Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[samuelkhan999]

Samsung showcased a 3D monitor in CES2024. Any chance we might get 3D back on 4k TVs to use with our ub820?

[sapiendut]

The monitors are from Samsung Display, not Samsung TV division. Very unlikely we’ll have 3D TVs again in a foreseeable future.

[stangeek]

Hello.

I bought one of these back in 2019, and it has been a trusty player since that time. Lately, it was not liking some discs, so I bought a new one (date of manufacture: Sept 2023).

The new one is not able to recognize Dolby Vision on discs after I play an HDR10 disc. I have to remove power from it to get it to recognize the DV disc.

It says it has the latest firmware. Does anyone know if this is a problem with the newer units of this model (UB820)?

Thanks.

[sapiendut]

Never had this problem but have you tried doing a factory reset after the firmware update, unplug and replug after doing the factory reset.

[deatheats]

Originally Posted by stangeek

Hello.

I bought one of these back in 2019, and it has been a trusty player since that time. Lately, it was not liking some discs, so I bought a new one (date of manufacture: Sept 2023).

The new one is not able to recognize Dolby Vision on discs after I play an HDR10 disc. I have to remove power from it to get it to recognize the DV disc.

It says it has the latest firmware. Does anyone know if this is a problem with the newer units of this model (UB820)?

Thanks.

There have been some reports that insufficient power being delivered by a power strip can be the cause of this issue. You may want to try giving it a dedicated wall socket or newer power strip (just temporarily to confirm).

[stangeek]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Never had this problem but have you tried doing a factory reset after the firmware update, unplug and replug after doing the factory reset.

Thanks. I checked online for how to do the factory reset, but I don't see that option. When I pressed the Y and B buttons along with OK, I do get that menu, but never see that 08 FIN option.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by deatheats

There have been some reports that insufficient power being delivered by a power strip can be the cause of this issue. You may want to try giving it a dedicated wall socket or newer power strip (just temporarily to confirm).

This is correct. Power strip (the cheapo ones) can create problems such as this.

[stangeek]

Originally Posted by deatheats

There have been some reports that insufficient power being delivered by a power strip can be the cause of this issue. You may want to try giving it a dedicated wall socket or newer power strip (just temporarily to confirm).

Thanks. The weird thing about this problem is that the player info shows the disc to be 1920 x 1080 HDR! After the power reset, the same disc shows 3840 x 2160 DV.

[stangeek]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

This is correct. Power strip (the cheapo ones) can create problems such as this.

Thanks. The player is connected to a Panamax MR4300. Only the pre-pro is connected to that one along with the player. TV is on another outlet on other side of the room.

[deatheats]

One other thing to note here…quick start prevents the unit from turning fully off when you issue a power off command. Think of it more like hibernate. If you disable quick start, powering off the unit behaves more like a full unplugging…may save you some effort unplugging the power every time this happens.

Just for comparison, I’ve seen this happen in my setup perhaps 3 times over 3 years.

[stangeek]

Originally Posted by deatheats

One other thing to note here…quick start prevents the unit from turning fully off when you issue a power off command. Think of it more like hibernate. If you disable quick start, powering off the unit behaves more like a full unplugging…may save you some effort unplugging the power every time this happens.

Just for comparison, I’ve seen this happen in my setup perhaps 3 times over 3 years.

Thank you. I just got the new unit on Saturday and it happened once that day and again yesterday (Sunday). Maybe it is defective, but I will check the quick start setting, since this one does seem to display the menu right away after start, and my old one took a while to do that.

[chip75]

Do the 820's Apps output HDR10 or just HDR? as far as i remember they do do Dolby Vision.

[Telemachus]

Okay I will redact my statement about LG OLED having better upscaling than the Panny, I went back to the Panny and I think it's better. The reason I thought the LG was better was because I was getting slightly pixelated menus on some Blu rays while the Panny was in 4k mode. When I downgraded the Panny to 1080p and let the LG upscale I had smooth menus. But then I was comparing the older Planet of the Apes BDs and was literally counting grain, and the Panny wins. So it made me realize the Panny is providing a sharper upscale, which exposes some faults with certain menus being lower resolution. But the LG upscale is actually softer, as there was less visible resolving grain in the Apes scene I compared, yet the same menus are smooth, but because it's a softer upscale hiding the lower resolution not because it's actually better.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by chip75

Do the 820's Apps output HDR10 or just HDR?

There's no such thing as "just HDR". HDR is the concept, with HDR10 being the base HDR format that all UHD Blu-rays must support.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Naiera

There's no such thing as "just HDR". HDR is the concept, with HDR10 being the base HDR format that all UHD Blu-rays must support.

I get that, I was referring to the icons on the Apps, with my TV I see the HDR10+ icon, but with the 820's Apps there just a plain blob with HDR.

[Telemachus]

How well does the UB820 do with MakeMKV files? I ran a bunch of my concert DVD ISOs and was wondering if I should bother trying to play them off the UB820 for the upscaling.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

How well does the UB820 do with MakeMKV files?

MakeMKV is just a program that makes MKVs. It's not a file type at all.

The Panasonics are terrible for files. They have poor format compatibility across the board and everything is played at 60Hz. Just avoid.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by sa5150

Even at the sale price I'm getting , I'll stick with my Sony for 4k & Oppo 103D for blu-rays & dvds . Heck the Sony X800m2 rocks on dvd .

No justification to spend $800 . I can buy a ton more movies for that kind of money . Was excited to see a scratch and dent but it better do everything I want it to and nah big pass , You guy's saved me a lot of money .

Thanks .

The big thing about the Panasonic and DVDs, is to set the player at 1080p, (like you're watching a regular Blu-ray) then let the TV do the rest of the upconvert. In other words, it's really bad on the player itself going from 480 to 4K, but it's decent to pretty good going from 480 to 1080.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Wintermute

Wow, interesting! What model LG player?

I think he was talking about a LG TV.

[Stanshall]

Originally Posted by stangeek

Thanks. I checked online for how to do the factory reset, but I don't see that option. When I pressed the Y and B buttons along with OK, I do get that menu, but never see that 08 FIN option.

It has to be off/standby for the 08 FIN option to appear. I experienced similar first time I tried this.