Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Robert Zohn]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

I’ve been saying that disc playback looks better on the 820/9000 over 800 or even Oppo 205. But of course some members are adamant that I’m a Panasonic shill. That was more than half a year ago.

Fast forward to today, the 9000 have won EISA award, praised by Vincent Teoh, by Kris Deering of Sound Vision and by Secrets of Home Theater. All 4 are heavyweights in the industry. That does not include Joel Silver, founder of Imaging Science Foundation and also THX (I know THX is biased as the 9000 is THX Certified) who both consider the 9000 to be their respective reference players.

I’m also a heavyweight, but that’s due to my fatness

Joel Silver owns and uses his UB9000 in his personal theater as does Robert Harris.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

IIRC the Pannys don't have a 'source direct' option, if you connect it to a 4K TV and want it to output 1080p then you'll have to change it to 1080p in the settings, the problem is that it'll now output EVERYTHING in 1080p resolution and for 4K discs will bump HDR 2020 down to SDR 709.

With the Sony player (and the OPPO) you can set it to a source direct setting which outputs the disc as its native resolution.

My Panasonic 420 doesn't convert HDR to SDR if I set it to output 1080p and play an UHD BD disc. It will play as 1080p HDR.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by chip75

Have you thought about one of those updates for the 420, Geoff D? I think they enable all the functions of the 820, but it doesn't look super straight forward to get.

Sure, but I've called out that guy and his shady practices so many times that he'd know it was me, and if I didn't get refused outright he'd probably take my money and give me a firmware that bricked my machine. I don't like the idea of having to pay to update the firmware every time a new version is released either.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

My Panasonic 420 doesn't convert HDR to SDR if I set it to output 1080p and play an UHD BD disc. It will play as 1080p HDR.

Thanks for the update, you are quite correct (just tried it). I'm still going by what the previous generations of players did.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Thanks for the update, you are quite correct (just tried it). I'm still going by what the previous generations of players did.

Thanks to you. I'm currently updating the firmware on my 420, I didn't know they released a new one on July 25th. Let's see how the 420 behaves after the update.

[Geoff D]

Me neither, I've just started the update on mine too.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Me neither, I've just started the update on mine too.

Let's see what this does. It will most likely be one of those updates that improves estability of the player something I think the 420 needs.

[Waboman]

Anyone know how to remove/delete an app on the 9000?

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Joel Silver owns and uses his UB9000 in his personal theater as does Robert Harris.

That’s what I’m saying that those 4 heavy weights doesn't include ISF and THX. I will reword my post so it doesn’t confuse.

[spider-neil]

I will sell my UB820 and get a PS5 when it gets released. The Playstation remote will almost certainly be Bluetooth which means I can control the player without changing disks.
That said, I will wait to see how the PS5 performs before taking the plunge. It's entirely possible the PS5 initially releases without 3D, Dolby Vision, HDR10 support.

[Geoff D]

It coming without HDR10 support is nonsense, if only because of the games that are using it now. But stuff like 3D BD and DV, yeah, might be more of a question mark over such things.

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

It coming without HDR10 support is nonsense, if only because of the games that are using it now. But stuff like 3D BD and DV, yeah, might be more of a question mark over such things.

I had the Playstation Pro and it had HDR 10, so yes, it's a safe assumption the PS5 will have it. Question marks of DV and 3D.
The PS Pro had 3D but it was an update that happened months after release.
If Sony does have DV you'd hope that it is auto-detection something they haven't implemented on their standalone players.

[King Crimson]

Originally Posted by spider-neil

I will sell my UB820 and get a PS5 when it gets released. The Playstation remote will almost certainly be Bluetooth which means I can control the player without changing disks.
That said, I will wait to see how the PS5 performs before taking the plunge. It's entirely possible the PS5 initially releases without 3D, Dolby Vision, HDR10 support.

I highly doubt the PS5 will produce a better picture, with playback functionality and customization especially considering the different flavors of HDR, not to mention the functionality it has on legacy formats. I would strongly suggest keeping your 820.

[sapiendut]

Console has never been known to have better PQ than standalone ever. Plus you’ll be missing the HDR optimizer and chroma upsampling superiority of Panasonic.

[SpinDoctor]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

That’s what I’m saying that those 4 heavy weights doesn't include ISF and THX. I will reword my post so it doesn’t confuse.

And that’s exactly why I’m most likely keeping my 820 despite my upscaling complaints. You guys are the experts at this stuff, I’m still in grade school when it comes to AV knowledge. What i will say, after spending a couple of days with the 820 and trying out/comparing discs: the colors seem to pop more on BD’s and UHD’s alike when compared to the Sony player. The 4K upscaling is fine, but when i switch it to 1080p resolution for BD’s and let my A9G handle the upscaling, i do see more detail in the picture, the 820’s 4K upscaling comparatively looks softer, no doubt about it. But switching over to the x800m2 to compare, the Sony player puts out an image that has a slightly flatter look to it. It’s not a night and day difference, but it’s there.

[sapiendut]

The flatter image is due to the chroma upsampling engine of other brands being not as impressive than Panasonic (which is known for its impressive chroma upsampling engine since regular bluray time). As for image upscaling, I still prefer Sony compared to the 820/9000.

Now if we’re talking about Panasonic GZ2000 OLED video upscaler, the Sony A9 and the Gz2000 are about the same (I have no preference) with motion handling better handled by the Panasonix Gz2000. But we’re alrready discussing about the OLED panel differences now.

[SpinDoctor]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

The flatter image is due to the chroma upsampling engine of other brands being not as impressive than Panasonic (which is known for its impressive chroma upsampling engine since regular bluray time). As for image upscaling, I still prefer Sony compared to the 820/9000.

Now if we’re talking about Panasonic GZ2000 OLED video upscaler, the Sony A9 and the Gz2000 are about the same (I have no preference) with motion handling better handled by the Panasonix Gz2000. But we’re alrready discussing about the OLED panel differences now.

Interesting.....I have read some great things about the Panny OLED, unfortunately I live in Florida, so it was between the C9 and A9G for me. And I’ve always preferred the image on the Sony TV’s I’ve owned over my experiences with Samsung and LG. I’m not a brand loyalist by any means, I’m just looking for the best picture that I can afford. And with a disc player, I just assumed one size fits all, and since i had a Sony set, might as well get a Sony player. But I never realized that a UHD player could make such a difference with picture quality. Then again, chroma upsampling is new to me, so that took some reading/research to understand. Your previous posts on these forums have helped both my curiosity and education on the matter.

Back to the ub820: I’ve had some disc loading issues. For example, when i loaded the Martian the opening Fox logo was heavily distorted and froze a bit, but the disc eventually loaded and played fine. When i loaded Casino, the player kept making that loading/spinning sound like it was trying to read the disc for a good minute or two before it finally started playing. At other times I’ll load a disc and the screen becomes distorted for a second or two before clearing up and playing the disc. I haven’t had any issues with playback once the disc gets going. Just wondering if that’s normal, if my 820 needs to be returned/replaced, or if that’s just Sony and Panasonic having handshake issues.

[sapiendut]

The Sony A9 is heads and shoulders above the C9 (I had the C9 for a month in my house together with the A9 - at the same time, so I had the chance to side-by-side them.

The A9 is also better in handling image retention (although the C9 is also very good).

I’ve had ZERO problem with my 820 and 9000 but had numerous problem with Sony X700 (much less problem with X800 though). My suggestion is to try to clean the disc before playing it the first time. I’ve received too many new but lightly dusty brand new/sealed UHD. Perhaps those discs were “accidentally” dirty?

[SpinDoctor]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

The Sony A9 is heads and shoulders above the C9 (I had the C9 for a month in my house together with the A9 - at the same time, so I had the chance to side-by-side them.

The A9 is also better in handling image retention (although the C9 is also very good).

I’ve had ZERO problem with my 820 and 9000 but had numerous problem with Sony X700 (much less problem with X800 though). My suggestion is to try to clean the disc before playing it the first time. I’ve received too many new but lightly dusty brand new/sealed UHD. Perhaps those discs were “accidentally” dirty?

The professional endorsement definitely makes me more confident in my choice. I actually bought both TV models myself, figuring i’d keep the one i liked more, and despite the decent difference in price, the image did look better to me on the Sony, no doubt. Though i wish Panasonic still sold their TV’s in the US; it’s nice to have a full range of options.

And yeah, i’ve had freezing issues on my original x800, but none so far on the x800m2 (which will be returned in favor of the 820). I’ll try cleaning the discs, as you suggested, before giving them a spin on the 820. Hopefully that resolves the issues i’ve been experiencing. Though i’ve only experienced issues when loading discs, playback has been spot on. Worst case is i’ll just swap it out for another 820.

Just curious: are there any further improvements with the video quality on the 9000 when compared to the 820? i was under the impression that the 9000 was better for audio and build quality, but has identical picture quality to the 820.

[sapiendut]

Aw crap. I typed a long and detailed response and my iphone went blank I don’t remember what I typed. When I remember I’ll type it again. Sorry

Essentially: in theory no, but disc reading capability is much improved when tested using titles with known disc problem being played on x700 vs 820 vs 9000.