Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[LordoftheRings]

Canada Day (July 1st) • https://www.trustedreviews.com/revie...sonic-dp-ub820

Independence Day (July 4th) • https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarc...le-friend/amp/

[eddievanhalen]

I own Panasonic's DP-UB420, 820's little brother that shares the same video processing as the 820, the 420 is HDMI output only.
With the 420 I experience freezing while playing mkv files from a 500 Gig. HDD connected to the rear USB input which provides 900 mAh of output power.
Does the 820 have the same problem?

[sapiendut]

I use 500 gb Toshiba branded USB 3.0 HDD, didn’t have any problem. But then again since the 820/9000 can do lossless audio mkv, I hardly use it beyond running .mkv THX trailers that’s been converted to DD 5.1.

[88mph]

Was planning to get the 820 soon but the price has gone up by £40 everywhere

[lgans316]

Originally Posted by 88mph

Was planning to get the 820 soon but the price has gone up by £40 everywhere

Just wait few more weeks. There should be a 10 or 15% off promotion on eBay.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Originally Posted by deanspot

hi , HDR optimizer is working on SDR HD TV , tested on justice league 4k disc’s flash scenes .

On or off I have never seen a difference on a 1080p display.

[sapiendut]

It should make zero difference as there is no HDR data being sent out anyway.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

It should make zero difference as there is no HDR data being sent out anyway.

That's what I thought. You can turn it on but it doesn't do anything.

[cjake]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

That's what I thought. You can turn it on but it doesn't do anything.

Not true. Even with a 1080P TV, using the HDR Optimizer to tone map HDR to SDR/REC709 will make a difference when the disc has correct HDR metadata values.

It is the Disney discs and others that have zero values for metadata that will show no difference with the Optimizer ON or OFF.

[sapiendut]

Strange, although I no longer have 1080p TV, when I set the player to output SDR2020, I can’t see any difference. So which target nits display should I choose in the player setting when I want to use SDR2020 or better yet the SDR 709?

[cfitzpatrick711]

Originally Posted by vincentric

First word problem can't decide if I want to pull the trigger on a ub820. Want to mostly see how well or not the hdr optimizer works with an LG C6.

I have a C6 and the results with the HDR Optimizer have been great. My only disappointment is the clipping in highlights with DV output. I hope there's a future firmware update to address this issue. Also, the 3D output is great!

[cjake]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Strange, although I no longer have 1080p TV, when I set the player to output SDR2020, I can’t see any difference. So which target nits display should I choose in the player setting when I want to use SDR2020 or better yet the SDR 709?

HDR Display Type is not utilized in SDR 2020/709 output modes.

As I mentioned you will only see a real difference when you play discs with valid HDR metadata. Especially with 4000 nit mastered discs.

[sapiendut]

I’ll test it out this weekend by bringing my 820 to my brother’s house. Thanks!

[cjake]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

I’ll test it out this weekend by bringing my 820 to my brother’s house. Thanks!

Choose a 4000 nit UHD disc such as Batman vs Superman that includes bright explosions. Pause playback during an explosion.

Use the Option button to bring up the HDR Optimizer menu. Click on Optimizer so the ON/OFF control floats at the bottom of the screen.

Toggle the Optimizer ON/OFF. With my 1080P TV I can see that with Optimizer OFF there is clipping of highlights. Turning the Optimizer ON reduces the clipping and shows more detail in the explosion.

Of course you won't see the detail that you would with a 4K TV but the Optimizer can still bring out detail that might otherwise be clipped. My 1080P TV is an older Sony that accepts both REC709 and BT2020.

[spider-neil]

Is there a remote that can control this 4k player in a closed cabinet? I can use the Apple remote to control the Apple TV 4k through a closed cabinet but I have to open the cabinet to use the Panasonic remote. The lights on the Panasonic player are bright so I want the cabinet closed. Continually opening the cabinet door to pause the movie is defeating the object of having a remote.

[sapiendut]

AppleTV uses Bluetooth connection. Most other remotes are infra red. You can use Harmony Elite as a universal remote. I use 3 of them at jomr

[Derb]

My 4K is a 2014 SDR.

Is the UB820 considered one of the best UHD players?

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Derb

My 4K is a 2014 SDR.

Is the UB820 considered one of the best UHD players?

Its build quality overall isn't as good as the Oppo 203 (now on the used market), but is a bit better with HDR10 and HDR10+ type content with solid chroma upscaling, but not as good with Dolby Vision content (it clips highlights). The 820 also has a few streaming apps. The Oppo 203 has SACD and DVD-Audio support instead.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Its build quality overall isn't as good as the Oppo 203 (now on the used market), but is a bit better with HDR10 and HDR10+ type content with solid chroma upscaling, but not as good with Dolby Vision content (it clips highlights). The 820 also has a few streaming apps. The Oppo 203 has SACD and DVD-Audio support instead.

Thanks.

Oppo, no surprise about Audio support.

Edit

With all this HDR stuff, doesn’t look like I’ll benefit from 4K until I upgrade my Tv.

[sapiendut]

For your display, definitely.