Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Tuc0]

Originally Posted by AudioMaverick

Status Update: I just got off the phone with Panasonic. It turns out that the disc plays the same on thier reference unit. So, I will be using a 2K player for all my non-4K media and the UB820 for the 4K media.

I don't want to sound ignorant but that is the kind of stuff they say on occasions like these in my experience with tech problems and warranties. What disc did you have a problem with?

[Hhal]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Don't get a sound bar. Save up for a normal home theater system. You can never have too many backup players in case discs become more of a rarity.

Are sound bars that insufficient? I've never actually had one. I've heard some good things about a few of the ones that reach about $999. But I actually wasn't looking for a soundbar for my home theater system. The 4K player would be for the 1080p home theater system I currently have that I would update over time after I get a receiver. The possibility of getting a soundbar was for two 720p TVs, one in a kitchen where I don't need/can't fit a home theater and this one my dad has in a large room that is a bit funky with sound on a couple channels (I was hoping a soundbar might prevent this thing it does where the audio for music performances/video clips on talk shows drops out like it is supposed to be background noise). The only reason I have been looking at soundbars is because I've seen a handful of them cheap (around $45 or $70) from goodwill or Salvation Army on eBay lately. I figure with Prime Day's deals on newer, mostly better soundbars I might try one out. But now I might just go for that 4K player or some 4K discs I was looking at.

[AudioMaverick]

Originally Posted by Tuc0

I don't want to sound ignorant but that is the kind of stuff they say on occasions like these in my experience with tech problems and warranties. What disc did you have a problem with?

The disc I sent witht he unit to test was the 2K Blu-Ray of "Man Of Steel". The Sony 2K 'BD-S6700' just cruised through the area that the 'UB820' hung on... eventually just giving up on the disc.

I have had issues with a number of discs, both 4K & 2K.
. The 4K discs were almost exclusively from surface scratches, and I have gotten to the point where I examine every new 4K disc I buy, immediately returning any discs that have scratches. Many do.
. These are discs that are already scratched on first open. It was really bad over the Christmas holliday purchasing period. I'd buy a 4K set and see scatches on some. Order a replacement that had scratches. Then, mix and match the sets to get one good set.
. The 2K discs had playback issues partly from small scratches, but a number of them just seemed to have a discoloration in the media that would cause the 'UB820' to hang and give up. Again, those discs play on the 2K player. I try to take care of my discs, but some scratches tend to happen, especially in those cardboard insert cases. They still are not enough to hang the 'S6700'.

In hindsight, I wish I hadn't given away my last 2K player when I bought the 'UB820'. I didn't know that this could be an issue. After replacing about a dozen 2K discs with 4K discs when they wouldn't play, I started to wonder what was up. When two episodes of Firefly aborted a few minutes in, I decided to start a dialog with Panasonic. $45 in insured mail later, the unit is coming back labeled as 'no issue found'. I can't wait to see what the disc looks like when it comes back.

BTW: My 'UB840' has trouble playing the second layer of DVDs, which isn't much of an issue to me. It also doesn't know how to read my gold-plated Maxel audio laser cleaning CD. The Sony BD-S6700 plays it just fine.

[Cherokee Jack]

Originally Posted by AudioMaverick

[Show spoiler]The disc I sent witht he unit to test was the 2K Blu-Ray of "Man Of Steel". The Sony 2K 'BD-S6700' just cruised through the area that the 'UB820' hung on... eventually just giving up on the disc.

I have had issues with a number of discs, both 4K & 2K.
. The 4K discs were almost exclusively from surface scratches, and I have gotten to the point where I examine every new 4K disc I buy, immediately returning any discs that have scratches. Many do.
. These are discs that are already scratched on first open. It was really bad over the Christmas holliday purchasing period. I'd buy a 4K set and see scatches on some. Order a replacement that had scratches. Then, mix and match the sets to get one good set.
. The 2K discs had playback issues partly from small scratches, but a number of them just seemed to have a discoloration in the media that would cause the 'UB820' to hang and give up. Again, those discs play on the 2K player. I try to take care of my discs, but some scratches tend to happen, especially in those cardboard insert cases. They still are not enough to hang the 'S6700'.

In hindsight, I wish I hadn't given away my last 2K player when I bought the 'UB820'. I didn't know that this could be an issue. After replacing about a dozen 2K discs with 4K discs when they wouldn't play, I started to wonder what was up. When two episodes of Firefly aborted a few minutes in, I decided to start a dialog with Panasonic. $45 in insured mail later, the unit is coming back labeled as 'no issue found'. I can't wait to see what the disc looks like when it comes back.

BTW: My 'UB840' has trouble playing the second layer of DVDs, which isn't much of an issue to me. It also doesn't know how to read my gold-plated Maxel audio laser cleaning CD. The Sony BD-S6700 plays it just fine.

My 820 has had similar issues and it’s caused me to be paranoid when buying new 4K discs as well. Even the tiniest scratch will cause it to turn into a pixelated mess whereas my Sony players (PS5 and region-free PS3) handle those discs fine. It’s not an uncommon issue, I’ve read about the 820 being finicky on other forums. In my case the player seems most susceptible to breaking up when I pause and especially when I RW/FF so I’ve taken to watching my 4K discs as if I’m in the theater (no pausing to talk or rewinding to watch something again). And like you I’ve started playing all my standard Blu-rays on another player. I’ve even considered grabbing a region free Sony x800M2 to replace my PS3 so I could have a dedicated backup player for lightly scratched Dolby Vision discs, something that would really come in handy when buying from Shout and Criterion. But even that isn’t a no-brainer since that player is known for having problems the 100GB discs.

I’m disappointed to hear your experience with Panasonic support has been so poor. I had planned on eventually replacing my 820 with a new one (or a UB9000) and getting a warranty to protect myself from a repeat of these disc read issues.

[Cerberus40000]

I just got Star Trek Generations and First Contact and the UB9000 is refusing to start either of them.

Put them in my Series X and they played instantly.

[samuelkhan999]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Same chipset on both, so no

I just went ahead and bought another UB820 as there are no used UB420 around. Plus it was for 399 GBP region free with TPS

[Toutankhamon13]

Originally Posted by Cherokee Jack

My 820 has had similar issues and it’s caused me to be paranoid when buying new 4K discs as well. Even the tiniest scratch will cause it to turn into a pixelated mess whereas my Sony players (PS5 and region-free PS3) handle those discs fine. It’s not an uncommon issue, I’ve read about the 820 being finicky on other forums. In my case the player seems most susceptible to breaking up when I pause and especially when I RW/FF so I’ve taken to watching my 4K discs as if I’m in the theater (no pausing to talk or rewinding to watch something again). And like you I’ve started playing all my standard Blu-rays on another player. I’ve even considered grabbing a region free Sony x800M2 to replace my PS3 so I could have a dedicated backup player for lightly scratched Dolby Vision discs, something that would really come in handy when buying from Shout and Criterion. But even that isn’t a no-brainer since that player is known for having problems the 100GB discs.

I’m disappointed to hear your experience with Panasonic support has been so poor. I had planned on eventually replacing my 820 with a new one (or a UB9000) and getting a warranty to protect myself from a repeat of these disc read issues.

Same here! I finally decided to buy a UB9000 (which is almost 900 $ CAD more): no problem anymore with the same 4K movies!

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by Toutankhamon13

Same here! I finally decided to buy a UB9000 (which is almost 900 $ CAD more): no problem anymore with the same 4K movies!

Just to chime in to give an opposite view point. I actually had “more” issues with the 9000. The same discs would cause issues on both but it was worse on the 9000 (longer glitchy section and more artifacts appearing). I ended up sticking to my 820 because it fared better all round, but still not as well as the Sony players.

I wish either Panasonic or Sony would put up a new model already. Sony in particular is so far behind. Their implementation of DV is mediocre and the HDR10 optimizer of the Panasonic just obliterates Sony in PQ.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by NeilZ

Just to chime in to give an opposite view point. I actually had “more” issues with the 9000. The same discs would cause issues on both but it was worse on the 9000 (longer glitchy section and more artifacts appearing). I ended up sticking to my 820 because it fared better all round, but still not as well as the Sony players.

I wish either Panasonic or Sony would put up a new model already. Sony in particular is so far behind. Their implementation of DV is mediocre and the HDR10 optimizer of the Panasonic just obliterates Sony in PQ.

This is it for players from the bigger manufacturers. They don't even fix new issues anymore.



Have you seen a firmware patch lately from Sony, LG, Panasonic? Nor have I.

[Cherokee Jack]

Originally Posted by Toutankhamon13

Same here! I finally decided to buy a UB9000 (which is almost 900 $ CAD more): no problem anymore with the same 4K movies!

Originally Posted by NeilZ

Just to chime in to give an opposite view point. I actually had “more” issues with the 9000. The same discs would cause issues on both but it was worse on the 9000 (longer glitchy section and more artifacts appearing). I ended up sticking to my 820 because it fared better all round, but still not as well as the Sony players.

I wish either Panasonic or Sony would put up a new model already. Sony in particular is so far behind. Their implementation of DV is mediocre and the HDR10 optimizer of the Panasonic just obliterates Sony in PQ.

I was wondering if the 9000’s superior build quality had any impact on sensitivity reading scratched discs. I’ve rarely seen it brought up by 9000 owners but then again that sample size is significantly smalller.

I’m thinking the safest bet is to buy with a warranty that allows total replacement and just return any units that have playback issues. Seems to be luck of the draw really, there are many 820 owners who swear they never have any disc read issues on their players.

[MarkGubarenko]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

This is it for players from the bigger manufacturers. They don't even fix new issues anymore.



Have you seen a firmware patch lately from Sony, LG, Panasonic? Nor have I.

well we know that new Panasonics from January this year comes with firmware that's not available to download.

[faifmanm]

Originally Posted by MarkGubarenko

well we know that new Panasonics from January this year comes with firmware that's not available to download.

Does this mean that newer units have different hardware requiring different firmware or does this mean that Panasonic is lazy to load a file on their site for downloads?

Would be good to see the release notes for the recent firmware when it becomes available.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by MarkGubarenko

well we know that new Panasonics from January this year comes with firmware that's not available to download.

I would imagine something has changed hardware-wise on the players, and therefore requires a different firmware.

[MarkGubarenko]

Originally Posted by faifmanm

does this mean that Panasonic is lazy to load a file on their site for downloads?

people saying that its been a long gap between availability of 1.69 and it's addition to website.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by NeilZ

Just to chime in to give an opposite view point. I actually had “more” issues with the 9000. The same discs would cause issues on both but it was worse on the 9000 (longer glitchy section and more artifacts appearing). I ended up sticking to my 820 because it fared better all round, but still not as well as the Sony players.

I wish either Panasonic or Sony would put up a new model already. Sony in particular is so far behind. Their implementation of DV is mediocre and the HDR10 optimizer of the Panasonic just obliterates Sony in PQ.

I bought a new 420 this year to replace my 820 which was purchased in 2018. The 820 was extremely finicky with even the smallest mark on a disc. My 420 is in a different league with no issues.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I bought a new 420 this year to replace my 820 which was purchased in 2018. The 820 was extremely finicky with even the smallest mark on a disc. My 420 is in a different league with no issues.

I don't think it was anything but having better luck with the new player. The 420 and 820 share the exact same optical drive unit. Maybe somebody was having a better day when they assembled your 420.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I don't think it was anything but having better luck with the new player. The 420 and 820 share the exact same optical drive unit. Maybe somebody was having a better day when they assembled your 420.

Maybe and only anecdotal, but I've talked to a few people who encountered more smoothness with their 420. I also bought on the 820 the week it came out at Best Buy and maybe it's something with the earlier made drives. I had one of the first Oppo 203s which had a similar drive issue, but was fine after it was later replaced.

[deeppurpleman]

Originally Posted by MarkGubarenko

well we know that new Panasonics from January this year comes with firmware that's not available to download.

Just bought an 820 for Amazon Prime Day with a build date of May 2023 and it has firmware 1.70. My older UB9000 has 1.69 and says it's the latest. What's 1.70 supposed to fix?

[jmpage2]

Anyone else have a playback glitch with Puss in Boots The Last Wish? Looks like a layer change glitch.

[trevrox]

Just picked up the UB820 and I’m having some audio issues. Watching a Blu with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track and it’s playing it across all 5 speakers, when I just want to listen to it the original track. I have digital audio output set to bitstream and 7.1ch audio reformatting set to off. I set my receiver to decode the track and it’s up icing to all speakers. Even in pure direct so it’s clearly something being done by the player. My previous two Blu-ray players did not do this. Anyone know how to fix?