Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[guile]

Has anyone figured out a fix to circumvent the players inability to stream DTS-HD (and/or any other high res sound formats) of content that I LEGALLY purchased over a network??

[sapiendut]

It’s not designed to play those files. There is no workaround it.

[guile]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

It’s not designed to play those files. There is no workaround it.

Ummm...if they can be played via a USB hard drive, they SHOULD be able to be played over a network! This was an AWFUL decision by Panasonic.

[sapiendut]

It can’t be played via USB as far as I know. I received several pre-releases legitimately and I can’t play anything beyond DD or DTS core.

[51dueller]

If you convert the DTS-MA or Dolby TrueHD to flac (essentially LPCM) it will play the files but if its DTS-X or Atmos you'll lose the height information and only have the 7.1 channels.

[sapiendut]

Well, that’s neither here nor there. We are discussing playing back unconverted files as is.

[jh901]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

Avatar in 3D or go home. Put that in the 9000.

A crappy film nevertheless.

Front projection 3D at 90"+ diagonal or go home.

[DJR662]

Not even front projection 3D at 200"+ diagonal couldn't save Avatar from being a bad movie.

[Mierzwiak]

Maybe it's just your taste that's bad here?

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

Maybe it's just your taste that's bad here?

I've got my fair share of guilty pleasures for sure.

But there are bad movies and then there's Avatar (and TLJ).

[Mierzwiak]

I don't have time to read whole thread, so a quick question:

What's the consensus on "Dolby Vision is brighter on Panasonic than on Oppo"? And if there's any, which one is correct? Is Panasonic brighter, or it's Oppo that's darker?

I can't check it personally, all I can is to compare UHD DV with iTunes DV. I tried The Matrix and both versions look the same, there's no difference in brightness between them.

[sapiendut]

When I had my Oppo 205, the Oppo DV looks sliiiightly darker than Panasonic’s. But nobody can actually claim which one is correct as the DV on both machines were developed by Dolby, not by Oppo or Panasonic.

[Mierzwiak]

Well, that was stupid question, but by comparing Panny/Oppo with players from Sony and LG we could at least have some clue about it

There's also one thing that annoys me a little when I watch something in Dolby Vision (with HDR10 there's no such problem): every time I change chapter or press play while rewinding it triggers DV flag in upper right corner on my OLED.

Does anyone else have this?

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

When I had my Oppo 205, the Oppo DV looks sliiiightly darker than Panasonic’s. But nobody can actually claim which one is correct as the DV on both machines were developed by Dolby, not by Oppo or Panasonic.

It has something to do with the Dolby guys. They must be trying real hard to please everyone by being on the same footing ...

[sapiendut]

I’ve never had an LG player for a long period of time (only about a couple of weeks) because at the time, LG DV was highly elevated from my 205. My Sony 700 when I had it was about the same but not identical to the 205 either. Quite honestly DV confuses me with all the different levels and none of my email to Dolby regarding DV ever received a satisfactory response

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

I don't have time to read whole thread, so a quick question:

What's the consensus on "Dolby Vision is brighter on Panasonic than on Oppo"? And if there's any, which one is correct? Is Panasonic brighter, or it's Oppo that's darker?

I can't check it personally, all I can is to compare UHD DV with iTunes DV. I tried The Matrix and both versions look the same, there's no difference in brightness between them.

It's not just "brighter" on the Panny, it's clipping picture information that is clearly visible on the OPPO DV implementation, and indeed on the underlying HDR10 layer. And that clipped picture information cannot be recovered by adjusting the picture settings on the Panny player as those controls are locked out as per Dolby requirements, and adjusting the contrast on the TV does nothing to bring that information back either so it's being hard clipped by the Panny DV implementation.

I say that because when using the OPPO's DV output I can mimic the same brightness and clipped highlights as the Panny by boosting the contrast on the TV well past the default 90, only I'm able to lower it back to where it's supposed to be which recovers the information that the Panny is clipping out. Would people even know about this if they weren't forensically comparing players, layers and discs? Of course not, they're swallowing the line that DV is completely infallible and it's not as if it looks like crap, if anything that extra brightness will be more pleasing to people who want their HDR to 'pop', not less.

But if it sounds like I'm being too hard on Panasonic then I'll provide some balance by moaning that the OPPO DV implementation on my Sony ZD9 is just a bit too dim at the default contrast level of 90 (and is why I'm desperate for Spears and Munsil's UHD disc, to measure what luminance the DV is outputting). For most movies watched in a dark room it's not a major problem, if a problem at all as most HDR movies have enough average picture brightness in reserve to withstand it, but for some movies the DV really kills the brightness when it should be beaming out, Superman The Movie's UHD disc is a case in point. I can of course raise the contrast to increase luminance...but this then starts to clip >1000 highlights and if I do so I'm effectively watching the Panny equivalent of DV anyway

[Robert Zohn]

Why would anyone own a UB820 or UB9000 and not use Panasonic's priority HDR Optimizer?

Dolby does not permit any change to their file so when you have Panasonic's UB820 or UB9000 you would always want to use the SMPTE HDR10.

Some of the advantages UB820 and UB9000 have with the HDR Optimizer properly configured and enabled are an infinite amount of custom tone curves that perfectly follow the EOTF PQ curve and even more importantly are tone mapped to your TV or projectors peak luminance capability.

If that's not enough, because only Panasonic's UB820 and UB9000 also knows your display's minimum luminance level as well as the peak luminance so it knows where to start the tone mapping. Just one example is OLED TV owners where the HDR Optimizer knows you have an OLED so it starts the tone mapping at 0 luminance so you get all of the dynamic range of your HDR content beautifully and completely displayed on your specific TV or projector.

Dolby Vision does not know your displays MLL or peak luminance, only Panasonic's exclusive HDR Optimizer knows how to create the most accurate frame by frame metadata to best match your TV or projector.

[nick4Knight]

Wait, you are advocating for a Panasonic UB820 user to disregard DV on disc playback and use the HDR optimizer on the HDR10 base layer?

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

... only Panasonic's UB820 and UB9000 also knows your display's minimum luminance level as well as the peak luminance so it knows where to start the tone mapping. Just one example is OLED TV owners where the HDR Optimizer knows you have an OLED so it starts the tone mapping at 0 luminance so you get all of the dynamic range of your HDR content beautifully and completely displayed on your specific TV

You point out OLED having a leg up with this method (if I'm reading correctly) and that is going to be my display... so I'm oh so curious.

[LordoftheRings]

Robert, your vast experience with various television brands, front projectors, TV technologies, video sources, etc., etc., etc., makes your words having solid footing. That's important in my video book, very.
And for audio also you have more experience than anyone; all the feedback from your customers, etc., etc., etc. You are solid as the Rock of Gibraltar.

We listen/read all other opinion as well. @ the end each one of us we make the best balance that applies to us best.

We need more Optimizers in the world, I think.
Panasonic has to expand, in quantity and and quality build.
...We need to expand, to more places across the globe.

* Last, the Dolby Laboratory engineers for Dolby Vision they need to cooperate equally among the product manufacturers sporting their Dolby Vision badge. ...I think. The consumers, customers, us, we are the people using their badge, paying their salaries indirectly, enjoying the fruits of their labor; we like openness, education, honesty, not around the edges, no confusion.
We are investors in companies build from solid foundations, not Theranos type.

We like our JVC, Epson, LG OLED, Sony OLED, Panasonic OLED, Oppo players, Panasonic players, Sony players, Pioneer players, receivers, pre/pros, we like solid products, best features, performance, value...we like it all and reliable, we like good quality control of the 4K/3D Blu-ray discs we buy and play on our OLED and 3D/4K projectors. We like the best support, firmware updates, like Oppo, we like great customer service, we like everything sailing smoothly.

[jibucha]

what i can say

• every Panasonic presentation that i have experienced for several years now, are consistent with your perception of "Panny" (this whether display or player)
• from my perspective (it's Panasonic and not Dolby) as my "Dolby" experiences are 'inconsistent in this regard'
• it's not my intent to criticize either company, only to share my viewing experiences
• also, as may 'prefer' the 'Samsung way' they may also 'prefer the Panasonic way' - in 'both' i do not

Originally Posted by Geoff D

It's not just "brighter" on the Panny, it's clipping picture information that is clearly visible on the OPPO DV implementation, and indeed on the underlying HDR10 layer. And that clipped picture information cannot be recovered by adjusting the picture settings on the Panny player as those controls are locked out as per Dolby requirements, and adjusting the contrast on the TV does nothing to bring that information back either so it's being hard clipped by the Panny DV implementation.