Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Geoff, just try using Blu-Tack at the base of your 820. It helped my Sony 700 (when I used to use one)

I did that initially. Didn't help. So I bought dat 'isolation platform' and now it's whisper quiet.

[Scottishguy]

Can't say I've experienced any noise issues during playback. I'd like to know if there's a way to turn the front display off though?

[Geoff D]

You can turn it off using the High Clarity sound settings. I don't like them myself, it seems to make the sound quality 'harder' somehow.

[Scottishguy]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

You can turn it off using the High Clarity sound settings. I don't like them myself, it seems to make the sound quality 'harder' somehow.

Ah. Black masking tape it shall remain then.

[dcx4610]

As for noise, I can hear it when first starting everything up but once the movie starts, the fan calms down and you can't hear it. I think it just ramps up during the initial start up and processing but then it's whisper quiet during playback.

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by Scottishguy

Can't say I've experienced any noise issues during playback. I'd like to know if there's a way to turn the front display off though?

Yes you have to turn on the high quality or clarity audio setting to turn the display off.

Unlike the oppo though, you can't make it momentarily appear by hitting play during playback

[Scorsese]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Depends on whether it likes the stand it's put on. My 820 sounds like it's about to take off if I put it directly onto my glass TV shelf, it seems to harmonise with it and the vibration of the drive passes right into the glass, it rattles like mad. Needed an 'isolation platform' to sort it out.

Interesting, I have a wood stand that my TV and other devices sit on.

Edit: Wait, why would an audio setting turn off the display

[Matthew.H]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Depends on whether it likes the stand it's put on. My 820 sounds like it's about to take off if I put it directly onto my glass TV shelf, it seems to harmonise with it and the vibration of the drive passes right into the glass, it rattles like mad. Needed an 'isolation platform' to sort it out.

Bit odd. My 820 is on a glass stand and only makes a little bit of noise when loading 4K discs. Pretty much silent playing any format after the initial spin up.

Is the stand on carpet or a hard floor? Mine is on carpet which may help with dampening.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Matthew.H

Bit odd. My 820 is on a glass stand and only makes a little bit of noise when loading 4K discs. Pretty much silent playing any format after the initial spin up.

Is the stand on carpet or a hard floor? Mine is on carpet which may help with dampening.

On a carpet. As said, there's just something aboot the Panasonic players that seems to resonate with my specific TV stand.

Originally Posted by Scorsese

Interesting, I have a wood stand that my TV and other devices sit on.

Edit: Wait, why would an audio setting turn off the display

Because the thinking is that all the other electronic gubbins inside the player can 'pollute' the audio signal, including the display, so what the high clarity mode does is shut it off. It's all bollox, but there you go.

[Scorsese]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Because the thinking is that all the other electronic gubbins inside the player can 'pollute' the audio signal, including the display, so what the high clarity mode does is shut it off. It's all bollox, but there you go.

I see, thanks!

[roadwarrior980]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

See, now that's interesting. The HDR Optimiser works by looking at the MaxCLL (maximum peak brightness of the content) metadata and setting it against whatever Optimiser level you've chosen e.g. Basic = maps everything above 500 nits, OLED / Medium High = 1000 nits, Super bright = 1500 nits. The 9000 player also has a 350 nit projektor setting.

But Tenet has a MaxCLL of something like ~340 nits, so technically the Optimiser isn't doing anything to the actual image at all when you're turning it on or off, not even if it was set to the minimum 350 nit projektor output. But what it does still do when turned on or off is adjust the mastering display metadata that's encoded with the movie, this is metadata that signals what display the content was mastered on. It's virtually useless because it doesn't indicate what brightness the content actually has, but some TV manufacturers still insist on using it as the guide to tone map the image. Not that Tenet's colour/range was shot to "pop", but at the same time it shouldn't be too dark (unless you're used to watching SDR with torch mode on all the time).

So as Tenet was mastered with 4000 nit display metadata (typical for Warners' UHDs) then the TV 'thinks' it's having to map down 4000 nits when the content doesn't have anything like that amount of brightness, which is why it's potentially making interiors look dimmer. But when you turn on the Optimiser it also changes that display metadata down to what level you've set it to, e.g. for Basic the display metadata is changed to 500 nits. Whatever you've got yours set to, the altered metadata means that your TV's tone mapping is reacting differently. (And, to follow on from the discussion in another thread, is why Samsung are a joke when it comes to HDR, to still use display metadata as the default method for tone mapping is ridiculous.)


Depends on whether it likes the stand it's put on. My 820 sounds like it's about to take off if I put it directly onto my glass TV shelf, it seems to harmonise with it and the vibration of the drive passes right into the glass, it rattles like mad. Needed an 'isolation platform' to sort it out.

How do you turn the optimizer off altogether? I see that holding hold the HDR setting button brings up the options to select from Standard, Native Environment, etc., but wondering how you actually turn it off if you don't want to apply it to HDR10 content

[gnicks]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior980

How do you turn the optimizer off altogether? I see that holding hold the HDR setting button brings up the options to select from Standard, Native Environment, etc., but wondering how you actually turn it off if you don't want to apply it to HDR10 content

You aren't holding the HDR Settings button long enough.

[gotmule]

After a couple of weeks with the Panasonic UB 9000, and more than a few rounds of A/B comparisons with the Oppo 203, I am holding on to the Panasonic. It kinda feels like I am cheating on my wife, as I have had an Oppo in my system for about 14 yrs, but the decision made a lot of sense to me when all is said and done.

I let the 9000 break in for about 50 hrs before I did any comparisons, and used the same Shunyata power cord and Transparent HDMI for both of them to make it an even playing field.
Once I got the 9000 dialed in (nits, bit rate, up sampling etc...) I matched those settings with the Oppo to make it as close to even as I could.

First impressions of the 9000 were very positive, as I ordered it from Robert at Value Electronics on a Monday afternoon, and it showed up Wednesday afternoon double boxed. This sucker is the heaviest Blu-ray player I have grabbed a hold of weighing in close to 17 lbs. Front panel looks great and the tray is very quiet. It screams high end.

The remote however felt a bit cheap though, and has to have a button pressed for it to light up compared to the Oppo that illuminates when moved. Menu is counter intuitive at times, as some key features like the HDR optimizer are somewhat hidden. Start up time is slower than the Oppo as you have to wait for a bit after powering up to hit eject vs the Oppo where you can pop a disc in right away.

There are so many options to tweak the 9000, as it really built for the enthusiast. If you are someone who wants to unbox, hook it up, and hit play, you will not be getting the most out of your investment, as it is within those tweaks where it separates itself from others. That and the fact that this thing is designed and built to be the flagship player. I won’t get into all of the design enhancements, frankly because there are a a lot, but you can read about some of them in the review link at the bottom of this post.

I started with a few couple of 4K discs (Mad Max Fury Road, Shallows, and Lucy) to see how the HDR Optimizer benefited things. Fortunately, the feature is a toggle in the menu once you get there, so you can see immediately the difference. What I found was that there definitely is a benefit within crazy bright aspects of the image like the sun, a spotlight, or fire. There was more control and details within those images using the Optimizer, but with my projector and lens setup, I didn’t see as much of a difference as some of the videos available comparing the two players as they were usually using OLED panels. With the Optimizer on, there was no degradation to the rest of the picture, so I kept it on.

Once dialed in, it was pretty close between the two players in my system, but the edge went to the 9000 with 4K content as it was slightly better to my eyes with color accuracy and detail. The Oppo dug a bit deeper with blacks, but the 9000 had more detail within the blacks. My projector already can do blacks pretty well, so I ended up preferring seeing more detail.

When I popped in a Blu-ray, the differences became more apparent as this is where some of those enhancements with the 9000 really shined. For content, I chose Crawl, Season 4 of The Expanse, and season 5 of Bates Motel. The processing capabilities, chroma sampling, and tone mapping in the 9000 are outstanding. It automatically up converts to 4K, and proved more effective than my projector in handling those duties. Frankly, the images I were seeing looked as good if not better than a fair amount of 4K content. Edge detail, image clarity, and color accuracy were simply better with the Panasonic.

All of these comparisons were done with audio muted, but I was still curious about audio output, as I was not expecting to hear a difference since I use the HDMI output, and most of the audio enhancements I read about were within its DACs and capabilities within its analog outputs. There was however an option which I never saw talked about, and that was the capability to tell the player where you wanted its audio signal to go instead of sending it everywhere. Made sense to me, so I selected HDMI only. I played the first 5 minutes of an episode in the last season of Bates Motel as I am almost at the end (You are right Steedeel, Vera Farmiga is amazing in it). I started with the Oppo, and then switched out to the 9000 and played the same 5 minutes. For those who have not seen the show, there is a pretty potent bass note in the theme song towards the beginning, and the 5.1 mix is solid. The Panasonic had more control of the bass note without sacrificing any dynamics, and I noticed more details within those 5 minutes. So I went back to the Oppo again to make sure there was no placebo effect, and played the same 5 minutes. The bass note was not as focused, and I did not hear the same amount of clarity within the 5 minutes. Switched back to the 9000 and everything came back. Now I know from reading about the design and separation of components within the Panasonic, that there was a lot of marketing speak about the audio, but I was not expecting to hear it so quickly. It was at that point that my decision was made. Next disc I popped in was season 4 of The Expanse, which continues to be amongst the best looking and sounding tv shows out there. I watched two episodes on the 9000 and swore I was watching a 4K disc so much I even switched modes and settings on my projector to the ones I use for 4K content and just left it there. The mix has always been a great one to upmix, but I was now able to pin point voices coming from above using Auro’s upmixer. I switched back to the Oppo just to see what it would do with the same scene, and the voices were not quite as localized. That is when I started to box up the Oppo, as I have always been more of an audio guy, and trusted my ears to be the judge and jury in most matters.

I understand completely that this was not a perfect blind test conducted, and that there might be those who question my findings because I don’t have screen shots or graphs to support any conclusions. All I can report on is what I saw and heard, which is good enough for me, and I believe good enough to share even though I am not a professional reviewer.

That night, I rewatched MI Fallout on 4K, and can honestly say that my room has never sounded better and more precise. The video in the movie is murky intentionally, but the 9000 did not have any hiccups with it. The helicopter scene towards the end is when everything popped within all its HDR glory, and my jaw dropped even further.

Even with its menu quirks, average remote, loss of SACD / DVD-A, and slower boot up, the Panasonic won me over within my setup. The Oppo is an amazing player, and I still love what it can do. The fact that they are selling for what they are on the secondary market is a testament to their legacy and reputation, and I have thoroughly enjoyed them being in my system over the years.


https://hometheaterreview.com/panaso...ayer-reviewed/

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by gotmule

After a couple of weeks with the Panasonic UB 9000, and more than a few rounds of A/B comparisons with the Oppo 203, I am holding on to the Panasonic. It kinda feels like I am cheating on my wife, as I have had an Oppo in my system for about 14 yrs, but the decision made a lot of sense to me when all is said and done.




https://hometheaterreview.com/panaso...ayer-reviewed/

What firmware version do you have btw?

I've an oppo 203 and a 9000 as well, and I do prefer the Panasonic. Specifically both the subtitle luminance and position control (the position granularity is better than the oppo). Also audio for 1.5 playback is useful for extras.

I like the oppo for external subtitles the display (when you have the display off, hitting play during playback will momentarily show it, unlike the pana when you have it off). Also the user installable region mod.

[dcforsyth]

On my third player and still have freezing issues.

My first player was obviously faulty as it had problems playing a lot of discs.

My second player, which I've had for about three weeks, played flawlessly until last night. I was watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and at about the 58 minute mark, the dredded freeze ugh. Took the disc out and cleaned the already clean disc. No luck, same issue. Tried the disc in my Xbox one s, seiko and Sony x800m2 and it played perfectly.

Returned that player today for a replacement. Put the Temple of Doom in and had the exact same problem at the exact same spot. I have no clue as to what the problem is. Any ideas?

I really want to keep this player but if it can't play all discs, what's the point.

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

What firmware version do you have btw?

I've an oppo 203 and a 9000 as well, and I do prefer the Panasonic. Specifically both the subtitle luminance and position control (the position granularity is better than the oppo). Also audio for 1.5 playback is useful for extras.

I like the oppo for external subtitles the display (when you have the display off, hitting play during playback will momentarily show it, unlike the pana when you have it off). Also the user installable region mod.

The region mod is a definite plus for some folks for sure, but I held off on going that route with the Oppo. I will check firmware in a bit and report back.

[jonathananM]

Originally Posted by dcforsyth

On my third player and still have freezing issues.

My first player was obviously faulty as it had problems playing a lot of discs.

My second player, which I've had for about three weeks, played flawlessly until last night. I was watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and at about the 58 minute mark, the dredded freeze ugh. Took the disc out and cleaned the already clean disc. No luck, same issue. Tried the disc in my Xbox one s, seiko and Sony x800m2 and it played perfectly.

Returned that player today for a replacement. Put the Temple of Doom in and had the exact same problem at the exact same spot. I have no clue as to what the problem is. Any ideas?

I really want to keep this player but if it can't play all discs, what's the point.

I'm on my second ub820 and having the exact same problem.

I sent the first back to Panasonic because it was having issues with too many discs to be anything other than a faulty disc drive (or so I thought) -- and I do give Panasonic a big "Thank You" for sending me a brand new unit at no charge even though it was a month past warranty -- but the second unit is now ALSO freezing/stuttering on both brand new UHD blu-rays and also standard blu-rays that play flawlessly on my old Oppo 103 and Panny bd65.

I know we're not the only ones having this problem. (A quick internet search led me to a tech blogger who gave the ub820 one stars outta five because he experienced this with three different units) So is it something Panasonic can fix with firmware?

[dcx4610]

For those experiencing freezes, have you inspected your discs? Blu-rays and 4Ks are extremely sensitive to scratches.

You wouldn't believe the amount of times that I've gotten a skip and I've looked at a disc only to see a tiny little scratch. I'm super careful with my discs and I think it just happens during manufacturing. Disney and it's double/triple stacked discs are the worst as well as cardboard slip packaging.

Check your discs and you're probably going to be surprised...

I bought Rogue One on UHD, got a skip. Looked at the disc, and sure enough, a light but huge scratch over the disc. Returned it, got it and another friggin scratch all over it. It played without scratching but it still made me tense the entire time watching it. Check your discs.

[BLUCanadian]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

For those experiencing freezes, have you inspected your discs? Blu-rays and 4Ks are extremely sensitive to scratches.

You wouldn't believe the amount of times that I've gotten a skip and I've looked at a disc only to see a tiny little scratch. I'm super careful with my discs and I think it just happens during manufacturing. Disney and it's double/triple stacked discs are the worst as well as cardboard slip packaging.

Check your discs and you're probably going to be surprised...

I bought Rogue One on UHD, got a skip. Looked at the disc, and sure enough, a light but huge scratch over the disc. Returned it, got it and another friggin scratch all over it. It played without scratching but it still made me tense the entire time watching it. Check your discs.

I find my Panasonic UB820 to be more sensitive to scratches than my sony blu-ray player... especially if the scratch is "circular" in shape, rather than straight from the center out to the edge of the disc.

And I was under the impression that Blu-ray discs are not prone to scratching... I find a good wipe with a microfibre cloth usually cleans them perfectly, even if it looks like it is badly scuffed/scratch. Not sure about 4K discs though.

I have received loose discs countless of times, and I have never had issues playing them. You would think that rattling around in a case for a while would render them useless if they were prone to scratching... but they always appear perfect after a little wipe down

[sapiendut]

Logically it’s more prone to reading error because the pitch is a lot smaller than regular BD