Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[evoll]

Does the ub9000 have a better disc drive than the ub820 or are they the same?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by gothicform

I'm unable to eject a disc from the player. Does anyone have any suggestions. Already tried a system reset.

I think one of the players has a release underneath, but not sure if it's the Panasonic. Does it make a noise when you press eject.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by evoll

Does the ub9000 have a better disc drive than the ub820 or are they the same?

They are the same in terms of picture quality and you get the HDR Optimizer on both. Unless you're talking about the build quality of the disc drive/tray. The drive on the 820 is rather flimsy and plastic, whereas the 9000 is more sturdier and very quiet.

[gothicform]

Originally Posted by chip75

I think one of the players has a release underneath, but not sure if it's the Panasonic. Does it make a noise when you press eject.

I checked under it and the one I have, unfortunately, does not. It did however come out when I hit eject one last time in preparation for boxing it up and returning it. Oh well.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by gothicform

I checked under it and the one I have, unfortunately, does not. It did however come out when I hit eject one last time in preparation for boxing it up and returning it. Oh well.

Glad you were able to get your disc out. Is that the primary reason for the return?

[evoll]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

They are the same in terms of picture quality and you get the HDR Optimizer on both. Unless you're talking about the build quality of the disc drive/tray. The drive on the 820 is rather flimsy and plastic, whereas the 9000 is more sturdier and very quiet.

I have the ub820 but can get a good deal on the ub9000 but was checking to see if it reads 4k discs better. Like if a 4k disc is having trouble (glitching etc) on the 820 would it do better with the 9000?

[Yogi6807]

Originally Posted by evoll

I have the ub820 but can get a good deal on the ub9000 but was checking to see if it reads 4k discs better. Like if a 4k disc is having trouble (glitching etc) on the 820 would it do better with the 9000?

Did you wash the disc with light dish soap and water? Sometimes there is an invisible film left on the 4K discs from the manufacturing process. I’ve had discs that had problems washing them fixed them. I wash all of my 4K discs now when I get them. If you want a player that seems to play everything get a ps5. It seems less sensitive to the crap on the discs.

[evoll]

Originally Posted by Yogi6807

Did you wash the disc with light dish soap and water? Sometimes there is an invisible film left on the 4K discs from the manufacturing process. I’ve had discs that had problems washing them fixed them. I wash all of my 4K discs now when I get them. If you want a player that seems to play everything get a ps5. It seems less sensitive to the crap on the discs.

Yes I wash all the discs now and have had only a few discs that would not play without a pixelation. I ended up replacing those discs and that fixed their problems but have had two real genius 4k discs that still pixelated. I thought about the ub9000 for a main player and then using the ub820 for a backup or in another room.

[MarkGubarenko]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The Optimiser reads MaxCLL first. If it’s lower than the level of target output eg 1000 nits it changes the Mastering Display max metadata to match the lower figure but it doesn’t change the actual image you’re seeing (aside from adding a wisp of banding).

The reason why it does this is some TVs only look at the Mastering Display metadata to decide how to tone map an image, so if the TV is applying its stock 1000-nit tone map for something that’s only 197 nits peak then that might make it look too dark. But if the TV is receiving a Mastering Display figure that matches the nominal peak of the content eg 197 nits then the mapping should be betterer. Makes sense?

No idea about the MaxFALL tho

I've backtracked to where I've got that information in my head that if it's 1000 here and 1000 there - it won't do a thing. It was from Vincent video, but now I see that when he showed it - it was last showman - it didn't have metadata for Max CLL and Max FALL. So yes, now it makes sense.

But you've said that it's "adding a wisp of banding" and also "mapping should be betterer" - so now I have question to you - is it worth to have wisp of banding for betterer mapping? Because I honestly haven't seen banding (even a wisp) while watching NOPE, but I was fully emerged in a movie, and that moment I think I wouldn't even see if it was 720p rip (joking).

[Geoff D]

I’m literally the only person who sees the banding from the Optimiser, so don’t worry about it. I don’t use the Optimiser a lot because I don’t have to, but if it’s a solution for any issues you have then carry on by all means.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I’m literally the only person who sees the banding from the Optimiser, so don’t worry about it. I don’t use the Optimiser a lot because I don’t have to, but if it’s a solution for any issues you have then carry on by all means.

I thought you were a big proponent of the optimizer? Then again, I could be misremembering.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Waboman

I thought you were a big proponent of the optimizer? Then again, I could be misremembering.

Me? Nah. It's a blunt instrument, useful in certain circumstances but not for most.

[danny24]

Originally Posted by evoll

I have the ub820 but can get a good deal on the ub9000 but was checking to see if it reads 4k discs better. Like if a 4k disc is having trouble (glitching etc) on the 820 would it do better with the 9000?

It may perform better the UB9000 is definitely a better built premium UHD player. The optical drive is definitely a little better on the UB9000. I don't know how they compare though in performance to each other. The UB9000 has a premium optical drive build like in an Oppo, Pioneer UHD player. The UB820 has an optical drive that compares to Sony it's all plastic.

As an owner of the UB9000 I haven't had any problems with it reading UHD,BD or DVD's yet if that helps.

Insides of both machines:

UB9000:


UB820:


The tray on the UB9000 isn't plastic has a nice soft rubbery feel. I have not opened it up ever to clean the lens so I don't know what else there is to it like the UB820 which I had to clean the lens on before. It does say advanced quality drive unit on the top of the UB9000 optical drive.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Me? Nah. It's a blunt instrument, useful in certain circumstances but not for most.

Ah, ok. Not sure why I thought that. I still have mine engaged. But so few of my movies are HDR10 that I don’t really think about it.

[evoll]

Danny thanks for the great information and pics, I ordered the ub9000. The build quality looks great especially the inside parts used.

[danny24]

Originally Posted by evoll

Danny thanks for the great information and pics, I ordered the ub9000. The build quality looks great especially the inside parts used.

Good to hear the remote control is also better to. Have fun with it it's built like a tank.

[jxc]

My UB820 has started acting strangely, throwing up a “Can’t read disc” error every time I first try to play a disc. If I just open/close the disc drawer it then reads it fine without my touching the disc. Has anyone else experienced this? It’s really annoying with discs that have no resume function as I have to watch everything again from the beginning after the discs are ejected. This happens even if I just stop a disc with the player on. I can’t play it again unless I eject it first.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by jxc

My UB820 has started acting strangely, throwing up a “Can’t read disc” error every time I first try to play a disc. If I just open/close the disc drawer it then reads it fine without my touching the disc. Has anyone else experienced this? It’s really annoying with discs that have no resume function as I have to watch everything again from the beginning after the discs are ejected. This happens even if I just stop a disc with the player on. I can’t play it again unless I eject it first.

I did not experience it on my 820 but my OPPO does it from time to time. Basically opening/closing the tray as you did seems to do the trick. It's a weird glitch.

[jxc]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

It's a weird glitch.

It wouldn’t be so bad except I usually can only watch stuff in chunks. I dread watching like a Paramount title and having to skip through all the setting screens again.

I guess I can try a factory reset.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by jxc

My UB820 has started acting strangely, throwing up a “Can’t read disc” error every time I first try to play a disc. If I just open/close the disc drawer it then reads it fine without my touching the disc. Has anyone else experienced this? It’s really annoying with discs that have no resume function as I have to watch everything again from the beginning after the discs are ejected. This happens even if I just stop a disc with the player on. I can’t play it again unless I eject it first.

I don't have any idea when you purchased it, but if it's still under warranty (and possibly still is if you purchased the player with the right kind of credit card) then I would get it in for servicing.



If it's out of both warranties, you will probably need to replace it as the costs of repairs could be as much or more than a new player, or close enough that it's not worth fixing.