Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[zubinh]

Thanks!

[DLCPhoto]

Originally Posted by DLCPhoto

Attention Robert Zohn:

Zombie10k in the AVS Forum has identified the UB-820's behavior, with reference to its Netflix App, when the user is wanting to utilize the SDR/2020 mode which works so wonderfully for those of us with Projectors:

It would be a huge plus in favor of the UB-820 if this player could allow the user to watch Netflix (and presumably Amazon Video, YouTube, etc.) HDR content utilizing the same SDR/2020 approach that works so well for Projector users. Would it be possible for you to check with your contacts at Panasonic, to see if this is something that could be added via Firmware update?

Thank you.

Still hoping for a response here.

At the same time, though, given the 'auto tone mapping' feature apparently present in the new line of JVC projectors, perhaps the UB-820 won't be quite as indispensable in the near future? Interesting times...

[BLUCanadian]

Hi everyone,
I bought an OPPO UDP-203 just before they all sold out. The build of my HT has been delayed so it has just been sitting in its box, unopened. I bought it to pair with my JVC 520 projector since it was my understanding that the combination of these 2 items would produce a similar image to that of the JVC 540 projector, saving me quite a bit of money...
However, I am wondering if the UB820 would produce similar results? I guess it comes down to the tone mapping?
The UDP-203 is going for crazy money on eBay so I am wondering if its worthwile to sell the OPPO and replace it with the UB820 and pocket the extra cash?
I dont plan on doing anything fancy with the player, just dedicated for Blu-ray & 4K UHD playback.
Thanks for any insights on this matter!

[kansashoops]

Originally Posted by BLUCanadian

Hi everyone,
I bought an OPPO UDP-203 just before they all sold out. The build of my HT has been delayed so it has just been sitting in its box, unopened. I bought it to pair with my JVC 520 projector since it was my understanding that the combination of these 2 items would produce a similar image to that of the JVC 540 projector, saving me quite a bit of money...
However, I am wondering if the UB820 would produce similar results? I guess it comes down to the tone mapping?
The UDP-203 is going for crazy money on eBay so I am wondering if its worthwile to sell the OPPO and replace it with the UB820 and pocket the extra cash?
I dont plan on doing anything fancy with the player, just dedicated for Blu-ray & 4K UHD playback.
Thanks for any insights on this matter!

I have been quite happy with my Oppo, but when watching certain movies that are really dark, like Arrival 4K, I have grown frustrated that I didn't have a good way to brighten things up temporarily. Kris Deering suggested the 820, and I've been quite happy with it. On the downside, it lacks some of the Oppo's chops as a CD player (no SACD support, e.g.). Consequently, I had to go buy a refurbished Sony X800 to use as a CD player, which cut into the profit I will see from selling my Oppo. If you only care about playing blu rays with the 820, though, I think it's a good move.

[JWB2]

Originally Posted by BLUCanadian

Hi everyone,
I bought an OPPO UDP-203 just before they all sold out. The build of my HT has been delayed so it has just been sitting in its box, unopened. I bought it to pair with my JVC 520 projector since it was my understanding that the combination of these 2 items would produce a similar image to that of the JVC 540 projector, saving me quite a bit of money...
However, I am wondering if the UB820 would produce similar results? I guess it comes down to the tone mapping?
The UDP-203 is going for crazy money on eBay so I am wondering if its worthwile to sell the OPPO and replace it with the UB820 and pocket the extra cash?
I dont plan on doing anything fancy with the player, just dedicated for Blu-ray & 4K UHD playback.
Thanks for any insights on this matter!

Assuming youre main interest is playing discs, sell the oppo. The SDR2020 tone mapping is significantly better on the 820 than the oppo. Its possible oppo might fix its TM with a firmware update, but that seems more and more unlikely. I have both oppo and the 820 and never use the oppo anymore.

[labrat1881]

Hello,
Pardon me if it has been discussed before, Is this player multi-region for blu-rays?

[gkolb]

Originally Posted by labrat1881

Hello,
Pardon me if it has been discussed before, Is this player multi-region for blu-rays?

In this thread there has been a discussion about a built-in workaround for other region BD's. {Checking for post #...} Post 1044

Assuming you knew the 4K's are all region free?

(btw, I hale from a local MV, Iowa university.)

[mach3prods]

Hey all!

I just got my Panasonic UB820, updated the firmware to the latest version, and hooked it up to my 2018 LG C8 OLED. Overall, it looks stunning, and it’s a huge improvement over the LG UBK90 player I had been using and was unhappy with.

However, I’ve noticed that a few - not all - Dolby Vision discs are noticeably darker than they were on the LG UBK90. Stephen King’s “It” is a prime example, to the point where you lose a ton of visual information in the blacks. If I turn Dolby Vision off and play “It” in regular HDR10, it looks fine.

It’s also not every Dolby Vision disc. The blacks on “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” in Dolby Vision are deep but well-defined on the Panasonic UB820, far more than on the LG UBK90. The Jack Ryan set looks great in Dolby Vision. “It” seems to be the most egregious example.

I’ve had my LG C8 professionally calibrated by an isf Level 2-certified guy I’ve worked with for years. He’s calibrated my SDR, HDR10, and Dolby Vision modes to a tee. So I don’t want to go messing with my TV’s settings when we got the picture to a nearly perfect calibration.

And, of course, you can’t use the UB820’s HDR Optimizer when you’re playing a Dolby Vision disc (with Dolby Vision enabled in the player’s settings). So I can’t fix the issue there.

It seems all I can do is turn off Dolby Vision for the specific titles that look too dark, and play them in regular HDR10.

Is anyone else having this issue with some Dolby Vision titles? Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

[JojoMcFly]

Hi everyone !

it's my first message on this forum, I'm Benjamin, from France.

I got a problem with my UB820EFK. I got the 820 since last june and I'm using the 2.0 analog audio output with my NAD C720BEE amplifier, Hifi, no HDMI, and when I set the audio output to 2.0 downmix, I got a problem with all my 20th century fox blu-rays... the 820 can't read 20th century fox blu-rays anymore, the player displays a 20th century fox red screen with yellow text asking for a firmware update and won't play the BD :



No problem to read the 20th century fox UHD though... so far, none of the update has resolve the issue (1.25 update done, nothing have changed...)

As soon as I turn back the analog output off, if I turn back to HDMI (through my TV), the 20th century fox BR plays fine...

I've tested with avatar, the thin red line, alien covenant...


Only the 20th century fox's blu-ray have the problem (not UHD), the other editors work fine...

Is anybody having the same issue with the US model ?

Thanks,

Benjamin

[chip75]

Hey guys ... does anyone know how to bring up the Netflix information (it's usually in the top right hand corner), which gives the data-rate and resolution, it's usually the INFO button with players.

Also is has Panasonic changed the way you program their player's remotes to work with our TVs? or is that feature only available with Panasonic TVs now?

[Geoff D]

Panny haven't released a UHD player over here with a programmable remote as of yet. TV buttons are configured for Panny TVs only.

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Panny haven't released a UHD player over here with a programmable remote as of yet. TV buttons are configured for Panny TVs only.

I just got the UB820 today. Hooked it up and yes, i was able to programmed the remote to use with my Sony TV. You can do this by holding the tv power buttom on the remote and entering 030 for a Sony TV. There are a few more tv codes on the manual for Samsung, LG TV's etc.

[Geoff D]

No mention of it in the manual at all for the UK model, hence my "over here" qualification to chip. I'm sure he'll give it a try though, thanks. [edit] And my apologies for not believing you earlier about the UB900, for if I look in ze US manual then it clearly references being able to programme the remote but this feature was not supported on the UK remotes.

[trekky76]

"It" has some issues for me like macroblocking and noise which I don't see with HDR10. But it isn't darker than HDR10. Maybe tone mapping on the LG player works differently?
Also don't know what DV mode the C8 has got; I tested on DV dark.

Originally Posted by mach3prods

Hey all!

I just got my Panasonic UB820, updated the firmware to the latest version, and hooked it up to my 2018 LG C8 OLED. Overall, it looks stunning, and it’s a huge improvement over the LG UBK90 player I had been using and was unhappy with.

However, I’ve noticed that a few - not all - Dolby Vision discs are noticeably darker than they were on the LG UBK90. Stephen King’s “It” is a prime example, to the point where you lose a ton of visual information in the blacks. If I turn Dolby Vision off and play “It” in regular HDR10, it looks fine.

[zubinh]

I'm not feeling the love for this player yet. Maybe I should not have sold the Oppo so fast. I just put in Planet Earth II Disc 1. It is extremely buggy. The main menu screen is in HDR but then when I hit play all to bring up the first section, the HDR goes off. Now I have to hit options and change HDR Optimizer On. What the heck is this? My Oppo never needed such intervention. Why cant this thing just play a 4K disc in HDR all the time? Why do I have to manually turn it on?... Thanks for any suggestions

[Tru-way]

Now that the DV FW is out I am leaning towards replacing my trusty UB900, can any owner confirm if the UB 820 finally has physical power on/off and disk eject buttons? Those touch sensitive buttons on the UB900 were one my pet peeves.

[JojoMcFly]

Yes there are both physical buttons...

[dlbsyst]

Hi guys,

I just picked up the Panasonic UB820 at Best Buy yesterday. While it has an amazing picture as far as HDR tone mapping I am having a couple of issues. First of all the drive is extremely noisy. It's so bad that I can hear it most of the time when watching a disc. The second problem I am having is that my copy of Starship Troopers will not play correctly. While watching it will freeze and jump around, skipping over chapters. After a while it just gives up and goes back to the movies main menu. I thought maybe the disc is bad but it plays flawlessly on my 1st gen. Samsung 4K Blu-ray player. Do I have a bad unit? Can anyone confirm this problem with this movie on his player. Any help would be appreciated.

[hgwy407]

Originally Posted by dlbsyst

Hi guys,

I just picked up the Panasonic UB820 at Best Buy yesterday. While it has an amazing picture as far as HDR tone mapping I am having a couple of issues. First of all the drive is extremely noisy. It's so bad that I can hear it most of the time when watching a disc. The second problem I am having is that my copy of Starship Troopers will not play correctly. While watching it will freeze and jump around, skipping over chapters. After a while it just gives up and goes back to the movies main menu. I thought maybe the disc is bad but it plays flawlessly on my 1st gen. Samsung 4K Blu-ray player. Do I have a bad unit? Can anyone confirm this problem with this movie on his player. Any help would be appreciated.

I am probably the least qualified to respond to your concern on this board but my 820 doesn't have that issue and I have put a lot of miles on it over the last several weeks. I don't know if others are seeing this problem consistently, maybe a bad unit?

[Tru-way]

Originally Posted by dlbsyst

Hi guys,

I just picked up the Panasonic UB820 at Best Buy yesterday. While it has an amazing picture as far as HDR tone mapping I am having a couple of issues. First of all the drive is extremely noisy. It's so bad that I can hear it most of the time when watching a disc. The second problem I am having is that my copy of Starship Troopers will not play correctly. While watching it will freeze and jump around, skipping over chapters. After a while it just gives up and goes back to the movies main menu. I thought maybe the disc is bad but it plays flawlessly on my 1st gen. Samsung 4K Blu-ray player. Do I have a bad unit? Can anyone confirm this problem with this movie on his player. Any help would be appreciated.

Did you recently update the firmware? before returning I would try resetting the player.