Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Troy74]

Playing dvd Torpedo Run, Glenn Ford , WWII sub fav of mine. It looks great with Pana 820 & JVC 4K projector 2000. Wish WarnerArchive would release BR version, but happy with my Pana & JVC combo

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by Riggins1

Ok I see. Thanks so much for the advice. The flickering is not as frequent on streaming though, any ideas why that is?



Thank you! Will try that tonight. Much appreciated.

Do you have any motion processing on ie TruMotion or Real Cinema?? That can cause flickering at times.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Which would make sense that when matey's laser pickup stopped reading double layer UHDs it would continue to read double layer BDs just fine, as the two technologies are kissing cousins but aren't "essentially" the same.

Based on listening to the drive's operation, it looks like when it senses a dual layer Blu-ray Disc, it defaults to standard Blu-ray mode (it spins up to the standard Blu-ray speed). When it realizes the disc has the shorter UHD Blu-ray pits (about half of a second after it reaches the standard Blu-ray speed), only then does it go into UHD Blu-ray mode (it speeds up to the UHD Blu-ray speed). Now, when it detects a triple layer Blu-ray Disc, it goes straight to the UHD Blu-ray speed, bypassing standard Blu-ray mode altogether.

It looks like this person's unit is not detecting the shorter UHD pits and is trying to read them in standard Blu-ray mode.

[chrisandy007]

Originally Posted by hansolo

And is it official directly from Panasonic site/servers or modified "feature enhanced" version? Latter is needed for external subs I think at least with 820. Also, advanced features need to be enabled by remote control button sequence. After that they are "on" for good until you choose to turn them off. Support for external srt subtitles are part of enhanced features.

Official directly from Panasonic servers, downloaded straight from the player itself. Sounds like I need to seek out the feature enhanced version? Also any ideas how I can enable advance features?

[rroeder]

Is it normal for the player to not read max/avg. nits metadata on some discs? Watched Phantom Menace and there was no info for that under media for the disc, showed 1000 nits max under HDMI out. All the other discs I've played have shown metadata info under media.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by rroeder

Is it normal for the player to not read max/avg. nits metadata on some discs? Watched Phantom Menace and there was no info for that under media for the disc, showed 1000 nits max under HDMI out. All the other discs I've played have shown metadata info under media.

Some studio mastering agencies forget to put that pertinent metadata on the disc. The player won't read it because it's not there.

[rroeder]

Thanks I've had the player for less than a month and only played around 10 discs but all the others have shown that data, does that affect the optimizer if that data isn't there?

I can tell a diff in picture quality on the HDR10 discs, not so much on DV discs guess due to the optimizer, and no issues with freezing like w the Sony players so far(knock knock). I've had a few audio drops after pausing but switched out cable to receiver and did power reset, not sure if that issue is fixed tho

[panasonicst60]

Originally Posted by pbz06

I figured, as that can be a common problem with OLED. I see it a lot on my A9G as well, and it's frustrating. It's chroma overshoot for the low light black and near black. You can improve it with calibration but it's an inherent issue.

One way to mitigate the issue is to use a little bit of ambiant lighting in the room (not pitch black), sometimes I also reduce black level one click down. OLEDs simply struggle with the white subpixel that needs to be "on" for the image to work. At these near black levels, sometimes they're not charged enough to be fully on or they're straddling that on-off state. Additionally, since each pixel is separate, it's easy to see how millions of pixels would not exactly be on and off at the same time.

I have never seen chroma overshoot after LG update the firmware to fix the issue and I have the old c8. Even before the firmware, I have only barely seen it on extreme scenes to purposely show it(streaming). I have never seen it on disc. I think it varies a lot due to panel lottery. I would guess that people with bad(black) low light uniformity will be experimenting this issue. A lot have the dreaded black crush, low black uniformity, and low panel peak brightness, lucky mine doesn't have any of those issues. Another problem with OLEDs are white uniformity, which I wish mine was a little better.

Edit: Whomever has flickering, it's something that's defective and/or setting issues.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by rroeder

Thanks I've had the player for less than a month and only played around 10 discs but all the others have shown that data, does that affect the optimizer if that data isn't there?

I can tell a diff in picture quality on the HDR10 discs, not so much on DV discs guess due to the optimizer, and no issues with freezing like w the Sony players so far(knock knock). I've had a few audio drops after pausing but switched out cable to receiver and did power reset, not sure if that issue is fixed tho

The optimizer works on the static HDR10 layer only, not dynamic Dolby Vision or HDR10+. I would assume that the optimizer guesses an average with no HDR spec metadata and does not perform, um, optimally.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by rroeder

Thanks I've had the player for less than a month and only played around 10 discs but all the others have shown that data, does that affect the optimizer if that data isn't there?

I can tell a diff in picture quality on the HDR10 discs, not so much on DV discs guess due to the optimizer, and no issues with freezing like w the Sony players so far(knock knock). I've had a few audio drops after pausing but switched out cable to receiver and did power reset, not sure if that issue is fixed tho

Studios that usually put MaxCLL & MaxFALL on their discs: Sony, Warners, Lionsgate, Universal

Studios that don’t, or do so very rarely: Disnee, Fox, Paramount, StudioCanal

What the Optimiser will do is look for the MaxCLL value first. If none is present then it will use the maximum mastering display level.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by DJR662

An absolute necessity for anime fans such as myself.

This anime fan hasn't watched a DVD in many years.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Naiera

This anime fan hasn't watched a DVD in many years.

I would love Blu-ray releases to happen for, let's say, the entire uncut, unedited Urotsukidoji OVA series. Or Crying Freeman, Violence Jack, Cutie Honey (everything else besides New Cutie Honey) to name just a few.

[Naiera]

Does anyone know where one could buy a genuine, original remote for the UB9000? I hear it works with the 820 and it has a few features I'd love to have.

Problem is, the ones I can find are either unoriginal, don't have the correct buttons (HDR button on the bottom row is the easiest error to spot) or are ridiculously expensive, at $100 or so shipped. I read on a subreddit a few weeks ago that it's totes easy to find one for $30 on Amazon.com, but I haven't been able to find one on all the Amazons, eBay, etc.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by sofaman

It's completely random: seems to be virtually every disc has to be tried several times before working, assuming it eventually does work. Think I'll have to try the taking apart route....eek

My UB420 stopped working well also. Became quite random in behavior after I discovered beer was spilled on it. I think sometimes stuff just breaks. Sounds like the player and I don't recommend trying the X700.

[Naiera]

I’m not surprised it broke after beer was spilled on it

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Naiera

I’m not surprised it broke after beer was spilled on it

Yeah, it was on a shelf and I found it after. An open beer on the shelf above had spilled. I cleaned it inside and it looks ok but I think it's broken. It wasn't in my equipment rack at the time so nothing else was effected.

SofaMan's player sounds broken also even if no one spilled beer on it.

[NeilZ]

I guess that’s what you call a death by alcohol, or as the British would put it “death by misadventure”.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Does anyone know where one could buy a genuine, original remote for the UB9000? I hear it works with the 820 and it has a few features I'd love to have.

Problem is, the ones I can find are either unoriginal, don't have the correct buttons (HDR button on the bottom row is the easiest error to spot) or are ridiculously expensive, at $100 or so shipped. I read on a subreddit a few weeks ago that it's totes easy to find one for $30 on Amazon.com, but I haven't been able to find one on all the Amazons, eBay, etc.

I've got a bunch of them. Some legit, some knock-offs, none costing more than £20, they're not the same remote but I just don't care for getting the EXACT one as comes with the 9000. They're all so much betterer than the piece of chit that comes with the 820.

[Naiera]

I ordered one without the HDR button (it's not like I use HDR anyway!) but with those neat skipping buttons. Supposedly an original, for £21.33 shipped, including VAT. We'll see if it takes one or two months to get here from China...

[Blu-Curry]

The 820 is certainly quirky at times. I got the player back in December and had to wait a few weeks since the electronics store I bought it from had to ship it in. The player is in pristine condition though and I love it. What I don't love is that every now and then, the player freezes when turning on. I think I had to wait a longer period of time for it to turn on, but I usually press the power button so it turns off and I can turn it on again to work. Other times I put a disc in and then the video signal just goes away, prompting me to restart the player again for it to work. Some minor inconveniences aside, once it turns on and plays a disc correctly (and I keep changing my AVR to the Audio HDMI Output on the player until the disc plays) it's smooth sailing, but I actually haven't used the player that much to watch entire films. Just been testing things out and encountering these things. I just don't remember having issues like this so soon from other home video devices after buying them. I still have some VCR machines that work perfectly lol.