Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[LordoftheRings]

[danny24]

It's been a few days but with my new power strip have not gotten F99 yet with my UB9000. Starts fine every time. Since that old power strip was in my home theater room I think it likely just went kaput.

[TheHistorian]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

That was my first thought.

Magneto?

For a backup player, I don't think I'll be spending more than I did for the 9000.

I'm told the Sony 800 is more solid. Might try that.


Really, the only reasons I want two are for the few discs the 9000 balks at and to be able to watch the best quality video from one with the audio commentary from another. The situation arises often enough that I'm considering it.

[George.P]

Originally Posted by TheHistorian

For a backup player, I don't think I'll be spending more than I did for the 9000.

I'm told the Sony 800 is more solid. Might try that.


Really, the only reasons I want two are for the few discs the 9000 balks at and to be able to watch the best quality video from one with the audio commentary from another. The situation arises often enough that I'm considering it.

What other discs cause issues with your ub9000? Happy to try them out in mine to see if it is a system-wide problem.

[Telemachus]

I finally noticed that sharpening GeoffD was talking about that the Panny adds to its 1080p-->4K upscale. Sneaky little buggers, I had no idea it did that. Used a test pattern I never used before and noticed the ringing, very subtle but it's there. Going to just pipe 1080p from now on for Blu rays.

[bl4ck]

And add that from now on you will only watch patters

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I finally noticed that sharpening GeoffD was talking about that the Panny adds to its 1080p-->4K upscale. Sneaky little buggers, I had no idea it did that. Used a test pattern I never used before and noticed the ringing, very subtle but it's there. Going to just pipe 1080p from now on for Blu rays.

Question: Did you use the same test patterns on your display to see if it doesn't do something similar when it upscales?

Also: If you only noticed this with one particular test pattern--not in actual in-motion content--does it really matter?

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

Question: Did you use the same test patterns on your display to see if it doesn't do something similar when it upscales?

Yes

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I finally noticed that sharpening GeoffD was talking about that the Panny adds to its 1080p-->4K upscale. Sneaky little buggers, I had no idea it did that. Used a test pattern I never used before and noticed the ringing, very subtle but it's there. Going to just pipe 1080p from now on for Blu rays.

And when I thought I'd found a solution for it - edge correction to +1 removes the ringing - it resulted in actual visible artefacts during real world content, it would cast bad moiré on tightly packed areas of detail. I pretty much use the Panny for 4K playback exclusively, if I've got a BD or DVD to watch it'll go in the OPPO or Sony.

It's a shame because on the pre-4K versions of Panny's Uniphier chip they didn't overdo the subsampling or the sharpening for DVD/BD (you could set the level yourself instead of having the player's processing ladling it all on by default), they didn't have such dreadful handling of interlaced content or SD stored on BD, and they also had aspect ratio control so you could zoom a non-anamorphic DVD and whatnot. For the 4K version it's like they went "ah **** it, no one cares about that stuff any more". Eh, I do! Throw in the absolutely godawful USB file playback and it's a good job these are so tasty with 4K disc playback, otherwise I don't know why I'd bovver keeping the 820.

[Telemachus]

That's how I feel about it now. It's funny how my Sony x700 does so much more well, you can literally strap an external drive to that and don't need a HTPC, but fails at the one thing I bought it for that the Panny does much better.

[88mph]

On the 820, is it possible to adjust the audio sync during disc playback?

As far as I can see it can only be done from the home menu settings. Which is not intuitive at all.

[cvarrick]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I finally noticed that sharpening GeoffD was talking about that the Panny adds to its 1080p-->4K upscale. Sneaky little buggers, I had no idea it did that. Used a test pattern I never used before and noticed the ringing, very subtle but it's there. Going to just pipe 1080p from now on for Blu rays.

Could someone kindly tell me where in settings I change things to toggle back & forth between the player doing the upscaling, & the tv (LG C3) doing it. Is it that 4k/60p/444 setting?

Thanks

[Compson]

Originally Posted by cvarrick

Could someone kindly tell me where in settings I change things to toggle back & forth between the player doing the upscaling, & the tv (LG C3) doing it. Is it that 4k/60p/444 setting?

Thanks

To have the TV do the upscaling:
HOME > SETUP > RESOLUTION > 1080p

To have the player do the upscaling, set Resolution on 4K.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I finally noticed that sharpening GeoffD was talking about that the Panny adds to its 1080p-->4K upscale. Sneaky little buggers, I had no idea it did that. Used a test pattern I never used before and noticed the ringing, very subtle but it's there. Going to just pipe 1080p from now on for Blu rays.

Over time I noticed a very slight, yet somewhat noticeable processed kind of look with the 820 upscaling...especially when you compare it to other units. It's almost a little harsher looking in its 'sharp' way. Once I moved into the video processor realm, it really became more apparent as the scaling became notably better paired using my Oppo 103D for 1080p. I only use the 820 for UHD BD. I'm a little tempted to get the Panasonic 450 especially for 4K USB playback with files from a galaxy far, far away. I wouldn't rule out using it for 1080p either depending on how it performs there.

[Oscarilbo]

Guys, just to confirm… Is general consensus that the UB820/9000, UB450 and also the Sony X700 present the exact same Dolby Vision PQ?

I ask this because I have a feeling that side by side Panasonic’s performance will have a bit richer colors than Sony’s, but haven’t dond side by side comparision myself.

What do you think?

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Over time I noticed a very slight, yet somewhat noticeable processed kind of look with the 820 upscaling...especially when you compare it to other units. It's almost a little harsher looking in its 'sharp' way. Once I moved into the video processor realm, it really became more apparent as the scaling became notably better paired using my Oppo 103D for 1080p. I only use the 820 for UHD BD. I'm a little tempted to get the Panasonic 450 especially for 4K USB playback with files from a galaxy far, far away. I wouldn't rule out using it for 1080p either depending on how it performs there.

Do you guys have your sharpness level at 0 on your tv?

[Telemachus]

I use sharpness 10 on LG sets for 1080p, and 0 for 4k signals. The actual sharpness starts at 11 and 0 is everything off, between 1 and 10 is a softness filter, but that's on default for Filmmaker mode so I leave it on. The UB820 upscale actually looks good, but as HeavyHitter said it looks more processed, I had a test pattern up where I could see faint halos and it bothered me, letting the LG upscale the same pattern there are no halos, it looks a bit softer overall but I'd rather go for that. Of course if I actually dial up the sharpness on the LG I can produce the same effects (around 20 or so). I heard the high end Sony sets also sharpen the upscale so maybe it's just a thing.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I use sharpness 10 on LG sets for 1080p, and 0 for 4k signals. The actual sharpness starts at 11 and 0 is everything off, between 1 and 10 is a softness filter, but that's on default for Filmmaker mode so I leave it on. The UB820 upscale actually looks good, but as HeavyHitter said it looks more processed, I had a test pattern up where I could see faint halos and it bothered me, letting the LG upscale the same pattern there are no halos, it looks a bit softer overall but I'd rather go for that. Of course if I actually dial up the sharpness on the LG I can produce the same effects (around 20 or so). I heard the high end Sony sets also sharpen the upscale so maybe it's just a thing.

Well, I just figured if 820 is giving a slight processed appearance with the upscale due to sharpness, I dialed my TV's sharpness level back to 0. It was usually 7 for 1080p. I figured that would counteract the edge halos. I didn't see any artifacts when doing that.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by jess1581

Do you guys have your sharpness level at 0 on your tv?

Yes.

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by jess1581

Well, I just figured if 820 is giving a slight processed appearance with the upscale due to sharpness, I dialed my TV's sharpness level back to 0. It was usually 7 for 1080p. I figured that would counteract the edge halos. I didn't see any artifacts when doing that.

Another thing about the UB820 upscale is it makes text jaggy, check any Blu ray menu, or even the main menu of the UB820 itself. Then run the same picture with the player set to 1080p and the LG on 10 sharpness, it's smooth as butter. Putting the sharpness to 10 with the UB820 upscaling to 4k also seems to have no effect, but putting it to 20 smooths it out again. I can't get any more technical than this but it seems like the more natural picture is the 820 putting out 1080p.