Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[ack_bak]

Sold my Oppo 203 for a crazy price and pre-ordered a UB820 through VE yesterday after doing extensive reasearch. The 820 seems like a great combo with my JVC X770 projector. I'm very excited.

VE customer service is top notch. The woman I spoke to knew about the product, explained the expected shipping date and it was refreshing to talk to someone on the phone that was kind and knowledgeable.

Very excited for the player and will be using an Xbox S in the meantime.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

Last paragraph. What are those newer model TV's.

Can UB820 or UB9000 be able to receive HDMI 2.1(full or in part like eARC, non-8K features, etc) firmware???

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Xb....313664.0.html

While the chances of older TVs getting firmware updates are slim, newer models designed with the HDMI 2.1 spec in mind should be capable of supporting at least some of the features of the new spec.

[Robert Zohn]

No current TV, BD player or any a/v device can be upgraded to the full HDMI 2.1 spec. Some HDMI 2.0a and HDMI 2.0b devices can be upgraded to meet a few of the HDMI 2.1 specs. However no HDMI 2.0 chip will ever be capable of bandwidth beyond 18Gbps.

When HDMI 2.1 chips sets become available they will support 48Gbps and all of the future advancement that are many years ahead, like 8k resolution, full BT.2020 color gamut, 120fps with 4:4:4 color sampling and more.

Keep in mind that Hollywood's latest state-of-the-art has not gone beyond P3 DCI color and no one has even suggested what year we might see content created and mastered in BT2020 color.

[sapiendut]

Quite honestly the full implementation of 2.1 will be more for gaming. I can’t see any studio will be willing to release their work in 12-bit 4:4:4.

[Robert Zohn]

Thank you ^ and thats correct. Sorry I left that out of my post.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

I hope the shipping date is soon. I just bought my first 3 UHDs. I mean I already had Unforgiven and T2 but that was just for the included blu-rays.

[Life in Inlines]

I’m sure Robert will let us know when they get them in store. I for one would like hourly updates on the status of this player in the U.S., but that’s probably a bit obnoxious of me.

I just hit 50 UHDs with Prime day, but that’s over the course of 6 months, back when I snagged a 4K TV. I’ve watched a couple movies on a (cheap) borrowed player to see the 4K difference, but that’s it. Very excited for this player.

[Robert Zohn]

Looks like we're receive the 1st allocation next Friday, July 27 and we're very likely to ship every order the same day.

[Robert Zohn]

Very informative technical presentation by Panasonic's chief engineer of the BD group.

Panasonic DP-UB9000 picture quality - YouTube

Everything relates to the UB820 and UB9000

[Sir Dagonet]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Looks like we're receive the 1st allocation next Friday, July 27 and we're very likely to ship every order the same day.

Thumbs up to Robert (esp for the commitment to send out the units so quickly), thumbs down to customs, et al, for (potentially) making us wait another week.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Quite honestly the full implementation of 2.1 will be more for gaming. I can’t see any studio will be willing to release their work in 12-bit 4:4:4.

Yeah, and it's not really about what the cables support anyway in terms of getting 4:4:4 chroma for movies, it's about the bandwidth that the actual content is supporting. HDMI has been capable of transmitting 4:4:4 in 12-bit 1080p for years, then 4K, then 8K, then whatever comes along after that, but those numbers mean jack as long as the content itself is still being encoded at 4:2:0 to save on chroma bandwidth.

[Robert Zohn]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

If you're an owner of an OPPO 203/205 or a Cambridge CXUHD is there anything about this new Pioneer (or the new Panasonic) that screams you have to upgrade? Is it just a lateral move?

The big new feature on Panasonic's UB820 and UB9000 is the exclusive HDR Optimizer.

Panasonic's HDR Optimizer tone maps the PQ curve of HDR10 content from streaming or a BD to match your display's peak luminance capability. The advantage is you get to see the full dynamic range of your HDR content without clipping the brightest image areas.

Originally Posted by JohnAV

We have scant details. I suspect you are paying more for about the same technology. But that's why Pioneer had a tough time earlier with Oppo.
Now that you got Panasonic trying to pitch a non-universal player with some audiophile features I suspect Pioneer sees an opening to enter the marketplace with something more towards that design goal replacing the older BDP-88FD as seen on https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/P...e/Blu-ray-Disc.

Robert is happy to get both vendors I imagine.

I can tell you with 100% confidence that Panasonic's HDR Optimizer works beautifully with all types of TVs and projectors to maintain the full tonal range of HDR10 content. It gently rolls off the peak luminance maintaining the full color volume and details across the HDR tonal range.

I know this because I have personally tested the UB820 and UB9000 with all of the 2018 premium TVs and several projectors.

Here's a Youtube video with Panasonic's chief engineer of the BD group explaining how the Chroma processing and HDR Optimizer works.

Panasonic DP-UB9000 picture quality - YouTube

This is a new and exclusive feature that Panasonic developed and will launch in the USA by the end of next week.

In full disclosure, my company was selected as Panasonic's exclusive launch partner for the USA on the UB820 and UB9000.

I am also excited to see Pioneer's Elite UBP-LX500 premium Universal BD player that is scheduled to ship in the USA early October. The LX500 wil not have the HDR Optimizer feature, but is a universal player.

Originally Posted by JohnAV

I realize Panasonic wants to capitalize on the HDR optimizer marketing but you can't make that the definite reason for a UHD BD player except in certain situations.

I've tested it on LG and Sony OLED TVs, several Sony, LG and Samsung LCD TVs and a few projectors with excellent results every time. No other BD player was able to perform as well with HDR10 content on every TV. One example is seeing the gradual smooth transition of the bright sky with all of the detail that the sky looks like in real life.

I've done this demo with many folks who have stopped into our showroom to see our engineering production UB820 and UB9000 in person.

Now it's true that I have not tested it with every HDR capable TV and projector so I can't make claims it will give this high performance on ever HDR TV. But this a new revolutionary feature for the video enthusiast and movie loving community.


Move from the Pioneer UDP-LX500 thread as it belongs here.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

I've tested it on LG and Sony OLED TVs, several Sony, LG and Samsung LCD TVs and a few projectors with excellent results every time. No other BD player was able to perform as well with HDR10 content on every TV. One example is seeing the gradual smooth transition of the bright sky with all of the detail that the sky looks like in real life.

I've done this demo with many folks who have stopped into our showroom to see our engineering production UB820 and UB9000 in person.

Now it's true that I have not tested it with every HDR capable TV and projector so I can't make claims it will give this high performance on ever HDR TV. But this a new revolutionary feature for the video enthusiast and movie loving community.

Since I playing the role of devils advocate.

This is a example of where you're pitching the player is better with tone-mapping than the very expensive display you bought. I don't disagree the player could be quite effective at this functionality, but better than most of your expensive displays, I doubt it. Originally I understood that Panasonic was marketing this feature for less expensive displays tone mapping to be greatly improved. Seems their marketing tactics have changed IMHO.

I look forward your continued analysis/evaluation and well as others research.

[evan201]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Since I playing the role of devils advocate.
I look forward your continued analysis/evaluation and well as others research.

Personally looking forward to seeing what it can do with the epson 5040. theres massive threads of people waiting to see if it helps HDR on the PJ. Also, when I finally buy a C8 hopefully next fall, it will be nice to be able to dial in HDR settings to a greater degree with these features. IMHO, most enthusiasts welcome options. I'll be updating as soon as Robert sends me the goods.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Since I playing the role of devils advocate.

This is a example of where you're pitching the player is better with tone-mapping than the very expensive display you bought. I don't disagree the player could be quite effective at this functionality, but better than most of your expensive displays, I doubt it. Originally I understood that Panasonic was marketing this feature for less expensive displays tone mapping to be greatly improved. Seems their marketing tactics have changed IMHO.

I look forward your continued analysis/evaluation and well as others research.

From what I have seen when using the HDR optimizer with my 75Z9D, it does not make a huge difference. And sometimes it doesn't seem to make a difference at all when toggling the HDR optimizer on/off during content. When wathing Gods Of Egypt for example, I didn't notice a difference. But with Mad Max Fury Road, it gets rid of what little clipping is seen completely and brought out a little more detail in the highlights. I could get the same effect when using the 4000 nits mode on the Z, but this noticably dims the entire picture. When using the optimizer, the screen doesn't dim at all. So in this case for me personally, it's more like putting the icing on the cake.

The optimizer works wonders for my 285ES projector though. I'm able to leave contrast on max for HDR in order to get the brightest posible picture without using the projector in high lamp mode (which is something I won't do until the lamp really starts to degrade) or custom gamma curves. Setting contrast to its max setting normally would provide an ugly blown out look with severe clipping (and a slight yellowish tint on top of that courtesy of setting the contrast enhancer setting to max also). But with the HDR optimizer, it gets rid of that and brings back a ton of details in the process. I did notice the effect depends on what movie is being watched though. With Men In Black and Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children for example, it didn't seem there was much of a difference when toggling the optimizer on/off. Mad Max Fury Road, Starship Troopers and Pacific Rim on the other hand, were greatly improved upon.

I think the 820/824 is a great little player with all the quality you would expect from Panasonic. And depending on your display I think, the HDR optimizer is an amazing functionality. I'm a Sony guy but I wouldn't want to have missed out on the Panasonic. So sorry for cheating (again), Sony.

[ray0414]

Is the optimizer on both models?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by DJR662

From what I have seen when using the HDR optimizer with my 75Z9D, it does not make a huge difference. And sometimes it doesn't seem to make a difference at all when toggling the HDR optimizer on/off during content. When wathing Gods Of Egypt for example, I didn't notice a difference. But with Mad Max Fury Road, it gets rid of what little clipping is seen completely and brought out a little more detail in the highlights. I could get the same effect when using the 4000 nits mode on the Z, but this noticably dims the entire picture. When using the optimizer, the screen doesn't dim at all. So in this case for me personally, it's more like putting the icing on the cake.

The optimizer works wonders for my 285ES projector though. I'm able to leave contrast on max for HDR in order to get the brightest posible picture without using the projector in high lamp mode (which is something I won't do until the lamp really starts to degrade) or custom gamma curves. Setting contrast to its max setting normally would provide an ugly blown out look with severe clipping (and a slight yellowish tint on top of that courtesy of setting the contrast enhancer setting to max also). But with the HDR optimizer, it gets rid of that and brings back a ton of details in the process. I did notice the effect depends on what movie is being watched though. With Men In Black and Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children for example, it didn't seem there was much of a difference when toggling the optimizer on/off. Mad Max Fury Road, Starship Troopers and Pacific Rim on the other hand, were greatly improved upon.

I think the 820/824 is a great little player with all the quality you would expect from Panasonic. And depending on your display I think, the HDR optimizer is an amazing functionality. I'm a Sony guy but I wouldn't want to have missed out on the Panasonic. So sorry for cheating (again), Sony.

It will absolutely depend on how the movie was graded in HDR, yep, it's not a 'one size' solution. The last three you mention have very bright highlights at their peak MaxCLL (over 9000 nits for Fury Road, 4000 nits for Troopers and 2500 nits for Pac Rim) so it's no wonder they respond so much better to the optimiser on your projector. Again, it makes a mockery of the myth that all HDR10 is graded to the same brightness. Piffle and poppycock, good sirs!

[ronboster]

Originally Posted by ray0414

Is the optimizer on both models?

As found in the first post:

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

We're poised for another big year targeting the discerning UHD/HDR BD and streaming enthusiasts.

Happy to report that Panasonic will be launching Worldwide (USA included) the highly anticipated UB820 and UB9000 UHD/HDR BD players.

For USA folks we'll begin to see the UB820 sometime in July and the UB9000 by October, 2018 or hopefully sooner. The EU and some Asian countries might be slightly earlier.

Now for the first time, users can adjust the tone mapping to your specific displays luminance capacity for the ultimate control of the entire tonal range for all HDR formats and content. This includes streaming content through the built-in Smart apps for those with projectors, monitors or anyone who wants to have control of the luminance tone mapping and "Hollywood Cinema Experience", HCX video processing. Panasonic created and mastered HCX video processing over the years with Panasonic's Hollywood Laboratory.

The UB9000 adds the best possible audio experiences with dedicated DACs and 7.1 analog audio outputs as well as support for all Hi-Res audio formats.

We built dedicated pages for the UB820 and UB9000 with more technical specs and general information.

[Robert Zohn]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Since I playing the role of devils advocate.

This is a example of where you're pitching the player is better with tone-mapping than the very expensive display you bought. I don't disagree the player could be quite effective at this functionality, but better than most of your expensive displays, I doubt it. Originally I understood that Panasonic was marketing this feature for less expensive displays tone mapping to be greatly improved. Seems their marketing tactics have changed IMHO.

I look forward your continued analysis/evaluation and well as others research.

Actually the UB820 and UB9000's HDR Optimizer is most effective on LG and Sony OLED TVs, most projectors and some of the lower priced LCD TVs.

It was less impressive, but did moderately improve HDR on Sony's Z9D and Samsung's Q9FN. In regard to all Samsung TVs Panasonic's new BD players support HDR10+ so these owners will enjoy the benefits of seeing HDR10 and HDR10+ content.

[Clark Burk]

Robert, thanks for all your great info. Good to hear my 820 will be in my hands in 10 days or so.
Two questions. What projectors did you try with the 820 and have you had any hints on when the DV update will be out?