Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[TheHistorian]

Found another disc causing problems on my 9000: Inglourious Basterds (Arrow) extras disc. The new extras play fine, but the archival extras and trailers not only won't play but also cause the player to lock up.

They play fine on my noisy Sony.

WTF did I spend this much on a player so that I still need to have a backup for all the weirdly authored stuff by the lower quality labels (looking at you Shout and Arrow)?


Do we have any chance of getting Panasonic to issue firmware updates for this stuff? (Although I'd bet it's actually some oddity on the Arrow side, and they don't care.)

[LordoftheRings]

Which noisy Sony?

[danny24]

Originally Posted by George.P

Does it not show the error when plugged directly into a wall outlet?

I don't know I'll give it a try and report back. I have it in my home theater room plugged into the power strip.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by TheHistorian

Found another disc causing problems on my 9000: Inglourious Basterds (Arrow) extras disc. The new extras play fine, but the archival extras and trailers not only won't play but also cause the player to lock up...


Do we have any chance of getting Panasonic to issue firmware updates for this stuff? (Although I'd bet it's actually some oddity on the Arrow side, and they don't care.)

This is a known problem that's been discovered with the authoring of the recent release of the Inglourious Basterds Arrow extras disk. It apparently only affects the Panasonic 420, 820, and 9000 models that share the same underlying hardware platform. The Panasonic 450, which uses a different SoC works fine. Those archival extras are the same extras that came with the Universal standard edition of Inglourious Basterds and work fine if you already have that edition.

Arrow says it's Panasonic's fault because the disk works on other models and with other brand's players. I say it's Arrow's fault for not properly QCing the disk with the UB-820 that's likely the most popular player among the sort of people who buy expensive collectors limited edition releases. So far Arrow has not said they will issue replacement disks because "not our problem".

In the past Panasonic has issued firmware updates that solve problems with specific disks--likely to prevent similar problems with future disks as well. I don't know how long it took them to do this or if they would do it in this case.

[LordoftheRings]

Reminds me Panasonic, FOX and Avatar 3D Blu-ray deal from hell.

[Chrislh]

So my ub820 has trouble reading nearly all paramount and VS 4k titles. I have to open and closed the tray around 10 times sometimes more before they read. It's out of warranty so how do i go about getting it fixed and how much?

[danny24]

I booted it 10 times no F99 error code plugged in to normal outlet. So it's definitely the power strip contributing to the error code. Going to have to replace it now.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by danny24

I booted it 10 times no F99 error code plugged in to normal outlet. So it's definitely the power strip contributing to the error code. Going to have to replace it now.

power strips are cheap. players not so much, glad it was the easy problem.

just get one of the Tripp Lite ISObar ones and call it a day

[danny24]

Originally Posted by wormraper

power strips are cheap. players not so much, glad it was the easy problem.

just get one of the Tripp Lite ISObar ones and call it a day

I ordered the one for $70+ off Amazon. At least for people that encounter F99 error code on the 9000/820 if you use a power strip that may be causing it. It was the problem with my player.

[unknownuser0001]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Panasonic's quality control has slipped considerably over the lifetime of their 4k players.

Are you saying that the current 820 is inferior than the 2018 ones? is there any data to support this? Surely they might have to source the drive and other components elsewhere but it does not necessarily mean anything.
Hopefully with my weekly 3-4 hour usage it will last 4-5 years, I just really hope that Panasonic will not exit the player market.

Or if you just meant this to the exposed screws then no big deal just asked if it's normal.

Originally Posted by chip75

It's quite common to have a millimetre or two of thread sticking out depending on the construction of the player, as they secure interior components.

Alright then, first time I see such thing. The ends are actually rounded, apparently the plastic clips the sharper ones.

Really like it, my 20+ year old concert DVDs never looked this good, totally watchable and I sit 1 screen width distance so pretty close.
Upscaling is so good that it makes me reconsider buying 4K Blu-Rays and just get the 1080p discs, the price differences are often eye popping. Again, I might be too late to the party.

[PipesDonatello]

Great, now my UB820 won't read some Sony 4Ks. I can't believe this thing crapped out after only 3 years. Buyer beware.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by danny24

I ordered the one for $70+ off Amazon. At least for people that encounter F99 error code on the 9000/820 if you use a power strip that may be causing it. It was the problem with my player.

Sometimes a power strip needs a reset, just like a phone, a receiver, a Blu-ray player, etc.
On the power strip just press the reset button; if no avail, just press the power button to turn it off, wait a minute, then just turn it on.

Or, turn the power button off, then unplug the power strip from the wall outlet, wait a minute, plug back the power strip to the wall outlet, then turn the power button on from the power strip.

[LordoftheRings]

I'm gong to ask Elon Musk to build a new 4K Universal Blu-ray player; battery powered.

[TheHistorian]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

Which noisy Sony?

X700

I'm going to dump it and get something else as a backup player.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by TheHistorian

X700

I'm going to dump it and get something else as a backup player.

That was my first thought.

Magneto?

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

Sometimes a power strip needs a reset, just like a phone, a receiver, a Blu-ray player, etc.
On the power strip just press the reset button; if no avail, just press the power button to turn it off, wait a minute, then just turn it on.

Or, turn the power button off, then unplug the power strip from the wall outlet, wait a minute, plug back the power strip to the wall outlet, then turn the power button on from the power strip.

When doing the above you don't need to unplug anything from the power strip; just leave everything in place.

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

That was my first thought.

Magneto?

Did you mean Magnetar?

[DavePS3]

Hello everyone... while there is no doubt that 4K discs are massively more sensitive to fingerprints, haze etc., if you've cleaned the disc with a screenclean solution (made for plastic unlike Windex) and you still have issues with some discs, unplug the player from power for at LEAST 20 minutes. Let the Cap's dissipate then plug back in. If that fails, do the same thing with the disc still in the tray. Like Routers, cable boxes etc., they often need a good 20 mins to fully clear themselves. Anyway, I've found this to help a lot with both the 820 and 9000. Try it. It cannot make things worse - it'll either help or not.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by sojrner

Did you mean Magnetar?

Sorry, typo.

[kristoffer]

I always think of the ad from Robocop 2, whenever I hear "Magnetar" !