Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

When it comes to supporting their players, Panasonic is shit.

Agreed, but are any of the other few manufacturers left doing any better?

[rroeder]

No issues with DV on my 820/900F combo

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by Matt89

The only disc I've ever had freeze up on my 820 was Lionsgate's UHD of Highlander. Took it out of the player and of course there was a circular scratch on it. Exchanged it and the replacement played perfectly fine.

But personally I haven't found this player to be too finicky. I had more discs freeze up on my X700.

The only issue I do have is with some DV discs where during some scenes you can see the HDR brightness shift when a scene cuts. It's not a flicker, but the scene will cut, and about half a second after the cut, the brightness dims a bit and then brightens. It's hella annoying. However, it's only on certain DV discs like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Hard Target, etc. A lot of early Kino UHDs did it, none of their recent ones do (which makes me wonder if it had anything to do the way they were mastering their discs) and a few of Shout Factory's. Halloween 4 does it multiple times, as does Blue Underground's UHD of Vigilante. That one was the worst of the bunch, got so bad I actually had to turn DV off. Strangely it also did it in my X700, which is usually the solution - if the DV brightness shifts in my Panny, I either turn off DV or pop it in the X700. I usually go the X700 route, especially since some SF UHDs have shit HDR10 base layers and the DV corrects the messiest parts of the encode.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

But is that the player(s) or the TV with the DV brightness shifts? I didn't notice anything like that at all on Body Snatchers in DV.

my BODY SNATCHERS did that too (along with some of the other titles mentioned). It's not throughout the whole movie-- it was very early specifically during the Robert Duvall cameo and then when Brooke Adams is looking out her apartment window at her odd behaving boyfriend....

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

my BODY SNATCHERS did that too (along with some of the other titles mentioned). It's not throughout the whole movie-- it was very early specifically during the Robert Duvall cameo and then when Brooke Adams is looking out her apartment window at her odd behaving boyfriend....

Yup, that's exactly where it happens. Same with the scene where Donald Sutherland is on the phone looking outside his office window. Does it there a couple times too when the shot cuts to outside.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by Matt89

Yup, that's exactly where it happens. Same with the scene where Donald Sutherland is on the phone looking outside his office window. Does it there a couple times too when the shot cuts to outside.

at least it's better than HALLOWEEN 3 and 4--- those titles did it about 30 times throughout the movie--- it was really distracting. The first 2 HALLOWEEN flicks didn't do it... yet I saw another poster saying they experienced it with HALLOWEEN 2.... odd.

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

at least it's better than HALLOWEEN 3 and 4--- those titles did it about 30 times throughout the movie--- it was really distracting. The first 2 HALLOWEEN flicks didn't do it... yet I saw another poster saying they experienced it with HALLOWEEN 2.... odd.

Yup, parts 3 and 4 were brutal for me as well. Admittedly haven't watched the UHD of Halloween 5 in full -- I've only just skimmed through it -- so I can't speak for that one. And yeah, no brightness fluctuations with the first two movies, and same with their recent batch of parts 6-8. No issues on those ones either.

[Ruined]

Surprised this model still hasn't been updated yet. They'd only need to change a few things to definitively beat the Oppo 203 on all fronts and everyone would probably upgrade to the new model that did so. I know the market is small, but if they made a few tweaks they probably would get another purchase from most physical media fans.

[fighthefutureofhd]

Question for all the techies out there: Aside from the Oppo, what is the best 4K player on the market? Stateside anyway.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

Question for all the techies out there: Aside from the Oppo, what is the best 4K player on the market? Stateside anyway.

If you don't need universal disc playback, the Panasonic 9000.

[fighthefutureofhd]

No. I just need something that does Dolby Vision and gives me the correct information when I play my cd's.

[Ben_R]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

Question for all the techies out there: Aside from the Oppo, what is the best 4K player on the market? Stateside anyway.

Panny 820 or the 9000 if you like the tougher exterior and extras over the 820.

FYI I have just sold my 9000 for a one owner multi region 203 so decent deals can be had you just need to be quick if you want one.

[fighthefutureofhd]

I have a 203 now and the cd information is not always correct. Plus, it will cut off and on with the sound/picture for just a second then it will come back on. it's as though the disc is skipping, but it does this to every single disc I play.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

I have a 203 now and the cd information is not always correct. Plus, it will cut off and on with the sound/picture for just a second then it will come back on. it's as though the disc is skipping, but it does this to every single disc I play.

It may be the drive failing. That was one mechanical issue with the 203. Check one thing first... try a new premium certified 18 Gbps or 48 Gbps HDMI cable to make sure that's not the issue.



You might have to send it to Oppo for a new disc drive. It will cost you a bit, but it won't be as bad as buying a new player.

[fighthefutureofhd]

That's very sound and practical advice. Thank you. I might just do that. I have a backup player I can use in the interim. I just wish they had fixed the issues with the cd information. That would have been nice. Would I need to contact Oppo to do this? How does that work? I've never done something like this before.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

That's very sound and practical advice. Thank you. I might just do that. I have a backup player I can use in the interim. I just wish they had fixed the issues with the cd information. That would have been nice. Would I need to contact Oppo to do this? How does that work? I've never done something like this before.

If it's not a cable issue, you would contact Oppo's support service directly and they will probably want to know the Serial Number, where you bought it, and when.

[IlCorvo]

Does anybody know if or when Panasonic will restock the DP-UB824 in their European shops?

[fighthefutureofhd]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

If it's not a cable issue, you would contact Oppo's support service directly and they will probably want to know the Serial Number, where you bought it, and when.

Ok. I will look into it further. Thanks again for all the help.

[IlCorvo]

Did Panasonic comment on the player's availability in the coming months?

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by IlCorvo

Did Panasonic comment on the player's availability in the coming months?

I doubt they would tip their hand as to when players will stop being manufactured. If the industry was winding down, then you could bet the major studios would start to end disc production (as they have streaming platforms) and only the smaller players like Arrow, Criterion, Shout!, etc. would be left trying to get disc licenses. Prices for discs would skyrocket as well given it would be a very niche item like vinyl. A bad day for all.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I doubt they would tip their hand as to when players will stop being manufactured. If the industry was winding down, then you could bet the major studios would start to end disc production (as they have streaming platforms) and only the smaller players like Arrow, Criterion, Shout!, etc. would be left trying to get disc licenses. Prices for discs would skyrocket as well given it would be a very niche item like vinyl. A bad day for all.

Yep, but with Bob Iger saying that Disney needs to be refocusing their marketing and production back to home media entertainment, it's safe to say that physical media players will be sticking around for awhile.

Studios are realizing now that streaming isn't a huge moneymaker than they once thought. The money is actually in all the mediums that movies and TV shows can exist in (theatrical, physical, digital, streaming). All of those together can make a profit. I hope things swing back in physical media's favor!