Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Mikke73]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

Lucky you, but a lot of people aren't having that kind of experience. Just check the 1-star Verified Purchase reviews on Best Buy and Amazon. Crutchfield 1-2 star reviews also.

Seems to me that Panasonics most likely have a high defect rate. How many owners only watch a few movies a month and won't run into issues until several years later as a result? And how many people actually keep track of their website logins to be able to post a review? How many others just can't be bothered to write a review and move on with their lives? I suspect the failure rate is higher than even the negative reviews would suggest.

My device is well-ventilated in a pet-free, smoke-free, child-free environment and after about 200hrs it is consistently struggling to read discs.

The crazy part is how many people online will tell you not to buy a Sony. "Go buy a Panasonic!" they say, "Panasonics don't freeze!"

I'm certain that there are a lot of people who can't be bothered to write a review, but usually those are the ones with positive experience. People are much more likely to write a review when they are not satisfied.

[TotallyTuned]

Originally Posted by Mikke73

I'm certain that there are a lot of people who can't be bothered to write a review, but usually those are the ones with positive experience. People are much more likely to write a review when they are not satisfied.

On the other hand, there are large volumes of fraudulent reviews for most products, and it seems like companies can get honest reviews removed for some pretty suspect reasons at times.

[Sango]

Happy to say I got my UB9000 fully working the way I mainly wanted with the RegionFreedom + Darkmode patch. Thanks to pr0darek!

Now I can play my anime Region B or Region 2 without having to go to my Oppos which is modded.

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by Sango

Happy to say I got my UB9000 fully working the way I mainly wanted with the RegionFreedom + Darkmode patch. Thanks to pr0darek!

Now I can play my anime Region B or Region 2 without having to go to my Oppos which is modded.

Congratulations! Was this as hard as it looks?

[Sango]

Originally Posted by Braktastic

Congratulations! Was this as hard as it looks?

It is relatively easy overall. I took my time and was using two other guides (which was based off the AVForum double check) to check ensure I did not do anything wrong.

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

• Last update for DP-UB9000/UB820/UB420 was June of last year
• The UB820 has sluggish performance when it comes to navigating menus or using the fast-forward/rewind functions
• The software is either bugged, or the quality-of-life design sucks (menus popping up after disk insertion that need to be dismissed)
• The hardware is not reliable (see check Amazon Verified Purchase reviews)
• The asking price is high, and they are raising it higher despite all of the aforementioned issues.

IDK, I'm glad someone is making players but Panasonic seems to be taking advantage of customers due to the lack of competition.

Menu needing dismissed after disc insertion... What are you taking about? I regularly use mine and have nothing come up after putting in a disc.

[I5o]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

I have returned with more UB820 data. I opened up both players to see which drive part was installed at the factory. I also accessed the service menu to see the playback stats and check the status of the drive. The device exhibiting issues does report that the drive is bad.

Please note that while the first unit is nearly 220 hrs or ~110 movies in, it was at less when the first issue arose just a few months after the end of the 1 yr warranty. I posted about it Nov/Dec of last year and I've watched more movies on it since then. (not every disk is bothered by this defect)



UB820 - 1
Manufacture Date: Aug 2023
Blu-ray Hrs: 219
DVD Hrs: 5
Firmware: 1.82
Drive Part #: TXP0034
Drive Check: DRV NG (Not Good)

UB820 - 2
Manufacture Date: Sept 2024
Blu-ray Hrs: 6
DVD Hrs: 0
Firmware: 1.82
Drive Part #: TXP0183
Drive Check: DRV OK

So, the players do have different drive parts it turns out and the first one is defective. Guess if I buy a part it should probably be the TXP0183

Gidday TotallyTuned,

Thanks for the feedback and well done on the teardown and comparison and for giving us the data and your findings!

Yes ring around and try to see if you can get old new stock ending 34, 35 36 otherwise you can replace the defective disc drive with a TXP0183 and 184, model availability depends on your source and safer if it's an authorised Panasonic parts retailer. I respectfully suggest comparing prices between the new UB820 disc drive and a UB9000 disc drive as both drives use the same ribbon cable attached to the motherboard. Good luck and enjoy your revived UB820. Cheers

[BXR 1138]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

I also accessed the service menu to see the playback stats and check the status of the drive. The device exhibiting issues does report that the drive is bad.

Can you share how you did that? It would save a lot of people with faulty units the trouble of trying to figure out if it's the drive.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see now it was posted a few pages back by another user. For those who haven't already seen it:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...ostcount=16199

[TotallyTuned]

Originally Posted by sojrner

Menu needing dismissed after disc insertion... What are you taking about? I regularly use mine and have nothing come up after putting in a disc.

I guess I described it poorly. You know the overlay that pops up when you hit the status button? That comes up automatically on the Panasonic, usually right after starting the film. I then have to hit the status button to make it go away. As I said in the post, this may be a bug but if not it's a horrible feature. I could swear I've seen other people complain about it though.

[TotallyTuned]

Originally Posted by I5o

Gidday TotallyTuned,

Thanks for the feedback and well done on the teardown and comparison and for giving us the data and your findings!

Yes ring around and try to see if you can get old new stock ending 34, 35 36 otherwise you can replace the defective disc drive with a TXP0183 and 184, model availability depends on your source and safer if it's an authorised Panasonic parts retailer. I respectfully suggest comparing prices between the new UB820 disc drive and a UB9000 disc drive as both drives use the same ribbon cable attached to the motherboard. Good luck and enjoy your revived UB820. Cheers

Huh, a UB9000 drive that's a thought. I wonder if the UB820 would recognize the UB9000 drive once installed. There's also the matter of whether or not it would fit seamlessly into the UB820 and line up with the front slot.

[cascade 15]

Originally Posted by DVD Josh

The players were too expensive even before this, now they are ridiculous.

You obviously weren't around when Sony Betamax and VHS players first came out. The technology has gotten better and a lot of that stuff is way cheaper than the first generation personal computer, for example.

[Sango]

Originally Posted by sojrner

Menu needing dismissed after disc insertion... What are you taking about? I regularly use mine and have nothing come up after putting in a disc.

I believe it is the player's on screen status messages which pops up automatically like output like 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision for instance. It can be turned off however it turns off every single on screen status which may take time getting use so since you will not see reverse, forward, pause etc... when you use those functions.

A possible use case which I saw on YouTube for example was a user turning it off because a TV would display a status (like resolution info) at the same time the player does which made it redundant, therefore turned it off on the player side made sense at the trade off of see all the other status messages.

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by Sango

I believe it is the player's on screen status messages which pops up automatically like output like 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision instance. It can be turned off however it turns off every single on screen status which may take time getting use so since you will not see reverse, forward, pause etc... when you use those functions.

Yep. One of the first things I do when setting up a player is turn all that crap off.

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

I guess I described it poorly. You know the overlay that pops up when you hit the status button? That comes up automatically on the Panasonic, usually right after starting the film. I then have to hit the status button to make it go away. As I said in the post, this may be a bug but if not it's a horrible feature. I could swear I've seen other people complain about it though.

Gotcha. Mine does not pop any menu up for me. To clarify, how I operate my player:

• Walk to the player and hit the eject button (if already seated, I hit eject on the remote), which turns the player on and opens the tray as needed, and cascades the CEC triggers to my TV and Receiver for power up and input changes where required.
• Plop a disc in the tray, walk to my seat while everything is turning on and booting up.
• After getting comfy, whether shifting pillows, reclining seat, or waiting for whoever else is joining me, I use the remote to close the tray.
• Depending on the disc, it may come right up with the language selection, regardless, it then cycles through all the logos in the trip to the main disc menu.
• I make choices on the main disc menu with the remote, then play the movie.
• Profit.

Nowhere in that process is there any menu or popup I have to dismiss. (Panny player, Sony receiver, LG TV)

The only thing I can think of causing that for you is there may be a weird CEC issue when using another brand device or remote to pass control, and that controller is using incorrect commands to the Panny. CEC is finicky, as there is no hard spec or requirement and every manufacturer can implement things to their liking. Some are more device friendly than others, but most companies are not incentivized to work with other brands in what I've seen.

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by Sango

I believe it is the player's on screen status messages which pops up automatically like output like 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision instance. It can be turned off however it turns off every single on screen status which may take time getting use so since you will not see reverse, forward, pause etc... when you use those functions.

A possible use case which I saw on YouTube for example was a user turning it off because a TV would display a status (like resolution info) at the same time the player does which made it redundant, therefore turned it off on the player side made sense at the trade off of see all the other status messages.

Oh, LOL. That thought never occurred to me. On-screen FF, RW, Play notices are odd. I mean, I can see that it's paused, and know it's playing, and I'm pretty sure rewinding or fast forwarding are obvious as well. Why would I want some text to affirm that status... Regardless, don't those automatically dismiss after a few seconds? I thought we were talking about a menu requiring dismissal, like the remote control popup or something.

[NeilZ]

The Panasonic models were always far more fragile than Sony's (even the 9000), it's the tradeoff for the best quality video on the market. I mean Sony players are excellent too, but that HDR optimizer does make a difference.

[Cortiz]

If Sony would have fixed or improved the freezing issues and added auto DV they would have been better than the Panny's IMO....Most of today's displays do a decent tone mapping job so the optimizer is becoming obsolete.

[Bcosta]

My 9000 after 6 years of use is doing the cant read the disc until the 15th try dance. When this thing shits the bed what would you guys do? Magnatar or another 9000?

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by NeilZ

The Panasonic models were always far more fragile than Sony's (even the 9000), it's the tradeoff for the best quality video on the market. I mean Sony players are excellent too, but that HDR optimizer does make a difference.

Anecdotal, to be sure, but my Panny has never locked up on any disk. The Sony I have relegated to my secondary room? Every triple-layer freezes up at some point during playback, forcing me to unplug the device to regain control. If that is what fragile behaves like, I'll take it.

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by sojrner

Anecdotal, to be sure, but my Panny has never locked up on any disk. The Sony I have relegated to my secondary room? Every triple-layer freezes up at some point during playback, forcing me to unplug the device to regain control. If that is what fragile behaves like, I'll take it.

Yes but it is a complete lottery. You got lucky on the your Panny but not the Sony. I have 2x UB820 units (one for each tv) from different batches (and even years) and they both have the same issues with the same discs, and often times those same discs will not reproduce the pixelization issues when running on my Sony (X800). Clearly it's a problem with the discs as I've had instances where replacing them resolved the problems on the Panasonic end, but as a result I've come to the conclusion the Panasonics are just noticeably more sensitive to any kind of imperfections, and it's something I live with as they're still my favorite players for 4K discs.