Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Yasujiro Ozu]

Some time ago I posted here inquiring about the UB9000 having the option of being made a region free bluray player, to which I received a resounding NO.
Well, unless already posted:

https://rattlebyte.com/Shop.php?lang...l&model_id=254

[Robert Zohn]

Originally Posted by baseball16

Hey guys, Best Buy has this on sale again for $400, and I'm really considering upgrading from my Xbox One X to this. My main problems with the Xbox are that it doesn't have DV disc playback and that the subtitles are enormous and blinding in HDR.

Is the UB820 going to produce any major differences in picture quality on an LG C9? I've looked up a couple reviews on YouTube and skimmed through this thread, but it's tough to tell without seeing the results in person. This includes the Netflix/Prime apps - is there any difference between playing them on the UB820 compared to the TV's internal apps? My hunch is that the HDR tone mapping should be better but I'm not positive this will affect streamed content.

Also, I know you can adjust the subtitle luminance and position, but can you adjust the size as well? I'd love for them to fit inside the bottom bars on a 2.39:1 movie, for instance. Thanks for any information!

Every Panasonic authorized dealer follows Panasonic's Promotional Roadmap so the UB820 is available at all authorized dealers for just under $400 this week.

It's true that most dedicated a/v devices will perform its specific job better than an all in one solution. In addition the UB420, UB820, and the UB9000 have Panasonic's priority HDR Optimizer so you can set the player's HDR tone mapping PQ peak luminance to match the peak luminance capability of your OLED TV and preserve the full dynamic tonal range and color volume.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Yasujiro Ozu

Some time ago I posted here inquiring about the UB9000 having the option of being made a region free bluray player, to which I received a resounding NO.
Well, unless already posted:

https://rattlebyte.com/Shop.php?lang...l&model_id=254

There's been an option for ages, but it's seems overly convoluted to purchase and update, the new one is a soldering job. Although Rattlebyte did offer a plug and play Panasonic mod a few years back.

[baseball16]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Every Panasonic authorized dealer follows Panasonic's Promotional Roadmap so the UB820 is available at all authorized dealers for just under $400 this week.

It's true that most dedicated a/v devices will perform its specific job better than an all in one solution. In addition the UB420, UB820, and the UB9000 have Panasonic's priority HDR Optimizer so you can set the player's HDR tone mapping PQ peak luminance to match the peak luminance capability of your OLED TV and preserve the full dynamic tonal range and color volume.

Thanks everyone. I went and purchased it yesterday, and I've been playing around with the HDR Optimizer settings. With the disclaimer that it's entirely possible that I have no idea what I'm doing, I've found some settings that work pretty well with the C9 based on what I've read and tested.

For SDR content, the only thing I did was bump the contrast up 2 notches. Dynamic Contrast and Peak Brightness are off on the C9.

For HDR disk content, I guess it depends on how the disk is mastered. If it's a dimmer disk, it shouldn't matter much if the HDR Optimizer is on or not. I flipped back and forth between various settings and found that I like +6 on Dynamic Range Adjustment with +2 for both Tone Curves during the day. I'll probably bump it down to +4 at night. Turning on the Dynamic Tone Mapping on the C9 after adjusting the settings on the UB820 seems to have the same effect as raising the Dynamic Range Adjustment like 8 steps regardless of what I have the Dynamic Range Adjustment at. I'm keeping the Dynamic Tone Mapping off for now because I can make the adjustments in the player more granularly.

I played Despicable Me as it is fairly bright, colorful, and has DV. I enabled DV in the Setup menu and everything looked great. I then disabled DV and tried just the HDR stream. Having the HDR Optimizer on definitely helps with getting better color - Gru's face was kinda washed out without it on. Dynamic Tone Mapping still applied the huge boost to brightness as it did in the dimmer discs, so it remained off. Not sure if I want to keep the Dynamic Range Adjustment on for brighter HDR, non-DV streams yet, I guess it'll depend on the movie. The darker scenes seem to need it for shadow detail but the brighter scenes don't really need it at all. There's also a Peak Brightness setting (Off, Low, Medium, and High options) on the C9 that complicates this decision.

The settings didn't change much with various streamed content compared to the disc counterpart. Stranger Things in DV and The Expanse in HDR both seemed to follow what I decided on earlier.

All in all, this is a great device. I do wish it had the option to change the subtitle size though. It would also be really nice if we had some sort of list of how bright each disc is. I found one Google Sheets list that hasn't been updated since 2018 that has a decent amount of titles: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...#gid=184653968 Between that sheet, the metadata you get from holding down the Playback Info button, and the studio that authored the disc, is there another objective way of deciding which settings to use for HDR playback? Sony and Warner titles seem to have brighter masters from what I've read.

[Oscarilbo]

Hi guys... I'm leaning towards getting the Panny 820 for the HDR optimizer alone, since I have a 4K HDR BenQ projector without auto tone mapping function. My only concern is that I end up getting a noticeable dimmer picture losing that bright "POP" effect in the overall PQ I get with my current sony X700.

Any thoughts or advice ?

[gnicks]

Originally Posted by Oscarilbo

Hi guys... I'm leaning towards getting the Panny 820 for the HDR optimizer alone, since I have a 4K HDR BenQ projector without auto tone mapping function. My only concern is that I end up getting a noticeable dimmer picture losing that bright "POP" effect in the overall PQ I get with my current sony X700.

Any thoughts or advice ?

I can only speak for myself, but I would much rather have a slightly dimmer image that retains highlight detail.

To me that is a more accurate image, and so I would recommend using the HDR Optimizer.

[Robert Zohn]

@Oscarilbo, I don't think you will get a dimmer HDR image with the UB820 configured properly for your projector.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by chip75

Although Rattlebyte did offer a plug and play Panasonic mod a few years back.

https://rattlebyte.com/Shop.php?lang...l&model_id=145

Click on Solderless Fitting Instructions.

Hopefully they can get something similar for the 4K players.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Oscarilbo

Hi guys... I'm leaning towards getting the Panny 820 for the HDR optimizer alone, since I have a 4K HDR BenQ projector without auto tone mapping function. My only concern is that I end up getting a noticeable dimmer picture losing that bright "POP" effect in the overall PQ I get with my current sony X700.

Any thoughts or advice ?

You need UB9000 in order to get non-laser projector mode.

[HeavyHitter]

I have no idea of how the BenQ calibrates, capabilities, or its WCG coverage, but maybe he can do SDR 2020 with a 2.4 gamma using the 820.

[Oscarilbo]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

@Oscarilbo, I don't think you will get a dimmer HDR image with the UB820 configured properly for your projector.

Thank you for your responses.

I wonder if I’d have to play with the HDR settings like gamma curve for whites and blacks, since I consider myself kind of a purist for this things. Are those adjustments necessary for correct HDR tone mapping configuration on a projector?

[Oscarilbo]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

You need UB9000 in order to get non-laser projector mode.

So the 500 nits is meant for laser projectors only?

At least it would get closer to the ideal nits isn’t it?

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Oscarilbo

So the 500 nits is meant for laser projectors only?

At least it would get closer to the ideal nits isn’t it?

The one closer is the 300 nits (low luminance projector). Yes, even on the laser projector preset of 500 nits is still better than nothing.

Alternatively, as what Heavyhitter wrote, you can do SDR2020 (I don’t recall whether your projector can do REC2020 colourspace or not).

[Oscarilbo]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

The one closer is the 300 nits (low luminance projector). Yes, even on the laser projector preset of 500 nits is still better than nothing.

Alternatively, as what Heavyhitter wrote, you can do SDR2020 (I don’t recall whether your projector can do REC2020 colourspace or not).

Yeah, the thing is I can’t afford the 9000 at the moment. I may even get the ub420 since I dont need DV. And my projector can only do up to Rec.709. Bur its fine, as long as the minimum available (500 nits in both 820 and 420 players) solves HDR better than the sonyx700 does.

[Oscarilbo]

So just to be clear... even if its not the 350 nits of the 9000. HDR Tone map at 500 nits would be noticeable in a projector that bear non auto tone mapping function, right?

[Robert Zohn]

Correct, ^, but the UB9000's 350Nit tone mapping is the best match for most projectors.

If you room has good ambient light control and flat black walls and ceiling at least 5' around the screen you can get very good HDR results with the UB820 or UB420.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Oscarilbo

So just to be clear... even if its not the 350 nits of the 9000. HDR Tone map at 500 nits would be noticeable in a projector that bear non auto tone mapping function, right?

Yup. Exactly!

[vjo81]

I thought that I would revisit this one. Many of us with UB820s experienced freezes in Midway and Knives Out when Dolby Vision was used. Both titles were distributed by Lionsgate earlier this year. I have some other Lionsgate DV titles that were released in 2019 or earlier (2001 Space Odyssey Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Apocalypse Now, John Wick 3, Hunter Killer and A Simple Favor. Not one of them, as far as I can recall, had any freezing issues when the DV versions were playing. It seems to me that Lionsgate may have changed something in its disc manufacturing process in 2020 when it was using 100GB discs. There haven't been any new Lionsgate DV releases after Midway and Knives Out so it remains an open theory at this point

[Fred Bang]

Originally Posted by vjo81

I thought that I would revisit this one. Many of us with UB820s experienced freezes in Midway and Knives Out when Dolby Vision was used. Both titles were distributed by Lionsgate earlier this year. I have some other Lionsgate DV titles that were released in 2019 or earlier (2001 Space Odyssey Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Apocalypse Now, John Wick 3, Hunter Killer and A Simple Favor. Not one of them, as far as I can recall, had any freezing issues when the DV versions were playing. It seems to me that Lionsgate may have changed something in its disc manufacturing process in 2020 when it was using 100GB discs. There haven't been any new Lionsgate DV releases after Midway and Knives Out so it remains an open theory at this point

I have no problem playing Knives Out (DV) on that player. But I have only watched half the movie for testing purposes. WHich scene froze?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Fred Bang

I have no problem playing Knives Out (DV) on that player. But I have only watched half the movie for testing purposes. WHich scene froze?

Have you seen the whole movie already? Spoiler if so:

[Show spoiler] it's when Chris Evans gets rumbled and he attacks Ana de Armas with the knife, at the 2h01m24s mark it freezes for several seconds on the 820 in DV.