Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by MrHT

I tried all settings on the Optimizer and nothing works well. The Optimizer seems to meant mainly for bright levels that exceed a certain number of nits, and probably does work well on TVs that don't handle it well, such as Projectors. But my TV has no issues handling really bright levels, at least I don't notice any. What my TV DOES have issues with is black levels, which the Optimizer doesn't help at all with.

The optimizer can’t do shit for projectors

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Naiera

You're never going to get good picture quality using any sort of display if you can't/won't control the light.

I agree, ideally we should watch in a controlled light environment, but not everyone has the facilities to do so. So knowing the pros/cons of tech before purchase is a benefit.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Yeah, I was doing a little research the past 24 hours and see there are downfalls to an OLED TV. First, there's burn in issues. Second, it seems like OLEDs aren't as bright as LEDs. And then not to mention that as time goes by, TVs are manufactured with less durability not only because people upgrade quicker now, but also because the pandemic affected the global manufacturing factories and quality control has diminished.

So there are some caveats I need to be aware of and I probably need to research about this more before I run out ASAP and buy a $1,000 TV. Now I'm not saying all $1,000 OLED TVs are a piece of junk, but what I am saying is that something that expensive needs some time and research before I rush out and buy it.

I wouldn't worry about burn in, especially if you buy a new model or one with burn in protection guarantees. They have enough tech to make it very unlikely.

No, they don't get as bright, but because of the black levels are perfect black (and if you watch in a dark room) you still get excellent HDR performance.

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by chip75

I wouldn't worry about burn in, especially if you buy a new model or one with burn in protection guarantees. They have enough tech to make it very unlikely.

No, they don't get as bright, but because of the black levels are perfect black (and if you watch in a dark room) you still get excellent HDR performance.

Just doing some research here and here is one LG OLED TV in particular that is ranked one of the best on rtings and is considered high end.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/c2-oled

However, HDR Peak Brightness is 700 nits with a rating of only 7.3. Considering that this a $1,300 TV, I can't believe at this price point, I'm not getting something with around 900/1,000 nits. That alone makes me worried that, although it would be an improvement over my current TV, I will still have some flaws when watching HDR content.

I don't know but this looks like it will take me a substantial amount of research and might have to consider spending well over $1,000 just to get a TV with the proper peak brightness.

[NeilZ]

Peak brightness is to some extent less important than black levels for dark room viewing with HDR in my opinion.

Going from an LCD of 1500ish nits to an OLED of 800 the OLED came across as much more punchy with the highlights standing out more due to the incredible blacks.

In fact my appreciation of HDR went through the roof once I switched to OLED.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Just doing some research here and here is one LG OLED TV in particular that is ranked one of the best on rtings and is considered high end.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/c2-oled

However, HDR Peak Brightness is 700 nits with a rating of only 7.3. Considering that this a $1,300 TV, I can't believe at this price point, I'm not getting something with around 900/1,000 nits. That alone makes me worried that, although it would be an improvement over my current TV, I will still have some flaws when watching HDR content.

I don't know but this looks like it will take me a substantial amount of research and might have to consider spending well over $1,000 just to get a TV with the proper peak brightness.

Due to OLEDs tech you generally peak at 700 units because of the power requirements and heating issues, so you'd have to look at something with an EVO panel and/or heatsink to get more, which the C2 does have. 7.3 is due to the full screen peak brightness, OLEDs don't really excel at that, but you rarely have need of a pure white screen when watching a movie, one of the new Hisense mini-LEDs can get over 1,000 bits. You'd need to look at QD OLEDs for 1,000 nits and they can have issues in bright rooms.

It's the black levels and contrast ratio that will make the difference.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Just doing some research here and here is one LG OLED TV in particular that is ranked one of the best on rtings and is considered high end.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/c2-oled

However, HDR Peak Brightness is 700 nits with a rating of only 7.3. Considering that this a $1,300 TV, I can't believe at this price point, I'm not getting something with around 900/1,000 nits. That alone makes me worried that, although it would be an improvement over my current TV, I will still have some flaws when watching HDR content.

I don't know but this looks like it will take me a substantial amount of research and might have to consider spending well over $1,000 just to get a TV with the proper peak brightness.

You are putting way too much stock in peak brightness when what you need to be looking at is how the TV handles HDR. That is the real problem you are havign with your TV set now. As NeliZ has said, peak brightness isn't as important in the long run. What really matters is black levels and how the TV can handle HDR.

700-800 nits is plenty bright btw. I have an LG C9 and my set tops out at around 720 nits or so on peak brightness. Although on paper it looks low, it actually isn't. Sometimes the picture can be blinding. Plus, the C9 handles HDR really well. In fact, LG OLEDs are great in general! Highly recommend them!

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by PUsokrJosh305

You are putting way too much stock in peak brightness when what you need to be looking at is how the TV handles HDR. That is the real problem you are havign with your TV set now. As NeliZ has said, peak brightness isn't as important in the long run. What really matters is black levels and how the TV can handle HDR.

700-800 nits is plenty bright btw. I have an LG C9 and my set tops out at around 720 nits or so on peak brightness. Although on paper it looks low, it actually isn't. Sometimes the picture can be blinding. Plus, the C9 handles HDR really well. In fact, LG OLEDs are great in general! Highly recommend them!

Do you experience burn in issues with your OLED TVs? That 2.0 rating kinda scares me....

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by MrHT

However, HDR Peak Brightness is 700 nits with a rating of only 7.3.

Forget the numbers.

If you're looking for a reason not to get an OLED, you'll find one.

[Snikt]

Ok, so I own the panny 420. Is there ANY reason at all to upgrade to the panny 820 if I don’t have Dolby vision capability? I have a 65 2020 Samsung tv (which of course is hdr 10+). I don’t mind not having DV, just curious if the player is any better than the one I already own.

[sephirothkefka]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Do you experience burn in issues with your OLED TVs? That 2.0 rating kinda scares me....

As is the case with modern smartphones TVs have many mitigations that should prevent the occurence of OLED burn in at all during most normal workflows. My C2 and CX downstairs are still kicking strong despite having used them for awhile the CX especially so.

[MisterXDTV]

Originally Posted by Snikt

Ok, so I own the panny 420. Is there ANY reason at all to upgrade to the panny 820 if I don’t have Dolby vision capability? I have a 65 2020 Samsung tv (which of course is hdr 10+). I don’t mind not having DV, just curious if the player is any better than the one I already own.

I answered in another thread today:

"The UB420 is basically a UB820 without Dolby Vision and 7.1 RCA analog audio out (a very poor DAC anyway compared to the UB9000 (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...-review.16305/)

It also doesn't have a front display (if you care)

Same processor, same software, same remote"

[hallowdrew]

Does the UB820 ever drop below $500 (I'm in the US)? I check around every once in a while and it always seems to be that price.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by hallowdrew

Does the UB820 ever drop below $500 (I'm in the US)? I check around every once in a while and it always seems to be that price.

Yes, it has occasionally gone on sale for around $100 off. There was a sale not long ago. Perhaps there will be another around the holidays.

[sephirothkefka]

Originally Posted by MisterXDTV

I answered in another thread today:

"The UB420 is basically a UB820 without Dolby Vision and 7.1 RCA analog audio out (a very poor DAC anyway compared to the UB9000 (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...-review.16305/)

It also doesn't have a front display (if you care)

Same processor, same software, same remote"

I wouldn't necessarily call the 820 DAC poor just a bit on the average side. Audiophiles tend to be very picky when it comes to stuff like cheap DACs and the like (the 820 uses 4 PCM5101's a common cheapy 32bit 384khz stereo DAC).

Originally Posted by hallowdrew

Does the UB820 ever drop below $500 (I'm in the US)? I check around every once in a while and it always seems to be that price.

Yes, they tend to be about 400-450 depending on the site. There's always the possibility it could be lower (375 perhaps) but i haven't personally seen it happen. Maybe this year?

[jordanwalkert]

Does anyone know of a good solution for some type of screensaver or screen protection when pausing a movie on the UB9000? I have an OLED and am concerned about burn in as sometimes I have to pause and may not resume for some time. I know I can turn the tv or the player off but this is just an extra step. I think it’s very odd that some type of screensaver option is not available on these players, even the cheapest dvd players have always had one. It would be nice if they could update these players one day and add this option but I know that’s very doubtful.

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by jordanwalkert

Does anyone know of a good solution for some type of screensaver or screen protection when pausing a movie on the UB9000? I have an OLED and am concerned about burn in as sometimes I have to pause and may not resume for some time. I know I can turn the tv or the player off but this is just an extra step. I think it’s very odd that some type of screensaver option is not available on these players, even the cheapest dvd players have always had one. It would be nice if they could update these players one day and add this option but I know that’s very doubtful.

On Sony OLED's just press settings and select "screen off"or something like that. Turns the picture off while leaving the tv on. That's the easiest solution (LG probably has something equivalent).

That being said if you calibrated your SDR settings to the preferable target of 100 nits, you're not at any real risk even if you leave the image paused on a bright scene. With HDR content however if there's any bright spots on the picture I'd certainly feel better using the screen off feature if paused for long.

[Snikt]

Originally Posted by sephirothkefka

I wouldn't necessarily call the 820 DAC poor just a bit on the average side. Audiophiles tend to be very picky when it comes to stuff like cheap DACs and the like (the 820 uses 4 PCM5101's a common cheapy 32bit 384khz stereo DAC).


Yes, they tend to be about 400-450 depending on the site. There's always the possibility it could be lower (375 perhaps) but i haven't personally seen it happen. Maybe this year?

Was gonna say, I wouldn’t use the analog audio. I use the 2 hdmi ports; one to the tv and one to my surround sound.

Basically, I’m wondering if I should pay $500 for a player that’s not too different from the panny I have? Especially if I’m not worried about DV.

Do they each perform at the same level?

[sephirothkefka]

Originally Posted by Snikt

Was gonna say, I wouldn’t use the analog audio. I use the 2 hdmi ports; one to the tv and one to my surround sound.

Basically, I’m wondering if I should pay $500 for a player that’s not too different from the panny I have? Especially if I’m not worried about DV.

Do they each perform at the same level?

Audio and video wise they perform identically. Both use the Socionext SC1100 chipset (as does the even cheaper UB420 just with no DV) and either HDR Optimizer performs the same. The 9000 has 2 more modes specifically for projection but iirc its just a copy of the LCD settings really. Only other difference is the 9000s wallpaper is unique. The drive is also similar but the 9000s tray is more rubberized than the normal plastic of the 820 (the optics are the same but the 9000 is a tad more reliable possibly due to stricter QC).

[Snikt]

Originally Posted by sephirothkefka

Audio and video wise they perform identically. Both use the Socionext SC1100 chipset (as does the even cheaper UB420 just with no DV) and either HDR Optimizer performs the same. The 9000 has 2 more modes specifically for projection but iirc its just a copy of the LCD settings really. Only other difference is the 9000s wallpaper is unique. The drive is also similar but the 9000s tray is more rubberized than the normal plastic of the 820 (the optics are the same but the 9000 is a tad more reliable possibly due to stricter QC).

Perfect. Thank you. I’ll stick with my Panny 420. Especially since I don’t need DV