Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Oscarilbo]

Hi guys… please, a question:

I have a Hisense C1 lifestyle projector, which has Dolby Vision certification and looks amazing in general. But also I notice that it has a raised black floor in Dolby Vision and not on HDR10, even in Dolby Vision Dark, which is very noticeable in my darkened room watching dark movies just as Alien Romulus or Nosferatu.

This can be corrected lowering brightness setting a bit, from 50 to 45 but that in theory would throw off the whole calibration, isn’t it?

But its amazing how when I lower brightness (aka black level) the image suddenly pop and perceived black levels feel almost like an OLED experience. I’m exaggerating of course, but it looks really better.

I would prefer the gamma setting but its blocked in DV mode. I use the Sony X700 4K player just for DV titles, while the Panasonic UB420 for HDR10 ones.

Would lowering brightness really ruin the whole Dolby Vision calibration? What else can I do?

I have a feeling the UB820, which I’m about to get, would be better performance. Thank you so much in advance.

Edit: well… upon further investigation it seems to be the player, the Sony X700 player. For whatever reason is raising black levels on DV and apparently in HDR10 too. I tried same movies (digital) on Dolby Vision through the projector’s own apps and through apple tv (which is connected to my receiver) and looked amazing.. same default Dolby Vision settings. So… WTF.

I already reset all settings on the player, and tried different cables and HDMI inputs and all the same; raised blacks.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Oscarilbo

Hi guys… please, a question:

I have a Hisense C1 lifestyle projector, which has Dolby Vision certification and looks amazing in general. But also I notice that it has a raised black floor in Dolby Vision and not on HDR10, even in Dolby Vision Dark, which is very noticeable in my darkened room watching dark movies just as Alien Romulus or Nosferatu.

This can be corrected lowering brightness setting a bit, from 50 to 45 but that in theory would throw off the whole calibration, isn’t it?

But its amazing how when I lower brightness (aka black level) the image suddenly pop and perceived black levels feel almost like an OLED experience. I’m exaggerating of course, but it looks really better.

I would prefer the gamma setting but its blocked in DV mode. I use the Sony X700 4K player just for DV titles, while the Panasonic UB420 for HDR10 ones.

Would lowering brightness really ruin the whole Dolby Vision calibration? What else can I do?

I have a feeling the UB820, which I’m about to get, would be better performance. Thank you so much in advance.

Edit: well… upon further investigation it seems to be the player, the Sony X700 player. For whatever reason is raising black levels on DV and apparently in HDR10 too. I tried same movies (digital) on Dolby Vision through the projector’s own apps and through apple tv (which is connected to my receiver) and looked amazing.. same default Dolby Vision settings. So… WTF.

I already reset all settings on the player, and tried different cables and HDMI inputs and all the same; raised blacks.

I would recommend looking at the Spears and Munsil Dolby Vision black level pattern. You can figure out the correct level that way.

[Xtroterrestrial]

Been having issues with the UB820. A majority of Blu-ray and 4K discs play fine. But I’ve had too many issues with other discs in the past year where they pixelate and freeze up, both Blu-ray and 4K, and I’m tired of it. I’ve replaced or repurchased some titles and then they seem to work so I’ve thought “maybe it’s just the discs” but then two or three movies later I’ll have more pixelating and freezing at random spots. You can look this issue up online and tons of complaints are visible.

Were there bad batches of players sent out? Should there have been a recall? Do we need a lawsuit? There’s no reason for a player to cost $400-$1000 if it’s not going to work. This is ridiculous.

[sapiendut]

Where do you put your player? On top of another equipment? How’s the ventilation? Have you cleaned your discs? If you’ve done all the things previously mentioned, you should’ve exchanged the player when you got it because what you mentioned here is not a normal player behaviour regardless of brand and model.

[Tim n Tempe]

Originally Posted by Xtroterrestrial

Been having issues with the UB820. A majority of Blu-ray and 4K discs play fine. But I’ve had too many issues with other discs in the past year where they pixelate and freeze up, both Blu-ray and 4K, and I’m tired of it. I’ve replaced or repurchased some titles and then they seem to work so I’ve thought “maybe it’s just the discs” but then two or three movies later I’ll have more pixelating and freezing at random spots. You can look this issue up online and tons of complaints are visible.

Were there bad batches of players sent out? Should there have been a recall? Do we need a lawsuit? There’s no reason for a player to cost $400-$1000 if it’s not going to work. This is ridiculous.

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.

[Xtroterrestrial]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Where do you put your player? On top of another equipment? How’s the ventilation? Have you cleaned your discs? If you’ve done all the things previously mentioned, you should’ve exchanged the player when you got it because what you mentioned here is not a normal player behaviour regardless of brand and model.

Player is on its own ventilated shelf, cleaned discs multiple times that are problematic. It worked fine until about a year after owning it. Sometimes it still works fine. The last few days I’ve watched several Twin Peaks discs, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, Re-Animator, and From Beyond without any issues. I put on Bride of Re-Animator immediately after viewing the last two titles and it worked fine for about 50 minutes and then started glitching out. I took it out and put it in a normal Blu-ray player and there was no glitching, didn’t even have to try cleaning the disc that time.

I agree it’s not normal behavior but that’s why there might be something wrong. Especially if you can find other recorded instances of these glitches online.

[locomotive]

Tried playing the last crusade and talk to me uhd on my ub 9000 but got text of a mismatch between disc and region codes ?

Anybody knows about this maybe a update.

Did update for 1.82

Raiders of the last crusade works but talk to me uhd it still days mismatch between disc and region codes so is this 4k locked then i'm from holland and imported it a while back from the usa.

[Red Pill 101]

I ended up getting an 820 this week and wow am I blown away by the picture! I was really questioning if it would be 'that' much of an improvement over an upscaled 1080p blu ray. I definitely see a difference with native 4k discs! I'm also really impressed with the upscaling!

I have a quick question I'm hoping someone might be able to help me understand the display info during playback.

(I had set the 4k/60p output and color mode to 4:4:4 in the 820 menu) but when I play 4k discs, and when I hit the Playback Info button, that first line with the film symbol only shows YCbCr4:2:0/10 bit. The 3rd line that shows the HDMI video 4K data reads YCbCr4:4:4/12 bit.

Did I miss setting something, or is this normal/ok? I did read page 20 of the manual but don't quite get "Video attribute information of video
content" as it explains. I expected it to also show 4:4:4.

Thanks in advance!

[sapiendut]

The first one is the data on the disc, the second is the processed video sent to your Tv

I assume you use the settings guide I created?

[Red Pill 101]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

The first one is the data on the disc, the second is the processed video sent to your Tv

I assume you use the settings guide I created?

Thank you for the reply!

I did not follow your guide but I sure would be interested in reading it!

There was a Youtube video that recommended changing those settings, which pointed me to making those changes in the menu.

(Edit: clicked the link in your signature and see that it is in fact your video that I followed. Thanks so much for posting that!)

[TooOldToDieYoung]

Can't change settings on the Panny in Dolby Vision, only works in SDR and HDR.

[pr0darek]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Is this true?

I was thinking of maybe getting this model region free to help reduce usage on my OPPO 205 since I play lots of SACDs etc, and want to help prolong it life.

Picture setting tab it is disabled during playing DV.

Why don't you rip the SACD to files?

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by TooOldToDieYoung

Can't change settings on the Panny in Dolby Vision, only works in SDR and HDR.

Dolby doesn’t allow DV to be tweaked. It’s locked by Dolby.

[Maggot]

One thing I notice is that both my 9000's run warm. Ejected discs are warm......yet my older 820 runs cool with the discs cool as well after watching a movie. I use the same settings on all three and they all sit on separate shelves with plenty of ventilation. To be fair though, there's a bit more circuitry in the 9000 from inside images between the two. Still you'd think the nice metal case on the 9000 would dissipate the heat better.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by pr0darek

Why don't you rip the SACD to files?

I prefer the DSD from the disc itself, unless there is a way to rip a SACD file as DSD direct and also on multi channel SACDs but still I’ve not invested in any storage for ripping Blus or 4Ks and saving their files. It just seems like a lot of work. I get the benefit, but sounds like it costs a lot of money and requires lots of storage capacity.


I just wish this Panasonic didn’t get so many negative comments, which is Panasonics fault, what I gather is they went cheaper on it’s parts. Just wish it was so much more a solid player.

[pr0darek]

@Maggot
Keep in mind that in the UB820 the fan running all the time... UB9000 99,99% time it's passive. They build seemingly silent equipment that is actually hot inside. The ability to turn on the fan in the options would certainly result in better lifespan.

[pr0darek]

@PowellPressburger

Ripping SACD using Oppo it is not difficult, and compared to BD/UHD the size of SACDs is small.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

The YouTuber behind the most popular Panny settings video later tried to walk back his recommendation of 4:4:4, mainly because not all 4K TVs support it. My view is it should be set based on what your TV will support; if it supports 4:4:4 12-bit like my Hisense then that should be used, but if your TV doesn't you may want to use a different setting.

That is the most offensive thing you can say about my video. NOBODY is walking back on what’s being said. I simply put a note that I only not recommending 4K/60 4:4:4 because more and more displays can’t handle that.
Logic and grammar dictates that if your TV can accept 4K/60 4:4:4 of course keep using that. I thought as British individual you can understand context of the added description. Even as someone with English as my 4th language I can understand context. SMH

PS: your TV can handle 4:4:4/12-bit only in 4K/24, not 4K/60

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

That is the most offensive thing you can say about my video. NOBODY is walking back on what’s being said. I simply put a note that I only not recommending 4K/60 4:4:4 because more and more displays can’t handle that.
Logic and grammar dictates that if your TV can accept 4K/60 4:4:4 of course keep using that. I thought as British individual you can understand context of the added description. Even as someone with English as my 4th language I can understand context. SMH

PS: your TV can handle 4:4:4/12-bit only in 4K/24, not 4K/60

I don't consider it offensive; I was just trying to say not all displays support full-blown 4:4:4 as the original video implied. If anything, I'm offended by your digging it up months later to attack it just because you didn't like my grammar.

And have you tested the U.S. version of my display? (I'm American despite my "British" name.) Hisense is known to sell different products under the same model number in different countries. Mine has an ATSC 3.0 tuner; I doubt that is available in many other countries. I may have to dig out Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk to remember how my UB820 handles true 4K/60 video (I don't have the other one), but until then there's no point arguing about it; it works at 4K/24.

[sapiendut]

None of the Hisense can do 4K/60 4:4:4 12-bit. 4K/24 4:4:4 12-bit yes, just like most displays. But not at 60 fps.