Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Geoff D]

I've heard tell of some people who are doing exactly that, rocking a 1080p plasma with one of the Panny players and they're still getting several benefits from UHD discs. SDR conversion is what it is, you're not going to get spot-on results every single time but it does an amazing job all the same, far better than any other brand of player (well, the ones that don't use Panasonic silicon anyways). For regular BD then the aggressive but effective chroma upsampling of the Panny player should bring about improvments too.

It's a pity that the UB420 isn't more widely available around the world, it's so much cheaper but it's got the same HCX video processor at its core as the 820 and the 9000 just with a few features turned off in the firmware, features you wouldn't need in your situation anyway. Mine cost me £120, and to think that the first-gen UB900 set me back £549 just three years ago! Superb little player.

[Bigbro]

Originally Posted by Bigbro

I switch on DV today. Till now I preferred just sticking to HDR also because than you can use the optimizer. After switching on everything on Netflix is shown using DV which is off course not right. So I switched it off again and what happens? Everything is now shown with HDR. This is not right. Shows like Marco Polo that indeed are DV/HDR should be shown that way but the majority has no HDR/DV but now the signal remains DV/HDR.

The option to have everything from SDR brought up to HDR in the settings menu is switched to off.

Question: can somebody tell me how to get back to the right situation i.e. only show HDR/DV when it is indeed HDR/DV?

to whom it may concerned. The problem was solved NOT by doing a factory reset. It was solved by detaching the powercord and the UTP cable for 5 minutes.

[sa5150]

Is the 820 a noisy during playback ? Does making sure a few things , Plays mkv files that are lossy and is the usb 3.0 ?

[sapiendut]

My 820 is not noisy. Panasonic purposely doesn’t support lossless mkv

[nick4Knight]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

It's a pity that the UB420 isn't more widely available around the world, it's so much cheaper but it's got the same HCX video processor at its core as the 820 and the 9000 just with a few features turned off in the firmware, features you wouldn't need in your situation anyway. Mine cost me £120, and to think that the first-gen UB900 set me back £549 just three years ago! Superb little player.

Wild. We get the 420 here in Ausland and naturally I was tempted... But I can't get it on account of no DV for my OLED display chain. I hear active HDR is still recommended for HDR10 discs on the LG's, but I'm buying up a bunch of DV ones to specifically see the native playback and with the set obv. it's gonna help more than processing the base layer.

As it is need to pay that extra AUD300$ (250 to 550) just for DV playback alone

[jh901]

Originally Posted by Chiefy

I'm hopeful I still have a few years left on my Panasonic VT60 plasma, so I will likely not be upgrading to a 4K panel anytime soon. Is it pointless to get a UB820 for HDR to SDR conversion? Would I notice an uptick in quality?

I own a VT60 which has been calibrated by ChadB. It's been relegated to TV duty for some time now. We're all different I guess. Your panel display is not a washer or hot water tank. Find an incredible sale price on a well praised 65" OLED. Pass on full blown flagship. Go for value. Finance for free at Best Buy. Revel in your 4K collection.

Or bail on the panel altogether!!

[LordoftheRings]

The 65" LG OLED B8 can be found around only $1,500
And the C8 (same size) for around $1,800-2,000

Those are among the very best. ...And extremely affordable.
Mate them with the 820 and don't look any further that what you see onscreen.

[sa5150]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

My 820 is not noisy. Panasonic purposely doesn’t support lossless mkv

I was saying lossy mkv , Does it play those and have 3.0 ?

[sapiendut]

As long as they are DD or DTS core, they play.

I can’t remember whether they have 3.0. I never checked.

[jh901]

I'd like to find a handful of members here who utilize the dual-HDMI outputs (to send video separately to display and audio separately to AVR/AVP). Likely not many of you, but I just need a few to help me out.

There appears to be a problem with the 820's dual-HDMI outputs. There certainly was with my 900. Oddly, the 820 doesn't have the same problem as the 900 when it comes to dealing with Dolby TrueHD 7.1 or the DTS equivalent. The 820 is not converting the bitstream to PCM properly. No big deal, generally, since I'm now ok sending bitstream out to AVP.

I'll elaborate later if I can find a few members to discuss with. Appreciated!

[sapiendut]

I use dual outputs

[McGarnigal]

did Alexa voice controls ever come via update yet?

[evoll]

I use dual outputs but use bitstream for atmos.

[curlyjive]

Originally Posted by jh901

I'd like to find a handful of members here who utilize the dual-HDMI outputs (to send video separately to display and audio separately to AVR/AVP). Likely not many of you, but I just need a few to help me out.

There appears to be a problem with the 820's dual-HDMI outputs. There certainly was with my 900. Oddly, the 820 doesn't have the same problem as the 900 when it comes to dealing with Dolby TrueHD 7.1 or the DTS equivalent. The 820 is not converting the bitstream to PCM properly. No big deal, generally, since I'm now ok sending bitstream out to AVP.

I'll elaborate later if I can find a few members to discuss with. Appreciated!

I replied to you on another forum as well, but will add it here to further any possibility of a fix:


Affirmative - using dual HDMI

You are correct that the 820 is converting 5.1 to 7.1 even with that setting turned off. You are also correct that there is some odd delay in the surround back channels being created either by this up conversion or some other issue. It occurs with both 5.1 and 7.1 sources. It could be that some kind of matrix processing is being applied to both 5.1 and 7.1 and that process introduces the delay. I hear it mostly on the WB and 20th Century Fox fanfare music. If you listen to it bit-streamed and then PCM it is very obvious.

I asked Panasonic support to kick this up to engineering, as well as the black hawk down issue, last week but have not heard back. We need more people to get on Panasonic for a fix. If it weren't for the tone mapping I need, I would have changed to another player by now because of the audio issue.

Glad to see others noticing this as well...it's been bothering me for over 6 months now.

[jh901]

Originally Posted by evoll

I use dual outputs but use bitstream for atmos.

Did you have any problem playing Leon or Black Hawk Down UHDs? Both are Sony releases using seamless branching.

Anyone else using dual-HDMI outputs have "freezes" with these titles?

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by curlyjive

I replied to you on another forum as well, but will add it here to further any possibility of a fix:


Affirmative - using dual HDMI

You are correct that the 820 is converting 5.1 to 7.1 even with that setting turned off. You are also correct that there is some odd delay in the surround back channels being created either by this up conversion or some other issue. It occurs with both 5.1 and 7.1 sources. It could be that some kind of matrix processing is being applied to both 5.1 and 7.1 and that process introduces the delay. I hear it mostly on the WB and 20th Century Fox fanfare music. If you listen to it bit-streamed and then PCM it is very obvious.

I asked Panasonic support to kick this up to engineering, as well as the black hawk down issue, last week but have not heard back. We need more people to get on Panasonic for a fix. If it weren't for the tone mapping I need, I would have changed to another player by now because of the audio issue.

Glad to see others noticing this as well...it's been bothering me for over 6 months now.

Panasonic Blu-ray players have been doing this since the very beginning, 2006 (13 years).
It is their peculiar way to fudge the audio like that. They need to hire new audio experts in the design and implementation of audio surround in their players.
C'est la vie, c'est Panasonic way to do things.

[curlyjive]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

Panasonic Blu-ray players have been doing this since the very beginning, 2006 (13 years).
It is their peculiar way to fudge the audio like that. They need to hire new audio experts in the design and implementation of audio surround in their players.
C'est la vie, c'est Panasonic way to do things.

I'd be happy to use bitstream but the occasional popping is not worth the risk.

[HDTV1080P]

Bitstreaming is better since its the only way to listen to 11.1 DTS X and Dolby ATMOS soundtracks on any Blu-ray player on the market. PCM only offers up to 7.1 channels.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by curlyjive

I'd be happy to use bitstream but the occasional popping is not worth the risk.

You get occasional popping audio "snippets" when bitstreaming with your 820?
Then 7.1 PCM is fine, not perfect from Panasonic's way of doing this, but it beats strutting audio from Bitstream.

* This must be more the exception than the general rule?

[McGarnigal]

So when I set this up.. if I use the HDR Optimizer, I have to turn off the HDR Dynamic Contrast (which is my LG C7 TV tonemapping) Correct?