Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I set mine to 4k, it seems better than letting the TV do it

I had mine on Auto but switched it to 4K once sapiendut pointed out it would give me a faster handshake. I was also watching a PAL Blu-ray and the image was stretched under auto. 4K brought it back to the correct AR of 1.33

[backwater]

Ordered the 820 this morning. Now to figure out what to do with my Sony x700...

[Naiera]

Backup.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

Player is back to $350 on Amazon.

They are price-matching Best Buy. I see a small number of units available for pickup in stores in my area, in case someone prefers that over an online order.

[Sango]

Agreed, I too set my display to 4K. Previously I used to have it set for Auto and thought it would be better to set it so eliminate any guess work which could add time (if any).

[Sango]

Originally Posted by VirtuaBranson

Why would Auto cause a delay?

My guess would be there would be a handshake communication to determine what is supported on the two devices which could have a delay when this is done. Likely this is imprecievable unless someone is going to measure the timings. With that said, I think that selecting it would be better to eliminate the guess work.

I also heard that the Samsung display (which was posted from a different user somewhere in this thread), that there is some noticable delay or handshake issue (I forgot), so might as well just set it manually.

[Yearbook]

Count me in for upgrading from my x700 at this price.

[VirtuaBranson]

Originally Posted by Sango

My guess would be there would be a handshake communication to determine what is supported on the two devices which could have a delay when this is done. Likely the this is imprecievable unless someone is going to measure the timings. With that said, I think that selecting it would be better to eliminate the guess work.

I also heard that the Samsung display (which was posted from a different user somewhere in this thread), that there is some noticable delay or handshake issue (I forgot), so might as well just set it manually.

Nice. I have a Sony 900f, (older tv,But still pretty good) and I know they have good upscaling but it’s been looking good with this player so far with upscaling through the 820.

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by backwater

Ordered the 820 this morning. Now to figure out what to do with my Sony x700...

Definitely keep it, it's also a SACD player.

UHD reminds me of the HD DVD days, or maybe even the original Xbox system, those things were finicky as hell and would sometimes refuse to recognize a disc let alone play it glitched out, but if you had a backup unit or a different model, no problem usually. I am sure I will have to pull the Sony back out to watch something that the Pansonic doesn't like. And if you keep these discs for many years having two players will put you at ease.

[backwater]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Definitely keep it, it's also a SACD player.

UHD reminds me of the HD DVD days, or maybe even the original Xbox system, those things were finicky as hell and would sometimes refuse to recognize a disc let alone play it glitched out, but if you had a backup unit or a different model, no problem usually. I am sure I will have to pull the Sony back out to watch something that the Pansonic doesn't like. And if you keep these discs for many years having two players will put you at ease.

Good points. I do have a cheap Seiki Blu-ray player, which is my dedicated region free one, and a PS5, so I was thinking I'm probably covered. But you never know what will happen in the future.

[backwater]

Originally Posted by VirtuaBranson

Nice. I have a Sony 900f, (older tv,But still pretty good) and I know they have good upscaling but it’s been looking good with this player so far with upscaling through the 820.

I thought I was the only one around here still using a 900f Do you find the blooming to be distracting sometimes in HDR/DV? I have a bias light strip that helps a bit but still, it's the biggest flaw with the TV for me.

[VirtuaBranson]

Originally Posted by backwater

I thought I was the only one around here still using a 900f Do you find the blooming to be distracting sometimes in HDR/DV? I have a bias light strip that helps a bit but still, it's the biggest flaw with the TV for me.

Like any thing you watch on a lot it kind of fades away after a while. I’m happy with it and I game a lot on it so I haven’t moved to OLED as I play one game a lot and am worried about burn in. It’s been a good tv once I moved to an Apple TV for apps.

[rikraq]

Does the HCX and HDR Optimizer make a big difference?

As I don't need streaming options, I was thinking about the UB154 with isn't wireless but it lacks the two features above. Or the 420.

Right now I only have blu-rays that I watch.

[cascade 15]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Yeah I am not feeling this unlit remote at all fumbling with it in the dark, using my phone to light it up for the moment, I need to grab the Panny 9000 remote, not having a subtitle button sucks my Sony remote even has that. I also keep hitting the ExecFlix button when I stop the movie, they always put these things in the worst place because they want you to hit it by mistake.

You might want to try this one that is European and costs a lot less than $100. And it does work with the 820.

https://www.remote-control-world.eu/...3ma0a16s2s4j37

It does light up and unlike the 820 or 420 Panasonic remotes there is no danger of hitting Netflix and having to turn off the 4K player to exit. But it does seem to only recognize remote control numbers 6 & 7.

[Yogi6807]

Originally Posted by rikraq

Does the HCX and HDR Optimizer make a big difference?

As I don't need streaming options, I was thinking about the UB154 with isn't wireless but it lacks the two features above. Or the 420.

Right now I only have blu-rays that I watch.

The 150 sucks. It doesn't display the disc properly like every other player. Get the 420 it the best video money can buy and then buy a copy of the 9000 remote off of ebay for $15.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by chip75

The player sends a signal to the display, once DoVi is detected it tone maps to it's capabilities on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame basis dynamically.

As far as I know the Optimizer would mess up that process as it would map things out before it hits the display.

Thanks...I actually looked into that earlier today. Each TV is different, so it takes that DV signal and the TV plays it out to the best it's capable of based on it's own limitations.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

It might just be placebo but I swear HDR10 on this player looks better than the Sony. I always thought Dolby Vision discs looked better than HDR10 discs on my old player, but I was watching Avengers Infinity War last night and was floored how it just caught my eye more on this new player. Also I can definitely notice 1080p Blu rays looking better with the player set to 4K output.

Vincent had said in the past he'd rather watch movies in HDR10 (at least on the Sony TVs) since it does provide a more accurate representation of the video signal.

[Jonathan McLeod]

Dolby Vision is what the entire format should have been in the first place, not a proprietary enhancement. But what's done is done.

[rikraq]

Originally Posted by Yogi6807

The 150 sucks. It doesn't display the disc properly like every other player. Get the 420 it the best video money can buy and then buy a copy of the 9000 remote off of ebay for $15.

My main question really is, setting aside 4k discs for the moment, will a 4k player improve my blu-ray discs pq and audio any more than my 4k tv does?

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by rikraq

Does the HCX and HDR Optimizer make a big difference?

Yes on both.