Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[George.P]

Originally Posted by Riggins1

Hey guys. I’m asking this again since the problem is still around. I am experiencing flickering on most of my standard Blu-ray discs. I have also started noticing som banding issues when there’s a scene with a bright sky included. Someone on here suggested I get a bed hdmi cable. Did that but problem is still there. It’s not super obvious flickering but definitely enough to annoy me. What can I do? Any tips? I have the UB820 and an OLEDCX55”.

Thanks again.

2 questions:

1) what blu rays gave you this effect?

2) so no problem with 4k discs?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by blakeyamc

Aww. This makes so much sense. I just recently watched a few episodes of my Buffy DVDs (480i) and I noticed this on my Panny 420. I wish I would've known this earlier, I spent most of the time thinking it was the TV that was causing the nasty deinterlacing edges. I eventually, dropped the sharpness down and turned on Sony's reality creation (which I never really use for content on disc), to create a watchable image. May have to use my old DVD/VCR for 480i DVD content, in the future.

It's very easy to just dismiss the jaggies as "shit source being shit" or that something elsewhere in the chain is causing it, I agree. I first noticed this when playing one of the more recent seasons of Archer (that were only released on DVD) and it looked crinkly as hell, I just put it down to latter-day DVD mastering being rubbish. But for whatever reasons I resumed watching the show in the OPPO and was gobsmacked at how much of an improvement there was, it wasn't even close.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Compson

Not everybody

“The DP-UB9000’s HCX processor flawlessly upscales, deinterlaces, and chroma up-samples all lower-res content. This is good news for those of us still watching the occasional DVD. The Epson 5050UB projector I used for testing failed the 2:2 test when fed a source-direct signal but the Panasonic player locked onto the cadence instantly, as it did all other formats. There was no clipping of below black or above white information and the chroma multi-burst patterns resolved perfectly in 4:2:2, 4:4:4, and RGB formats. Jaggies were handled smoothly with no edge enhancement or anti-aliasing visible.”
https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/...-part-1-video/

I can tell you what I see. I’ve watched dozens of DVDs on a 102” diagonal screen, and I see fewer jaggies, etc. on the Panny than on other players (Pioneer BDP-09FD, Sony BDP-S6700, Toshiba HD-A35). My experience is not universal.

I’m a staunch supporter of Pana players but anybody commenting as such above must have not actually played DVD on the 820/9000. Perhaps it’s a case of fake-review-itis.

[Stormyyy]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

Thanks for the feedback. I was pretty upset after I found out I missed out on the deal. This takes the sting away. Will you be returning it?

No problem at all! It was a great deal but who really knows how used and old it is. I would rather pay the extra from best buy and have the warranty. Plus if I scratch it, then I don't mind it as much because I did it. Definitely avoid the 9000 from WOOT IMO.

[Blu-Curry]

Hey I have another question. I don't have an Atmos capable AVR and my system is set up for 5.1 surround sound. Before when I played a blu-ray with Dolby Atmos on my PS3, it would just be Dolby TrueHD 3/2.1 (as expected), but on the 820 with UHDs it's showing Dolby TrueHD 3/4.1 so I'm wondering if there are sound effects normally part of the 5.1 design that are now being lost as it's outputting as if it's 7.1 to 2 extra speakers that I don't have. In the audio settings I had the 7.1 option turned off already and noticed the same thing whether BD Secondary Audio was Auto or Off. Is this an actual issue?

[sapiendut]

The sound effects will be mixed down to 5.1 regardless what you choose (based on my personal experience)

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by Blu-Curry

Hey I have another question. I don't have an Atmos capable AVR and my system is set up for 5.1 surround sound. Before when I played a blu-ray with Dolby Atmos on my PS3, it would just be Dolby TrueHD 3/2.1 (as expected), but on the 820 with UHDs it's showing Dolby TrueHD 3/4.1 so I'm wondering if there are sound effects normally part of the 5.1 design that are now being lost as it's outputting as if it's 7.1 to 2 extra speakers that I don't have. In the audio settings I had the 7.1 option turned off already and noticed the same thing whether BD Secondary Audio was Auto or Off. Is this an actual issue?

The player is just telling you what the audio really is but as long as you have your AVR setup correctly (telling it or auto calibrating it to 5.1) and the player set to bitstream, it should interpret it as Dolby TruHD 5.1.

[SmittysGelato]

I got a new soundbar recently. It works while I am streaming but when I play blu-rays, the soundbar works when on the main menu, but when I start the movie the sound cuts out and doesn't come back on.

Do any of you fine folks have any ideas about what might be going on?

My set up:

Player: DP-UB820
TV: 2020 Sony X950H
Soundbar: Soundstage AT212

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by SmittysGelato

I got a new soundbar recently. It works while I am streaming but when I play blu-rays, the soundbar works when on the main menu, but when I start the movie the sound cuts out and doesn't come back on.

Do any of you fine folks have any ideas about what might be going on?

My set up:

Player: DP-UB820
TV: 2020 Sony X950H
Soundbar: Soundstage AT212

I would bet you don't have your player set to bitstream audio, turned off secondary audio and turned off dynamic range control.



Plus, I don't know which audio formats that soundbar is capable of besides Dolby stuff. Sometimes these soundbars won't have proper DTS Master Audio lossless or even lossy decoding capabilities and a lot of Blu-ray's have DTS Master Audio lossless tracks.



Soundbars, in general, aren't worth it, but right now you just need audio to work.

[VanHiscers]

Originally Posted by SmittysGelato

I got a new soundbar recently. It works while I am streaming but when I play blu-rays, the soundbar works when on the main menu, but when I start the movie the sound cuts out and doesn't come back on.

Do any of you fine folks have any ideas about what might be going on?

My set up:

Player: DP-UB820
TV: 2020 Sony X950H
Soundbar: Soundstage AT212

Your sound bar has 3 HDMI inputs, so I'm assuming you connected your player to the sound bar, and then sound bar to the TV. If that's the case, it seems to me that your sound bar only supports Dolby sound codecs, so you need to turn off the DTS bit-streaming setting, as your sound bar cannot decode DTS codecs, and that will cause a silent output. It also made sense when you say streaming and blu-ray menus work, because streaming services almost only use Dolby codecs, while blu-ray menus normally use a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 codec.

[SmittysGelato]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I would bet you don't have your player set to bitstream audio, turned off secondary audio and turned off dynamic range control.



Plus, I don't know which audio formats that soundbar is capable of besides Dolby stuff. Sometimes these soundbars won't have proper DTS Master Audio lossless or even lossy decoding capabilities and a lot of Blu-ray's have DTS Master Audio lossless tracks.



Soundbars, in general, aren't worth it, but right now you just need audio to work.

Thanks. I'm off to bed but tomorrow I'll take a look at your suggestions.
As far as I know my soundbar is Atmos and DTS capable.

[SmittysGelato]

I actually have the player connected to the TV's HDMI #2, while the bar is connected to the TV's eARC (HDMI #3). The first day I had the soundbar I watched The Phantom Menace on UHD and the sound was working. The day after I went to play a different movie and that is when I started getting no sound.

[VanHiscers]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I would bet you don't have your player set to bitstream audio, turned off secondary audio and turned off dynamic range control.



Plus, I don't know which audio formats that soundbar is capable of besides Dolby stuff. Sometimes these soundbars won't have proper DTS Master Audio lossless or even lossy decoding capabilities and a lot of Blu-ray's have DTS Master Audio lossless tracks.



Soundbars, in general, aren't worth it, but right now you just need audio to work.

I wouldn't say sound bars aren't worth it in general, but the majority of the sound bars on the market across different brands are lower-end sound bars. They can perform well, but their target audience are people who only use streaming services, and that's why lower-end sound bars tend to only support Dolby codecs.

If you want sound bar to work well with blu-rays, you'll have to go for higher-end sound bars that support both Dolby and DTS codecs, which are normally the premium options of major brands.

[VanHiscers]

Originally Posted by SmittysGelato

I actually have the player connected to the TV's HDMI #2, while the bar is connected to the TV's eARC (HDMI #3). The first day I had the soundbar I watched The Phantom Menace on UHD and the sound was working. The day after I went to play a different movie and that is when I started getting no sound.

I found the manual of your sound bar online, and I don't believe it supports eArc via its HDMI Arc input, so I'd strongly suggest you set things up the way I originally assumed. It made sense that Star Wars 1 worked, because it has a Dolby Atmos track, and your sound bar supports Dolby, but if your sound bar doesn't support eArc, then your TV may be automatically down mixing the bitstream to Dolby Digital Plus without your realization. Even then, you'll still have to turn off the DTS bit-streaming setting.

[Riggins1]

Originally Posted by George.P

2 questions:

1) what blu rays gave you this effect?

2) so no problem with 4k discs?

I’ve experienced this on many Blu-rays but I recently watched “Second hand lions” which had the strange banding effect when there was a bright sky featured. “Dirty rotten scoundrels” had flickering and also the Friday 13th set from scream factory has some flickering. On the other hand, I also watched “The Hangover” which looked great. 4K titles seems to be less affected by this. However, watched “Halloween (1978, Lionsgate release) and that had flickering during night scenes.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by VanHiscers

I wouldn't say sound bars aren't worth it in general, but the majority of the sound bars on the market across different brands are lower-end sound bars. They can perform well, but their target audience are people who only use streaming services, and that's why lower-end sound bars tend to only support Dolby codecs.

If you want sound bar to work well with blu-rays, you'll have to go for higher-end sound bars that support both Dolby and DTS codecs, which are normally the premium options of major brands.

For the price of a "premium" soundbar with all the codecs supported, it would be best to move up to a full receiver with physical speakers and a real subwoofer. None of that pseudo bounce Atmos is worth it.

[sapiendut]

You must’ve never experienced Sennheiser Ambeo.

[SmittysGelato]

Originally Posted by VanHiscers

I found the manual of your sound bar online, and I don't believe it supports eArc via its HDMI Arc input, so I'd strongly suggest you set things up the way I originally assumed. It made sense that Star Wars 1 worked, because it has a Dolby Atmos track, and your sound bar supports Dolby, but if your sound bar doesn't support eArc, then your TV may be automatically down mixing the bitstream to Dolby Digital Plus without your realization. Even then, you'll still have to turn off the DTS bit-streaming setting.

Damn, I figured eARC, since it is higher-end, would be capable of supporting an ARC bar. I even mentioned to the salesman at the store that I had an eARC on my TV and he was basically like, "that's good, great," as if it wasn't an issue. Never trust the salesman to know what he's talking about, I guess.

[VanHiscers]

Originally Posted by SmittysGelato

Damn, I figured eARC, since it is higher-end, would be capable of supporting an ARC bar. I even mentioned to the salesman at the store that I had an eARC on my TV and he was basically like, "that's good, great," as if it wasn't an issue. Never trust the salesman to know what he's talking about, I guess.

Did you get the sound to work at least?

[SmittysGelato]

So yeah...Atmos movies work, but DTS movies do not. I wasn't able to find the DTS bit streaming setting yet. Will try again later.