Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[sa5150]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Nope.

The non-UHD Oppos go for fair prices on the used market.

Are the older Oppos better then the uhd models for dvds ?
Which ones should I look for ?

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by sa5150

Is there anything new coming out this year ?

No. It appears that these current player models are the end of the line.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by sa5150

Are the older Oppos better then the uhd models for dvds ?
Which ones should I look for ?

Not better, just available for cheaper prices than the UHD models.

[shane01]

Speaking of DVD playback via the 820, is Dolby Pro Logic enabled automatically for DVDs the same way it kicks on for Blu-rays? Are there many "matrixed" DVDs that trigger the rears, like some 2.0 Criterion BDs?

There's probably 20 years worth of posts online about Dolby Surround tracks. Thought I'd try my friends here.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by shane01

Speaking of DVD playback via the 820, is Dolby Pro Logic enabled automatically for DVDs the same way it kicks on for Blu-rays? Are there many "matrixed" DVDs that trigger the rears, like some 2.0 Criterion BDs?

There's probably 20 years worth of posts online about Dolby Surround tracks. Thought I'd try my friends here.

I think quite a few DVDs have the proper flagging, but it's not player dependent. As long as you're bitstreaming the DD signal to whatever external audio device then it'll pass the flagging, if you set it to output PCM then it will not.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

No. It appears that these current player models are the end of the line.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

No. It appears that these current player models are the end of the line.

What do you mean end of the line? They are still producing and always sold out everywhere and the only certain thing is that they will keep producing these players until at least March 2023.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

What do you mean end of the line? They are still producing and always sold out everywhere and the only certain thing is that they will keep producing these players until at least March 2023.

I mean no new models. What's out now is it. Maybe they will keep manufacturing them, maybe not.

[martydmc12]

I got my 9000 back from the repair shop today.

As I stated in previous posts, the tray would not open after I stopped a disc, as it just began reading the disc over and over again, and neither the button on the remote or the player itself would eject it. I had all the latest firmware updates, I reset the play back to manufacturer settings, put in the different codes for a force eject, and nothing worked. After having exhausted all suggestions online, and contacting Panasonic directly, they said to take it in to the nearest authorized dealer, as I am still under warranty.

Here's a link to a video I made of the problem I was encountering.

The repair shop had no issues with it whatsoever, and it was able to eject the disc on the first try. They even tried one of their own 4K discs with no issues, and didn't even have to open the machine up. They were just as confused as I was. They suggested that perhaps there might have been a little bump near the center of the disc that could have caused it to not sit correctly in the tray, as sometimes the artwork could generate a tiny bubble, causing the disc to not sit perfectly level. After picking it up and moving the player around from transporting it from my house to the shop, this could have resulted in the disc moving inside the tray, fixing the issue. The repair shop wasn't 100% on this, but couldn't generate the problem I was having at home, and therefore no repairs were done.

I got it home, tried it, and it seems to be working fine. I'm stumped, truly stumped, and kinda worried this could happen again. Someone suggested that the motor in the tray isn't working properly. If that were the case, wouldn't it not work at all, because now it's working fine.

If anyone has any suggestions or encounters something similar, please let me know. I'd love to know what the problem actually was, and if I need to prepare for it happening again.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I mean no new models. What's out now is it. Maybe they will keep manufacturing them, maybe not.

Funny that you seem to know more that what Panasonic have projected for the next fiscal year.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by martydmc12

I got my 9000 back from the repair shop today.

As I stated in previous posts, the tray would not open after I stopped a disc, as it just began reading the disc over and over again, and neither the button on the remote or the player itself would eject it. I had all the latest firmware updates, I reset the play back to manufacturer settings, put in the different codes for a force eject, and nothing worked. After having exhausted all suggestions online, and contacting Panasonic directly, they said to take it in to the nearest authorized dealer, as I am still under warranty.

Here's a link to a video I made of the problem I was encountering.

The repair shop had no issues with it whatsoever, and it was able to eject the disc on the first try. They even tried one of their own 4K discs with no issues, and didn't even have to open the machine up. They were just as confused as I was. They suggested that perhaps there might have been a little bump near the center of the disc that could have caused it to not sit correctly in the tray, as sometimes the artwork could generate a tiny bubble, causing the disc to not sit perfectly level. After picking it up and moving the player around from transporting it from my house to the shop, this could have resulted in the disc moving inside the tray, fixing the issue. The repair shop wasn't 100% on this, but couldn't generate the problem I was having at home, and therefore no repairs were done.

I got it home, tried it, and it seems to be working fine. I'm stumped, truly stumped, and kinda worried this could happen again. Someone suggested that the motor in the tray isn't working properly. If that were the case, wouldn't it not work at all, because now it's working fine.

If anyone has any suggestions or encounters something similar, please let me know. I'd love to know what the problem actually was, and if I need to prepare for it happening again.

Maybe it's a power issue. I know I had issues with my 820 and figured out the power going to the unit was not enough to keep it working 100% off the time. For me though, it wouldn't read any discs so I would have to unplug it and replug it in. Now that I have a newer surge protector, the player hasn't had that issue at all.

[mkozlows]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Funny that you seem to know more that what Panasonic have projected for the next fiscal year.

They sold less than 0.5 million UHD disc players last year, and the number sold has dropped every year since 2017, when Panasonic would have started developing the 820 (released in August 2018).

This is incredibly small next to the market for traditional Blu-ray players at its peak, which was up around 9 million/year. It's even small relative to other dying disc formats today. It's currently half the size of the DVD player market (also in massive decline) and a quarter the size of the 1080p Blu-ray player market (also in massive decline).

Big mainstream consumer electronic companies don't put a lot of energy into releasing new products for small markets in decline. That's where niche companies make their living, which is why I'm really glad to see companies like Reavon introducing new units -- I suspect that in five years, anyone who wants to get into the UHD disc market is going to be looking at products from Reavon and similar companies as their only choice.

[JoePo]

Looking for help with my Panasonic DP-UB820EB. Hopefully not a dumb question...

My player has stopped playing sound for certain discs and I can't figure out why. It has played without a problem for a year or so and still plays most discs without issue but the other week I popped in Fanny & Alexander from the Criterion set and it played fine but with zero sound. I tried another disc and it played no problem. I then tried F&A in my PS4 and it played fine- sound and all.

i assumed it was a one-off but then this morning I tried the standard edition of Indicator's Cash on Demand and the same thing happened - the film played fine but with no sound. I switch to one of the special feature and hey presto - sound!

Could it be something to do with mono tracks? Sorry techno illiterate. Grateful for any suggestions.

[lgans316]

RRP for this has gone up a bit. Sellers on eBay have stopped including the 820 in promotional sales unless it's the fully region free modded ones which are £449. Think I might have to buy one and stock it as I fear it might slowly go OOS.

How is the 450 compared to the 820?

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by martydmc12

I got my 9000 back from the repair shop today.

As I stated in previous posts, the tray would not open after I stopped a disc, as it just began reading the disc over and over again, and neither the button on the remote or the player itself would eject it. I had all the latest firmware updates, I reset the play back to manufacturer settings, put in the different codes for a force eject, and nothing worked. After having exhausted all suggestions online, and contacting Panasonic directly, they said to take it in to the nearest authorized dealer, as I am still under warranty.

Here's a link to a video I made of the problem I was encountering.

The repair shop had no issues with it whatsoever, and it was able to eject the disc on the first try. They even tried one of their own 4K discs with no issues, and didn't even have to open the machine up. They were just as confused as I was. They suggested that perhaps there might have been a little bump near the center of the disc that could have caused it to not sit correctly in the tray, as sometimes the artwork could generate a tiny bubble, causing the disc to not sit perfectly level. After picking it up and moving the player around from transporting it from my house to the shop, this could have resulted in the disc moving inside the tray, fixing the issue. The repair shop wasn't 100% on this, but couldn't generate the problem I was having at home, and therefore no repairs were done.

I got it home, tried it, and it seems to be working fine. I'm stumped, truly stumped, and kinda worried this could happen again. Someone suggested that the motor in the tray isn't working properly. If that were the case, wouldn't it not work at all, because now it's working fine.

If anyone has any suggestions or encounters something similar, please let me know. I'd love to know what the problem actually was, and if I need to prepare for it happening again.

Maybe the internal mechanism needed a little extra time to reset itself back to normal operations. Probably all you had to do was unplug it from the outlet and wait for a few minutes then plug it back in, like rebooting a computer when it freezes.. Electronics are temperamental. They have an tendency to do things out of the ordinary, and all of a sudden, it back working the way it should.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by mkozlows

They sold less than 0.5 million UHD disc players last year, and the number sold has dropped every year since 2017, when Panasonic would have started developing the 820 (released in August 2018).

This is incredibly small next to the market for traditional Blu-ray players at its peak, which was up around 9 million/year. It's even small relative to other dying disc formats today. It's currently half the size of the DVD player market (also in massive decline) and a quarter the size of the 1080p Blu-ray player market (also in massive decline).

Big mainstream consumer electronic companies don't put a lot of energy into releasing new products for small markets in decline. That's where niche companies make their living, which is why I'm really glad to see companies like Reavon introducing new units -- I suspect that in five years, anyone who wants to get into the UHD disc market is going to be looking at products from Reavon and similar companies as their only choice.

Sadly Reavon is an extremely overpriced player with substandard playback capability. The Sony X800m2 is not my favourite player but it is still a better player (and has much better internals too) from even the Reavon 200.

[Jack Priest]

Does anyone else have issues with The Matrix 4K disc? It may be my soundbar, but it's not picking up Atmos from the player and the sound keeps cutting out every few seconds. I have the player connected to the soundbar, then the soundbar to the TV.

I'm not even getting the TrueHD 7.1 track, the player says it's 5.1 Dolby Digital. Same thing with Reloaded & Revolutions. Atmos works at first, for the Warner Bros. logo before the main menu, but when playing the actual movies it's only 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Edit: Just realised I could manually change it to the 7.1 TrueHD track and Atmos is now working. Why on Earth are they defaulting to the Dolby Digital 5.1?

[martydmc12]

Originally Posted by slimdude

Maybe the internal mechanism needed a little extra time to reset itself back to normal operations. Probably all you had to do was unplug it from the outlet and wait for a few minutes then plug it back in, like rebooting a computer when it freezes.. Electronics are temperamental. They have an tendency to do things out of the ordinary, and all of a sudden, it back working the way it should.

I tried that a few days before I took it in. Had it unplugged for about 72 hours, and tried it again hoping that might have done the trick. Nope.

Whatever it was, it's working now.

On a side note, the top of my player now has some fine hairline scratches on it. Not sure if that's from me transporting it to the repair shop, or if they did that at the repair shop. Ugh, that kinda thing really makes me angry. $1K player, and can't even go a year without some sort of problem and now scratches on it.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Jack Priest

Does anyone else have issues with The Matrix 4K disc? It may be my soundbar, but it's not picking up Atmos from the player and the sound keeps cutting out every few seconds. I have the player connected to the soundbar, then the soundbar to the TV.

I'm not even getting the TrueHD 7.1 track, the player says it's 5.1 Dolby Digital. Same thing with Reloaded & Revolutions. Atmos works at first, for the Warner Bros. logo before the main menu, but when playing the actual movies it's only 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Edit: Just realised I could manually change it to the 7.1 TrueHD track and Atmos is now working. Why on Earth are they defaulting to the Dolby Digital 5.1?

Warners discs have done that for years. Not all, but some.

[Naiera]

I was amazed that a dang UHD BD would default to a lossy track