Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Geoff D]

But their HDR remapping/conversion hasn't been God's gift either, I should know as I was grappling with it for a year in SDR before it drove me crazy one too many times and I caved in and bought a ZD9. Their mapping is better than most but it'll never be a set and forget solution as ultimately there's still no substitute for having enough dynamic range to handle these images in the first place. Well, either that or dynamic metadata to properly regulate the image for your specific TV.

[HeavyHitter]

We'll see how it plays out. I'm happy with my recently (re)tweaked Arve curves, but surely tone mapping can improve as some reputable sources seem to think MadVr is hands down best overall external tone mapping option which in some way can integrate your Arve curve if you want (don't ask me how that works), but I am not even going to contemplate trying to integrate my PC with my HT! What I find interesting talking to my calibrator is even some flat panels with plenty of nits have subpar internal tone mapping, so it seems even they can potentially benefit from outside sources/tools.

[DJR662]

Judging from different German online retailers, it seems this will be released over there in about 3-4 weeks.

https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich...panasonic.html

Should be available in the rest of Europe around the same time I guess.

[XGEEKEDGERX]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Judging from different German online retailers, it seems this will be released over there in about 3-4 weeks.

https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich...panasonic.html

Should be available in the rest of Europe around the same time I guess.

Yup, not long now. I have a few stores quite close by so will make a trip once it's released to check it out.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by XGEEKEDGERX

Yup, not long now. I have a few stores quite close by so will make a trip once it's released to check it out.

The UB9004 (US: UB9000) will be available over here in The Netherlands in August for 999 Euros. Glad we won't have to wait that long for the 820.

[unknownuser0001]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

I'm assuming that selecting OLED option on Sony OLED can be handy and the result should be similar to the tone mapping of Panasonic OLEDs, I think by default Panasonic OLED performed the best with HDR10.

This UB820 will be the best player out there under 500 euros, even regardless of the price. Audio over HDMI is fine for me so it's a perfect player for me.

[Robert Zohn]

Very nice UB820 review by my friend, Greg Tarr, HD Guru.

[agoofykindasuperman]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Very nice UB820 review by my friend, Greg Tarr, HD Guru.

Thanks for this Robert. I love my UB900 and can't wait to own a Dolby-Vision capable player. Glad to hear that it stays as a top quality player.

Might have to wait until Black Friday/Boxing Day sales however to buy it, and will need to sell my UB900 to justify the purchase though.

[giomania]

Originally Posted by giomania

Thanks for the link to the manual.

I am very curious about the Panasonic DP-UB820 capabilities concerning playback of 4KUHD backups, and looked through the manual accordingly.

For others interested in playing 4K from a USB flash drive or a FAT32/NTFS formatted HDD in a USB 3.0 enclosure), it looks like 4KUHD backups can be played back via the USB 3.0 port on the rear of the player, as it is stated on page 7: "For playback of 4K videos...".

Playback via the network appears to be more restrictive, and may not support the lossless audio formats (see page 44). Below are the specific pages from the manual where I found information; I typed in some of the information, since the PDF is secured. If interested please look to see if I am interpreting this correctly.

I am trying to decide between this player and the OPPO UDP-203 (I have one, unopened), and the decision is based upon a multitude of factors, not just picture quality.

Page 6
It supports USB devices, and will play the following file types: AVCHD, AVCHD 3D, MKV, MP4, MPEG2, JPEG, MPO, AAC, AIFF, ALAC, DSD (DFF, DSF), FLAC, MP3, WAV, WMA

Page 7
USB device: For playback of 4K videos stored on a USB device, use USB 3.0 port on rear of the unit and USB device conforming to USB 3.0.

Page 23-24
Network playback instructions.

Page 33
Network Drive Connection: This unit can access a hard disk shared folder on a network and play back videos, still pictures, and music.

Page 42
Specifications, File Format: For MKV, it is stated: Resolution up to 3840 x 2160 25p/30p, 4096 x 2160 24p. The video file and subtitles text are inside the same folder, and the file names are the same except for the file extensions. Some MKV files may not be played back correctly, depending on the video resolution, frame rate condition, subtitle format and so on.

Page 44
Supported format for Network Contents Playback:

Container: MKV
Video codec: H.264 HEVC
Audio codec: AAC, PCM, Vorbis, FLAC

Container: AVCHD
Video codec: H.264
Audio codec: Dolby Digital

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Just FYI Panny players don't do lossless DTS/Dolby audio formats over USB/network file playback.

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Very nice UB820 review by my friend, Greg Tarr, HD Guru.

Mr. Tarr did not mention the lack of high-resolution audio support during playback via network or USB, but I guess that is probably a niche use case. Especially now that the supply of "UHD-Friendly" BD drives is dwindling.

Mark

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Very nice UB820 review by my friend, Greg Tarr, HD Guru.

Sounds like the tone mapping feature offers little benefit, but it might also be a "your mileage may vary" situation.

[elwaylite]

I'll wait till someone like Vincent Teoh shows me what the OLED setting to ON vs OFF does on a 4000 nit UHD disc with a 700 nit OLED, side by side. That really determines how well it works. It also showed me that I prefer Sony's tone mapping choice on OLED over LG's in 2017, but his recent showings of LG's 8 series dynamic tone mapping feature on was pretty neat.

[INdetectableMAN]

OLED LG 2016 and Panasonic UB420 HDR OPTIMICER

[INdetectableMAN]

OLED 2016 and PANASONIC UB420

[trekky76]

Preordered the 820 yesterday. The store offered two free UHDs with it.
Can't wait til I try it out! Still not sure when Dolby Vision will be enabled though.

[LordoftheRings]

Lol, those screenshots above take all my computer's CPU power.
The next generations of ultra high definition TVs they'd better have powerful video chips in them, with high optimizador HDR feature (nits - luminescence) matching them new Pany 4K BR players.

[Geoff D]

Sony ZD9, no in-player HDR remapping at all:

[samlop10]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Sony ZD9, no in-player HDR remapping at all:

That’s not the exact same frame Geoff. The brightness on him in that scene changes drastically like every other millisecond so it’s not a fair comparison. Just trying to be fair FYI.

Here’s the exact same shot on an LG C7 (using the TV’s tone mapping) with the exact time stamp:

[elwaylite]

Zd9 might maintain more highlights without help but you lose depth of image. Reason why most reviewers will note now that even though the Oled doesn’t get as bright they offer more pop than any lcd on the market. I had a 940e, I know. Oled looks better.

I can easily see what the penny is doing to bring detail back in the sky and other bright areas, looks great.

[Geoff D]

Well, if this is what lack of depth looks like then watching on an OLED must be some super 3D without glasses shit as I'm frequently amazed by the cardboard cut-out images that my TV puts out. Better tell Vincent Teoh that too, actually. Yes, I'm being facetious.

Originally Posted by samlop10

That’s not the exact same frame Geoff. The brightness on him in that scene changes drastically like every other millisecond so it’s not a fair comparison. Just trying to be fair FYI.

Here’s the exact same shot on an LG C7 (using the TV’s tone mapping) with the exact time stamp:

That's an older photo I had lying around from the shot that Teoh used to show off tone mapping differences in some video or another. Exact frame challenge...accepted

[Geoff D]