Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[TravisTylerBlack]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I still remember my Denon CD player from the 80's. Now, that was more like it. The tray was solid and the disc drive, spindle motor, and all relative components were rugged. It lasted 20 some years.

The 820 and even the louded Oppo (which I own) are a disgrace by comparison build-wise.

I’ve never seen the word disgrace used in the same sentence with the the Oppo name. I had one 10 years ago in my early 20s. A beautiful machine all around that I ended up selling during a financial rough patch. Have bitterly regretted it ever since.

Fortunately things improved. However, I still hesitated too long to invest in a new Oppo before that window of opportunity closed. The UB820 is a big, bittersweet deal for me as players of its ilk are likely to be few and far between in the coming years. That said, I’ve read that both it and the UB9000 have sold quite well so we’ll see what the future holds.

Sorry, I know that has nothing to do with the build quality of specific parts.
How is the tone mapping on your Denon CD player?

[sapiendut]

The good solid Sony player of that time cost me $1000. The internal build quality of that unit is not better than UB9000.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by TravisTylerBlack

I’ve never seen the word disgrace used in the same sentence with the the Oppo name. I had one 10 years ago in my early 20s. A beautiful machine all around that I ended up selling during a financial rough patch. Have bitterly regretted it ever since.

Fortunately things improved. However, I still hesitated too long to invest in a new Oppo before that window of opportunity closed. The UB820 is a big, bittersweet deal for me as players of its ilk are likely to be few and far between in the coming years. That said, I’ve read that both it and the UB9000 have sold quite well so we’ll see what the future holds.

Sorry, I know that has nothing to do with the build quality of specific parts.
How is the tone mapping on your Denon CD player?

Processing speed and A/V capabilities change, yes, but the climate of manufacturing is now build it to break instead of build it to last. I sold the Denon CD player by the way. It was still working.

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

The good solid Sony player of that time cost me $1000. The internal build quality of that unit is not better than UB9000.

Well, he knows we aren't going to bookmark his quote to prove him wrong in 10 to 20 years...because, you know, he guaranteed it!

"everything was better in the old days"

sigh

[Mikke73]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Hell, the UB9000 isn't even built like a tank and it should be for that amount of money. I doubt it would last 10 let alone 20 some years.

I bought a Sony BDP-S360 blu-ray player in December 2009, and my daughter is still using it. If that has lasted over 10 years then why wouldn't Panasonic players?

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I still remember my Denon CD player from the 80's. Now, that was more like it. The tray was solid and the disc drive, spindle motor, and all relative components were rugged. It lasted 20 some years.

The 820 and even the louded Oppo (which I own) are a disgrace by comparison build-wise.

I've have a Panasonic DMP-BD65 that I got in 2009 and it was still playing really well last year before replacing it with the 820 last fall. And that thing lasted through my college years (1 dorm room, 2 One Bedroom Apartments, 1 townhouse apartment), 4 moves (parents, Wyoming (job, long story), Apartment, and house). The dorm room had no AC either so think about the moisture/humidity that it would have, yet it survived. Panasonic and a few other companies make great players if you are willing to spend the money. My 820 is the best player I have ever had! Only had 1 problem with it, which was a power issue. Discs were not being recognized, so I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it worked fine. I blame it on my old Monster Cable Surge protector that's over 10 years old and probably can't keep up with the new tech.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Mikke73

I bought a Sony BDP-S360 blu-ray player in December 2009, and my daughter is still using it. If that has lasted over 10 years then why wouldn't Panasonic players?

All my Panasonic ranging from Cd player, DVD player, DVD recorder and UHD starting 1997 are all working properly to this day.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Hell, the UB9000 isn't even built like a tank and it should be for that amount of money. I doubt it would last 10 let alone 20 some years.

Considering the laser pickup is almost always the first thing to die on optical disc players there is basically no way to tell what player will "die" first by looking at how it's built.

[Member-425016]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Hell, the UB9000 isn't even built like a tank and it should be for that amount of money. I doubt it would last 10 let alone 20 some years.

That is such a weird thing to say. I have a Panasonic DVD player from 2004 (has it been 16 years? Damn, time flies)
that still plays fine like the day I bought it.


And from 2009 a cheap Samsung BD player that still works fine.

Come to think of it my Pioneer Laserdisc player never conked out on me either.

I'm not sure where this disposable disc player fear stems from, but obviously it is pretty scary for a lot of people.

[sapiendut]

Yup. The only one that conked dead is a Yamaha $300 DVD player (Philips inside) from year 2000 and it just went dead a couple of months ago.

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by murphywmm

Agreed, I got the 420 a few weeks ago, and it's the quietest player I've ever owned. This is quite a difference compared to my PS3 and super loud LG region hacked player.

Now I have been reading that Panasonic players are sensitive to scratched discs and that does seem to be the case. I was watching the Criterion BD of "Now, Voyager" last night and about an hour in the disc began to macroblock and the sound began to pop. I checked the disc, and sure enough there was a scratch, about an inch and a half long. It doesn't seem like a deep scratch though so I was puzzled it would cause such a problem. Then I tried the disc on my PS3 and it played that section without issues. I'm requesting a return of the disc anyhow, since a brand new (and pricy) disc like this shouldn't be scratched up. This shouldn't be too much of a problem as I take good care of my discs - I am just worried about ones that may already be "pre-scratched" like this one was.

My go to 4k disc for testing loudness is Passengers. Particularly during the first few chapters as well as towards the end of the disc, the lg and sammy player would both get scary loud but the 420 spins it with no problemo.

Had a problem with a pre-scratched UHD disc of Blade Runner that would skip on the oppo along with a few other players I tried it on, was able to exchange it for another disc sans scratch that worked fine. My time with the 420 has been relatively short no problems so far but will for sure share any playback issues I may encounter on it.

[Geoff D]

Yep, Passengers is one, and Crouching Tiger's UHD is another that made my Pannies sound like they were about to take off. This was before I discovered the amazing technological breakthrough of a piece of wood with little semi-spheres of rubber underneath a.k.a. an 'isolation platform' which has cured all the vibration issues.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by Mikke73

I bought a Sony BDP-S360 blu-ray player in December 2009, and my daughter is still using it. If that has lasted over 10 years then why wouldn't Panasonic players?

My family members have a few Panasonic Blu-ray players that I purchased for them for under $100 back in 2010. They are working flawlessly with no problems for the last 10 years.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yep, Passengers is one, and Crouching Tiger's UHD is another that made my Pannies sound like they were about to take off. This was before I discovered the amazing technological breakthrough of a piece of wood with little semi-spheres of rubber underneath a.k.a. an 'isolation platform' which has cured all the vibration issues.

Wonder if our friend, intovolume could have solved all his Cambridge problems using this simple method...

[Show spoiler]

[solarrdadd]

[Daz_85]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yep, Passengers is one, and Crouching Tiger's UHD is another that made my Pannies sound like they were about to take off. This was before I discovered the amazing technological breakthrough of a piece of wood with little semi-spheres of rubber underneath a.k.a. an 'isolation platform' which has cured all the vibration issues.

Ghostbusters II did that for me, I literally thought it was going to explode. I cleaned the disc a few times and it helped, but making little foam circles as legs underneath the player helped a lot too.

[baseball16]

Hey guys, Best Buy has this on sale again for $400, and I'm really considering upgrading from my Xbox One X to this. My main problems with the Xbox are that it doesn't have DV disc playback and that the subtitles are enormous and blinding in HDR.

Is the UB820 going to produce any major differences in picture quality on an LG C9? I've looked up a couple reviews on YouTube and skimmed through this thread, but it's tough to tell without seeing the results in person. This includes the Netflix/Prime apps - is there any difference between playing them on the UB820 compared to the TV's internal apps? My hunch is that the HDR tone mapping should be better but I'm not positive this will affect streamed content.

Also, I know you can adjust the subtitle luminance and position, but can you adjust the size as well? I'd love for them to fit inside the bottom bars on a 2.39:1 movie, for instance. Thanks for any information!

[sapiendut]

Even if you don’t use DV, the playback quality is visibly appreciated on the 820 over the Xbox.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by baseball16

Hey guys, Best Buy has this on sale again for $400, and I'm really considering upgrading from my Xbox One X to this. My main problems with the Xbox are that it doesn't have DV disc playback and that the subtitles are enormous and blinding in HDR.

Is the UB820 going to produce any major differences in picture quality on an LG C9? I've looked up a couple reviews on YouTube and skimmed through this thread, but it's tough to tell without seeing the results in person. This includes the Netflix/Prime apps - is there any difference between playing them on the UB820 compared to the TV's internal apps? My hunch is that the HDR tone mapping should be better but I'm not positive this will affect streamed content.

Also, I know you can adjust the subtitle luminance and position, but can you adjust the size as well? I'd love for them to fit inside the bottom bars on a 2.39:1 movie, for instance. Thanks for any information!

A dedicated player is usually miles better than a gaming console. A lot more customization and functions/options compared to the Xbox One X. I've been overall pleased with my 820! I don't have a 4K setup just yet, but I can just tell it's miles better than my Xbox One and old Panasonic DMP-BD65 that I got in 2009! And I have heard great things when plugging this player up to an LG C9. That's the TV I plan on getting actually if it goes on sale here soon with Memorial Day and all.

[Schism213]

I just bought a Hisense H8G and needed a DV player so I jumped on this while it was on sale.