Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[adamjankowski]

I got it figured out thanks to a member on here.

I had to re-assign the input source - from coaxial to optical. You have to go into a menu on the amplifier and put in the right code. Not as easy to set up as today's systems, for sure. There is a code either to be entered or pressed in a menu.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Appreciate it! This player made a significant transformation in picture quality on my 4K discs.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by adamjankowski

I got it figured out thanks to a member on here.

I had to re-assign the input source - from coaxial to optical. You have to go into a menu on the amplifier and put in the right code. Not as easy to set up as today's systems, for sure. There is a code either to be entered or pressed in a menu.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Appreciate it! This player made a significant transformation in picture quality on my 4K discs.

Even though you got things working, like others have stated... you REALLY, REALLY need to consider upgrading your receiver. Not only are you missing out on Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio, you're also not even getting lossless audio.

[sapiendut]

He may just not have the budget, just saying.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

He may just not have the budget, just saying.

The OP bought a not-so-cheap 4k player and, I assume, a 4k TV. I'm sure a new receiver won't kill him. Amazon has listings for some killer last year model Denon and Marantz unit closeouts for example.

[adamjankowski]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

He may just not have the budget, just saying.

You are correct. I don't. This player was an investment for me that was difficult to do. I bought the 4K Sony Bravia TV two years ago when funds were stronger. Paying another 500 dollars or more for a receiver and more speakers is something I can't financially handle right now or in the immediate future. In the meantime, strong picture quality and the ability to watch 4K discs as they were intended is more important than audio to me.

[Fendergopher]

Has there been any word from either Panasonic or Dolby regarding the brightness issues with Dolby Vision content? One would think something like that could be remedied with a firmware update fairly easily.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by adamjankowski

You are correct. I don't. This player was an investment for me that was difficult to do. I bought the 4K Sony Bravia TV two years ago when funds were stronger. Paying another 500 dollars or more for a receiver and more speakers is something I can't financially handle right now or in the immediate future. In the meantime, strong picture quality and the ability to watch 4K discs as they were intended is more important than audio to me.

I quite undestand you as I have a disability from an accident I had almost 7 years ago and I get a mean pension (I'm 45) from Spanish Social Security that makes me be permanently flat broke.
So, you're not alone buddy.

[Clark Burk]

Originally Posted by adamjankowski

You are correct. I don't. This player was an investment for me that was difficult to do. I bought the 4K Sony Bravia TV two years ago when funds were stronger. Paying another 500 dollars or more for a receiver and more speakers is something I can't financially handle right now or in the immediate future. In the meantime, strong picture quality and the ability to watch 4K discs as they were intended is more important than audio to me.

I still suggest if you perhaps have 3 pair of analog cables on hand to give the analog outputs into your receiver 6 channel inputs a go. It will sound far better than the optical or coax output. You will be able to get lossless audio. Not Dolby Atmos unfortunately as that is not decoded in players but much higher bitrate audio. Try it if you can and see if it makes a difference. I think it will sound better to you.

[Bigbro]

This is one of the reasons I bought this player. I own an extemely high end preamplifier. However it does not have HDMI inputs. Optical and Coaxial yes but than you are limited to inferior sound. Using the analog outs you can enjoy DTS HD Master and Dolby True HD. Six analog RCA cables will not ruin your budget.

[eddievanhalen]

I have the Panasonic UB420 and just for experimenting I set it to output RGB both normal range and expanded at 12 bits and I was surprised to check that it really outputs HDR video with Wide Color Gamut. I tested this among others with Star Trek Into Darkness, its first scenes on the planet Nubiru are an easy way to test if you're getting Wide Color Gamut, and with RGB the Panasonic 420 is and my Samsung 49" HDR set is displaying it right with its deep red colors instead of orange when HDR is being converted to SDR.
I must say that I liked how RGB at 12 bit looked so much while watching Into Darkness and Sully that I have left it this way, my Samsung set seems to like RGB at 12 bit.
Sometimes I think that current video technologies are more alchemy than science and logic, you do one test and one never knows how your equipment is going to behave.

[sapiendut]

Yeah, I use 12-bit 4:4:4 and the result is astounding.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Yeah, I use 12-bit 4:4:4 and the result is astounding.

4:4:4 looks great on my Samsung set, you know I much prefer this Panasonic player to my other Sony X-800, but trying with different configurations I tried with RGB Standard and Extended and both look maybe a bit cleaner and crisper than 4:4:4. I don't know if using RGB has some undesired side effects to video performance as I've only tried it with two movies. I really didn't expect Wide Color Gamut with RGB, the Sony doesn't pass Wide Color Gamut, on the beginning of Star Trek Into Darkness if I set it to output RGB the deep red trees on the planet nubiru look orange, just like if I disable HDR. I thought RGB video topped at 8 bit, I didn't know there was 10 bit and 12 bit RGB. I know the source is still 4:2:0 10 bit video but I alsoknow that apart from the Chroma Upsampling done by UHD BD (and BD players also) players, the video signal has to be converted internally in the TV set to RGB as this is the kind of signal panels work with.
Panasonic players seem to be full of surprises apart from their great picture quality.

[rustyk]

Does anyone else have issues with prime video stuttering? I'm using a UB420 and Netflix and the other apps seem fine, but if I try and stream 4k on prime, it will go well for a while then just start to pause and stutter.

My internet bandwidth is approx 40MBps and my other devices (Xbox X etc) don't have this issue at all.

My wireless is very good but I haven't tried hard wired yet. In any case, it's only the Prime app on this device that seems to struggle.

Could my player be faulty?

[PissedOffPeoN]

Originally Posted by Fendergopher

Has there been any word from either Panasonic or Dolby regarding the brightness issues with Dolby Vision content? One would think something like that could be remedied with a firmware update fairly easily.

I would like to know as well .

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by rustyk

Does anyone else have issues with prime video stuttering? I'm using a UB420 and Netflix and the other apps seem fine, but if I try and stream 4k on prime, it will go well for a while then just start to pause and stutter.

My internet bandwidth is approx 40MBps and my other devices (Xbox X etc) don't have this issue at all.

My wireless is very good but I haven't tried hard wired yet. In any case, it's only the Prime app on this device that seems to struggle.

Could my player be faulty?

I live in Canada with 600 Mbps minimum sustained bandwidth. Still I have stuttering with my 820 (wifi, wired is OK) but not on my 9000 (both wifi and wired)

[rustyk]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

I live in Canada with 600 Mbps minimum sustained bandwidth. Still I have stuttering with my 820 (wifi, wired is OK) but not on my 9000 (both wifi and wired)

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try a hardwired connection to troubleshoot.
Like I say,my Xbox X and Nvidia Shield are fine, which is why I wondered what the issue might be.

*Looks like Panasonic have removed Wifi and Network Services from the new UB450. Wonder if it's just cut down or if they are aware of issues?*

[BrikHaus]

Hey, everyone. I picked up a Panasonic UB820 last week. I haven't played with the settings much, but I have noticed it is giving me a slight Soap Opera Effect. I have watched The Fifth Element UHD, and Donnie Darko Arrow blu-ray, and it did it on both.

I have a 2017 Vizio M55 4k TV, and I'm pretty sure I have all the Soap Opera Effect settings turned off. My previous blu-ray player (also a Panasonic) did not do this.

Anyone have any suggestions? I would really appreciate it.

[sapiendut]

Set the UB820 24p to ON.

[Bigbro]

Originally Posted by rustyk

Does anyone else have issues with prime video stuttering? I'm using a UB420 and Netflix and the other apps seem fine, but if I try and stream 4k on prime, it will go well for a while then just start to pause and stutter.

My internet bandwidth is approx 40MBps and my other devices (Xbox X etc) don't have this issue at all.

My wireless is very good but I haven't tried hard wired yet. In any case, it's only the Prime app on this device that seems to struggle.

Could my player be faulty?

Amazon Prime doesn't work properly. Indeed stuttering etc. I use a wired connection pumping out 250MB per second. This is more than enough. No problems with the Netflix app. Furthermore probably the ethernet connection does not allow more than 100MB to pass anyway. This should be more than enough since the streaming apps only use a max of about 20 MB per second.

[BrikHaus]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Set the UB820 24p to ON.

Thanks for the help. As it turns out, this didn't improve my situation, because it was already set to "Auto" (my player has Auto or Off, no On setting). However, your suggestion did get me to the solution.

I tried turning 24p off, which actually did solve the problem, and I no longer had any Soap Opera Effect. However, the player no longer output in HDR, only SDR.

So, I turned 24p back on, and I did a deeper dive into the TV's settings. Vizio has a setting called "Film Mode" which is supposed to "Smooth Visual Artifacts," which was turned on. I didn't know what it was doing, so I turned it off.

Voila! That solved the problem. Now, I can enjoy films without Soap Opera Effect, and with HDR engaged.

So, if anyone out there has a Vizio TV with the same problem, make sure you turn Film Mode off.