Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[StarFuryG7]

PANASONIC UB820 - IS IT THE DISC OR THE PLAYER?

My Faulty 4K Player’s Warranty Service

[blackray4k]

Originally Posted by Feisty_Masterpiece74

Lately I've had issues with 4k movies glitching and freezing up to where the movie won't play. I thought I was just getting bad dics but now I'm worried its the UB820 causing the problem since it's happens like on 3 out of the last 5 movies I've tried watching ☹️ some Dolby Visions have played but I think of the glitches they have all been DV. I don't want to play anything now cuz I'm worried it is messing the discs up.

Edit: one disc I watched tonight looked fine but after the glitch it had clear a few concentric scratches on it..can a player cause concentric scratches?

Anything is possible.

If there is something inside the drive unit scratching discs, all your discs would be scratched. If it's only the one disc, then you can confidently rule out the player and put it down to it being caused during manufacturing.

It's more likely the player is causing the glitches (but not the scratches).

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Back in the early 2000s, I briefly dated someone who sold A/V for a company and she tried to convince me how Monster was worth the money. I said, yeah, for your commission - absolutely!

Monster almost makes me nostalgic. They were some of the original snake oil pushed in Circuit City/Best Buy. I still remember like $129 component cables. I actually used to buy a cheaper competitor back then called Acoustic Research for like a 1/3 of the price. Once I found monoprice I never looked back. Even Amazon Basics wire/cables are good stuff these days. I still see the snake oil in current day audiophile stuff when expensive data cables are pushed by Youtubers or ridiculous things like $100 ground loop boxes for a USB dac to filter out noise you can't hear.

[kosvines]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Monster almost makes me nostalgic. They were some of the original snake oil pushed in Circuit City/Best Buy. I still remember like $129 component cables. I actually used to buy a cheaper competitor back then called Acoustic Research for like a 1/3 of the price. Once I found monoprice I never looked back. Even Amazon Basics wire/cables are good stuff these days. I still see the snake oil in current day audiophile stuff when expensive data cables are pushed by Youtubers or ridiculous things like $100 ground loop boxes for a USB dac to filter out noise you can't hear.

I remember they were pushing hard their "electricity cleaner" or whatever it was called. Basically a $1500 box to clear your electricity before passing through to your equipment.

I even remember a guy telling me once that after buying one of these, the sound was better than ever. It was "eye-opening".

[blackray4k]

Originally Posted by kosvines

I remember they were pushing hard their "electricity cleaner" or whatever it was called. Basically a $1500 box to clear your electricity before passing through to your equipment.

I even remember a guy telling me once that after buying one of these, the sound was better than ever. It was "eye-opening".

[DRC72]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Monster almost makes me nostalgic. They were some of the original snake oil pushed in Circuit City/Best Buy. I still remember like $129 component cables. I actually used to buy a cheaper competitor back then called Acoustic Research for like a 1/3 of the price. Once I found monoprice I never looked back. Even Amazon Basics wire/cables are good stuff these days. I still see the snake oil in current day audiophile stuff when expensive data cables are pushed by Youtubers or ridiculous things like $100 ground loop boxes for a USB dac to filter out noise you can't hear.

This is some crazy snake oil right here. AudioQuest - FireBird 48 7.5' 4K-8K-10K 48Gbps HDMI Cable - Red on Black
Model: HDM48FBIRD225SKU
$2,450.00

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/audioqu...?skuId=6428771

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Monster almost makes me nostalgic. They were some of the original snake oil pushed in Circuit City/Best Buy. I still remember like $129 component cables. I actually used to buy a cheaper competitor back then called Acoustic Research for like a 1/3 of the price. Once I found monoprice I never looked back. Even Amazon Basics wire/cables are good stuff these days. I still see the snake oil in current day audiophile stuff when expensive data cables are pushed by Youtubers or ridiculous things like $100 ground loop boxes for a USB dac to filter out noise you can't hear.

I remember AR - they were a nice value!

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by StarFuryG7

PANASONIC UB820 - IS IT THE DISC OR THE PLAYER?

Initially, I thought this issue might be with my AVR, but now I am starting to think it is the Panasonic UB820.

I see that this video is over a year old. I watched the first portion of it, and I didn't notice the guy say whether or not the firmware version on both players were the same, but I would certainly hope so for the purposes of his test.

However, I will say the most recent firmware update for the Panasonic UB820, Ver 1.82, 19/Jun/2024, has significantly cut down on this issue for me, so I would think the issue isn't entirely hardware related.

But, I just had this issue rear its head again with another WB 4K UHD, Seven. Ironically, I had a ton of problems with After Hours, which he features in his video, but that was before the latest firmware update.

It's not easy to isolate this issue that's for sure.

[George.P]

Originally Posted by Braktastic

Initially, I thought this issue might be with my AVR, but now I am starting to think it is the Panasonic UB820.

I see that this video is over a year old. I watched the first portion of it, and I didn't notice the guy say whether or not the firmware version on both players were the same, but I would certainly hope so for the purposes of his test.

However, I will say the most recent firmware update for the Panasonic UB820, Ver 1.82, 19/Jun/2024, has significantly cut down on this issue for me, so I would think the issue isn't entirely hardware related.

But, I just had this issue rear its head again with another WB 4K UHD, Seven. Ironically, I had a ton of problems with After Hours, which he features in his video, but that was before the latest firmware update.

It's not easy to isolate this issue that's for sure.

Not sure if he had a point, but I had to turn it off after he said alarm bells were going off because “… obviously their quality control is very high at Criterion”…

[wormraper]

is there a way to buy ACTUAL UB9000 remotes for the 820? or are they all chinese knockoffs?

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by George.P

Not sure if he had a point, but I had to turn it off after he said alarm bells were going off because “… obviously their quality control is very high at Criterion”…

I got a chuckle out of that too because all their discs come from the same, woeful Mexican plant the rest of the majority of US discs do.

[blackray4k]

Originally Posted by wormraper

is there a way to buy ACTUAL UB9000 remotes for the 820? or are they all chinese knockoffs?

You can get them from any authorised Panasonic service/repair centre.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Braktastic

I got a chuckle out of that too because all their discs come from the same, woeful Mexican plant the rest of the majority of US discs do.

I'm at near 40% return rate for all discs coming from that GD plant these days. they're half scratched every time I get them

[RalphoR]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Back in the early 2000s, I briefly dated someone who sold A/V for a company and she tried to convince me how Monster was worth the money. I said, yeah, for your commission - absolutely!

I didn't know Monster is still around. I have one of their uber signature power centers/conditioners with my main system. It's been going strong for nearly 20 years and keeping things safe. I did have some connectors from them at some point.

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by wormraper

is there a way to buy ACTUAL UB9000 remotes for the 820? or are they all chinese knockoffs?

The Panny remote is like $100 or close to that price. The knock off is $10. I have used the knock off for 2 years now and zero problems with it, my original plan was to order the real one if the clone sucked but it doesn't at all. To it's credit it's just as sturdy and heavy as any of my other real remotes these days, woudln't surprise me if it's made with the exact same materials.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

The Panny remote is like $100 or close to that price. The knock off is $10. I have used the knock off for 2 years now and zero problems with it, my original plan was to order the real one if the clone sucked but it doesn't at all. To it's credit it's just as sturdy and heavy as any of my other real remotes these days, woudln't surprise me if it's made with the exact same materials.

damn, $100?? lol, I was thinking $20 or $30 for an OEM remote. you got a link for the "clone" you bought? I'd love to check it out on my UB820

[George.P]

Originally Posted by StarFuryG7

He certainly struck me as sophisticated enough to know he should do this, although I don't recall offhand whether he mentioned doing it in his video.

Highly doubtful actually; probably as sophisticated as a turnip.

Originally Posted by StarFuryG7

What was really disheartening was the guy in the second video having reached the point by the end of his video that he actually found 4K streaming and standard Blu-Ray more appealing than to have to deal with the 820 any longer. He gave up the fight...

I had to stop watching this one after he said he had a modded player and was dealing with his third party seller (because any warranty with Panasonic would be voided and it is unlikely the 3rd party is interested in eating into their margins to do anything).

No one is doubting that there are probably thousands of lemon ub820s out there. No players are made with precision and they will all have an acceptable range of variance including an acceptable failure rate. They all have problems. You posting these bumbling boob videos doesn't add to that.

[pr0darek]

Originally Posted by wormraper

damn, $100?? ...... $30 for an OEM remote. you got a link for the "clone" you bought? I'd love to check it out on my UB820

for this price you can buy (remote-control-world.eu) N2QAYA000131 (US) UB900 oem remote which can also be programmed to control other brand TVs.

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by StarFuryG7

Was this always the case, or did it become more commonplace after the physical media market crumbled as a result of streaming media?

The Criterion Collection invests handsomely, especially earlier on, in sprucing up titles that they take on, making them more pristine.

The whole business model was much healthier and stronger fifteen, twenty years ago compared to now, obviously.

QA at the Mexico plant took a nosedive during the pandemic, and it has improved slightly recently. But issues with scratches coming out of there are still significantly higher than those encountered with European produced discs.

Like most things, I don't think there's one clear culprit with the Panasonic UB820 pixelation issue. Things got significantly better for me when they released the latest firmware.

But I still think there's something to be said for certain companies discs like Criterion and WB being more prone to have problems in this player. Is that something physical with the discs, the way they're authored, or both? I couldn't say.

Today I watched Criterion's No Country for Old Men without issue, but somewhere in the back of my mind I kept expecting to have problems, which does impact ones enjoyment.

[ronand]

Jeez, you're spending a lot of time knocking a player you've never tried.