Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by armus

I've got the Samsung HW-Q6CR, which is the Costco-specific version of the HW-Q60R.

Well, according to the user manual your soundbar supports DTS.

[Telemachus]

Soundbars are wild to me, it's literally TV speakers in an external box with digital input. I think I would rather run powered Dell PC speakers for movies.

[ronand]

So the soundbar only supports 2 channel PCM? Then the Panny is only sending what the soundbar supports.

[bs6268d]

Originally Posted by armus

Today I tried replacing my Sony X700 with a Panasonic UB820. So far the experience with my Samsung Q60 TV and Samsung Soundbar is disappointing. While I was able to gain HDR10+ (vs. the X700) it seems as though Samsung doesn't support DTS, so the UB820 resorts to PCM but when it does it goes down to 2ch. So, if a disc uses Dolby then that works fine, but it it uses DTS then I'm just going to get 2.0 audio on my 5.1 setup.

I have the same problem with my PS5 and LG C2 plus Bose soundbar. On Xbox, if your TV or soundbar doesn't support DTS it converts it to at least 5.1.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by ronand

Then the Panny is only sending what the soundbar supports.

Exactly. Also it doesn't support Atmos / TrueHD or DTS:X / HD MA decoding so you only get - can someone correct me if I'm wrong - core lossy tracks.

[ronand]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

Exactly. Also it doesn't support Atmos / TrueHD or DTS:X / HD MA decoding so you only get - can someone correct me if I'm wrong - core lossy tracks.

That should be the case if the soundbar is connected directly to the Panny. The TV doesn't seem to passthrough DTS.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Soundbars are wild to me, it's literally TV speakers in an external box with digital input.

My TV speakers sound awful and I'm extremely happy with my soundbar. Of course it has nothing on the proper 5.1 and higher setup (or even 2.0 with AV receiver) but calling them TV speakers is insulting. (maybe the cheapest ones sound just as flat, but not mine) Switching between basic 5.1 track and Atmos on, for example, Dune is a night and day difference.

[Telemachus]

I haven't ever heard a soundbar since a Bose one I had access to which was ridiculously priced at the time ($300 i think), but I assure you if you pull the midrange woofer out of most TVs (even tube TVs) or the tweeters (if there is one) they are comparable size and quality to what's in a soundbar, the bar just has more of it, sometimes. I mean we are not talking macbook air speakers, my LG OLED has decent sound it can fill a bedroom I just have no reason to ever use it. The only truly horrible integrated speakers I've encountered are in PC gaming monitors they sound worse than an '80s arcade machine. I've seen soundbars now that run up to $1k which is crazy to me you can buy a Klipsch 5.1 system on sale for less and an integrated amp. I did run a soundbar for several years when I worked overseas and lived in a cube apartment but I can't imagine it in a proper home at all or even my childhood bedroom especially when it involves a disc based 4k movie setup.

[Mierzwiak]

My soundbar has and external woofer and I'm not a fan of too much cables. (also I don't care that much about sound, but enough to use something more than TV speakers) And living in an apartment building also has its limitations, even that soundbar is sometimes too much for my neighbours

[rubystone356]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

My soundbar has and external woofer and I'm not a fan of too much cables. (also I don't care that much about sound, but enough to use something more than TV speakers) And living in an apartment building also has its limitations, even that soundbar is sometimes too much for my neighbours

I had the same problem with a condo and my neighbors. I got lucky and moved into a house. So much nicer. I have a regular receiver and speakers.

Jacob

[chip75]

Originally Posted by armus

I've got the Samsung HW-Q6CR, which is the Costco-specific version of the HW-Q60R. I've also got the optional rear speakers, so the 3.1 setup becomes 5.1.

What did help was to use two HDMI cables from the 820 so the video goes to the tv and the audio goes to the sound bar. The caveat is that the sound bar's input needs to be manually switched from ARC to HDMI. The TV and soundbar remote can still change the audio level even though it's not actually using audio from the TV.

However, there's times when the soundbar will automatically switch back to ARC, and I'm still trying to understand this behavior.

I'd try sending the audio to the soundbar from the player second HDMI output and use the digital (optical) for the TV's sound. That way you bypass ARC.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

Well, according to the user manual your soundbar supports DTS.

It looks like it only supports Dolby lossy and DTS lossy. Otherwise, it would say Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA HD lossless.



The EDID of the soundbar may be telling the Panasonic that its best audio level is PCM 2.0, so it is confused as to what to do. It may not even have an internal multi-channel DTS decoder. Some players are limited in their DTS conversion support.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

It looks like it only supports Dolby lossy and DTS lossy. Otherwise, it would say Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA HD lossless.

Yup, that's exactly what I said earlier: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...ostcount=15102

[FilmFreakosaurus]

I would live with the wires (there are ways of hiding them neatly) to get better audio that a soundbar.



I was even pleasantly surprised by Polk's lower end XT line of speakers if someone is truly on a budget and needs something of higher sonic quality than a soundbar for not a huge amount of dough, especially when they are on sale. Even a receiver with full lossless audio support isn't that bad. Just buy a little at a time.

[johnny-torrance]

Well, it only took a week and a half-two weeks for something to crop up with my new UB820. I'm sure this has happened to other people, but I don't wanna pick thru this entire thread for a possible solution, so here it is.. I can't recall if this happened with regular blu-rays, but I've noticed it with two 4K discs so far: on the main menu of a disc the screen will cut out to black, but I just assumed this was a loading thing and it didn't bother me that much. Then when you play the main feature it'll cut to black and the film will keep going so it just keeps cutting to black every couple of seconds as the film plays. Ejecting the disc and putting it back in fixes the issue, but I'd rather this just not happen at all. Are there any known solutions to this issue? I'm current on firmware updates as far as I know, checked it and updated it when I got the player roughly two weeks ago and VIERA link is turned off.

Other than this relatively small, but very annoying occurrence I'm very happy and satisfied with the product so far.

[rubystone356]

Originally Posted by johnny-torrance

Well, it only took a week and a half-two weeks for something to crop up with my new UB820. I'm sure this has happened to other people, but I don't wanna pick thru this entire thread for a possible solution, so here it is.. I can't recall if this happened with regular blu-rays, but I've noticed it with two 4K discs so far: on the main menu of a disc the screen will cut out to black, but I just assumed this was a loading thing and it didn't bother me that much. Then when you play the main feature it'll cut to black and the film will keep going so it just keeps cutting to black every couple of seconds as the film plays. Ejecting the disc and putting it back in fixes the issue, but I'd rather this just not happen at all. Are there any known solutions to this issue? I'm current on firmware updates as far as I know, checked it and updated it when I got the player roughly two weeks ago and VIERA link is turned off.

Other than this relatively small, but very annoying occurrence I'm very happy and satisfied with the product so far.

I remember having this issue with my ps4.. do you have the player hooked to a receiver.. I have a Denon receiver. I remember when in settings display that the upscale was on. once I turned that off no issues.

Jacob

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I run Panny/LG, I keep the LG DTM off, I tried it and it makes the picture way too different for some films, washed out even, but if you watch Heat just turn it on (more on that later). For the HDR optimizer on the Panny, it's off, unless I want it to curve discs that go over 1000nits, but this drops the brightness on my LG vs. having it off and I don't like it (just having the Optimizer ON does this, even if settings are neutral), check a disc like Interstellar for this behavior. If I actually want to use the optimizer's settings, I only have a handful of discs that need it: Heat, Christine, Crank, a few others. I actually stopped turning it on for everything except Heat, that really is the worst of the worst that I've seen. 90% of my discs are Dolby Vision and that's hands off from me except tweaking filmmaker mode for color or whatever.

The Optimizer does absolutely nothing to anything MAXLL at a 1,000 nits or less. The only thing I can think of is that it will adjust something that was graded with a mastering monitor of 4,000 nits to 1,000 or to whatever the MAXLL is. But I’ve never noticed any real differences on my C9 when I turn the Optimizer On or Off when watching something 1,000 nits or less. That’s why I leave it “On” at all times. It’s silly to constantly turn it on and off just for certain discs. You would have to keep a list or something to remember.

Only things I have adjusted for the Optimizer is the Dynamic Range Adjustment slider and Brightness. I encourage you to turn LG’s DTM “On” and adjust the slider to around -2 and brightness to -3 in the HDR Options menu. That “washed out” look goes away to make any disc you plug in look amazing!

[johnny-torrance]

Originally Posted by rubystone356

I remember having this issue with my ps4.. do you have the player hooked to a receiver.. I have a Denon receiver. I remember when in settings display that the upscale was on. once I turned that off no issues.

Jacob

The settings on the player or your receiver? I don't have a set up of any kind at the moment, just running it through my TV.

[rubystone356]

Originally Posted by johnny-torrance

The settings on the player or your receiver? I don't have a set up of any kind at the moment, just running it through my TV.

receiver.. it might be a bad cable.

Jacob

[mdhaus]

Originally Posted by johnny-torrance

The settings on the player or your receiver? I don't have a set up of any kind at the moment, just running it through my TV.

That sounds to me like a cable or handshake issue - possibly residing with your TV and not the player.