Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by ibanezjp

Ok, so after a lot of back and forth comparing I’m really starting to come around on the Panny for BD instead of the x800m2. On Bravia mode the x800m2 really cleans things up on standard BD’s and while it looks clean, after going back and forth with the Panny, the processing that the x800 is doing really starts to look almost fake. Faces for example look like they have a bunch of makeup on and on the Panny you can see all the details on the skin clearly. I think I’m getting to where the only thing the x800 is besting the Panny in is standard DVD playback. 4k HDR stuff they are identical and 4K DV is miles better on the Panny. Thanks for showing me the light Geoff!

The Sony's BD playback is excellent, it just needs all that 'Bravia mode' and other shit turned off and put on 'Direct' under the in-play video settings to bypass the baked-in noise reduction.

[Gretiem]

Originally Posted by cupboy

Yep. They have plenty of them. Mine showed up last week. Totally battered box with foam inserts hanging out of it while still barely sealed, but the machine looks perfect.

The remote control eats batteries. Got no more than a week out of the first set. I'll see how long the 2nd set lasts. Could be the batteries were weak to begin with (the two that came with the player).

Mine should be here Friday so hopefully it gets here in one piece. For the price is was a no brainer considering most people selling used ones for $800-850ish that are a year old.

[panasonicst60]

I've been playing a lot of 4k movies and never had an issue till today when I popped in Jurassic Park 2 uhd. I noticed the drive was very loud. It plays fine but the noise is a bit concerning. Anyone have this movie and willing to check and report?

[alebonau]

anyone here had their ub9000 hardware modded for RF. mine is in for it. fingers crossed all is good when get it back

[Gretiem]

So my open box ub9000 showed up today .. box was pretty beaten up but no tears or rips in the actual box. Just threw in a UHD to see if it worked and no issues. It is currently on 1.64 FW and says no updates available. Thought 1.66 was the latest ?

[sapiendut]

China only

[Member-425016]

Why do I get the feeling that 2022 won't see new UHD players from Panasonic?

And when it is announced they are discontinued, and there will be nothing to replace it, the remaining stock will sell out in seconds. Scalpers didn't see it coming with the Oppo players, and they won't make that mistake again.

[Jonathan McLeod]

Originally Posted by Filmfan73

Why do I get the feeling that 2022 won't see new UHD players from Panasonic?

Do they need to? Their latest range isn't all that old and I don't see much they would add to new players to differentiate from the current range.

[Member-425016]

Originally Posted by Jonathan McLeod

Do they need to? Their latest range isn't all that old and I don't see much they would add to new players to differentiate from the current range.

No they don't, but the player is already 2 years old, and will be nearly four by 2022. That is an uncanny amount of time for any electronic hardware to stay in production. Even if it isn't antiquated. The niche audience that wants them will have already owned it for years. Sales will for the units will wither, and production will stop....if they haven't well before then.

[guile]

Two questions about the UB820:

1. Is there "any" way to be able to stream 24p blu-ray content in 24p?
(currently displays at 60p)

2. Is there any way to downmix True-Hd/Atmos to Dolby Digital when streaming? (currently, when I stream something from my server with Atmos soundtrack, it refuses to play AND the player won't let me choose another soundtrack.)

[Geoff D]

No and no. The player outputs streaming stuff as 60p, period. The player will not allow lossless audio tracks (of the main Dolby/DTS flavours anyway) on file playback, be it over servers or USB. You'd have to demux the track, bust it down to the lossless version and remux it with the video.

[Jabbatheblack]

I recently bought a UB820 and I’m noticing a severe flicker and these weird white specks moving across the screen when playing The Meg disc. Anyone know how to fix this? It’s really distracting, thanks

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Jabbatheblack

I recently bought a UB820 and I’m noticing a severe flicker and these weird white specks moving across the screen when playing The Meg disc. Anyone know how to fix this? It’s really distracting, thanks

The 820 (at least mine) is very sensitive to even the smallest fingermark or mark on a disc. Make sure the disc is perfectly clean. I was playing The Force Awakens UHD BD just the other night and ran into an issue where the disc was breaking up. I took it out and initially it looked completely clean as I was thinking maybe something started going on with the disc itself. However, when I looked really close in a brighter light there was the slimmest fingerprint on the very edge of the disc. Less than one mm in thickness and maybe two mm long. I mean almost nothing. Cleaned it off, then the disc played fine. lol

[Jabbatheblack]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

The 820 (at least mine) is very sensitive to even the smallest fingermark or mark on a disc. Make sure the disc is perfectly clean. I was playing The Force Awakens UHD BD just the other night and ran into an issue where the disc was breaking up. I took it out and initially it looked completely clean as I was thinking maybe something started going on with the disc itself. However, when I looked really close in a brighter light there was the slimmest fingerprint on the very edge of the disc. Less than one mm in thickness and maybe two mm long. I mean almost nothing. Cleaned it off, then the disc played fine. lol

Thanks for the help. This actually worked. I cleaned the disc off and put it back in, and had no further problems. Hoping that that’s all this is lol

[guile]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

No and no. The player outputs streaming stuff as 60p, period. The player will not allow lossless audio tracks (of the main Dolby/DTS flavours anyway) on file playback, be it over servers or USB. You'd have to demux the track, bust it down to the lossless version and remux it with the video.

Thanks Geoff! That just plain sucks. I've remuxed some of my movies...but was "hoping" for a better way

I even went ahead with Region Freedom enhanced Firmware but...to no avail, still can't stream at 24p or stream lossless audio tracks. Really sucks.

[nachoju95]

Originally Posted by J Nada

Sure - it isn't obvious at all! You need to create a folder on your usb drive called 'sub', rename the srt file to 'sub.srt' and put it in that folder. Then if you play the disc, hit the option button and go to subtitles, there are additional menu options including external subs.

Please note both folder and srt file need to be all lower case - 'sub' not 'Sub'.

Has someone already tried that way of adding the subtitles and that it works?

[J Nada]

Originally Posted by nachoju95

Has someone already tried that way of adding the subtitles and that it works?

It works for me on the region freedom version of 1.66 (on an 820). According to their site, for *some* 9000/9004s (which ones?) it also works on the stock 1.66 firmware, however I was speaking to somebody yesterday who couldn't get it working on their 9000 with stock 1.66.

Here's what it looks like on my machine:

[johndoyle123]

Originally Posted by Filmfan73

No they don't, but the player is already 2 years old, and will be nearly four by 2022. That is an uncanny amount of time for any electronic hardware to stay in production. Even if it isn't antiquated. The niche audience that wants them will have already owned it for years. Sales will for the units will wither, and production will stop....if they haven't well before then.

Majorly doubting this, from my recent discussions about this topic with a few reps lower production is the outcome not discontinuing it. As long as there is a market it will be made. There’s no reason to lock out a market you almost have control of (aside from Sony and pioneer)

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by guile

Thanks Geoff! That just plain sucks. I've remuxed some of my movies...but was "hoping" for a better way

I even went ahead with Region Freedom enhanced Firmware but...to no avail, still can't stream at 24p or stream lossless audio tracks. Really sucks.

Yeah dude, that's how it's been from the start with the Panny players, they've deliberately locked out lossless audio on file playback and have done for years. D!ckheads.

[Member-425016]

Originally Posted by johndoyle123

Majorly doubting this, from my recent discussions about this topic with a few reps lower production is the outcome not discontinuing it. As long as there is a market it will be made. There’s no reason to lock out a market you almost have control of (aside from Sony and pioneer)

But how big is the market?

Oppo (the best in terms of versatile feature set) leaving was really quite telling in the overall scheme of things. Samsung hijacked their line by creating toys instead of players, so I don't doubt them exiting the BD market.

We will see what happens.