Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[GiuseppeM]

This morning I watched Black Panther in a quite bright living room, on a LG C8 andi in Dolby Vision with the new 820. Now in the afternoon I’m watching the same film on a Sony A1 in HDR10 with the UB 900 in a dark room that is my home theater and I must say that the difference is noticeable, every improvement given by the LG C8 should have been overturned by the clarity in the living room but the new 820 does its job in an excellent way. I dare not imagine what the upcoming 9000 will do. Really impressed.

[dlbsyst]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

since this player just came out, getting an open box from Best Buy for 80 bucks less is a really good deal? They're already selling some with minor cosmetic damage ones for $399

Yeah, it definitely would be. If your local store has one definitely grab it. They also show open box but none of the stores in my area have any. It's okay though. Considering the outstanding picture this player puts out it's worth it at full retail.

[Cortiz]

Got this player from Best Buy last Friday and been playing putting through the paces the last couple of days. All I can say is WOW. I can honestly say this is the best PQ I've ever seen without a doubt. I also own an Oppo 203 and a Sony X1000es, both payers have great PQ but this new Panny is own a league on his own, just wow.

[knicolai]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

Got this player from Best Buy last Friday and been playing putting through the paces the last couple of days. All I can say is WOW. I can honestly say this is the best PQ I've ever seen without a doubt. I also own an Oppo 203 and a Sony X1000es, both payers have great PQ but this new Panny is own a league on his own, just wow.

Hmmm... I have a 203 & a 1000es as well, but now you've piqued my interest again about this mysterious Panasonic. At least the Panny appears to have a lot of control for various HDR/DV PQ, as does the 203. Sony... not so much. Still, I was trying to avoid spending another $500 - at least until any bugs are identified and worked out.

[Swoopp]

Oke im playing for 2 days now with min 824.
But when i stream a movie from mine pc to the 824.
It blinks every 2 min. Screen go black for 1 sec then come back with the content i was whatching. Anyone have experiance with that?

Update: when i watch netflix on mine panny then i have the same problem. In dolby vision and without.
When i play a uhd disk i have no problems

[Clark Burk]

Originally Posted by Swoopp

Oke im playing for 2 days now with min 824.
But when i stream a movie from mine pc to the 824.
It blinks every 2 min. Screen go black for 1 sec then come back with the content i was whatching. Anyone have experiance with that?

Update: when i watch netflix on mine panny then i have the same problem. In dolby vision and without.
When i play a uhd disk i have no problems

Sounds like you may need to try certified premium HDMI cables. UHD plays back at 24p so it uses a lower bandwidth signal. Netflix and likely your PC are using the full 4k/60p or 18ghz signal. If your cables are not certified premium cables you may get dropouts like you are experiencing or lack of signal altogether. Just a hunch but worth looking into.

[DLCPhoto]

Regarding the UB820 and the issue where we can't use SDR-2020 with streaming HDR content, I have been in touch with Robert Zohn, and with his permission, here is what he said:

I am working with Panasonic’s engineers in Japan about making SDR/2020 work for HDR/2020 content from Netflix and other streaming services.

I can’t say for sure if this will be implemented in a firmware update as it seems to be something Netflix is forcing. Still checking so stand by for an official answer.

He said he'd get back to me either way, that he's en route to CEDIA, so here's hoping for something positive from Panasonic on this!

[Mobe1969]

I take it there is definitely no source direct output (so it doesn't upscale 1080p) on the 9000? It isn't a hidden/different feature?

[Smack]

Is there someone who is using the UB820 or UB420 with an Epson lS10000 and could share his settings (HDR - Optimizer Setting).

[Steel76]

Sorry if this have been mentioned before in the thread.
But my 820 is showing wrong bitrates.
Avengers Infinity Wars in Chapter 3 are on my Xbox One, and on the Oppo showing bitrates mostly above 50Mbps, reaching up to around 90Mbps at points. But on my 820, the same scene, shows bitrates around 15-25Mbps, reaching a maximum at around 50 at rare points.
It even hit 0.0Mbps at some spots. One scene showed bitrates, around 9Mbps.

Is it just my machine, or is there a bug?
It's like it's showing half of the true bitrate.

Close Encounters, and Ready Player One shows similar low bitrates, on the 820.

Not really a huge problem, since I usually don't watch movies with the bitrate meter on the screen. But still...

[LordoftheRings]

That's interesting, I'd like to know too.

[trekky76]

I have the same. It only shows half the bitrates. Been like that on the UB900 as well. Still don't know why this happens.

[LordoftheRings]

They must use different algorithms to show the average bitrate.

[knicolai]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

They must use different algorithms to show the average bitrate.

They may... but wouldn't you expect only one of those algorithms to be correct?

[kingofhearts]

Dear Robert,

Here is a minor quibble I would ask you to pass on to Panasonic:

You can currently adjust subtitle positioning in the UB820 while in the middle of a 4K movie, but NOT outside of a movie. Although I typically adjust the subtitles to a bottom position of -12 (drops the subtitles into the lower black bar on letterboxed content), it always resets back to 0 when I put in a different disc.

It would be a simple, and seemingly easy fix, to allow subtitle position to be adjusted outside of a movie, and to allow the UB820 to memorize this position for other content.

Can you please pass this along? Thank you.

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by kingofhearts

Dear Robert,

Here is a minor quibble I would ask you to pass on to Panasonic:

You can currently adjust subtitle positioning in the UB820 while in the middle of a 4K movie, but NOT outside of a movie. Although I typically adjust the subtitles to a bottom position of -12 (drops the subtitles into the lower black bar on letterboxed content), it always resets back to 0 when I put in a different disc.

It would be a simple, and seemingly easy fix, to allow subtitle position to be adjusted outside of a movie, and to allow the UB820 to memorize this position for other content.

Can you please pass this along? Thank you.

I second that!

Got to say I love the feature, as well as the sub luminance drop ability. Just brilliant. I'd NEVER buy another player without these two features unless I had zero choice.

[trekky76]

For sure I love the sub shift feature. Would also like to save the setting but also change fonts and make them smaller if possible. Some subtitles are way too oversized and can't even be placed on the black bars.

[knicolai]

Originally Posted by trekky76

For sure I love the sub shift feature. Would also like to save the setting but also change fonts and make them smaller if possible. Some subtitles are way too oversized and can't even be placed on the black bars.

I wonder if there is some technical limitation as the Oppo 203 exhibits all these same issues with subtitles.
Can't save position
Can't move all to black bars
Too BIG!

[Steel76]

Originally Posted by trekky76

I have the same. It only shows half the bitrates. Been like that on the UB900 as well. Still don't know why this happens.

I wonder if Panasonic even knows about the problem?
Especially since no one seems to have mentioned it before, on the forums, or in any reviews.
Guess I'll send them a message, and see what happens.

[Robert Zohn]

They ^^ do now!