Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Loneliest rider

Let's get some unfortunate offtopic out of the way first.

Both of these Sony OLEDs most likely have the same version of the XR Cognitive Processor chip. It was brand new in 2021, and present in the midrange A80J as well. The former premium model A90J has better image quality compared to its nearest siblings, but due to other factors such as better cooling which gives more headroom for panel brightness and other processing gimmicks. So these flagship models always perform better in tests, but if I was Sony I'd make it clear that these models also feature a better image processing chip, to increase their sales further. Yet to my knowledge they did no such thing.

I'm sure I'm not the average consumer when it comes to buying a display. Watching Vincent I've been aware of Sony's reputation for better processing when it comes to image reproduction for some years now. He even says Sony is known for it's processing. But I think your right, average Joe is not really aware of that but I also think average Joe knows of Sony reputation when it comes to TVs.

I forgot the A90J and the A80J have the same chip. I wonder if the size of my screen makes a difference. Mine is the 83" model...it might make it a bit easier to see differences. If your's is the 77" model then that extra 6" difference in size could be a factor. Also, I've had mine professional calibrated by D-Nice and had it set to 100 nits (for SDR) and follows the EOTF curve pretty much right on.

In any case I'm glad for you the quality of the upscaling looks better from the 820 when compared to your display!

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by thebarnman

I'm sure I'm not the average consumer when it comes to buying a display. Watching Vincent I've been aware of Sony's reputation for better processing when it comes to image reproduction for some years now. He even says Sony is known for it's processing. But I think your right, average Joe is not really aware of that but I also think average Joe knows of Sony reputation when it comes to TVs.

I forgot the A90J and the A80J have the same chip. I wonder if the size of my screen makes a difference. Mine is the 83" model...it might make it a bit easier to see differences. If your's is the 77" model then that extra 6" difference in size could be a factor. Also, I've had mine professional calibrated by D-Nice and had it set to 100 nits (for SDR) and follows the EOTF curve pretty much right on.

In any case I'm glad for you the quality of the upscaling looks better from the 820 when compared to your display!

Sony has always done very well with image processing. The main reason I stopped buying their products is because of multiple reliability issues with large TV defects that they refused to fix, one of which was even in-warranty but ridiculously claimed to be "in spec" by Sony to avoid repair (and another that became the subject of a successful class-action lawsuit due to mass failures, unfortunately filed well after I had dumped the TV for a fraction of its value). The issue that was "in-spec" they refused to fix in warranty period? Convergence going out of whack by almost a full inch in one corner - apparently it was fully "in spec" as long as the convergence wasn't off by more than 2" - this is on a 1920x1080 TV, as a result that quadrant of the screen affected was no better than standard definition!

After a company screws you several times on multiple multi-thousand dollar purchases, its kind of asking for it to buy from them again IMO


I heard there was a defect with their first gen 4K projectors' panels that resulted in like a 10:1 contrast loss over time or something like that from when new, and again owners were blown off as "in spec." Ridiculous.

[Loneliest rider]

Originally Posted by thebarnman

I'm sure I'm not the average consumer when it comes to buying a display. Watching Vincent I've been aware of Sony's reputation for better processing when it comes to image reproduction for some years now. He even says Sony is known for it's processing. But I think your right, average Joe is not really aware of that but I also think average Joe knows of Sony reputation when it comes to TVs.

I forgot the A90J and the A80J have the same chip. I wonder if the size of my screen makes a difference. Mine is the 83" model...it might make it a bit easier to see differences. If your's is the 77" model then that extra 6" difference in size could be a factor. Also, I've had mine professional calibrated by D-Nice and had it set to 100 nits (for SDR) and follows the EOTF curve pretty much right on.

In any case I'm glad for you the quality of the upscaling looks better from the 820 when compared to your display!

83", whoah... mine is just the 55". It should also be mentioned that I'm not using it without any unnecessary post-processing as I have 'reality creation' enabled. I liked the end result. The UB9000 however isn't using any filters, it should pass everything through more or less directly.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Sony has always done very well with image processing. The main reason I stopped buying their products is because of multiple reliability issues with large TV defects that they refused to fix, one of which was even in-warranty but ridiculously claimed to be "in spec" by Sony to avoid repair (and another that became the subject of a successful class-action lawsuit due to mass failures, unfortunately filed well after I had dumped the TV for a fraction of its value). The issue that was "in-spec" they refused to fix in warranty period? Convergence going out of whack by almost a full inch in one corner - apparently it was fully "in spec" as long as the convergence wasn't off by more than 2" - this is on a 1920x1080 TV, as a result that quadrant of the screen affected was no better than standard definition!

After a company screws you several times on multiple multi-thousand dollar purchases, its kind of asking for it to buy from them again IMO


I heard there was a defect with their first gen 4K projectors' panels that resulted in like a 10:1 contrast loss over time or something like that from when new, and again owners were blown off as "in spec." Ridiculous.

I had one of those early HDTV rear projection sets. The 53" image was off by 10% on once side (overscan) and there wasn't much I could do about it. I was so glad when I finally was able to upgrade to a flat panel where everything was pixel perfect! No overscan at all!

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Loneliest rider

83", whoah... mine is just the 55". It should also be mentioned that I'm not using it without any unnecessary post-processing as I have 'reality creation' enabled. I liked the end result. The UB9000 however isn't using any filters, it should pass everything through more or less directly.

Also, I should have mentioned the fact that yours is the 55" model, I THINK the pixel density is tighter (closer together) resulting naturally in a even more sharper image possibly making smaller differences harder to see.

Up-scaling differences with a image size of 28" larger than yours might make those small differences easier to see.

I'm glad you don't use all those unnecessary processes...we all know that degrades the image!

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by thebarnman

I had one of those early HDTV rear projection sets. The 53" image was off by 10% on once side (overscan) and there wasn't much I could do about it. I was so glad when I finally was able to upgrade to a flat panel where everything was pixel perfect! No overscan at all!

Yeah I had two Sony HD RPTVs
55" CRT 1080i - misconverged by 1" in upper left quadrant, they refused to fix despite in warranty. 1" misconvergence is massive on a 55" set.

60" SXRD 1080p - optical block died (no picture) 1 month out of warranty and they refused for fix unless I pay $650, which was like 40% the cost of the set (after spending which you only get 90 day warranty). Turned out to be a mass defect like xbox's red ring of death with the above class action lawsuit, but I had already moved on and took big loss before lawsuit filed

Back to back getting burned like that, I haven't bought any Sony product over $500 since. Especially after reading how with their first gen $20k+ 4K projectors they screwed owners in a similar fashion with the "in spec" baloney for something clearly defective/unacceptable

In contrast I had a BenQ projector with a bad dynamic iris,.and BenQ fixed for free 2 yrs past warranty and paid for shipping in both directions. I got Samsung now and doubt I would get that treatment, but so far their stuff seems fairly reliable

[Naiera]

The Sony projector contrast thing has been blown WAY out of proportion. Even if you can measure a drastic loss of contrast, I can tell you from personal experience that the image they put out is still excellent. No one on the planet has anywhere near a 10,000:1 contrast ratio in practice anyway.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Naiera

The Sony projector contrast thing has been blown WAY out of proportion. Even if you can measure a drastic loss of contrast, I can tell you from personal experience that the image they put out is still excellent. No one on the planet has anywhere near a 10,000:1 contrast ratio in practice anyway.

Is it blown out of proportion tho? I mean, you spend $20k+ on a projector, basically the price of a budget new car, and for some people the most important spec to them massively degrades over time and Sony is like, "too bad so sad"? Would be the equivalent of buying a Ferrari that loses half its horsepower in 2 years and saying "its still plenty fast".

If it was like a $1500 budget projector fine, but those units affected ain't cheap

[Naiera]

Yes, it is blown out of proportion. And some of those projectors were “only” $5,000. The car analogy doesn’t work, because, as mentioned, the real-world contrast ratio really isn’t affected much at all.

[teddyballgame]

Originally Posted by Ruined

I got Samsung now and doubt I would get that treatment, but so far their stuff seems fairly reliable

Hey Ruined I'm curious what model Samsung you're using? How are you finding it overall and what has been the biggest issue to get used to?


No experience with Sony customer service yet (knock on wood). I'm still using a 65" Sony A90J wrgb oled from 2021 for critical viewing. I don't have a lot of bones to pick with this display but I have noticed some mild off axis tinting (mostly vertical) where you can detect a little bit of unwanted magenta. Black and white content is where I first noticed that. The DV dark profile also has a built in offset to the white point tied to one of the color profiles which is kind of annoying to have to work around.

[By_His_Strypes]

I ran into a playback issue on the Scream Factory BD of Friday the 13th Part 8. It freezes about 10min in as Jason sticks the harpoon into the wall. Took the disc out and it's in pristine condition. Put it back in and it freezes in the same exact spot. It played flawlessly on my Sony player. Just one of those things I guess... I can skip ahead but lose 15secs.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by teddyballgame

Hey Ruined I'm curious what model Samsung you're using? How are you finding it overall and what has been the biggest issue to get used to?

QN90A, 1600nit / 1000zone mini led

Love it overall

Biggest issues - some select instances cause local dimming artifacts, such as the Panasonic UHD menus on a black background; occasional glitching out of SmartThings remote/phone automation/control (cant complain too much since its an awesome app); motion can look a little unnaturally juddery in 24p in some of the display modes

Things I love about it - amazing brightness makes it highly usable at any time of day / any viewing environment, so it can function as both a living room TV and a cinema display; great contrast so blacks are black thanks to the local dimming algorithm; can leave it on all day displaying whatever and have to worry at all about burn-in; super punchy HDR thanks to the brightness capabilities; phone app to control the TV is excellent; while i dont use them, best speakers ive heard on a TV; UI for streaming apps is both intuitive and modern looking/feeling; seems to do well at smart handling of HDMI inputs

[DMRI2006]

I see occasional flickering with Kino titles on my LG C2 and the UB9000. I also have a Sony X900H which seemed to exhibit it quite a bit more, but I still run into the occasional Kino release when there's a "pop" between a dark and a light scene especially, even on my LG. I do think it has something to do with how Kino masters the DV layer because it seems to happen mostly with their releases.

Either way I can live with it as I'm on the "special" firmware which is 1.69 or whatever number it's limited to, which offers more benefits over the occasional DV pop.

[DavePS3]

Just a heads up for anyone using a 90C or 900C Samsung panel... In the DPUB820/9000's settings, flip the HDR Display Type to: Super High Luminance LCD. Options are OLED, Projector, Low Luminance LCD, Mid to High L' LCD and this. Try it and see how you like it. I love it.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

I see occasional flickering with Kino titles on my LG C2 and the UB9000. I also have a Sony X900H which seemed to exhibit it quite a bit more, but I still run into the occasional Kino release when there's a "pop" between a dark and a light scene especially, even on my LG. I do think it has something to do with how Kino masters the DV layer because it seems to happen mostly with their releases.

Either way I can live with it as I'm on the "special" firmware which is 1.69 or whatever number it's limited to, which offers more benefits over the occasional DV pop.

Panasonic claims that Dolby controls the algorithm of how DV is rendered and some of this stuff out of their control, not sure how true that is, but possible since its a proprietary licensed codec - they may not give manuf the full raw code because of trade secret. I don't use DV at all so issue doesn't affect me.

[teddyballgame]

Originally Posted by Ruined

QN90A, 1600nit / 1000zone mini led

curiosity is satisfied now thanks

Originally Posted by Ruined

can leave it on all day displaying whatever and have to worry at all about burn-in

This is what I miss the most from not having a LCD!! The ability to simply pause or walk away from a game for any amount of time and not care. Also enjoying content that is partly static in nature like a fixed camera on a beach or other beautiful location... but experiencing no dimming or worry about what it's doing to the panel I'm probably still a LCD guy at heart so I keep watching every year to see what improvements might come.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by teddyballgame

curiosity is satisfied now thanks


This is what I miss the most from not having a LCD!! The ability to simply pause or walk away from a game for any amount of time and not care. Also enjoying content that is partly static in nature like a fixed camera on a beach or other beautiful location... but experiencing no dimming or worry about what it's doing to the panel I'm probably still a LCD guy at heart so I keep watching every year to see what improvements might come.

Next year mini led will pull far ahead of OLED

2024 85"+ flagships from Samsung, TCL, Hisense will be 5000 nits + 5000 zones, some models already have been announced. First HDR TVs to basically not need to use tone mapping anymore. OLED will still have per pixel dimming advantage, but at 1/5th of the brightness that advantage is kind of moot.

[SmittysGelato]

I sent my player away to be serviced, and they replaced it. Last night and today I watched two of the discs that were giving me trouble before and they played fine on the new player. THAT is a really heartening sign.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Next year mini led will pull far ahead of OLED

That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve read in a long time, and that’s really saying a lot.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Naiera

That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve read in a long time, and that’s really saying a lot.

Plasma was all the rage at one point, too, you know.

That being said, I don't expect the transition to happen overnight in sales. But mini led will def be ahead in tech next year, and once the word is out it's gonna be tough to make a case for a TV that is 1/5th the brightness of the alternative at the same price - while that alternative 5x brighter set does not have to worry about burn-in nor pixel cleaning permanently sapping brightness to clean up burn-in, has excellent black levels due to 5000 dimming zones, and also doesn't have to worry much about tonemapping anymore because it's actually bright enough to properly render HDR unlike any of today's 4K TVs.