Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by Vertizontal

Thanks for the reply...yes, US disc, purchased new, handled with care, etc, yet problems in the same spots each time I've run it...but on two particular players, not every unit in the house, weird.

FWIW, I do remember reading quite a few posts (in the Tenet specific thread) about the same issues I'm reporting but really, it's no biggie now as I'm gonna pass the disc along to a buddy anyway.

EDIT: Taken from the Tenet thread using the first of several search results for "freezing"...just sayin, it ain't only me...

Weird. So you're not the only one.

I did a search in the Tenet thread too and found people confirming the contrary too:

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Watched the UHD last night, no playback issues whatsoever. US disc on Panasonic 820.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1832


I had no issue with it either. It might be that there were some flawed batches out there. Did you preorder the movie or buy it later? For what it's worth I preordered and received it on release day. Knowing Geoff D I expect he did the same.

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by pbz06

While I didn't have the issue with Tenet (watched it twice), I believe you since this player is known to have freezing issues on various movies. It's not the disc.. For me it's been Midway, Lone Survivor, and Knives Out.

Knives Out is for everyone. It's apparently a known bug. Everyone's been asking Panasonic to fix it but they still haven't done it.

[Vertizontal]

Originally Posted by pbz06

While I didn't have the issue with Tenet (watched it twice), I believe you since this player is known to have freezing issues on various movies. It's not the disc.. For me it's been Midway, Lone Survivor, and Knives Out.

Thanks for the feedback. I love Lone Survivor, sorry to hear that...I honestly didn't mind the Tenet issues but LS is a fav in my house, definitely gonna give that a run soon now. Any chance you recall a trouble time stamp? I'd hate to have to bring my trusty old Sony downstairs and demote the new Panny 420 to the bedroom, arrrgh! We've really been putting the 420 through its paces this week/end, lots of movie watching and it's working great, Tenet is still the lone exception.

[Jumpman]

UB820 is region free for Blu-Ray playback, correct?

[Vertizontal]

Originally Posted by NeilZ

It might be that there were some flawed batches out there. Did you preorder the movie or buy it later? For what it's worth I preordered and received it on release day. Knowing Geoff D I expect he did the same.

That's what I'm thinking too, an odd batch or two out in the wind that's defective. I grabbed mine at Best Buy on release day FWIW.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

UB820 is region free for Blu-Ray playback, correct?

No. No player comes as region free BD/DVD from the manufacturer.

[kevers7290]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

UB820 is region free for Blu-Ray playback, correct?

No. Locked to whatever region you are purchasing from. Some discs work with the top menu trip but YMMV. Region free Blu-ray disc players cannot be legally sold as such.

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by Vertizontal

Thanks for the feedback. I love Lone Survivor, sorry to hear that...I honestly didn't mind the Tenet issues but LS is a fav in my house, definitely gonna give that a run soon now. Any chance you recall a trouble time stamp? I'd hate to have to bring my trusty old Sony downstairs and demote the new Panny 420 to the bedroom, arrrgh! We've really been putting the 420 through its paces this week/end, lots of movie watching and it's working great, Tenet is still the lone exception.

I don't recall the timestamp, but unfortunately it's at a pivotal scene. It's when the fighting is about to start and it's all quiet and the enemies are starting to get in view. Luttrell is sneaking around telling them to "get ready for a fight" or something along those lines.

Then there's pixels and it starts distorting, and ultimately a hard lock need to exit completely and then fast forward past it, otherwise it repeats.

I'd like for someone else to test to so I know if it's my disc or player.

[Yogi6807]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

UB820 is region free for Blu-Ray playback, correct?

4K Blu-ray is region free. Not regular Blu-ray.

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by pbz06

I don't recall the timestamp, but unfortunately it's at a pivotal scene. It's when the fighting is about to start and it's all quiet and the enemies are starting to get in view. Luttrell is sneaking around telling them to "get ready for a fight" or something along those lines.

Then there's pixels and it starts distorting, and ultimately a hard lock need to exit completely and then fast forward past it, otherwise it repeats.

I'd like for someone else to test to so I know if it's my disc or player.

Did this re occur after cleaning? Cause that kind of thing has happened to me on several UHD discs (such as Blues Brothers recently), but after carefully cleaning the disc with isopropyl alcohol and reinserting it, all plays fine.

The only known Dolby Vision issue that I know of that is universal on everyone's Panasonic sets is the Knives Out one.

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by NeilZ

Did this re occur after cleaning? Cause that kind of thing has happened to me on several UHD discs (such as Blues Brothers recently), but after carefully cleaning the disc with isopropyl alcohol and reinserting it, all plays fine.

The only known Dolby Vision issue that I know of that is universal on everyone's Panasonic sets is the Knives Out one.

I did not try cleaning it, so I'll try that next (I visually inspected it and it looked fine, didn't even think about cleaning it).

Thanks. I'll report back when I can.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

UB820 is region free for Blu-Ray playback, correct?

Nope.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by Yogi6807

4K Blu-ray is region free. Not regular Blu-ray.

I tried to watch The Outpost UHD and it was locked. My UB9000 is Zone B.
So some 4K UHD is region locked.
Fortunately it came with a Zone A blu-ray and my Oppo BDP-103D is set to Zone A. Not a bad film. I enjoyed it.

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by pbz06

I did not try cleaning it, so I'll try that next (I visually inspected it and it looked fine, didn't even think about cleaning it).

Thanks. I'll report back when I can.

Yes sometimes there may be some oils or other obstacle for the lens. I think UHD players are more sensitive than previous home video disc players. The recent Blues Brothers case I was surprised too cause there was no dust that I could see either, but after cleaning it it worked perfectly. 70% Isopropyl works great.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Badas

I tried to watch The Outpost UHD and it was locked. My UB9000 is Zone B.
So some 4K UHD is region locked.
Fortunately it came with a Zone A blu-ray and my Oppo BDP-103D is set to Zone A. Not a bad film. I enjoyed it.

Is The Outpost like that other UHD that's locked? I forget the name, but they'd authored it with a hybrid BD bit to include region locking, so it was non-standard. I'm not sure if anyone got to the bottom of that or explored it further.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by chip75

Is The Outpost like that other UHD that's locked? I forget the name, but they'd authored it with a hybrid BD bit to include region locking, so it was non-standard. I'm not sure if anyone got to the bottom of that or explored it further.

I threw in the UHD disc and got the standard prompt on Screen "Zone A - Not compatible with your player"

[cupboy]

Originally Posted by Badas

I threw in the UHD disc and got the standard prompt on Screen "Zone A - Not compatible with your player"

That's disappointing for Panasonic. It should ignore region locks on UHDs. Other players do that too?

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by NeilZ

Did this re occur after cleaning? Cause that kind of thing has happened to me on several UHD discs (such as Blues Brothers recently), but after carefully cleaning the disc with isopropyl alcohol and reinserting it, all plays fine.

The only known Dolby Vision issue that I know of that is universal on everyone's Panasonic sets is the Knives Out one.

The 820 is definitely the most "sensitive" player I've ever owned when it comes to making sure discs are clean. I've chuckled at times seeing how the tiniest little fraction of a finger print on a disc edge can trip up the 820 playback.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by cupboy

That's disappointing for Panasonic. It should ignore region locks on UHDs. Other players do that too?

It can't ignore them when the discs are non-standard. All players outside that territory would have a similar result.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by chip75

It can't ignore them when the discs are non-standard. All players outside that territory would have a similar result.

Agreed. It is not a Panasonic issue. It is the way the disc is encoded. All UHD players with a blu-ray zone that is not A would have the same problem.

I just wish the studios encoding the discs stuck to the UHD standard.