Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by RogerMathus

Have confirmed that a Region A Panasonic BD820 will play Region B Blu-Ray discs with certain button sequence.

If not a modified player, Panasonic messed up.

[LordoftheRings]

Messed up good?

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

Messed up good?

Thats one way to call it!

[bedlamfeuder94]

Originally Posted by RogerMathus

Have confirmed that a Region A Panasonic BD820 will play Region B Blu-Ray discs with certain button sequence.

1.0 Put Region B disc in drawer. Press PLAY.
2.0 When Sorry this Disc is wrong Region appears, press STOP
3.0 Press TOP MENU and wait for menu screen to appear, Press ENTER for PLAY on Menu
The movie now starts.

Note: If you get a not allowed error message when TOP MENU is first pressed, press TOP MENU
again after error message at top of screen goes off. There may be some wait time. Lions
Gate Region B works with second press of TOP MENU button.

This has worked smoothly on five out of five different labels from UK that are Region B locked.
(Arrow, BFI,Masters of Cinema, CURZON Artificial Eye and Universal)

Could not make this work on France or Germany Region B discs.managed to play one German disc by skipping STOP and going to TOP MENU first.

Great to hear this as I'll get the player in the next month or so! I did find this regarding region free, maybe try this for those pesky Region B titles?

https://www.regionfreedom.com/index....-ef-eg-gn-p-pc

[fistymusic]

Next firmware update, Panasonic will fix that so it won't work.

[rprice54]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

I think there was a report that the JVCs will report HDR with a 2020 input, but it isn't forcing its HDR tone map (when it says HDR2084). So that doesn't make any difference. It won't report MaxCLL anymore because it is seeing a standard SDR input. This is why I said you have to use a gamma of 2.4, NOT your Arve curve or the projector's HDR 2084 curve.

HDR Optimizer with your projectors 2084 would require some grooming. The projector's curve is set for a specific tone map (could be 10,000 nits, 4,000 nits, 1000 nits, who knows) and now with Optimizer the player is doing it for either 1500, 1000, 800, or 500. So again, overlapping tone maps will more than likely yield unpleasant results.

Thanks Kris. I’ll try again tomorrow.

So with SDR/2020 the PJ still automatically selects the HDR user mode and whatever color profile and gammacurve I have selected for HDR mode. So I need to change that to my regular blu ray user mode (cinema 1) and BT2020 color and 2.4 gamma, correct? Could I just leave the default HDR user profile setup with the correct gamma/color settings. Is there anything else that cones with the HDR user mode I don’t want?

I feel some harmony macros coming on.

[Kris Deering]

I think you have something setup wrong if the projector is automatically selecting the HDR picture mode. It should not be doing that unless it sees the HDR flag, which is NOT present with the player. Are you using some kind of Vertex box or anything in between? Otherwise I don't think you are actually sending SDR2020.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by fistymusic

Next firmware update, Panasonic will fix that so it won't work.

They'll mess up bad?

[danny24]

I have a UB900 model and that region trick works on that player but it won't work with certain Region B locked BD's (like Mission To Mars France, The Ghost And The Darkness German). It pretty much works with most Region B discs (like The Thing Arrow BD, etc). Those two discs only ones I had problems with using that region trick.

I don't think it's something Panasonic needs to fix, I hope they don't because I would not be using the player. The players are up to spec it won't play a Region B disc without that trick. You can make the case it's there on purpose which is cool of Panasonic but they would never admit it.

[buboy]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

Have a quick break while my wife is getting her workout done.

Projector owners, DO NOT USE standard HDR out. Just use SDR2020. DO NOT USE any tone mapping you already had (Chad curve, Arve curve). You need to calibrate your projector for a 2.4 gamma and use 2020 color (or equivalent). Figure out what your peak white nit level is and use that as a starting point for setting the brightness with the slider. I would suggest a 5x multiplier to start. SO, if you have 100 nits, you want to start with 500 nits for the slider. The default level of the slider is 350 (mid point that it starts on). If you go lower, the number gets HIGHER, if you go higher the number is LOWER! All the way up is 100 nits, so you'll hav not figure out the math for what each step is. Start with that and then you can adjust up or down if you feel the need to with different films. It does not have to be perfect, just get yourself close. I've found that 5x is a good place to start and most of the time somewhere between 4 and 6x works for just about every film. If a film is on the darker side for your taste, go to 4K. If it is a really aggressive HDR movie like Mad Max or John Wick 2, 6x will give you more dynamic range for a bit more punch.

Now, with SDR2020 the HDR Optimizer DOES do something. The reason a lot of you aren't seeing any difference between on and off is because the majority of titles on the market are mastered to 1000 nits. With HDR Optimizer OFF, the player is defaulting to a 1000 nit based tone map. With it ON, the player is adjusting the tone map based on the MaxCLL or MaxDML (which is 1000 for A LOT of movies!!!). If MaxCLL is less than MaxDML, it uses CLL. If MaxCLL is higher than DML, it uses DML. If MaxCLL is 0 it uses DML. If all are zero, it uses 1000. So I would suggest that you turn is ON. The only title that I feel this could cause an issue with is Sicario, as it has a MaxCLL of 0 and MaxDML of 4000 but the MaxCLL is actually really close to 1000, so this is a title where HDR Optimizer OFF will actually look MUCH better. Otherwise, On would work with 99% of titles more effectively.

I DO NOT recommend using regular HDR out with the HDR Optimizer plus your Arve curves or what Chad did. That is applying overlaying tone maps that are already aggressive because of low light output. That is a recipe for issues galore. So SDR2020 for projectors!!!

Good luck!

Thanks for this informative post, Kris, I may have to refer to it should I ever purchase a UB820. Currently, I am using the OPPO 203's Tone Mapping with my projector, despite the diminished WCG. Disregarding the WCG issue, can you please comment on how the Panny's HDR Optimizer otherwise compares to Oppo's Tone Mapping?

[rprice54]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

I think you have something setup wrong if the projector is automatically selecting the HDR picture mode. It should not be doing that unless it sees the HDR flag, which is NOT present with the player. Are you using some kind of Vertex box or anything in between? Otherwise I don't think you are actually sending SDR2020.

The chain is 820- Marantz 7011 with all processing off- JVC 540.

I noticed the SDR/2020 option says (auto) next to it. I wonder if it’s switching back to HDR?

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by rprice54

The chain is 820- Marantz 7011 with all processing off- JVC 540.

I noticed the SDR/2020 option says (auto) next to it. I wonder if it’s switching back to HDR?

That is most likely the culprit. If you leave it in Auto, the player is reading the EDID of the projector and using the appropriate output, which will be HDR since the projector supports it. You need to turn it to ON.

[rprice54]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

That is most likely the culprit. If you leave it in Auto, the player is reading the EDID of the projector and using the appropriate output, which will be HDR since the projector supports it. You need to turn it to ON.

I don’t have that option.

[DLCPhoto]

I am still interested in knowing if the UB820 (or the future UB9000) will allow subtitles to be shifted, their font, size, or transparency adjusted, etc.

I've read the UB820 manual, and it doesn't appear to support this, but would prefer real-world confirmation one way or the other.

And if they don't, are there any other respected UHD BD players that do support these functions (other than the Oppo)?

Thanks.

[rprice54]

So despite what the PJ is reporting any of my HDR gamma curves don’t look right with the SDR/2020 setting but normal gamma does look about right and it’s brighter. I’m trying to decide if it’s too bright- too washed out. But this could work for sure.

So my gamma options are normal or A/B/C. I need to figure out which is 2.4.

EDIT: found 2.4 under custom gamma. Looks incredible. I’ll do A/B pics another day but I think I’m on the right track.

[edwinvs]

Originally Posted by DLCPhoto

I am still interested in knowing if the UB820 (or the future UB9000) will allow subtitles to be shifted, their font, size, or transparency adjusted, etc.

The UB824 allows subtitles to be shifted and their transparancy changed. Font and size are fixed.

[Erod]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

Have a quick break while my wife is getting her workout done.

Projector owners, DO NOT USE standard HDR out. Just use SDR2020. DO NOT USE any tone mapping you already had (Chad curve, Arve curve). You need to calibrate your projector for a 2.4 gamma and use 2020 color (or equivalent). Figure out what your peak white nit level is and use that as a starting point for setting the brightness with the slider. I would suggest a 5x multiplier to start. SO, if you have 100 nits, you want to start with 500 nits for the slider. The default level of the slider is 350 (mid point that it starts on). If you go lower, the number gets HIGHER, if you go higher the number is LOWER! All the way up is 100 nits, so you'll hav not figure out the math for what each step is. Start with that and then you can adjust up or down if you feel the need to with different films. It does not have to be perfect, just get yourself close. I've found that 5x is a good place to start and most of the time somewhere between 4 and 6x works for just about every film. If a film is on the darker side for your taste, go to 4K. If it is a really aggressive HDR movie like Mad Max or John Wick 2, 6x will give you more dynamic range for a bit more punch.

Now, with SDR2020 the HDR Optimizer DOES do something. The reason a lot of you aren't seeing any difference between on and off is because the majority of titles on the market are mastered to 1000 nits. With HDR Optimizer OFF, the player is defaulting to a 1000 nit based tone map. With it ON, the player is adjusting the tone map based on the MaxCLL or MaxDML (which is 1000 for A LOT of movies!!!). If MaxCLL is less than MaxDML, it uses CLL. If MaxCLL is higher than DML, it uses DML. If MaxCLL is 0 it uses DML. If all are zero, it uses 1000. So I would suggest that you turn is ON. The only title that I feel this could cause an issue with is Sicario, as it has a MaxCLL of 0 and MaxDML of 4000 but the MaxCLL is actually really close to 1000, so this is a title where HDR Optimizer OFF will actually look MUCH better. Otherwise, On would work with 99% of titles more effectively.

I DO NOT recommend using regular HDR out with the HDR Optimizer plus your Arve curves or what Chad did. That is applying overlaying tone maps that are already aggressive because of low light output. That is a recipe for issues galore. So SDR2020 for projectors!!!

Good luck!

Wow, that is a lot of moving parts.

With a Vertex and Chad B's HDR curves, my rs620 has an active iris and a beautiful picture.

So I should turn off HDR on the projector, turn off Chad B's curves, send SDR to the projector and the player is going to tone map its way to a better picture? Then I have to adjust it from film to film?

If I had a rs600 and the gamma D issue, I would be more interested. But it seems like I have a better setup right now with my ub900/rs620 and Chad's curves.

[DLCPhoto]

Originally Posted by edwinvs

The UB824 allows subtitles to be shifted and their transparancy changed. Font and size are fixed.

Interesting. Thanks for the reply.

Apparently the UB824 is the European model, correct?

Does this work the same with the USA's UB820? Anybody know?

[curlyjive]

Originally Posted by elwaylite

I sold the used Oppo 203 for $750 and bought this for $499. No brainer to me...

Man I should have waited! I sold months ago for about what I paid for it, so can't complain. I wasn't sold on the idea they would start selling for crazy prices after people wrapped their heads around the fact that they were going out of business. I bet wrong.

[rprice54]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

That is most likely the culprit. If you leave it in Auto, the player is reading the EDID of the projector and using the appropriate output, which will be HDR since the projector supports it. You need to turn it to ON.

One more question- I went back through all your recent posts and wanted to double check which slider you are talking about- dynamic range or brightness? If my PJ is 120 nits I want to turn that setting down a bit, correct?