Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Or… here’s a crazy idea… try both on and off, see which one you prefer. Earth shattering, I know.

I dunno, that's some wild and crazy ideas right there...

[Tok]

Originally Posted by pbz06

If you want the best PQ quality out of your player, then the 820/9000 is still the one to get (with the 9000 specifically offering far better build quality and some options for analog output via its good DAC for music playback). The upscaling to 4K is still top notch and I'd say as good as anything else out there, and I would say its chroma upsampling (whether it's to 4:2:2 or 4:4:4) is also top class. Head to head I, amongst others, preferred Panasonic over Oppo in terms of PQ (although the Oppo fanbase is louder and more fanatic).

If you want a cheaper alternative and don't necessarily care about "the best", perhaps the Sony X800M2 would suffice although you'd need to toggle DV manually.

There's also newer players like Reavon and Magnatar, but I'm not a fan of them. They are just Oppo clones, have light weight internals and advertised as luxury products and sold for ridiculous prices (it's the same French company that used to own Zapitti).

The Oppo arguably had better DVD playback but for 4K the superior chroma sampling of the Panasonics was why to get it over Oppo. The only other thing Oppo could do was DVD-A and SACD if it mattered. I bought a Sony X800 to do those formats but my Panasonic UB9000 is the primary player.

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by jess1581

I dunno, that's some wild and crazy ideas right there...

Panny optimizer should be off. I turn it on for two reasons on an HDR disc: lightcannon disc, as even at default settings it tones down the brightness curve, check with your own eyes. Or disc is too damn dark = Heat, Crank, Christine etc. Usually on the too damn dark discs between +2 and +4 it makes all the difference. I watch movies in a pitch dark room btw.

I don't use the (dynamic) tone mapping on my OLED anymore, it didn't seem to do anything better than the Panny when I need it.

[darkonex]

So my wierd ass issue the other day where I tried to play Return of the Living Dead 4k and Jaws 4k and just got a black screen at the menu was I had to disable Dolby Vision. Which is really wierd because I know I watched Jaws 4k the first time with it on, so not sure wtf has changed. Sadly I cannot upgrade the firmware to see if it fixes bucause I'm using the 1.69 region freedom firmware and don't wanna lose that.

[lgans316]

Call me insane. I am using less of the player and more of the MKV files and play them via the awesome Zidoo Z9X. Never missed a beat and also super convenient. I had merged the movies split into 2 discs into one saving me time with changing the discs lol. Sometimes I don't mind watching the iTunes stream especially those shot digital as the differences over the disc have been very minimal.

[rroeder]

If you have a disc that does not play right for whatever reason can you convert it to an MKV file and it will play right?

[lgans316]

Originally Posted by rroeder

If you have a disc that does not play right for whatever reason can you convert it to an MKV file and it will play right?

Depends. I have few discs that were glitching on UB-820 during playback but none on the MKV rip of the same discs.

However, if a disc ripping fails then the disc is most likely faulty.

[rroeder]

Interesting, I've never ripped a disc to MKV and my laptop doesn't have a disc drive but I think my wife's does. I have a disc on my LOTR set that doesn't play right even tho the disc is mint.

I have played the Star Wars MKV files tho and it works perfect

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by rroeder

If you have a disc that does not play right for whatever reason can you convert it to an MKV file and it will play right?

You need to use a compatible Pioneer UHD computer drive (internal or external) for use with the right copy software because they have the best error correction of any computer drive brand.

I have ripped heavily scratched 4k discs and my mkv backups have played perfectly.

[dlbsyst]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

You need to use a compatible Pioneer UHD computer drive (internal or external) for use with the right copy software because they have the best error correction of any computer drive brand.

I have ripped heavily scratched 4k discs and my mkv backups have played perfectly.

I have always used LG internal drives, currently using in an external USB housing. The Pioneer drives are better? Can you recommend one?

[dlbsyst]

Originally Posted by lgans316

Call me insane. I am using less of the player and more of the MKV files and play them via the awesome Zidoo Z9X. Never missed a beat and also super convenient. I had merged the movies split into 2 discs into one saving me time with changing the discs lol. Sometimes I don't mind watching the iTunes stream especially those shot digital as the differences over the disc have been very minimal.

I do the same accept I am using an Nvidia Shield Pro. I have thought about getting one of the Zidoo players though.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by dlbsyst

I have always used LG internal drives, currently using in an external USB housing. The Pioneer drives are better? Can you recommend one?

Yes, the Pioneers have much better error correction. They rip data slower, but with higher accuracy.

I have not looked into the latest Pioneers, but the makemkv site has talked about recommended drives and how to patch them.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by dlbsyst

I do the same accept I am using an Nvidia Shield Pro. I have thought about getting one of the Zidoo players though.

They have a new 8k line coming out right now. The cheapest model works fine if you add external drives or a NAS. Supposedly, they have vastly improved BD menu playback if you do straight ISO's or BD menu folders rather than mkv's. No 3D support, however. 3D compatible SOCs are disappearing.

[dlbsyst]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

They have a new 8k line coming out right now. The cheapest model works fine if you add external drives or a NAS. Supposedly, they have vastly improved BD menu playback if you do straight ISO's or BD menu folders rather than mkv's. No 3D support, however. 3D compatible SOCs are disappearing.

I just purchased a 65" Sony Bravia 9 and it's awesome but 4k. The player I have been seriously considering is the Zidoo Z2000 PRO. Lgans316 likes the Zidoo Z9X so I'll consider that one too. I have to do my homework before I decide.

It would be a shame to get rid of 3d support. I know TV's stopped supporting it but projectors still do.

[Telemachus]

I still play MKV via VLC over PC HDMI I get 120hz output straight to my OLED with no judder. I used to have an Apple TV and never used it because I don't actually use streaming apps, feels weird to have one of those boxes just for rips. VLC even has a great official remote app.

[lgans316]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Yes, the Pioneers have much better error correction. They rip data slower, but with higher accuracy.

I have not looked into the latest Pioneers, but the makemkv site has talked about recommended drives and how to patch them.

+1. My Pioneer drive is 50% slower than my LG but it is super resilient. It doesn't go mad with some Arrow and Lionsgate 4Ks BD-100s lol.

The guys who are creating these niche products are a godsend unsung heroes IMO.

[Nibbler]

Originally Posted by rickardl

Ok, I also got black subtitles as someone else reported on another forum. I was watching Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country and when the Klingons were attacked and David Warner shouts in Klingon, "Find Chang" at 29:28, the subtitles were black.
Switching to Swedish subtitles did not help or changing position or luminance.
What did help was to switch VSVDB back to V1 on my LG 77G3, then the subtitles were white as they should be and I still got display led DV.

Hello, I'm a new UB820 owner and have it connected to an LG G3 OLED television too. During installation I updated the pre-installed 1.70 firmware to 1.82 and selected DV mode 1 (TV-led) in the settings. With the very first UHD blu-ray disc I tried, "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1", I have black subtitles from the very start in the opening scene. So for now I switched to DV mode 2 (player-led)

Does anybody know if Panasonic is actually working on a fix?

[rroeder]

Are you referring to your TV settings? I did the 1.82 update and no DV option like that on mine??

[Nibbler]

Originally Posted by rroeder

Are you referring to your TV settings? I did the 1.82 update and no DV option like that on mine??

No, I'm referring to a new setting in the Panasonic DV capable players. The toggle appears on a new screen only after setting Dolby Vision to "On". If you previously already enabled DV, you need to put it on "On" again to be presented with the choice. There's no separate menu entry for it. Beware also that this mode switch is apparently only shown when connected to a TV that has a peak luminance value above a certain threshold (higher than 1200 nits, according to what I read in the owners thread on avsforum).

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by Nibbler

Hello, I'm a new UB820 owner and have it connected to an LG G3 OLED television too. During installation I updated the pre-installed 1.70 firmware to 1.82 and selected DV mode 1 (TV-led) in the settings. With the very first UHD blu-ray disc I tried, "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1", I have black subtitles from the very start in the opening scene. So for now I switched to DV mode 2 (player-led)

Does anybody know if Panasonic is actually working on a fix?

This works fine on my A95L. Try resetting the Panasonic to factory defaults, then re-engage the DV setting. Sounds like a random glitch.