Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Robert Zohn]

Just wanted to give everyone an update on the UB9000P1k price increase. A little good and bad news..

First the bad news, UB9000P1k supply is limited and the price goes up at 12pm ET tonight, July 4th.

We were able to keep the price increase down to $100. It was originally thought to be a $200 increase.

BTW, the UB820 sale also ends at 12pm ET tonight so the UB820 goes back to $497.

[TravisTylerBlack]

Originally Posted by newtbludger

I keep seeing this and was wondering if any of you guys have reccomendations for any good players for playing DVDs.

In terms of non-UHD players, the Sony BDP-S6700 is one of the best 4K upscaling disc spinners on the market. I purchased a modified unit from 220 electronics a few years ago to use as a secondary, dedicated region free player (alongside my UB20) and its upscaling performance on both BDs and DVDs has been stellar.

[Travis]

Watching the Minority Report BD. Started with resolution at 4K. Switched to 1080p.

Faces don’t seem to be as detailed when upscale to 4K IMO.

Using a 106” screen. Epson projector is set Color Mode: Natural, Power Consumption: High.

My projector isn’t native 4K, pixel shifting instead. Maybe upscaling looks great on screens that are native.

Anyone else here using an Epson projector and 820?

Haven’t tried 3D yet. Any tips for settings?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Travis

Watching the Minority Report BD. Started with resolution at 4K. Switched to 1080p.

Faces don’t seem to be as detailed when upscale to 4K IMO.

Using a 106” screen. Epson projector is set Color Mode: Natural, Power Consumption: High.

My projector isn’t native 4K, pixel shifting instead. Maybe upscaling looks great on screens that are native.

Anyone else here using an Epson projector and 820?

Haven’t tried 3D yet. Any tips for settings?

The 4K upscaling on the Pannysonic players actually adds a little bit of sharpness so it's not the upscaling that's the issue, it's your projektor not being 4K that's the issue with it.

[fredman]

Originally Posted by newtbludger

I keep seeing this and was wondering if any of you guys have reccomendations for any good players for playing DVDs.

In general Sonys and LGs are good with DVD playback. I own an LG UBK80 (their basic UHD player) and combined with a Sony XBR55800G (55" LED) the DVD playback is impressive. However the player lacks Dolby Vision and does hiccup on some BD100 discs. Lately I've discovered that it does not do well going directly from a UHD to a DVD and needs to be shut down then re-started to correctly display the lower rez discs. These don't bother me much as with BDs and BD66 UHDs it's nearly flawless and I am very happy with the DVD upscaling which has given most of the DVDs in my collection (~700) new life. The Panasonics seem more trouble-free but are not that good with DVD playback. I really liked my original Sony DVD player (I'm one of those that has good to excellent results with all things Sony) but was not that happy with one of their budget BD players and am leery of spending $$ on their upper end UHD models, so I am keeping this one for the time being.

[KPackratt2k]

Originally Posted by Filmfan73

27" S-Video capable CRT with a Late generation s-Video DVD player like the Toshiba SD-2800. Seriously, nothing else comes remotely close. You want the best, there it is.

The problem is CRT TVs (especially those with high quality inputs like S-Video or Component) are getting expensive and hard to find locally, not to mention they're too large to ship. Retro gamers want CRT TVs so badly to the point where the supplies for them are rapidly drying up, as a result most of the people still selling them have priced them at ridiculous amounts of money to the point where they cost more than a used LCD/Plasma HDTV. I spent a year of Craigslist searching trying to find the perfect CRT for my retro gaming setup and I've managed to get lucky enough to find two Sony Trinitrons (a 20" and a 27", both with S-Video inputs) for free. It takes patience and daily searches to get a good deal nowadays and not everyone wants to go through the hassle.

If you must use a Panasonic UHD player and don't like its upscaling, a more economical solution would be to find an upscaling DVD player with HDMI output or another Blu-ray player to use as a secondary player for DVD playback. If you have any 7th-9th gen game console with a disc drive (barring Nintendo consoles), you can use that as your secondary player instead.

[Hydra Spectre]

Do the international versions of the UB9000 support MGVC (Master Grade Video Coding) with 1080p 12-bit output or not? It's a mostly Japan-only tech that uses Blu-ray 3D tech to give 2D Blu-rays 12-bit colour with a similar method on how Dolby Vision gets 12-bit colour.
Most of Studio Ghibli's Blu-rays have MGVC but only for the Japanese versions.
If the international versions do not have MGVC, then the Japanese version of the UB-9000 (which is now OOP for some reason) is the best version, since it has MGVC support for sweet 12-bit colour in Ghibli films.

[Kool-aid23]

MGVC is Japanese exclusive. The Japanese UB9000 in addition to MGVC support also has different parts as well. They have not upgraded to the new DAC that the international version is using. Also, it's close to $2000.

[Member-425016]

Originally Posted by KPackratt2k

The problem is CRT TVs (especially those with high quality inputs like S-Video or Component) are getting expensive and hard to find locally, not to mention they're too large to ship. Retro gamers want CRT TVs so badly to the point where the supplies for them are rapidly drying up, as a result most of the people still selling them have priced them at ridiculous amounts of money to the point where they cost more than a used LCD/Plasma HDTV. I spent a year of Craigslist searching trying to find the perfect CRT for my retro gaming setup and I've managed to get lucky enough to find two Sony Trinitrons (a 20" and a 27", both with S-Video inputs) for free. It takes patience and daily searches to get a good deal nowadays and not everyone wants to go through the hassle.

If you must use a Panasonic UHD player and don't like its upscaling, a more economical solution would be to find an upscaling DVD player with HDMI output or another Blu-ray player to use as a secondary player for DVD playback. If you have any 7th-9th gen game console with a disc drive (barring Nintendo consoles), you can use that as your secondary player instead.

CRT is the hardest part (but can still be easily found if you look hard enough especially from the method you mention, I think). High end DVD players however from the early 2000's can be scored usually new old stock, or never been used for under $50 on E-Bay. No problem.

Also, component video is great for color only. With S video you get fantastic resolution, and sharpness for sourced SD content. I just put a 20” CRT toe to toe with a 65” Sony Z9D. It was embarrassing how much better the CRT looked.

People can trash talk Samsung all they want, but the upconversion on their TV sets is light years better than any other brand on the market

[Member-425016]

Post deleted

[I DO BLU]

Originally Posted by Filmfan73

CRT is the hardest part (but can still be easily found if you look hard enough especially from the method you mention, I think). High end DVD players however from the early 2000's can be scored usually new old stock, or never been used for under $50 on E-Bay. No problem.

Also, component video is great for color only. With S video you get fantastic resolution, and sharpness for sourced SD content. I just put a 20” CRT toe to toe with a 65” Sony Z9D. It was embarrassing how much better the CRT looked.

People can trash talk Samsung all they want, but the upconversion on their TV sets is light years better than any other brand on the market

YouTube

[Member-425016]

Originally Posted by I DO BLU

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0tJGk4ofc18

If you have one solution other than CRT/S-Video that looks better for 480i SD content (DVD), I'd love to hear it.

[I DO BLU]

First of all comparing a 20 inch 480i junk signal and putting it on a 65 inch tv is asinine then calling the Sony z9 embarrassing is out right ridicules. what do you think I going to happen putting that junk on a much bigger tv?

[Member-425016]

The Z9D doesn't do S video. The comparison I made was all modern (HDMI 2.1, Panasonic 820) on it.

compared to S video on a 20 Panasonic CRT. Which was very close to the same I got with my Sony 27" CRT. All much better for 480i DVD content.

[Hydra Spectre]

My DVDs look amazing with Component YPbPr on a CRT.
I go with Component because my childhood CRT has it and it's still an SD TV.
Unfortunately, it has seen better days and the Component inputs have broken pins stuck in them, which means there is some noise.

Composite just looks too awful for me now on DVDs.
When I get a full collection of LaserDiscs and retro consoles, the only thing I will probably be hooking up on S-Video would be the Nintendo 64. LaserDiscs and the NES/Famicom would be Composite while almost everything else would be Component (or RGB SCART transcoded to Component).

Watching my Evangelion Platinum Edition DVDs on my childhood Samsung CRT hooked up via. Component is my favourite way to watch Evangelion.
I prefer it over the HD version on Netflix (I don't own the GKIDS Blu-ray but I would love to).
The Manga Entertainment movie DVDs also look much more tolerable with Component cables on a CRT.

Unfortunately, using the CRT is not possible in the condo I currently live in since I live with a family of six (me, my mother, my older sisters, my older brother, and my brother's daughter) on a tiny condo.
I think I will only be able to use the CRT when I get my own condo but we are a close-knit family.

Getting a townhouse or a larger home is out of the question because we have to live in the big city.
Such a shame because my childhood CRT is a treasure to me, and I would like to get it fixed for the geometry, some aging artefacts, and the gunk stuck in the Component ports.
In my country, CRT repair is still a bit common, and CRTs are quite common among poorer people, which are the majority in the country I live in.

[I DO BLU]

Originally Posted by Filmfan73

The Z9D doesn't do S video. The comparison I made was all modern (HDMI 2.1, Panasonic 820) on it.

compared to S video on a 20 Panasonic CRT. Which was very close to the same I got with my Sony 27" CRT. All much better for 480i DVD content.

Even with 4k blu-rays the bigger you go the more things are going to stick out now if you said like the 27 inch Sony that’s more close but saying the z9 is a embarrassment is the problem since you are not comparing apples to apples since the screen sizes are not even close and putting a 480i image to the z9 it’s not going to be able to do magic . It’s garbage in garbage out 480 I is garbage nowadays.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Filmfan73

The Z9D doesn't do S video. The comparison I made was all modern (HDMI 2.1, Panasonic 820) on it.

compared to S video on a 20 Panasonic CRT. Which was very close to the same I got with my Sony 27" CRT. All much better for 480i DVD content.

The 820 isn't very good for 480 DVD playback. Nor does HDMI 2.1 have anything to do with this discussion.

But yeah, what the other guy said: vastly smaller TV in "makes old content look good" shocker

[Tok]

Originally Posted by Filmfan73

The Z9D doesn't do S video. The comparison I made was all modern (HDMI 2.1, Panasonic 820) on it.

compared to S video on a 20 Panasonic CRT. Which was very close to the same I got with my Sony 27" CRT. All much better for 480i DVD content.

As I said earlier… DVD will look best on analog displays. DVD was designed to utilize interlace CRT displays. It took a really well designed chipset to output progressive frames due to the bad edits and flags on many DVD. The chipsets that could interpret cadence were the best.

Best deinterlacing algorithms were by Faroudja, known as DCDi, and the Silicon Image chipsets. Some early 2000s Panasonic progressive players had the DCDi chipset but they didn’t pay for the logo so there’s no mention on the player. The Panasonic RP56U and the changer version the CP72 were DCDi players with no mention of the chipset.

Faroudja disappeared within a couple of years and SI ended up being only used on pricier players but it was also used on some AVRs as well such as some Onkyo units. By the time Blu-ray appeared the manufacturers weren’t concentrating on deinterlacing for DVD much and many had just went to using cheap chipsets that relied on flags and weren’t using cadence reading. All the sources now are pretty much designed around progressive except for 1080i and that format doesn’t tend to have all the flagging errors like DVD since it’s based on a digital system to begin with. Manufacturers have gotten better with their own deinterlacing solutions in general but many system aren’t even accepting a 480i input any longer so one is stuck using a player to get the signal to the bare minimum 480p to be displayed. So if the player doesn’t do it well one is stuck with it. In the past one could send 480i to see if the display could do a better job with 480i. That ability is disappearing.

Many of the CE makers don’t care what DVD looks like on modern displays. It’s just the facts.

[Member-425016]

Originally Posted by I DO BLU

Even with 4k blu-rays the bigger you go the more things are going to stick out now if you said like the 27 inch Sony that’s more close but saying the z9 is a embarrassment is the problem since you are not comparing apples to apples since the screen sizes are not even close and putting a 480i image to the z9 it’s not going to be able to do magic . It’s garbage in garbage out 480 I is garbage nowadays.

The question was posed as to what method would be best for DVD playback, and I answered with the only right answer there is eliminate the upconversion which creates too many anomalies compounded by LCD tech, and focus on CRT. Yes it is antiquated (as is DVD) but it is the best possible way to watch DVD. Whether you think so or not.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The 820 isn't very good for 480 DVD playback. Nor does HDMI 2.1 have anything to do with this discussion.

But yeah, what the other guy said: vastly smaller TV in "makes old content look good" shocker

Yeah, but not really. Sure DVD content looked great on my 21" LCD JVC studio monitor. But the reason I sold it was that my 20" CRT PVM looked better. Two displays near the exact same size, but one superior. I do miss fiddling with the JVC monitor though. Sometimes I wish I hadn't sold it.

Originally Posted by Tok

As I said earlier… DVD will look best on analog displays. DVD was designed to utilize interlace CRT displays. It took a really well designed chipset to output progressive frames due to the bad edits and flags on many DVD. The chipsets that could interpret cadence were the best.

Best deinterlacing algorithms were by Faroudja, known as DCDi, and the Silicon Image chipsets. Some early 2000s Panasonic progressive players had the DCDi chipset but they didn’t pay for the logo so there’s no mention on the player. The Panasonic RP56U and the changer version the CP72 were DCDi players with no mention of the chipset.

Faroudja disappeared within a couple of years and SI ended up being only used on pricier players but it was also used on some AVRs as well such as some Onkyo units. By the time Blu-ray appeared the manufacturers weren’t concentrating on deinterlacing for DVD much and many had just went to using cheap chipsets that relied on flags and weren’t using cadence reading. All the sources now are pretty much designed around progressive except for 1080i and that format doesn’t tend to have all the flagging errors like DVD since it’s based on a digital system to begin with. Manufacturers have gotten better with their own deinterlacing solutions in general but many system aren’t even accepting a 480i input any longer so one is stuck using a player to get the signal to the bare minimum 480p to be displayed. So if the player doesn’t do it well one is stuck with it. In the past one could send 480i to see if the display could do a better job with 480i. That ability is disappearing.

Many of the CE makers don’t care what DVD looks like on modern displays. It’s just the facts.

Thank you!!

[Naiera]

Only those who’ve only seen DVDs on LCD screens with shitty players would say that a CRT is the best way to watch a DVD. Yeesh.