Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[deanspot]

hi i am now using a 2013 Sony W800B HD Tv temporarily , what should be the settings for nits output?

[Fred Bang]

Can someone explain to me briefly why the HDR Optimizer is disabled for Dolby Vision? (or that dynamic range adjustment and brightness sliders). Is it simply because its dynamic metadata?

[Scorsese]

Originally Posted by Fred Bang

Can someone explain to me briefly why the HDR Optimizer is disabled for Dolby Vision? (or that dynamic range adjustment and brightness sliders). Is it simply because its dynamic metadata?

Correct.

[Bond84]

I watched The Mask of Zorro UHD last night and toggled the Optimiser on and off and noticed a significant improvement with it on. Skies and clouds were completely washed out without it. There was also a marked improvement in overall colour saturation. I don't usually see such a big difference.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Bond84

I watched The Mask of Zorro UHD last night and toggled the Optimiser on and off and noticed a significant improvement with it on. Skies and clouds were completely washed out without it. There was also a marked improvement in overall colour saturation. I don't usually see such a big difference.

As Zorro is a typical Sony Light Cannon™ grade (10,000 nits MaxCLL, 2000+ nits MaxFALL) then I'm not surprised. I mean, if you're trying the Optimiser on stuff from Disnee, Fox, Universal and Paramount it's going to make zero difference as they're mastered to 1000 nits for the most part, it's Warners and Sony who indulge in these kinds of extremely bright >1000 nit grades.

[Bond84]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

As Zorro is a typical Sony Light Cannon™ grade (10,000 nits MaxCLL, 2000+ nits MaxFALL) then I'm not surprised. I mean, if you're trying the Optimiser on stuff from Disnee, Fox, Universal and Paramount it's going to make zero difference as they're mastered to 1000 nits for the most part, it's Warners and Sony who indulge in these kinds of extremely bright >1000 nit grades.

That was my thinking as well.

[Cortiz]

In certain scenes I don't like what the optimizer does on my Sony Oled. For example, in Close Encounters, at the beginning of the desert scene where they find the ship in the sand, there's a man walking with mountains on the background, if you toggle the Optimizer on, the sky above of the mountains becomes really grainy, like mosquito noise. If you toggle it off, it clears out completely. For the most part, the differences with the optimizer on my Sony Oled is subtle so I just leave it off.

[Fred Bang]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

In certain scenes I don't like what the optimizer does on my Sony Oled. For example, in Close Encounters, at the beginning of the desert scene where they find the ship in the sand, there's a man walking with mountains on the background, if you toggle the Optimizer on, the sky above of the mountains becomes really grainy, like mosquito noise. If you toggle it off, it clears out completely. For the most part, the differences with the optimizer on my Sony Oled is subtle so I just leave it off.

Strange because on my x950g ,I find that there's LESS noise with the optimizer on. In any case, I've decided to leave it off, simply to preserve the highlights. With the Optimizer on, I find that all my HDR10 looks too dim compared to other Dolby Vision titles.

But I guess it's really down to personal preferences in the end.

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by Fred Bang

Strange because on my x950g ,I find that there's LESS noise with the optimizer on. In any case, I've decided to leave it off, simply to preserve the highlights. With the Optimizer on, I find that all my HDR10 looks too dim compared to other Dolby Vision titles.

But I guess it's really down to personal preferences in the end.

I have a Sony OLED and you have a Sony LED. That might be why there's a difference.

[riptor3076]

Any news on the 1.64 firmware? Hoping it will fix the issues people are seeing on Lionsgate titles in Dolby Vison.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

In certain scenes I don't like what the optimizer does on my Sony Oled. For example, in Close Encounters, at the beginning of the desert scene where they find the ship in the sand, there's a man walking with mountains on the background, if you toggle the Optimizer on, the sky above of the mountains becomes really grainy, like mosquito noise. If you toggle it off, it clears out completely. For the most part, the differences with the optimizer on my Sony Oled is subtle so I just leave it off.

It really varies from title to title.

I have rewatched Spider-Man trilogy recently and in SM2 there are shots that are extremely clipped with optimizer being off, to the point of looking just wrong. There's an establishing shot of Manhattan (reused from the first movie) in which sky is not only clipped, but also very noisy. With optimizer being on, the details are back and the ugly noise is gone. In Dark Crystal on the other hand, the optimizer can make grain on the sky more visible.

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

It really varies from title to title.

I have rewatched Spider-Man trilogy recently and in SM2 there are shots that are extremely clipped with optimizer being off, to the point of looking just wrong. There's an establishing shot of Manhattan (reused from the first movie) in which sky is not only clipped, but also very noisy. With optimizer being on, the details are back and the ugly noise is gone. In Dark Crystal on the other hand, the optimizer can make grain on the sky more visible.

What TV you have?

[Mierzwiak]

An OLED, LG B8.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

It really varies from title to title.

I have rewatched Spider-Man trilogy recently and in SM2 there are shots that are extremely clipped with optimizer being off, to the point of looking just wrong. There's an establishing shot of Manhattan (reused from the first movie) in which sky is not only clipped, but also very noisy. With optimizer being on, the details are back and the ugly noise is gone. In Dark Crystal on the other hand, the optimizer can make grain on the sky more visible.

Yeah, because when the bright stuff is being clipped out it's taking whatever grain resides in there with it, so using the Optimiser to bring back the range in those areas also brings back the grain. It's why HDR generally makes grain more visible than SDR because it's exposing the tonalities of the image where the grain is much finer or all but invisible in SDR, bright skies especially.

[trekky76]

So I was rewatching Endgame today and halfway though just after 1:30:00 the image froze twice and kinda broke up at those occasions. The disc played fine last year. Can't imagine it getting bad just after a year so did Panasonic do something with one of the last updates or is my player broken? I assume the issue was during a layer change..

[Mikke73]

Originally Posted by trekky76

So I was rewatching Endgame today and halfway though just after 1:30:00 the image froze twice and kinda broke up at those occasions. The disc played fine last year. Can't imagine it getting bad just after a year so did Panasonic do something with one of the last updates or is my player broken? I assume the issue was during a layer change..

I haven't seen any updates in a long time - but have you? My UB820 has firmware version 1.60, and Endgame worked fine with it.

[trekky76]

Originally Posted by Mikke73

I haven't seen any updates in a long time - but have you? My UB820 has firmware version 1.60, and Endgame worked fine with it.

Yes 1.60 is the latest. But it's been updated since last year. My disc has no scratches and played fine on the very same player last year..

[sperezmore]

Originally Posted by trekky76

So I was rewatching Endgame today and halfway though just after 1:30:00 the image froze twice and kinda broke up at those occasions. The disc played fine last year. Can't imagine it getting bad just after a year so did Panasonic do something with one of the last updates or is my player broken? I assume the issue was during a layer change..

It also happen to me with my UB820 in a couple of blu-ray discs, with a DVD disc and with Anna 4K disc . Definitely something's wrong with the player or needs a firmware update.

Regards,

[Mikke73]

Originally Posted by trekky76

Yes 1.60 is the latest. But it's been updated since last year. My disc has no scratches and played fine on the very same player last year..

Ok then. I watched Endgame in December and haven't had any firmware updates since that, but I'll test that same place tomorrow.

[vincentric]

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by vincentric

Initially was interested in getting the 820 but decided did not need another dv deck (since am still quite content w/the oppo 203). Ordered a 420 that should be delivered today. Primarily interested in test driving the hdr10 optimizer on the aging c6 to see how much or not of an improvement it makes to me as well as some other random performance comparisons. I know some of you are aware that am not exactly overjoyed by the c6's hdr10 output but love its 3d capabilities. Hoping the 420 can help bring me some more nerdy hdr10 joy to the c6 as I wait a couple (if not several) more years before upgrading to another oled. /cool story

^Been testing out the 420 past couple of weeks. Long story cut very short, the optimizer has breathed some much needed life into the c6's underwhelming hdr10 processing. Particularly with the 420's hdr tv type set to basic luminance, I saw a major decline of near black hdr10 anomalies across a wide range of UHDs in many scenes I've grown familiar with over the years.

It still isn't perfect... some near black fugliness remains here and there, and for those looking for that image 'pop' may not want to use basic luminance with their oled since it will flatten the contrast more than you may want it to but the overall results of the optimizer with the c6 imo have been very good.

Good enough to have me start using the c6 again for hdr10.

Really wish Panasonic would bring their OLEDs over to the US, would look very closely at getting one if they did.