Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Bluhaven]

Hey everyone,

I could really use your advice! I have a Hisense U8H, and I'm trying to decide whether to buy the more affordable Panasonic 450 or the more expensive 820. Do you think HDR Optimizer would make a noticeable difference for HDR10 content on the Hisense? I know this TV has a peak brightness of 1500 nits.

Thanks in advance for your input!

[I5o]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

I have compared the sounds of my DP-UB9000 and a DP-UB820 I ran across at a Magnolia inside a Best Buy. They both use the exact same drive. The only difference is the DP-UB9000 one has a metal plate on top of it and a tray that is made of a different material, but you can clearly see that underneath that metal plate is the same black plastic mold as that which houses the DP-UB820 one. The extra silence of the DP-UB9000 comes from its anti-vibration chassis.

Gidday BijouMan,

Respectfully you are incorrect in saying both the UB820 and the UB9000 use the same drive. They don't. I have both machines and the UB9000 has a larger pcb on the underside of the drive and it clearly has an extra and larger integrated circuit. The UB820 does not have this extra IC. Also the weight of the UB9000 is slightly more perhaps because of the extra metal top but since it says its premium drive I would say Panasonic has produced a better drive.

Also once experimented and I placed the UB9000 drive in the UB820 and it was quieter when playing BD or 4K discs. But I did not risk putting in the UB820 into the UB9000 as it may short circuit something.

And lastly I also have the older UB900 and that drive is more comparable to the UB820 in weight and pcb. If you ever teardown a UB820 or UB9000 post a clear photo of the PCB on the underside. If I happen to find my photos of the panas pcb I will post them here. Good luck!

[KillerQ]

So,

I know the UB820 can be unlocked via an addon chip from rattlebyte/ but one of the attractions to the unit is that it can also be region unlocked via a softmod firmware upgrade.

My question is, do both methods yield the EXACT same unlocked abilities and features, or are there additional features that you get from the hardware chip install modification?

Thanks!!

[bl4ck]

softmod can more, and this is not a good place to ask this question, it is better to ask on the forum where they create softmod.

[KillerQ]

Originally Posted by bl4ck

softmod can more, and this is not a good place to ask this question, it is better to ask on the forum where they create softmod.

Thank you. Do you, by chance, have a link to that forum?

[billyrox]

What are some recommended Soundbars? I have a 420 but don't see a thread for it.

[Greg_M]

My Oppo BDP-103 is dying. Keeps saying "Unknown Disc" more and more even though I have played those discs with the Oppo before.

A couple of questions about the 820.

How good is it about up-scaling DVD discs? (I still have some hard to find titles in my collection)

It says in the Amazon ad that...... Only USA region disc playback is supported; Blu-ray disc - Region "A" / DVD disc - Region "1".
Does that mean it will not play Region 0?

Thanks
Greg

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Greg_M

How good is it about up-scaling DVD discs?

Not good, but the Panasonic 450 might be better - others can chime in.

[Daz_85]

Originally Posted by Greg_M

How good is it about up-scaling DVD discs?[/B] (I still have some hard to find titles in my collection)

Not upscaling, but I was annoyed when I played a DVD for the first time on my 820 recently to discover that it pauses briefly during the layer change. Playing the DVD through my PS5 did not!

[Telemachus]

820 is garbage for DVD from my experience with it, use anything else. My 2007 Toshiba smokes it for dinner, even the PS3 looks better.

[sapiendut]

The DVD to 4K upscaling is nothing to erite home about, but far better than “garbage”

[Jutty]

I have a issue with a disc playing in my 820 .It always becomes pixelated at a certain point in the film, but it will play just fine in my LG UHD machine. ( figured it may be a disc coding issue)
That being said, i got a replacement from Amazon, and the replacement plays just fine in the 820..
Just curious if this is a start of a issue on the 820 ?

[Telemachus]

Some players don't like some discs, there's no science to it from my experience.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Bluhaven

Hey everyone,

I could really use your advice! I have a Hisense U8H, and I'm trying to decide whether to buy the more affordable Panasonic 450 or the more expensive 820. Do you think HDR Optimizer would make a noticeable difference for HDR10 content on the Hisense? I know this TV has a peak brightness of 1500 nits.

Thanks in advance for your input!

It will depend on the content and its mastering levels. Your TV can hit 1,700 to 1,800 nits according Rtings. So it's bright enough for a lot of content, and has DoVi to help as well.

[starrynights89]

I just got this player after getting fed up with my Sony X700 freezing on certain disks.

I've been encountering an issue where the UB820 will drop out of the picture when I have Dolby Vision on. There's a lot of white snow noise in the background, tried several discs and got the same issue. Turning it off to HDR 10 works fine.

After swapping a couple of HDMI cables and trying all 3 ports on my Bravia 8 OLED, I haven't had any changes. Enhancement is set to on for these ports and the TV is showing Dolby Vision as being active. Did a factory reset on the TV and the player with no luck there.

I tried to test my X700 against it on the same ports, and it's able to work with dolby vision. So I've ruled out the TV and my 4K blu rays as the cause.

I ordered a certified HDMI cable from monoprice on amazon and will try it tomorrow when I get it. I don't get how the rocket fish cable I have doesn't work, but it's worth a shot based upon what others have recommended.

If I can't get this to work I have until February to return the player for a refund and try another unit. To the best of my knowledge, this player should work with an OLED TV, but I only have the one tv to test it on.

I also tested it with an older LED TV I have that has DV support and it plays, so hopefully the cable is the weak link in all this.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by starrynights89

I just got this player after getting fed up with my Sony X700 freezing on certain disks.

I've been encountering an issue where the UB820 will drop out of the picture when I have Dolby Vision on. There's a lot of white snow noise in the background, tried several discs and got the same issue. Turning it off to HDR 10 works fine.

After swapping a couple of HDMI cables and trying all 3 ports on my Bravia 8 OLED, I haven't had any changes. Enhancement is set to on for these ports and the TV is showing Dolby Vision as being active. Did a factory reset on the TV and the player with no luck there.

I tried to test my X700 against it on the same ports, and it's able to work with dolby vision. So I've ruled out the TV and my 4K blu rays as the cause.

I ordered a certified HDMI cable from monoprice on amazon and will try it tomorrow when I get it. I don't get how the rocket fish cable I have doesn't work, but it's worth a shot based upon what others have recommended.

If I can't get this to work I have until February to return the player for a refund and try another unit. To the best of my knowledge, this player should work with an OLED TV, but I only have the one tv to test it on.

I also tested it with an older LED TV I have that has DV support and it plays, so hopefully the cable is the weak link in all this.

I'm not sure if Sony Dolby Vision displays continue to need Player Led DV (Low Latency DV) or not, but if so you may need the latest Panasonic 4k player firmware that allows switching to Player Led DV manually.

[starrynights89]

The monoprice cables did the trick. Tried three movies today and they play without a hitch on a 4k60hz port. The player was on the 1.82 firmware so nothing I could change there.

Can’t believe I thought Best Buy would sell cables that don’t work with this thing. They got rid of movies this year and can’t do cables right. It’s a sad state of affairs that this is all going online only.

I’ll use the panny for my 4k’s and my Sony x700 for blu-ray and dvd. Should help extend the life of both of them.

Hopefully they’re still selling players in the foreseeable future. If those one gets discontinued I may end up buying another.

[Scanner238]

820 arrived on Tuesday from amazon. The 3 DV discs I've tried all encounter flickering, and what appears to be dropping frames throughout. When I play the blu-ray versions of the same films, the problem goes away. Turn DV off, the problem goes away. Not an issue with HDMI cables - I've experimented swapping them out.

Bought it strictly for the DV, so looks like I'm going back to the PS5 which has always been consistent. Maybe DV just isn't for me.

[Telemachus]

I just had one of those "unreadable disc" moments with the 820. Movie I haven't watched in a couple years (Mission Impossible), the disc worked last time, no scratches, disc looked clean in room lighting. Typical open/close and powercycle, still won't play. Throw some jeweler light on it, oh there's a streak of dried up case muck, wiped it clean, but still won't play. At his point I was actually close to chalking it up as a dead disc. I can give this thing an alcohol bath and then pull the Sony out of the closet as my last options. But I just run warm water over it for 30 seconds and give it another wipe down: disc starts up on the 820, all is well. It seriously is a process sometimes. Whenever I see someone on here complaining about the 820 not playing discs I like to think that person just never gets this far.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by starrynights89

I just got this player after getting fed up with my Sony X700 freezing on certain disks.

I've been encountering an issue where the UB820 will drop out of the picture when I have Dolby Vision on. There's a lot of white snow noise in the background, tried several discs and got the same issue.

I know it looks like you got this fixed, but White Snowy Noise is a good indication that it’s a cable issue. I remember my dad buying 2 $150 Monster Cable HDMI cables and it produced white snow. This was back in 2009/2010 when we didn’t know better.

Obviously we know now Monster Cable is a huge rip off! Once we discovered this, we bought HDMI Cables from Monoprice and that did the trick. We have been buying from them since. Don’t trust anyone else but them.

But I will say, I also get a drop out of picture when I start up a Dolby Vision disc on my LG C9 from my Panny 820. But the playback of the movie is fine. I think it just enters a DV mode or something with the TV.