Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Mikke73]

Originally Posted by Bond84

I'm glad someone else has noticed this. I was afraid it was another OLED issue.

Unfortunately I also noticed, that the tinkered settings I found earlier don't really seem to work that well with anything else than these Sony remasters - near black tones went pretty ugly on almost any movie I tested with.
But, at least it's very easy to have two sets of settings.

Still love this player, although I will never touch its Netflix app..

[The Beast Within]

The 820 arrived for me yesterday - spent a few hours with it last night and very happy with the results. Getting set up wasn't too difficult (seriously, some fantastic advice throughout this thread!) once you figure out what to do with the dynamic slider - the image I'm getting from my projector is a MASSIVE improvement over what I was seeing with the projector doing the tone mapping. Tested out Blade Runner and Mad Max Fury Road, and both looked fantastic; detail, colour, grain and depth were hugely improved. I'll probably play around with the settings a bit more but I reckon I'll be leaving as is soon; looking forward to being able to enjoy watching 4k content now without constantly having to tinker with the image controls.

[Nelson10]

So I set up the HDR/Color Gamut Output on my UB9000 to SDR/BT.2020 Auto.
However it is still sending the HDR Metadata to display device. The good news is that it is outputting SDR correctly so I can manually select a 2.4 gamma on my projector.
Hopefully there will be a firmware fix.

I know there are not to many UB9000 in the States but has anyone notice this issue?
On my unit it does recognize the SDR.2020 but with the HDR Metadata then I have to manually change it to 2.4 gamma.
There should be no metadata for SDR.

[Clark Burk]

So if I understand what you’re saying the Metadata is triggering your display to use the HDR mode versus the SDR2020 mode even though it is actually being sent a real SDR2020 stream. So this is requiring you to correct this by manually selecting your SDR2020 setting on your display. Well at least it’s able to be overcome with a manual setting but I can understand your displeasure with not having this take place automatically.

[GeneD5]

Originally Posted by Mikke73

Still love this player, although I will never touch its Netflix app..

You should give it a shot! This is now my go-to Netflix app; I get HDR AND Dolby Atmos to boot. I think mine has a quirk that I actually love. It plays the menus in HDR (I’m guessing fake HDR) and also let’s me use the HDR brightness slider for their SDR content. I’ve gotten some absolutely gorgeous picture from some of their SDR content.

[cjake]

Originally Posted by Nelson10

So I set up the HDR/Color Gamut Output on my UB9000 to SDR/BT.2020 Auto.
However it is still sending the HDR Metadata to display device. The good news is that it is outputting SDR correctly so I can manually select a 2.4 gamma on my projector.
Hopefully there will be a firmware fix.

I know there are not to many UB9000 in the States but has anyone notice this issue?
On my unit it does recognize the SDR.2020 but with the HDR Metadata then I have to manually change it to 2.4 gamma.
There should be no metadata for SDR.

It is the same with the UB820.

What I found is that metadata is sent in SDR/BT2020 mode if the display supports HDR. If the display does not support HDR but supports BT2020 no metadata is sent.

I have an HDfury Vertex that reports the metadata string. The metadata reports that the signal is EOTF1. HDR (PQ) is EOTF2. EOTF1 is HDR Luminance Range but does not follow the PQ curve. If you think about it that is what the HDR Optimizer is doing; it is tone mapping to SDR/BT2020, but retaining the original luminance range of HDR.

I have a 2015 model JVC RS500. It does not switch to its HDR Gamma when receiving this EOTF1 metadata. It does report receiving HDR in the Information screen even though I need to switch to my SDR BT2020 picture mode with Gamma 2.4 to get correct color.

Your projector must be seeing the EOT1 indicator in the metadata and assumes it is HDR and switches to HDR mode, even though it is not PQ so an HDR Gamma should not be applied.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by GeneD5

You should give it a shot! This is now my go-to Netflix app; I get HDR AND Dolby Atmos to boot. I think mine has a quirk that I actually love. It plays the menus in HDR (I’m guessing fake HDR) and also let’s me use the HDR brightness slider for their SDR content. I’ve gotten some absolutely gorgeous picture from some of their SDR content.

Not a quirk. There's a specific setting in the player's menu that forces HDR on SDR streaming.

[buboy]

Originally Posted by cjake

It is the same with the UB820.

What I found is that metadata is sent in SDR/BT2020 mode if the display supports HDR. If the display does not support HDR but supports BT2020 no metadata is sent.

I have an HDfury Vertex that reports the metadata string. The metadata reports that the signal is EOTF1. HDR (PQ) is EOTF2. EOTF1 is HDR Luminance Range but does not follow the PQ curve. If you think about it that is what the HDR Optimizer is doing; it is tone mapping to SDR/BT2020, but retaining the original luminance range of HDR.

I have a 2015 model JVC RS500. It does not switch to its HDR Gamma when receiving this EOTF1 metadata. It does report receiving HDR in the Information screen even though I need to switch to my SDR BT2020 picture mode with Gamma 2.4 to get correct color.

Your projector must be seeing the EOT1 indicator in the metadata and assumes it is HDR and switches to HDR mode, even though it is not PQ so an HDR Gamma should not be applied.

Hi Cjake, if the JVC is reporting HDR in the information screen even when in SDR mode, does that mean that the DI is disabled? Hopefully, that is not the case as that would require a HDFURY device in the chain---if you wanted to retain use of the DI.

[cjake]

Originally Posted by buboy

Hi Cjake, if the JVC is reporting HDR in the information screen even when in SDR mode, does that mean that the DI is disabled? Hopefully, that is not the case as that would require a HDFURY device in the chain---if you wanted to retain use of the DI.

The Dynamic Iris is not disabled in my JVC RS500.

[buboy]

Originally Posted by cjake

The Dynamic Iris is not disabled in my JVC RS500.

That's great!!!. I will be picking up a UB820 whenever it's back in stock in the Toronto/GTA area. Was concerned that if the JVC is reporting HDR in the info screen, that might cause disabling of the DI.

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I've got my TV type set to Super High LCD but I also noticed the a similar thing on Ghostbusters 1 and 2 the other day, that when turning the Optimiser on it reduces the peak brightness in the highlights but it doesn't seem to recover any actual specular information, it just makes them dimmer. That's more of a grading quirk IMO, that the available highlight range has been pushed into >1500 nits so it 'pops' but doesn't actually resolve that amount of range, if that makes sense. Seems to be a fairly common trait across these Sony remasters of older movies.

As for Groundhog Day, I recall the snow having a blue tint on the UHD.

The problem with a lot of titles out there are is the metadata. Ghostbusters is a great example. MaxCLL of 10,000 nits and Mastering monitor of 4000 nits. The Panasonic has to take this into account. So in this case it is going to tone map to 4000 nits. Sony is actually one of the worst when it comes to good mastering metadata. Examples:

Bridge over the River Kwai 10,000 MaxCLL
Chappie 8154 MaxCLL
Close Encounters 10,000 MaxCLL
Crouching Tiger 9000 MaxCLL
Fifth Element 10,000
Few Good Men 10,000
Groundhog Day 10,000

The list goes on and on. The Pulsar doesn't tone map, so there should be no information that exceeds 4000 nits unless the master has intentional clipping. And the fact that so many just say 10000 nits makes me think it is just someone being lazy or they don't understand how to make the metadata properly.

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by Nelson10

So I set up the HDR/Color Gamut Output on my UB9000 to SDR/BT.2020 Auto.
However it is still sending the HDR Metadata to display device. The good news is that it is outputting SDR correctly so I can manually select a 2.4 gamma on my projector.
Hopefully there will be a firmware fix.

I know there are not to many UB9000 in the States but has anyone notice this issue?
On my unit it does recognize the SDR.2020 but with the HDR Metadata then I have to manually change it to 2.4 gamma.
There should be no metadata for SDR.

Why do you think that your getting the HDR flag specifically? Do you have a JVC that goes to Gamma D if it gets an HDR signal?

[bedlamfeuder94]

Quick troubleshooting question for you all. I played Rogue One last night, and at about the 1:00.28 mark, ran into what I assumed was a scratch on the disc - the disc glitched out, froze and eventually went forward 10 seconds and resumed playing the movie with no issues the rest of the film.

After watching, I attempted to repair the scratch on the disc with the toothpaste method (this previously saved my MI:3 4K disc several weeks ago) and went back to that spot on the disc. However, the freezing continued and I assumed the disc had a scratch too deep for me to repair.

I thought that until this morning when I put the movie in my PS4 and played without any freezing or audio cutting out. Any idea what this means for my UB820? TIA

[Mikke73]

Originally Posted by GeneD5

You should give it a shot! This is now my go-to Netflix app; I get HDR AND Dolby Atmos to boot. I think mine has a quirk that I actually love. It plays the menus in HDR (I’m guessing fake HDR) and also let’s me use the HDR brightness slider for their SDR content. I’ve gotten some absolutely gorgeous picture from some of their SDR content.

I've tried it, and had much better experience with LG's own Netflix app.
Panny's app behaved like the network connection wasn't fast enough, but 1 Gbit should definitely be enough...
And I also love LG's point-and-click remote.

By the way, has the Dolby Vision bug in Panny's Netflix app been fixed yet? Is it still force-feeding everything as DV if it's been enabled in the player?

[sapiendut]

Depends on which player you use. On the 820 sometimes it seems like my connection is not fast enough although once I moved the ethernet cable to my UB9000, the “problem” goes away.

Perhaps because the 820 use 10/100 card whereas 9000 use 10/100/1000 card?

[Mikke73]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Depends on which player you use. On the 820 sometimes it seems like my connection is not fast enough although once I moved the ethernet cable to my UB9000, the “problem” goes away.

Perhaps because the 820 use 10/100 card whereas 9000 use 10/100/1000 card?

UB820 here, but I doubt that the 10/100 card is the problem - LG's E7 also has a 10/100 card, and I've never had any dropouts with it. Of course, it could be that Panasonic's app just needs more bandwidth for whatever reason.

Might be worth testing it again someday, if the Dolby Vision bug/feature/whatever has been fixed.

[bedlamfeuder94]

Originally Posted by bedlamfeuder94

Quick troubleshooting question for you all. I played Rogue One last night, and at about the 1:00.28 mark, ran into what I assumed was a scratch on the disc - the disc glitched out, froze and eventually went forward 10 seconds and resumed playing the movie with no issues the rest of the film.

After watching, I attempted to repair the scratch on the disc with the toothpaste method (this previously saved my MI:3 4K disc several weeks ago) and went back to that spot on the disc. However, the freezing continued and I assumed the disc had a scratch too deep for me to repair.

I thought that until this morning when I put the movie in my PS4 and played without any freezing or audio cutting out. Any idea what this means for my UB820? TIA

After thinking on it a bit more, I think it's a layer change (this is almost the halfway point in the movie). So I'll alter my question: is this something that could be exclusive to this disc or could there be a reason my player is now having trouble processing layer changes when it hasn't previously?

[Minimejer05]

Just purchased myself a 65 inch OLED LG B8 and the Panasonic UB820 this morning and am in love with the video quality that I am getting so far. Any tips for a first-timer user? I read through this thread and have adjusted the player’s settings to OLED and am so far impressed. Now time to Google some solid calibration tips for the TV itself.

[elwaylite]

Oled and 4K, it’s a great combo.

[Nelson10]

Originally Posted by cjake

It is the same with the UB820.

What I found is that metadata is sent in SDR/BT2020 mode if the display supports HDR. If the display does not support HDR but supports BT2020 no metadata is sent.

I have an HDfury Vertex that reports the metadata string. The metadata reports that the signal is EOTF1. HDR (PQ) is EOTF2. EOTF1 is HDR Luminance Range but does not follow the PQ curve. If you think about it that is what the HDR Optimizer is doing; it is tone mapping to SDR/BT2020, but retaining the original luminance range of HDR.

I have a 2015 model JVC RS500. It does not switch to its HDR Gamma when receiving this EOTF1 metadata. It does report receiving HDR in the Information screen even though I need to switch to my SDR BT2020 picture mode with Gamma 2.4 to get correct color.

Your projector must be seeing the EOT1 indicator in the metadata and assumes it is HDR and switches to HDR mode, even though it is not PQ so an HDR Gamma should not be applied.

Thank you for that info. It makes sense. I guess I will make a profile on my RS500 that includes SDR.2020 with 2.4 gamma. I will have to select it manually on the remote. I am also using the Vertex with my JVC RS500 that is set up to switch my custom curves automatically.

Thanks