Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[tama]

...And, it just happened. Again.

Would not load up my Kino 4k Shane I got today or my 4k Clueless disc.

Settled on watching my Twilight Time BD copy of Cowboy. And that took 3 tries before it loaded up and played.

Done with any version or models of these players. I can't be coughing up 300-500 bucks every 18 months-2 years.

Wife and kids were watching a film in the bedroom. We have a Sony 800? in there. Will move it out to our living room tomorrow.

[Telemachus]

It's wild to me to see how long things last now with some of these disc players vs. "back in the day." I still have two Toshiba HDDVD units that run flawlessly, some CD players from about 1989 to 2010 that all run, and some old game systems that run Blu ray or DVD. But some of these Panny units expire at 2 year because of the drive lens, it's crazy. I guess LaserDisc owners can't complain about anything still getting milage out of 30 year old decks.

[sojrner]

My current Panny UB820 is 3 years old and going strong. My Sony ubpX700 is 2 years older, alive, but hates life with any triple-layer disk and operates a touch slower than the Panny. Both live in a cool, dry climate, an open shelf, with minimal dust ingress. Any disk that has had an issue gets a quick wipe with a damp microfiber cloth and playback goes fine after that. (except for those triples on that poor Sony) While every model of every electronic device can produce a lemon in manufacture, I've found that repeated deaths (especially on models made for 7+ years) tend to be environmental or user error if there isn't some formal recall. Willingness to investigate those variables is tough to learn though. Blaming those greedy corporations is easier.

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by sojrner

I've found that repeated deaths (especially on models made for 7+ years) tend to be environmental or user error if there isn't some formal recall. Willingness to investigate those variables is tough to learn though. Blaming those greedy corporations is easier.

I'll bite. What are some examples of these environmental or user errors? I'm willing to take a look at myself to see if I'm "guilty".

[TooOldToDieYoung]

Having worked in electronics retail: dust, humidity, pets and smoking come to mind.
Certain climates or instable currents can take a toll and age electronics much quicker.
User errors like using cheap wall sockets or extensions can kill electronics quickly as well.

[jblank]

All very true!

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by TooOldToDieYoung

Having worked in electronics retail: dust, humidity, pets and smoking come to mind.
Certain climates or instable currents can take a toll and age electronics much quicker.
User errors like using cheap wall sockets or extensions can kill electronics quickly as well.

Thanks. I could do a better job dusting in the future, and my Monster Power HTS3500 is probably getting long in the tooth.

[tama]

Originally Posted by sojrner

My current Panny UB820 is 3 years old and going strong. My Sony ubpX700 is 2 years older, alive, but hates life with any triple-layer disk and operates a touch slower than the Panny. Both live in a cool, dry climate, an open shelf, with minimal dust ingress. Any disk that has had an issue gets a quick wipe with a damp microfiber cloth and playback goes fine after that. (except for those triples on that poor Sony) While every model of every electronic device can produce a lemon in manufacture, I've found that repeated deaths (especially on models made for 7+ years) tend to be environmental or user error if there isn't some formal recall. Willingness to investigate those variables is tough to learn though. Blaming those greedy corporations is easier.

No pets, non smoking household, player on an open shelf dusted weekly in a tempt controlled environment. I live in the Bay Area California after all so no extreme weather elements here.

The Player boots up just fine. Just will no longer read UHDs and struggles a bit loading BDs.

I guess blaming the owners/users is easier

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by tama

No pets, non smoking household, player on an open shelf dusted weekly in a tempt controlled environment. I live in the Bay Area California after all so no extreme weather elements here.

The Player boots up just fine. Just will no longer read UHDs and struggles a bit loading BDs.

I guess blaming the owners/users is easier

Yeah, so I deserved the jab back. Still just offering contrast to the typical "these players suck" stance that pops up when something goes wrong, as it can so often be the little things most do not think about. (I did mention it could be a lemon as well though) But hey, you do you.

Rock on.

[Telemachus]

These players suck is what it is, never had any problems when I was buying Pioneer Elite

[Naiera]

Did you have many Pioneer Elite 4K players?

[Braktastic]

Sorry if this is a taboo subject here and/or if it has been discussed elsewhere in this thread, but I stumbled up this AVForums firmware modification for the DP-UB820, and it's mostly way over my head.

I did want to ask if anyone knew if this firmware modification fixed the rare instance of 4K UHD discs being region locked, or if this was just your typical Blu-ray and DVD region-free modification?

[Alwayshappy]

We've had the Panasonic UB700 for 5/6 years now, but it's been buggy for the last few years with more and more discs giving errors (pixelation/freezing/skipping) that played perfectly on our Xbox. I know there are some complains about the 820 as well, but I've also read a lot of great reviews so we bought it today, should arrive this weekend. Hopefully we can start to enjoy watching from disc again, since playing discs felt like a lottery lately. We could have kept using the Xbox, but we do prefer a dedicated player

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by Braktastic

Sorry if this is a taboo subject here and/or if it has been discussed elsewhere in this thread, but I stumbled up this AVForums firmware modification for the DP-UB820, and it's mostly way over my head.

I did want to ask if anyone knew if this firmware modification fixed the rare instance of 4K UHD discs being region locked, or if this was just your typical Blu-ray and DVD region-free modification?

It does make the UHD part truly region free.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by Alwayshappy

We've had the Panasonic UB700 for 5/6 years now, but it's been buggy for the last few years with more and more discs giving errors (pixelation/freezing/skipping) that played perfectly on our Xbox. I know there are some complains about the 820 as well, but I've also read a lot of great reviews so we bought it today, should arrive this weekend. Hopefully we can start to enjoy watching from disc again, since playing discs felt like a lottery lately. We could have kept using the Xbox, but we do prefer a dedicated player

Oh he!!, I never even considered using my PS5 as a player (yes, I have the disc version). I realize it doesn't support HDR10+ or DV, but it might be worth giving it a go vs resorting to the digital copy or blu-ray disc depending on the title/release. I'll give this a try if/when I have some issue playing a disc.

[Alwayshappy]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Oh he!!, I never even considered using my PS5 as a player (yes, I have the disc version). I realize it doesn't support HDR10+ or DV, but it might be worth giving it a go vs resorting to the digital copy or blu-ray disc depending on the title/release. I'll give this a try if/when I have some issue playing a disc.

Yeah, it was a nice back-up to have. The only downside was that the settings that were linked to the Xbox had to be swapped every time we swapped between a game and a movie. Plus movies just didn't look as good as they did on the Panasonic (when it worked, lol). I heard the PS5 is quite good!

[EPlay]

Originally Posted by Tim n Tempe

I think if people played more DVD on their Players they would be very disappointed. My Panasonic (shelf by itself plenty of ventilation, and lightly used) chokes on roughly 1/10 DVD titles (which are perfect). Sad thing is those problematic discs work fine on other players.

And don’t even think about BD-R, or DVD-R. Failure rate for those is high.

I just came here to see about people's DVD experiences. My "Kontroll" DVD said "Cannot Play" on both the 420 and the 820 but played on my old Seiki. Granted, I rarely play DVDs now but I found it odd. Will have to experiment further as there are still films in my collection on DVD only.

[SS-3]

I find it interesting how some folks have no issues for years with these players and quite a few folks, like myself, start having issues around 15 months. I have had two players start dying in the same way and the same timeframe.

One variable that I haven't seen on this topic is usage. How many hours a week do you use your UB820/UB9000? I will start and hope others respond because this could could help us better understand why some folks have issues and others don't. I use my UB9000 an average of 21 hours a week.

[Sango]

Originally Posted by SS-3

I find it interesting how some folks have no issues for years with these players and quite a few folks, like myself, start having issues around 15 months. I have had two players start dying in the same way and the same timeframe.

One variable that I haven't seen on this topic is usage. How many hours a week do you use your UB820/UB9000? I will start and hope others respond because this could could help us better understand why some folks have issues and others don't. I use my UB9000 an average of 21 hours a week.

This can be more accurate by having the unit display the hour info.

[TooOldToDieYoung]

Yeah, usage plays a huge part I suppose. I only use my UB824 maybe 2-4h per week.
For regular Blu's and DVD's I use my old Panny BDT570 which still works fine after years.

21 hours is quite a lot I guess, wish I still had that much time for watching films, hahaha

Originally Posted by Sango

This can be more accurate by having the unit display the hour info.

Oh wow, didn't know that! Is it save to do with modified firmware?