD on my Panasonic 420 3 times without an issue, and Alien UHD BD 6 or 7 times and it played fine, now it doesn't even loads the main menu.
I've tried around 10/12 dual layer UHD BD and they played fine and so do 1080p BD's and CD's.
One thing I noticed is that the disc drive is noisier than it was before. I'm sure the disc drive has gone bad.
The Panasonic 420 was sent to me by a friend from the UK when it was on sale. I have the original invoice and before getting it Panasonic Spain told me that the warranty of a UK bought UHD BD player is valid in Spain but you know how these customer's services work, some of their assistants have no idea of what they're talking about or just tell you want you want to hear. I suspect the UK warranty won't be valid in Spain and if so, I think I won't repair the player. I only paid 140 Euros for it and servicing is very very expensive in Spain. I'm not spending 60 or 80 Euros to repair a player that cost me 140 Euros despite how much I like how the Panasonic's picture quality.
Fortunately I still have the Sony X-800 on my system but I don't want to wear it out, it's only a year and a half, I preordered the X-800 but after a year it stopped working so I got a brand new factory sealed player from Sony, I want to keep it in the best of conditions to play my SACD's and Hi Res audio files that I have quite a lot of them.
I'm thinking, if the cleaning disc doesn't solves the problem with the Panasonic 420, on getting an LG UHD BD player just for playing UHD BD/BD discs. Are LG players good? Do they look like the Sony X-800 or their picture quality is worse?

[Geoff D]

Ugh, so sorry to hear you're having problems with it. Feel kinda guilty.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Ugh, so sorry to hear you're having problems with it. Feel kinda guilty.

Guilty? For what? For doing a favor? Nonsense, it's just bad luck.

[Zoland2020]

@eddievanhalen I own the LG UBK90 and it's a very good player for the price. Besides its obvious excellent 4K playback, playback of standard Blu-rays and DVDs have been pretty good too. I can't though compare the picture quality to of a Sony 4K player since I don't own any of their players.

[Spartan21]

Originally Posted by TJtennispro

Dude you asked him a question on a Thursday and you expect him to respond by Saturday? A question that requires him to contact Panasonic. Your patience and expectations are ridiculous.

I wanted to ask him if he knew about that topic without him having to ask. Of course if he has to ask Panasonic it would take longer. I have patience...dude. You and that other guy who commented came very quick to conclusions.

[TJtennispro]

Originally Posted by Spartan21

I wanted to ask him if he knew about that topic without him having to ask. Of course if he has to ask Panasonic it would take longer. I have patience...dude. You and that other guy who commented came very quick to conclusions.

If you had patience you would’ve waited for the answer to the question you posted on Thursday. So you’re saying you posted again in case he missed your question? Sir I deal in facts. You’re question isn’t something Robert would know since you were specific about him asking Panasonic about Dynamic Tone Mapping via firmware or new hardware.

[TJtennispro]

No jumping to conclusions. I’m quoting your post so you know you asked him to reach out to Panasonic.

Originally Posted by Spartan21

Thank you for the information Mr. Robert. You are a true A/V enthusiast!

I do have a question. Do you know if Panasonic is planning or is in the works of creating dynamic tone mapping abilities for their 4K players? I know they have the HDR optimizer, which is great, but the next step is dynamic tone mapping (like what JVC has with their projectors). Perhaps you can let your Panasonic contacts know that there are people who want dynamic tone mapping abilities in their players. If the players can be updated with those abilities via firmware, that would be really fantastic! Or perhaps there needs to be some kind of new hardware addition to make DTM possible, which means new players. Either way, I would be really ecstatic of Panasonic can do this.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

I have to double check The Shining but I’ve never had any problem with any movie on both my 820 and 9000.

Just watched The Shining recently without a problem on my 820. No issues with any discs I've watched including The Natural where I've read of some playback problems.

I do once in a great while get an HDMI sync issue upon start up where everything in the image is pink and/or green. I simply power down and power up again...then it's fine. It could be my Monoprice cable, but it's a very rare issue.

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

Has anybody had problems with triple layer discs on Panasonic players? My Panasonic UB-DP420 (an HDMI-only version of the 820) has been having issues with triple layer discs since last Friday when I played The Shining UHD BD [...]

EVH, sorry to hear of your troubles. I'm anxious to hear if the player cleaner thingee works.

To any: Is the only difference between the Panny 420 and 820 the HDMI-only thing? What's the other option on the 820 -- optical digital out?

But mostly, is there anything that would make the difference in future playability of titles?

Because I'm replacing a Samsung player and want to future-proof my purchase (sucks to have to replace a player that still works on 90-some percent of my discs).

Actually, I'm not finding any Panasonic's with 420 in the model; is it a non-US model?

Chris

[moviefan711]

Originally Posted by NotASpeckOfCereal

EVH, sorry to hear of your troubles. I'm anxious to hear if the player cleaner thingee works.

To any: Is the only difference between the Panny 420 and 820 the HDMI-only thing? What's the other option on the 820 -- optical digital out?

But mostly, is there anything that would make the difference in future playability of titles?

Because I'm replacing a Samsung player and want to future-proof my purchase (sucks to have to replace a player that still works on 90-some percent of my discs).

Actually, I'm not finding any Panasonic's with 420 in the model; is it a non-US model?

Chris

No the 420 has the optical digital out as well. The 820 also gives you separate 7.1 analog outs.

As far as playability the 820 has Dolby Vision but the 420 does not. Everything else should play the same. Both have the HDR optimizer.

The 420 was not available in the US until recently when Best Buy started carrying it. They appear to be the only retailer selling the US model.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I do once in a great while get an HDMI sync issue upon start up where everything in the image is pink and/or green. I simply power down and power up again...then it's fine. It could be my Monoprice cable, but it's a very rare issue.

I've had this issue a few times, I think it's a handshake thing. I've also had the creen turn to noise during playback, I rebooting the player usually resolves the issue.

Is there a list of triple-layer discs? I'm not sure how many I have in my collection and I've only watched a handful of titles.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Just watched The Shining recently without a problem on my 820. No issues with any discs I've watched including The Natural where I've read of some playback problems.

I do once in a great while get an HDMI sync issue upon start up where everything in the image is pink and/or green. I simply power down and power up again...then it's fine. It could be my Monoprice cable, but it's a very rare issue.

I received the Allsop BD cleaning disc this morning and I give it a try. I followed the instructions, did the cleaning but no luck, the issues remain.
I then did 4 cleaning in a row with the Allsop BD cleaning disc to see if a more in depth cleaning sorted the problem out,no luck again.
The Alien UHD BD doesn't load the menu and The Shining freezes at the last part of the movie, issues start on the chapter that starts wit "8 AM" where the black chef, I don't remember his name, is on a plane on his way to the Overlook to see what's going on. From this chapter to the end of the movie there are constant freezing and picture breaking into macroblocks.
You know I also own a Sony X-800 and it plays these disc without a single issue. The menu on the Alien UHD BD loads very fast (the Panasonic always loaded its menu quite slowly from day one), it plays the disc without any issues as I watched the whole film (alien is a movie I always feel like watching) and the same with The Shining UHD BD, the parts where the Panasonic froze and macroblocked play fine. I don't think the discs are defective (I played them before on the Panasonic without any problems) and they are clean as I always clean my UHD BD's when I get a new one.
Fortunately the UK warranty is valid in Spain, I called both Panasonic Spain and the Panasonic repair shop in my area and they both same the same "bring it in, it's a warranty valid for all EU countries". It will take two or three weeks to get it repaired as they always have to order the faulty parts from Panasonic HQ, receive it and then make the change, assuming it's only the discs reading drive.
I can live with the Sony X-800 for two or three weeks, it's not a bad player, it's only that the Panasonic player is better, it looks better, picture has more "pop" without resorting to artificial enhacements (I have my Panasonic player on its "source Direct" preset, the third one where everything is set to zero and cannot be changed) and its Chroma Upsampling is superior to the one performed by the Sony X-800, and the difference is not subtle.
The Panasonic repair shop told me that I just got a defective unit from the factory, it was bad luck, that's all.
It's not the end of the world.