Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[sapiendut]

My Billy Lynn and JVC demo UHD both played normally on my UB820 and 9000. Also when I was teaching the ISF class with Joel Silver, his UB9000 played the JVC demo UHD no problem either. They are 4K/60 with bitrate of 17.8 Gbps.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by OT7

My UB820 plays Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk in 60p no issues.

So does my UB420.

[Geoff D]

Same here on the 420. Can playback Billy Lynn's in 4K60 10-bit (or even 12-bit) 4:2:2 HDR 2020 without a hitch. If the player's choking on it then matey's display chain is telling the player it can't handle such a signal so it's automatically busting it down to 8-bit 4:2:0 SDR 709.

He needs to check out his HDMI cables and anything else he's got in the signal path like an AVR, not that I'd ever dream of telling the "pros" their place (who, mesa? ). Maybe even just check that the display's HDMI ports are set to full bandwidth.

[kedavis]

Can the 820 play 50Hz UK region-free discs? My Samsung can, but it doesn’t have Dolby Vision.

[sapiendut]

It plays my Sherlock UK-bluray (menu is in 50Hz) without problem. It outputs in 50Hz though (no conversion to 60Hz, if that’s what you’re asking)

[gooseygander2001]

Right off the bat this was a huge improvement over both blu rays, especially the waxworks hunter version....possibly the worst blu ray I've seen...ever!

So the movie itself is a classic of the action genre and I unashamedly love it...BUT I don't feel it is close to Alien (1979) in terms of quality. The acting is fairly decent for what it is. This is full of excellent one-liners though possibly not as many as Commando.

The transfer I thought was very good and aside from the zoomed sections was awash with a fine patina of grain which ranged from moderate to heavy but I felt complimented the action and enhanced the detail. I have a2018 Panasonic OLED with the same dynamic optimiser setting as found on the UB420, UB820 4k decks and this works wonders with most disks....However, with this disk...I preferred the 'static' mode as I felt the overall punch of the image was slightly less in dynamic....e.g leaves branches, facial lines and stubble were a bit less distinct. Perhaps this is down to the complex jungle backdrop proving to be challenging for the optimiser and overly dimming portions of the image?? HDR REALLY added to the depth of the image and gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling I get with some discs when I feel that the £££thousands I've spent over the years on TV, AV and the disks themselves all seems worthwhile.

QUOTE]

Watched Predator 4k again over the weekend and stand by my earlier review...this is still one of the few disks in my collection that works best without dynamic tone mapping engaged.

Anyone else with a Panasonic player/tv have any preference for when to use/not to use the tone mapping system?

[Geoff D]

If you've set the player to OLED which is 1000 nits then the Optimiser shouldn't be affecting the image either way as Predator is mastered to 1000 nits MDL on disc. But perhaps it's doing something which the in-house tone mapping on the TV is latching on to?

edit

I see you're talking about the mapping in the Panny TV which may not be the exact same thing as in the player. The Panasonic HDR Optimiser, at least how it works on the players, is not "dynamic" at all, it simply detects a certain metadata value and sets the tone curve to map above that point for the entire content which is why it will literally do nothing (except add a touch of banding) for something that hits the same (or less) amount of nits as the mode it's set to.

[gooseygander2001]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

If you've set the player to OLED which is 1000 nits then the Optimiser shouldn't be affecting the image either way as Predator is mastered to 1000 nits MDL on disc. But perhaps it's doing something which the in-house tone mapping on the TV is latching on to?

edit

I see you're talking about the mapping in the Panny TV which may not be the exact same thing as in the player. The Panasonic HDR Optimiser, at least how it works on the players, is not "dynamic" at all, it simply detects a certain metadata value and sets the tone curve to map above that point for the entire content which is why it will literally do nothing (except add a touch of banding) for something that hits the same (or less) amount of nits as the mode it's set to.

Yep....I think that's whats happening Geoff as I have the slightly older UB400 player (without any tone mapping) and I believe the chip in my Panny FZ802 oled is the same HCX gen 2. chip found in the 420,450, 820 and 9000 players.

Perhaps I just prefer the natural output without tone mapping on this particular movie.

In almost every other disc I own the optimiser 'on' is a fairly clear improvement than having it 'off.

[gooseygander2001]

EDIT

The settings for the optimiser on the FZ Oled are actually 'Dynamic' (optimiser on), 'Static' (Optimiser off, still HDR) or off (Dynamic Range Conversion - SDR but with WCG)

[Ant1010]

Originally Posted by gooseygander2001

Yep....I think that's whats happening Geoff as I have the slightly older UB400 player (without any tone mapping) and I believe the chip in my Panny FZ802 oled is the same HCX gen 2. chip found in the 420,450, 820 and 9000 players.

Perhaps I just prefer the natural output without tone mapping on this particular movie.

In almost every other disc I own the optimiser 'on' is a fairly clear improvement than having it 'off.

I have Dolby Vision turned off and the Optimizer on.

[trekky76]

I no longer use the Panny optimizer. I did so with the E6 but see no reason to do so with the current C9. I did test a few discs with the optimizer but couldn't see any benefits to have it on anymore. Though certainly a good feature for low-end displays.

[Ant1010]

Originally Posted by trekky76

I no longer use the Panny optimizer. I did so with the E6 but see no reason to do so with the current C9. I did test a few discs with the optimizer but couldn't see any benefits to have it on anymore. Though certainly a good feature for low-end displays.

I have the same TV as you and use it. Robert went into detail on the benefits of having it on and keeping DV off. I have no complaints

[sapiendut]

LOL. The C9 isn’t exactly a high end display either. I had it for about a month and Optimizer still helps with most movies.

[trekky76]

Originally Posted by Ant1010

I have the same TV as you and use it. Robert went into detail on the benefits of having it on and keeping DV off. I have no complaints

Why would I turn Dolby Vision off?

Originally Posted by sapiendut

LOL. The C9 isn’t exactly a high end display either. I had it for about a month and Optimizer still helps with most movies.

LOL what? I'm sorry if you had a bad display. I know well how the panel lottery works. But don't come here with that nonsense.

[Ant1010]

Originally Posted by trekky76

Why would I turn Dolby Vision off?



LOL what? I'm sorry if you had a bad display. I know well how the panel lottery works. But don't come here with that nonsense.

When DV is on it prevents the Optimizer from working correctly. According to Robert it has an infinite amount of custom HDR tone mapping curves based on frame by frame peak and minimum luminance levels and its the only way to tone map HDR content to "your" displays peak luminance capability. He told me people that don't have the 820 or 9000 should 100% keep DV on but if you have these players to get the best out of it you should use the optimizer oppose to DV.

[trekky76]

Originally Posted by Ant1010

When DV is on it prevents the Optimizer from working correctly. According to Robert it has an infinite amount of custom HDR tone mapping curves based on frame by frame peak and minimum luminance levels and its the only way to tone map HDR content to "your" displays peak luminance capability. He told me people that don't have the 820 or 9000 should 100% keep DV on but if you have these players to get the best out of it you should use the optimizer oppose to DV.

Optimizer doesn't work at all with DV. That's the entire point of DV!

[Ant1010]

Originally Posted by trekky76

Optimizer doesn't work at all with DV. That's the entire point of DV!

hence why you shut off DV. If you have DV on yes Optimizer doesn't work. didn't I just write that lol. I'll pm Robert have him chime in here, he knows much more about this then I do.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by trekky76

Why would I turn Dolby Vision off?



LOL what? I'm sorry if you had a bad display. I know well how the panel lottery works. But don't come here with that nonsense.

You don’t even know what panel lottery means. It doesn’t change tone mapping as tone mapping has zero relationship with panel lottery

I don’t have a “bad panel”. And the tests for my professional review were done after the panel was properly calibrated. Did you properly calibrated your panel? Did you find your findings by using test pattern or only based on your subjective preference?

[sapiendut]

That’s okay to disagree. The E9, to me, is the high-end panel. To me, high end TV should also be able to upscale non-4K videos nicely which the Sony is the best with Panasonic GZ2000 comes as a very close second. I had these panels in my house at the same time for a month (or was it 5 weeks). While the C9 is a mighty good TV (if you watch nothing but 4K), in my assessment (which anybody may or may not agree), is not a high end TV.

PS: the C9 also can not do 1,000 nits. After calibration, the C9 can do nearly 800 nits. And this is why DV, HDR10, or anything above 800 nits will still be helped by HDR Optimizer.

[Ant1010]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

That’s okay to disagree. The E9, to me, is the high-end panel. To me, high end TV should also be able to upscale non-4K videos nicely which the Sony is the best with Panasonic GZ2000 comes as a very close second. I had these panels in my house at the same time for a month (or was it 5 weeks). While the C9 is a mighty good TV (if you watch nothing but 4K), in my assessment (which anybody may or may not agree), is not a high end TV.

PS: the C9 also can not do 1,000 nits. After calibration, the C9 can do nearly 800 nits. And this is why DV, HDR10, or anything above 800 nits will still be helped by HDR Optimizer.

I hate the extended glass lip and built in sound bar on the E series. That's one of the main reasons I shied away from that model. Last years C model builds didn't offer any pop and looked like a lower end TV. This year they really made the C's get that high end look. The A9 Gen 2 processor is the same as the E series. The Bs are the only OLEDs from LG I don't consider High End.