Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by RJ MacReady

Thanks!

I want to upgrade to a better UHD player, but I'm having a hard time justifying the $200 more this one costs over the Sony X800m2. But sounds like the optimizer alone might be worth it.

Trust me, it is! Although my LG C9 is pretty good at tone mapping, it still needs a little help and the Optimizer does it. Plus, it's Panasonic. I've gone with them for years when it comes to players. Would have had one of their TVs too, but I'm happy with my LG, haha!

[chip75]

Originally Posted by farerb

My current player is LG UP870, but it sometimes makes an annoying noise when I put a 4K disc so I decided to order the Panasonic UB820, hope I didn't make a mistake.

They can be noisy, but there shouldn't be any problems once the disc starts, most players clunk a few times when booting a disc up.

[martinstraka8282]

I'm not sure of the model, but the LG 4k player I borrowed from a friend sounded like it was a jet taking off from my basement.

I can occasionally hear my 820, but it feels silent in comparison and I'm very happy with the purchase.

My PS5 can get noisy as well, but typically only while loading the disc as opposed to the LG.

[hceuterpe]

Originally Posted by PUsokrJosh305

You aren't making a mistake. The 820 and 9000 are the best 4K players on the market right now. I am unsure as to why people are having issues as I haven't had any issues with my player other than ones that I figured out wasn't related to the player itself.

How many Disney/Marvells/LucasArts titles do you have? Honestly I've only encountered the audio glitching on those titles, but yet within that criteria, it's pretty consistent/likely that I will. I still think it has to do with the seamless branching. Toy Story 4 had no less than 34 seamless branches. Tbh, I see no reason to break it down THAT MUCH, other than to do so deliberately.

Beyond that, perhaps it's the difference between the 820/9000?

I'm considering hauling the old Xbox One X downstairs to compare as it's the only other device I have that can play the physical UHD discs to compare, but hesitant because the Xbox was never really good at not messing around with especially the audio for Blu-ray playback. Heck the XSX half the time just shuts off instead when I try to play a UHD title LOL

[hceuterpe]

Originally Posted by martinstraka8282

I'm not sure of the model, but the LG 4k player I borrowed from a friend sounded like it was a jet taking off from my basement.

I can occasionally hear my 820, but it feels silent in comparison and I'm very happy with the purchase.

My PS5 can get noisy as well, but typically only while loading the disc as opposed to the LG.

One interesting observation with UHD discs that I've noticed is that the movies have significantly higher bitrates (upwards of 4x as much) than their 2K Blu-ray counterparts. Yet the read speeds in relation to the 1x figure basically hasn't changed. By in large, for Blu-ray, 1x really meant 1x. As for UHD, even a 2x read speed wouldn't always be enough at the inner most part of the disc. Plus when you get the triple layer discs that complicates it even more, I'd say. If the LG player is older, it could be a combination of compensating for the higher read rates and also maybe not factoring proper sound dampening at the higher RPMs, too...

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by hceuterpe

How many Disney/Marvells/LucasArts titles do you have? Honestly I've only encountered the audio glitching on those titles, but yet within that criteria, it's pretty consistent/likely that I will. I still think it has to do with the seamless branching. Toy Story 4 had no less than 34 seamless branches. Tbh, I see no reason to break it down THAT MUCH, other than to do so deliberately.

Beyond that, perhaps it's the difference between the 820/9000?

I'm considering hauling the old Xbox One X downstairs to compare as it's the only other device I have that can play the physical UHD discs to compare, but hesitant because the Xbox was never really good at not messing around with especially the audio for Blu-ray playback. Heck the XSX half the time just shuts off instead when I try to play a UHD title LOL

To answer your first question, I have quite a lot of Disney/Marvel/Lucasfilm titles. In fact, I own every Star Wars film on 4K UHD.

I’m not sure what you mean by seamless audio branching. Seamless audio is usually implemented when there are multiple versions of a film put on 1 disc and you can jump from one version to the next. Toy Story 4 doesn’t have that from what I can tell.

The only audio glitches I have had is when I initially had my 1080p TV. My receiver is old, like almost 15 years old, but when I started getting 4K titles and still had my 1080p TV, I would connect my Penny 820 to the receiver and then the receiver to the TV. I don’t think the receiver could handle it, so I would have audio and video glitches. Now that I have a 4K TV, I have the player plugged directly into the TV and the other HDMI port for audio plugged into the receiver. Most Disney/Marvel/Lucasfilm titles are in Dolby Atmos, which for older receivers, they will interpret it as Dolby TruHD. But I haven’t had an audio glitch since then.

[bubaglobalj]

I am happy I bought this player and I absolutely love it. One thing that bothers me is that it does not have Bluetooth to link my wireless Boese headphones.

I have a baby on the way and we only have a two bedroom, so I will need to watch films on headphones. What do you propose the best solution is?

My tv (TCL 65" CLASS 6-SERIES 4K UHD DOLBY VISION HDR ROKU SMART TV - 65R617-CA) also does not have Bluetooth. The only way I can use headphones is via the ROKU smart phone app and as far as I know it only works with Roku and can't be utilized for cable or BR player.

I am happy to buy wired headphones, I just want the best solution with the least decrease in sound quality.

[Samdavies]

Originally Posted by J Nada

It works for me on the region freedom version of 1.66 (on an 820). According to their site, for *some* 9000/9004s (which ones?) it also works on the stock 1.66 firmware, however I was speaking to somebody yesterday who couldn't get it working on their 9000 with stock 1.66.

Here's what it looks like on my machine:

Sorry to drag up an old post, but I'd like that 1.66c custom firmware from region freedom for my ub820. I'm looking to apply, but It's very unlikely I've got anything of worth to offer in terms of development.. Do you have any idea how much of a monetary contribution I'd have to offer for my application to be accepted? Thanks

EDIT - Nevermind, there was a popup stating the minimum acceptable for 1.66c for the UB820 is €40 when I took a chance and entered €30.

[Member-425016]

Originally Posted by bubaglobalj

I am happy I bought this player and I absolutely love it. One thing that bothers me is that it does not have Bluetooth to link my wireless Boese headphones.

I have a baby on the way and we only have a two bedroom, so I will need to watch films on headphones. What do you propose the best solution is?

My tv (TCL 65" CLASS 6-SERIES 4K UHD DOLBY VISION HDR ROKU SMART TV - 65R617-CA) also does not have Bluetooth. The only way I can use headphones is via the ROKU smart phone app and as far as I know it only works with Roku and can't be utilized for cable or BR player.

I am happy to buy wired headphones, I just want the best solution with the least decrease in sound quality.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/14/...specs-features

[Matthew.H]

Originally Posted by Nori

What's the Knives Out DV bug? I have that film and didn't notice any problem with it.

The picture freezes for a few seconds during the scene where Ransom tries to stab Marta.

[Samdavies]

That 1.66C firmware from Region Freedom for the UB820 is excellent fair play. I've just installed it and it works like a charm. Region switching for blu-ray and dvd, adding external subtitles and no bloody auto off feature! Fantastic stuff, well worth the investment

[Scorsese]

Thanks to everyone who argued with each other over which mode is better :P

I think I will leave DTM off and the Optimiser on, I definitely prefer accuracy over brightness.

[martinstraka8282]

Originally Posted by hceuterpe

One interesting observation with UHD discs that I've noticed is that the movies have significantly higher bitrates (upwards of 4x as much) than their 2K Blu-ray counterparts. Yet the read speeds in relation to the 1x figure basically hasn't changed. By in large, for Blu-ray, 1x really meant 1x. As for UHD, even a 2x read speed wouldn't always be enough at the inner most part of the disc. Plus when you get the triple layer discs that complicates it even more, I'd say. If the LG player is older, it could be a combination of compensating for the higher read rates and also maybe not factoring proper sound dampening at the higher RPMs, too...

I have to be honest that you have gone down a rabbit hole i can contribute very little to.

[Nori]

Originally Posted by Matthew.H

The picture freezes for a few seconds during the scene where Ransom tries to stab Marta.

Thank you for letting me know. I hope it gets fixed someday.

[panasonicst60]

Originally Posted by Scorsese

Thanks to everyone who argued with each other over which mode is better :P

I think I will leave DTM off and the Optimiser on, I definitely prefer accuracy over brightness.

PUsokrJosh305 will hear u

[Tim573]

Originally Posted by bubaglobalj

I am happy I bought this player and I absolutely love it. One thing that bothers me is that it does not have Bluetooth to link my wireless Boese headphones.

I have a baby on the way and we only have a two bedroom, so I will need to watch films on headphones. What do you propose the best solution is?

My tv (TCL 65" CLASS 6-SERIES 4K UHD DOLBY VISION HDR ROKU SMART TV - 65R617-CA) also does not have Bluetooth. The only way I can use headphones is via the ROKU smart phone app and as far as I know it only works with Roku and can't be utilized for cable or BR player.

I am happy to buy wired headphones, I just want the best solution with the least decrease in sound quality.

The 820 has a digital optical out port. So I just googled 'optical to bluetooth transmitter' and there are quite a few options. I haven't used them. You would need to go into the 820 options and possibly your TV options as well to make sure it is just outputting PCM so it doesn't output any Dolby or DTS encoded sound.

http://www.amazon.com/s?k=Bluetooth+...igital+Optical
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...itter&_sacat=0
http://www.headphonesty.com/2019/10/...ansmitters-tv/
http://www.headphonesty.com/2019/05/...dphones-to-tv/

I am guessing that you don't have one because you don't have speakers but a lot of modern AV Receivers can output over bluetooth as well. For example the Denon receivers from 2019 onwards can.

[J Nada]

Originally Posted by Samdavies

That 1.66C firmware from Region Freedom for the UB820 is excellent fair play. I've just installed it and it works like a charm. Region switching for blu-ray and dvd, adding external subtitles and no bloody auto off feature! Fantastic stuff, well worth the investment

Hey Sam, sorry I didn't reply. Was away from home at the time, then I got caught up in...well, life, and forgot until now. Glad you got it okay!

[iwanttobeabmoviestar]

I just got the 820 and am wondering why no hulu hbo max or paramount app support

[bubaglobalj]

Originally Posted by Tim573

The 820 has a digital optical out port. So I just googled 'optical to bluetooth transmitter' and there are quite a few options. I haven't used them. You would need to go into the 820 options and possibly your TV options as well to make sure it is just outputting PCM so it doesn't output any Dolby or DTS encoded sound.

http://www.amazon.com/s?k=Bluetooth+...igital+Optical
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...itter&_sacat=0
http://www.headphonesty.com/2019/10/...ansmitters-tv/
http://www.headphonesty.com/2019/05/...dphones-to-tv/

I am guessing that you don't have one because you don't have speakers but a lot of modern AV Receivers can output over bluetooth as well. For example the Denon receivers from 2019 onwards can.

Thanks very much for your response. I live in a small place and my wife wouldn't tolerate a proper sound setup, so what I have is a Vizio soundbar (VIZIO SB362An-F6B 36in 2.1 Sound Bar), which uses optical output, but is connected to the TV directly.

I'm a noob when it comes to all this stuff, so I appreciate the options you have provided and will look into it now.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by panasonicst60

PUsokrJosh305 will hear u

I have no problem with him choosing to keep it off. That's his choice. I've already said what I wanted to say but it seems like you keep bringing it back up. Seriously, chill out.




What I don't understand is that it seems DTM is inaccurate to a lot of you however when we talk about Dolby Vision, you all say it isn't inaccurate or that's how the creators wanted you to see it. DTM is essentially doing the exact same thing as Dolby Vision, just not as good because Dolby Vision's algorithm is slightly better. They both are changing the core HDR10 picture metadata from static to dynamic to better suite the TV, considering the TV's capabilities are not up to par with the mastering displays that are in the studios that the director or director of photography are using to master these movies. This is why all of our screens are dimmer overall with HDR10 because our displays are not even close to the what the capabilities of the mastering displays are.

I challenge all of you that own an LG C9 or CX to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and go to Chapter 17 when Arwen rides in to Frodo. Watch it without DTM, watch it with DTM, and watch it on Dolby Vision. The Dolby Vision version just slightly, and I mean slightly keeps some highlights on her face compared to having DTM "On". And the HDR10 without DTM On is not even close to the Dolby Vision version. Again, DTM is not as good as Dolby Vision, but it's close. I hope eventually LG perfects their algorithm so we can use DTM to properly tone map every movie to as good as our displays get.