Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Robert Zohn]

Interesting ^ issue. When I spoke with Panasonic USA about the lower Canadian price for the UB820 they had no explanation. The guess was that Canada priced the UB820 with a lower than normal m/u on this one item. In Asia and the EU the price is much closer to the USA price.

[agoofykindasuperman]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

why did you get it for that price?

Manager was just in a good pre-Black Friday mood I suppose!
Yes that is the price I paid in CAD. Had to pay a $2.50 “eco” fee plus 13% HST as well.
Should be getting it this week he said.

[lawnnut]

my bestbuy didnt have any this weekend

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Interesting ^ issue. When I spoke with Panasonic USA about the lower Canadian price for the UB820 they had no explanation. The guess was that Canada priced the UB820 with a lower than normal m/u on this one item. In Asia and the EU the price is much closer to the USA price.

Robert, I know you can't speak for Best Buy, but any idea why neither of these Panasonic players can be physically found in a store??

As you may recall I bought the 820 a few weeks back from Best Buy but had to return it because the button that switches the tone mapping wasn't working.

Since then I bought the LG UBK90 which has a great picture but falls short to the 820 in many ways.

I'd like to buy one again but I don't want to have it shipped, I want to hold a box in my hands as I walk out of a store. My reasons are I don't want to have to be home for a delivery-- leaving a 4k player box sitting in front of my door is like advertising "free player to any drive by!"
2nd reason is that my 820 came in a crushed box that made me worry about potential damage (perhaps that was why i got a bad player).

I know I can have it shipped to a store but then if that one comes in a beat up box, then I would have to refuse it, order it again, wait another week, etc etc

[cjake]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

Robert, I know you can't speak for Best Buy, but any idea why neither of these Panasonic players can be physically found in a store??

As you may recall I bought the 820 a few weeks back from Best Buy but had to return it because the button that switches the tone mapping wasn't working.

Since then I bought the LG UBK90 which has a great picture but falls short to the 820 in many ways.

I'd like to buy one again but I don't want to have it shipped, I want to hold a box in my hands as I walk out of a store. My reasons are I don't want to have to be home for a delivery-- leaving a 4k player box sitting in front of my door is like advertising "free player to any drive by!"
2nd reason is that my 820 came in a crushed box that made me worry about potential damage (perhaps that was why i got a bad player).

I know I can have it shipped to a store but then if that one comes in a beat up box, then I would have to refuse it, order it again, wait another week, etc etc

Best Buy online is now Sold Out for the UB820. You can't order one today. It is very unlikely that there are any available now at store locations.

You will have to wait for Best Buy to get another allocation of units, if and when Panasonic supplies them. Even then, only a few Best Buy Magnolia stores may receive stock.

Or you can order one now from Value Electronics; although I believe they are waiting on new stock as well.

I bought mine on Best Buy release day. I live in Best Buy's headquarters metro area where we have six retail locations. Only two locations received physical stock and with such limited quantity that I ordered one for same day store pickup to be certain I got one of them.

And yes, mine was in a crumpled box. Either Panasonic and/or Best Buy must not double box them for distribution.

[Robert Zohn]

@AKORIS, the problem with supply is that the Worldwide demand is much higher than expected and far exceeds the manufacturing capacity. We were the first to launch the UB820 a full two months before any other retailer had any. But we've been out of stock for almost two months. Now it's Best Buy's turn to be back ordered while we get the next allocation.

I've got your item 1 and 2 covered. We double box every thing we ship and of the 350 UB820s we shipped to date all were delivered in 100% pristine condition and in a plain brown corrugated box.

We also can make the package signature required, or leave at Fed Ex depot or Kinkos for customer p/u. You can also leave instructions for the Fed Ex driver to leave the package by the rear porch or at a neighbor.

[Maggot]

Is Panasonic still committed to making the 9000 happen in the States and is there any timeline pinned down on that yet?

[Robert Zohn]

@ Ant1010, last I was told we're scheduled for the third week of Dec. Just asked for an update and I'll get back with what they tell me.

@Maggot, yes, Panasonic UB9000 will be launching in the USA. Our first two allocations are sold out and we still have some available for the early February allotment. At this moment we are the only dealer that committed to bring in the UB9000.

[curlyjive]

I do think there is an audio decoding bug in the 820. When I let the player decode and send PCM, I can clearly hear an odd delay I the rear Chanels. This is very noticeable in the FOX fanfare or WB fanfare intros. Switch it to bitstream and its gone. I do not have this issue on any other player using PCM (ub900, Oppo 103d and 203). Listen to the drum and cymbals in particular and it's very obvious.

Here is what I think might be happening. IF you play either a DTS or PCM 5.1 track, the ub820 will convert it to 7.1 no matter that the audio up conversion setting is set to when you are outputting PCM. It leaves 5.1 TrueHD alone. Yes those are not common formats so I had to use some Harry Potter blu rays, War Dogs and 2001 UHD to find 5.1 tracks. In bitstream, it does not do this conversion.

I think the player is taking a 7.1 track, decoding it and still applying some kind of processing to the rears as if it were a 5.1 channel track that it is trying to up-convert to 7.1.

Panasonic support was absolutely uselessness in even understanding what I was describing. I have another unit coming Friday that I will test to rule out a player issue. Yes I could use bitstream, but occasionally I will get popping when doing so.

Can anyone else test this to see if it is a software issue that Panasonic should fix? Disc I know have this issue are Deadpool 1 and 2. Fox intros are the easiest ones to hear this, and I don't have any other fox titles. WB titles have it too, but it's not as easy to hear.

[Geoff D]

Did you turn off the 7.1 formatting in the audio menu?

[curlyjive]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Did you turn off the 7.1 formatting in the audio menu?

Yes I absolutely did. I also did a full factory reset. The manual page page 43 vaguely states:


HDMI OUT
Bitstream: Outputs using original audio*1
PCM: BD-Video : 7.1ch PCM*1*2 DVD-Video : 5.1ch PCM

"*2 The audio output is amplified from 5.1ch or 6.1ch to 7.1ch depending on the DTS, Inc. specifications."

SO that seems to imply that for DTS 5.1 encodes, it's going to apply processing to them anyway. Seems to be the same for PCM, though you need to find an older Blu-ray as I did to test that. It will leave 2.0 tracks alone.

I am proposing that that same "amplified" processing is still happening erroneously in a 7.1 track output as PCM, at least for DTS tracks.

[King Crimson]

I am curious with the latest update to my TV, my TV now supports HDR10+. Is their any method through the Amazon PRIME app on the 820 or display settings or buttons through the 820 that can confirm what I am watching is HDR10+?

Example: Man in the High Castle which Prime claims is HDR10+

Or will I have to wait to pick up El Royale UHD to confirm(Physical media as apposed to digital)?

[Mobe1969]

BTW, Logitech Harmony now has the UB9000 added.

[DJJez]

Originally Posted by curlyjive

I do think there is an audio decoding bug in the 820. When I let the player decode and send PCM, I can clearly hear an odd delay I the rear Chanels. This is very noticeable in the FOX fanfare or WB fanfare intros. Switch it to bitstream and its gone. I do not have this issue on any other player using PCM (ub900, Oppo 103d and 203). Listen to the drum and cymbals in particular and it's very obvious.

Here is what I think might be happening. IF you play either a DTS or PCM 5.1 track, the ub820 will convert it to 7.1 no matter that the audio up conversion setting is set to when you are outputting PCM. It leaves 5.1 TrueHD alone. Yes those are not common formats so I had to use some Harry Potter blu rays, War Dogs and 2001 UHD to find 5.1 tracks. In bitstream, it does not do this conversion.

I think the player is taking a 7.1 track, decoding it and still applying some kind of processing to the rears as if it were a 5.1 channel track that it is trying to up-convert to 7.1.

Panasonic support was absolutely uselessness in even understanding what I was describing. I have another unit coming Friday that I will test to rule out a player issue. Yes I could use bitstream, but occasionally I will get popping when doing so.

Can anyone else test this to see if it is a software issue that Panasonic should fix? Disc I know have this issue are Deadpool 1 and 2. Fox intros are the easiest ones to hear this, and I don't have any other fox titles. WB titles have it too, but it's not as easy to hear.

why would you use PCM when you can use bitstream?

[curlyjive]

Originally Posted by DJJez

why would you use PCM when you can use bitstream?

In my setup it works better for me. To the point, should a $500 player have a basic decoding error?

[sapiendut]

Just curious how is it better?

[curlyjive]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Just curious how is it better?

My Denon 2808 can apply plIIx processing to true hd but not dts ma streams. So in the case where you have a 5.1 dts track, the 2808 can only apply dts neo6 which is not as good. When receiving pcm, it can always apply pliix. So it's just easier to send it pcm and never think about it. There should be 0 difference which does the decoding. The 820 is doing something wrong.

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by curlyjive

To the point, should a $500 player have a basic decoding error?

No, it shouldn't.

[curlyjive]

Originally Posted by IntelliVolume

No, it shouldn't.

Exactly. So I'm looking to see if any else can check this. I also have a new unit on the way for Friday to test for myself if it's a bad unit or software issue.

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by curlyjive

Exactly. So I'm looking to see if any else can check this. I also have a new unit on the way for Friday to test for myself if it's a bad unit or software issue.

I had one but returned it; one of my primary complaints was that it didn't seem as if it was worth $500.