Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[chip75]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

That's one reason I have been more recently transferring my discs to digital storage for viewing. Pioneer computer drives are quite good at powering through disc imperfections that screw up most table top players, and I end up with a glitch free mkv. They must have the error correction that SHOULD have been used by Sony, Panasonic, Oppo, etc.

I wondered if the new generation of consoles would offer something better? all that processing power could be used to good affect, but it's so weird that they don't offer DoVi for disc playback.

I remember in the UK at least, folks were saying SONY didn't want the PS2 to be the living room DVD player so they added the RGB greenscreen with movie playback hoping people would buy a standalone deck.

But these days... consoles are meant to be AV hubs.

[Telemachus]

The next PS5 model has a detachable UHD drive, could be cool to grab extras as backups if they wear out, sure does remind me of the Xbox 360's HD DVD drive. I was thinking about picking one up if they improve movie playback, neither console is very good from what I've seen, at least they don't freeze it seems. These things are just loud to me though, I sit right near my setup. I don't think Xbox will ever support Dolby Vision for movies, maybe Playstation will I don't think either want to pay the license or whatever it is.

[backwater]

Originally Posted by VirtuaBranson

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.

Yep, I also use the Apple TV.

By the way, were you able to get the Panasonic remote to control volume for the Sony TV?

[JayPSU]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

this



When I broke out some older Blu-rays to watch over Halloweeen, I encountered many with off gassing gunk. Sure, wiping the disc off will help but you’ve got to neutralize the crap on the case, otherwise you’ll end up with gunk back on your disc.

I use these wipes on the case(s). They have just enough alcohol to lift off the gunk without causing a mess.

Any recommendations on a wipe like this that is larger and can be used for a big screen OLED? I’ve been searching for something.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by JayPSU

Any recommendations on a wipe like this that is larger and can be used for a big screen OLED? I’ve been searching for something.

I’m not aware of anything larger. I just use a damp microfiber cloth on my OLED panel.

[IndyMLVC]

Apologies if this has been answered already: I'm noticing white flashes on some HDR discs (but not DV discs). Noticed on Blade Runner and Goonies. It's literally like someone is taking a photo of the screen.

Any idea what setting might be causing this? Not sure what to search for.

[B.inthe6]

Just a note on cleaning a disc : wipe radially - that is centre to edge. That way IF you cause a scratch of any kind , it will be absolutely minimal relative to the movement of the laser along the timeline - thereby reducing chance of disruption in play. Not my idea BTW.

[VirtuaBranson]

Originally Posted by backwater

Yep, I also use the Apple TV.

By the way, were you able to get the Panasonic remote to control volume for the Sony TV?

No but I run everything through a Denon Receiver and it doesn't work with any volume button on the Panny Remote.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

I’m not aware of anything larger. I just use a damp microfiber cloth on my OLED panel.

I use a dry microfiber cloth on my OLED panel.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Apologies if this has been answered already: I'm noticing white flashes on some HDR discs (but not DV discs). Noticed on Blade Runner and Goonies. It's literally like someone is taking a photo of the screen.

Any idea what setting might be causing this? Not sure what to search for.

Just for the hell of it, can you try a different HDMI cable? That just sounds like the data is having trouble flowing correctly.

[evoll]

With the sell price I picked up a new player since my old ub820 quit reading any discs. Tried cleaning the lens by taking the top off of the old player but still would not read blu ray, 4k discs. I always clean every disc with distilled water and microfiber cloth. Also I knew it had to be the player because all the discs played fine on my oppo 203 and sony x800m2.

[benji888578]

So, I made an unplanned purchase today, I’ve not seen the 820 drop below $400, Best Buy early BF sale is $350, so, I went to my local Best Buy, they had two, one had a dent in the box, so, since that one may have been dropped, I bought the other one, it was stocked in July and made in May.



I haven’t set it up yet, however the remote is too familiar:

Left is for my 2013 Panasonic DMP230BDT, right, 820… I’m surprised they haven’t changed this design, while I can use the old one without looking at it, it is a royal pain if you accidentally hit the Netflix button, I may just pick up a 9000 knock off remote, only thing missing, …I bought a cheap Sony compatible remote, it has two additional buttons, 10s forward and backward, can come in handy, would like this for my new panny.

[sfmarine]

Congrats on the purchase. The 820 remote is by far the biggest complaint. They wanted to cut corners and picked that remote right out of the parts bin. While this is not uncommon, it is rather unusual for a premium player and comes off as very cheap. The 9000 remote is the way to go. I have one ordered from China (knockoff), and will report back once it arrives and I test it out.

[danny24]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

Congrats on the purchase. The 820 remote is by far the biggest complaint. They wanted to cut corners and picked that remote right out of the parts bin. While this is not uncommon, it is rather unusual for a premium player and comes off as very cheap. The 9000 remote is the way to go. I have one ordered from China (knockoff), and will report back once it arrives and I test it out.

I did not know that the 820 remote is almost identical to a 2013 remote for a Blu-ray player they made. That's way beyond cutting corners, it's just so freaking cheap. The UB900 which was their premium player years ago before the UB9000 even had a remote similar to the UB9000.

Let's face it these companies love to save every penny they can in the products they make. Panasonic just making it way more obvious with the UB820 remote.

[wormraper]

one thing I must take note of. the X800's drive mechanics are just superb. the panny 820 moans and groans like a geriatric without their arthritis medicine. fastfowarding you can hear the chug and "chk chk chck" as the laser moves, while on the X800 it's smooth and dead silent. Even opening the tray door there's a massive difference. the Panny sounds like an old PC optical drive opening and closing while the X800 sounds like it's on ball bearings. I guess it was true that out of all the $500 and less players the X800 and X800m2 had the best build quality. I love how the Panny plays everything without freezing, but I do miss that silken smooth feeling of the X800.

almost want to buy an M2 as well during the BF sale and keep it to go along with my UB 820 as a complimentary player

[Tastypho]

Originally Posted by Tastypho

I also got a new UB820 from the recent sale on Amazon and so far I've tested about 10 discs. Half of those (brand new) discs had freezing/pixelation issues. A couple worked fine after I wiped it with a microfiber cloth but the others glitched out no matter what I tried. I got Amazon to ship out a replacement so I'll have to do some further testing to see if it's the discs or if I got a lemon. Any troubleshooting tips I should give a try? I'm running it through a very simple setup - HDMI 2.1 directly to my LG C3, no receiver in the chain. Firmware is up to date, it was the first thing I did after I hooked it up.... perhaps I'll skip the firmware update for the replacement and see how that goes.

Edit: Also want to note that the manufacturing date on the unit I got is August 2023 so it's fairly new and up to date.

I wanna give a quick update for future reference. My replacement 820 that I received from Amazon plays all previously glitched discs perfectly all the way through. Not one freeze or pixelated glitch to be seen. Everything I've thrown at it runs great so far (knock on wood.)

This replacement unit was also manufactured in August 2023 and this time I chose not to update the firmware which is currently at 1.70. I have no idea if the firmware update was the reason for the first players issues, but I'm not going to risk it and will just leave well enough alone.

Anywho, thanks for the replies and thank God I won't have to wash any physical media anytime soon. Merry Thanksgiving you filthy animals.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Tastypho

I wanna give a quick update for future reference. My replacement 820 that I received from Amazon plays all previously glitched discs perfectly all the way through. Not one freeze or pixelated glitch to be seen. Everything I've thrown at it runs great so far (knock on wood.)

This replacement unit was also manufactured in August 2023 and this time I chose not to update the firmware which is currently at 1.70. I have no idea if the firmware update was the reason for the first players issues, but I'm not going to risk it and will just leave well enough alone.

Anywho, thanks for the replies and thank God I won't have to wash any physical media anytime soon. Merry Thanksgiving you filthy animals.

just like panel lottery, their is mechanical drive lottery. you probably got one that wasn't mounted perfect and off just enough to cause the laser to have issues. firmware likely has nothing to do with it.

it's probably one of the major contributors to why some X800's and X700's freeze, and other's dont

[Telemachus]

Reusing 10 year old remotes was pretty common with CD decks, I used to always like new movie players or AVRs to see the new remotes, pretty cheap doing this on a UHD player the UB820 should have gotten a non-backlit Panny 9000 remote, they still could have made the actual 9000 come with an illumated remote as a premium and maybe have a different finish. They probably saved a dollar per unit.

I did notice the Sony drive is quieter off the mark and when it's moving. The Sony is also faster cycling the audio options and subtitles, little things like that. Too bad it has that terminal design flaw with freezing.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by wormraper

one thing I must take note of. the X800's drive mechanics are just superb. the panny 820 moans and groans like a geriatric without their arthritis medicine. fastfowarding you can hear the chug and "chk chk chck" as the laser moves, while on the X800 it's smooth and dead silent.

Geriatric without their meds… The 820 is rather loud, but perhaps I have excellent hearing. I returned mine last year after loud fan and disc drive noise. The one I have now is quieter.

Originally Posted by danny24

I did not know that the 820 remote is almost identical to a 2013 remote for a Blu-ray player they made. That's way beyond cutting corners, it's just so freaking cheap. The UB900 which was their premium player years ago before the UB9000 even had a remote similar to the UB9000.

Let's face it these companies love to save every penny they can in the products they make. Panasonic just making it way more obvious with the UB820 remote.

My old Panny from ‘11 was my first 3D player (notice the 3D button), and it uses the same remote as well.

Yes, I used my dog as a prop.

Car companies cut corners as well. Inside The Acura NSX, you’ll see a lot of familiar Honda Civic components down to the same radio and turn signal/wiper stock.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

Geriatric without their meds… The 820 is rather loud, but perhaps I have excellent hearing. I returned mine last year after loud fan and disc drive noise. The one I have now is quieter.

lol, ironically the fan is quiet, and the drive while in USE is actually quieter than the X800... I was mainly talking about chapter skipping, loading a disc and fast fowarding where you hear that laser head shifting. the X800 you couldn't hear the head at ALLLLL when it shifted. it was eerie. but the disc spinning was louder in the X800. weird trade off lol.

it's not super LOUD or anything, espeically under use. I was just used to dead silence with the X800 (except for disc spinning, which was weirdly loud comparatively) that any noise is noticeable lol