Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by OgamiittoMcJ

is it just the 820 & 9000 that have HDR optimiser or do other Panasonic players have that feature ?
and how useful is that feature ?

I'm looking at buying 820 probably in next few weeks, just trying to decide if I want it modded for BD/DVD multiregion or not

420 has the Optimiser too.

[OgamiittoMcJ]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

420 has the Optimiser too.

ok thanks
is 420 a US model or new this year ?
as can't find that one, just 450 model in UK

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by OgamiittoMcJ

ok thanks
is 420 a US model or new this year ?
as can't find that one, just 450 model in UK

Definitely a UK model e.g. https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consume...p-ub420eb.html but may not be in current circulation, I bought one two years ago.

450 is what Panny are pushing as its replacement as a mid-level player, AFAIK it doesn't use the Pannysonic chips and has a MediaTek solution instead, hence no Optimiser.

[mar3o]

I own the 420 and it has the optimizer. US model.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Definitely a UK model e.g. https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consume...p-ub420eb.html but may not be in current circulation, I bought one two years ago.

450 is what Panny are pushing as its replacement as a mid-level player, AFAIK it doesn't use the Pannysonic chips and has a MediaTek solution instead, hence no Optimiser.

Oof, I'm so glad I grabbed a 420 then if they're going to be phasing them out. That optimizer is pretty awesome. It's a shame if they start dropping that feature from their lower/mid-tier players like the 420.

[TAC]

Why does the 820 cost more than the 420? Thanks

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by TAC

Why does the 820 cost more than the 420? Thanks

Dolby Vision support, somewhat better build quality all around, possibly a few more video tweaks, faster processor for faster player response times.

[Sailor09]

Originally Posted by TAC

Why does the 820 cost more than the 420? Thanks

The 420 only has digital outputs for audio. The 820 has 7.1ch analog output too.

[TAC]

Originally Posted by mar3o

The US player has the same top-menu trick that all Panasonics have done for years. When the region-lock screen comes up, hit stop on the remote, then top menu a few times until the main menu appears. Then the disc works as normal. It doesn't work on all region B discs though, so it's unreliable. My Panasonic region A blu-ray player works with many region B discs with this trick, but not all.

That's why I also own a region B Panasonic player, with a power adapter. That way I don't need a region-hacked player and it will play all region B discs guaranteed. The benefit to owning a Panasonic region B player is it will also play PAL/50HZ content, and send it out as either 50HZ or 60HZ, depending on if your US TV can display 50Hz or not. My Panasonic region A blu-ray player skips any PAL/50HZ content. It simply won't play it if you click on it. The region B player handles both NTSC and PAL/50Hz.

So that region B player is a good buy if you want a single player that should play all region A and B content. You may need a power adapter like the one I bought for my player. The link for the power adapter I use is in the first post of my signature. It was cheap, around $20 from Amazon.

Bought this player to be my region free player and so far I haven't had a movie not work via the remote trick! Thanks for posting!


Edit: Was going to send it to 220 and have it 100% region free and still might do so. However, out of 16 Ive tried all 16 have worked. Im sure the streak will end but I'm constantly popping in my other than region A titles in and trying them. I'll report back when/if I finally have that streak end. Once again Thank you and thank you to the members of this great thread for all the important info that you guys constantly pump out!

[danny24]

I tried the top menu trick with the Finland region B locked UHD of Greenland and it's didn't work. So yes it doesn't work for every region B disc. No one should buy a Region B BD thinking it's automatically going to play on the UB9000 or UB820 with this trick. It's really a dice roll more or less if you don't have a region free UHD/BD player. For UHD though the Greenland UHD is one of those rare region locked UHD's.

[BijouMan]

Has anyone else noticed the front panel display is still a VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display)?

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

Has anyone else noticed the front panel display is still a VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display)?

That's a good thing. Reminds me of the 80's VFD tabletop arcade games. And calculators. My first calculator had a VFD display.

[newtbludger]

hey I've been having some sort of weird issue when playing HDR10 UHD discs in my ub820 on my Z9D. There will be random moments when watching HDR10 discs where the entire display flashes white for a split second. I don't believe it's my TV as I have used both my PS5 and Nvidia Shield for countless hours in HDR and have had no issues. I have only seen this weird flashing when specifically playing HDR10 discs in this player. Could this be some kind of video issue in the player? I've already tried changing the cables and that hasn't changed much.

[Member-425016]

Originally Posted by mar3o

The US player has the same top-menu trick that all Panasonics have done for years. When the region-lock screen comes up, hit stop on the remote, then top menu a few times until the main menu appears. Then the disc works as normal. It doesn't work on all region B discs though, so it's unreliable. My Panasonic region A blu-ray player works with many region B discs with this trick, but not all.

Which is odd because My 11 year old Samsung BD Player has the exact same "trick".
Everything that doesn't work in my Panny 9000, also doesn't work on my Samsung, and vice versa.

[FlexMentallo]

Have a region modded 820 arriving on Monday.

Not cheap but I think it covers all my viewing bases. The last standalone player I owned was one of the Oppo BD players quite a few years back (also region modded).

Ripped a lot of my Blus to a NAS a while back but I sort of petered out on ripping stuff as it took too much time. Also been *very* slowly building a library of 4k discs and got sick of watching them on console.

Add to that more and more martial arts flicks coming out on Blu in the UK, as well as picking stuff up occasionally from the motherland in Australia, just felt like time to pick up a modded standalone again.

Looking forward to checking stuff out on it!

[jonathananM]

Wondering if anyone else has seen something like this on their 820 (or, frankly, any player)...

My 820 wouldn't read past the menu of the "Annie Hall" BD. So I put in the next disc on my pile, "Citizen Kane" BD, and it was fine. Then put in"Annie Hall" again -- and my screen showed a mashup of the "Annie Hall" menu with "Citizen Kane." My first thought was that I'd put both discs in at the same time, but nope.

So I put in a third BD, "Five Easy Pieces," which was fine. Then put in "Annie" again and, sure enough, the screen showed the "Annie" menu wierdly mated with the menu for "Five Easy Pieces."

(A quick search on these forums let me know that many people are finding their "Annie Hall" discs unreadable eight years after its release, so I'm not blaming the player for this. My ever-trusty Oppo also couldn't read the disc.)

What I want to know is, what's the techical explanation for what I was seeing? Why would a bad disc make the 820 display images from the disc that was loaded prior to that one? How/why was the 820 retaining that information?

[Geoff D]

It sounds like your 820 is stuck in-between this reality and a different dimension. I'm not sure if Pannysonic have that listed in their help FAQs.

Srsly tho, I've never heard of that before ever ever ever. Could always give the unit a full reset, see if that clears any wonky memory.

[Jonathan McLeod]

I have seen the 820 hold the image from a disc when you eject it before. Most odd. In my case it had no practical impact, as soon as I put the next disc in it loaded up as if nothing out of the ordinary had occured.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Jonathan McLeod

I have seen the 820 hold the image from a disc when you eject it before. Most odd. In my case it had no practical impact, as soon as I put the next disc in it loaded up as if nothing out of the ordinary had occured.

Oh, that's just your player snapping screenshots and uploading the images for later analysis and tracking. Nothing to worry about, move along.

[Geoff D]

That'd why I don't have mine connected to the internets, I don't want Them knowing what I've been watching! [/tinfoilhat]