Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[chip75]

If you go to, HOME>Setup>Player settings>Network>BD-Live Internet Access, you should have the options to disable access or at least limit it, failing that try having a 1GB USB stick plugged into the player.

[ronand]

Disabling the BD-Live access should sort it - I have a few discs with that issue

[Naiera]

I've never heard of discs that need to connect anywhere to authenticate. That would be a pretty big news item if one came out, I figure.

[ronand]

Its not an attempt to authenticate - the disc attempts to download BD-Live content that is not there any more. The coding seems to be poor and the player locks up instead of timing out when it can't access the website. When BD-Live access is turned off the disc will skip past attempting to download the content. The problem is the javascript on the disc itself.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by ronand

Its not an attempt to authenticate - the disc attempts to download BD-Live content that is not there any more.

I know.

[Thangsanity]

New to 4K Blu-ray movies. I have a Panasonic UB820 player as well as a Sony PS5 and Xbox Series X. I tried playing Alita: Battle Angel and for some reason, it black screens on the Panasonic UB820 in Dolby Vision. If I disable Dolby Vision, it works just fine. Plays just fine in HDR10 on the PS5 / XSX as well. I tried other Dolby Vision movie, John Wick 3, and it had zero issues with Dolby Vision. So is it an issue with the disc or with the player? Anyone else ever have this issue? Thank you in advance.

November 2022 build date. Firmware 1.70.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Thangsanity

New to 4K Blu-ray movies. I have a Panasonic UB820 player as well as a Sony PS5 and Xbox Series X. I tried playing Alita: Battle Angel and for some reason, it black screens on the Panasonic UB820 in Dolby Vision. If I disable Dolby Vision, it works just fine. Plays just fine in HDR10 on the PS5 / XSX as well. I tried other Dolby Vision movie, John Wick 3, and it had zero issues with Dolby Vision. So is it an issue with the disc or with the player? Anyone else ever have this issue? Thank you in advance.

November 2022 build date. Firmware 1.70.

It's quite possible that it could be as simple as your HDMI cables, especially if you did not upgrade your cabling to Premium Certified 18 or 48 Gbps cables when you upgraded to 4k discs.


Without just the right kind of bandwidth, HDMI signalling and handshaking of 4k video can be very finicky. It may work on some discs, but not on others.


Another culprit can be your receiver or pre-amp if you are running the video signal through the receiver or pre-amp as well as the audio, especially if it's a somewhat older unit even though it may say it accepts 4k video.

[Thangsanity]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

It's quite possible that it could be as simple as your HDMI cables, especially if you did not upgrade your cabling to Premium Certified 18 or 48 Gbps cables when you upgraded to 4k discs.


Without just the right kind of bandwidth, HDMI signalling and handshaking of 4k video can be very finicky. It may work on some discs, but not on others.


Another culprit can be your receiver or pre-amp if you are running the video signal through the receiver or pre-amp as well as the audio, especially if it's a somewhat older unit even though it may say it accepts 4k video.

Appreciate the response.

It's not the HDMI cable. I tried a few I have on hand. All of them are rated for HDMI 2.1, and I even have some fiber optic HDMI 2.1 cables that can handle the full 48Gbps. Receiver is the Onkyo TX-RZ50. 4 of its ports can do up to 40Gbps bandwidth. I've had no issues doing 4K 120Hz 4:4:4 with my PC. Display is a LG C1 OLED.

At this point I believe it's the disc. I tried a couple others, Black Adam and The Woman King, and they both display Dolby Vision just fine.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Naiera

I've never heard of discs that need to connect anywhere to authenticate. That would be a pretty big news item if one came out, I figure.

I can't quite remember but I thought there were a couple of anime titles that were geo-locked?

[Naiera]

UHD or regular Blu-ray? Either way, that doesn't have anything to do with going online.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Naiera

UHD or regular Blu-ray? Either way, that doesn't have anything to do with going online.

I think it was just BDs, as you said not a connection issue just a physical player one.

[danny24]

I never have any problems playing any discs simply because I don't leave any player connected to the internet. My TV is streaming capable and I leave the internet off on that as well. I use an Apple TV to stream. I was told this by a Best Buy employee years ago connecting a player or TV to the internet may cause problems and to use a streaming box like Apple TV instead. They were right I have never looked back. Only time I connect either the TV or player to the internet is for updates and I shut it off again.

[aviosis]

Wow BD-Live now there's a throwback. One of the silliest gimmicks of the late 2000s imo - I recall most studios dropped it like a rock pretty fast but Universal decided to use it to give us more ads lmao

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by chip75

I think it was just BDs, as you said not a connection issue just a physical player one.

Yes, there are two different kinds of region locking, I guess. Aniplex of America Blu-rays are region A/B/C, but some players will not play them because they're country-locked, or whatever they call it. The Oppo players don't give a crap about the latter, so I never knew about it until a few years ago. My friend got the Demon Slayer discs and his region-switchable Panasonic (which used to be mine) refused to play them. I figured out that the PlayStation 3 didn't care about the other kind of locking either, and he has one of those, too, so he could watch Demon Slayer there, instead.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by danny24

I never have any problems playing any discs simply because I don't leave any player connected to the internet. My TV is streaming capable and I leave the internet off on that as well. I use an Apple TV to stream. I was told this by a Best Buy employee years ago connecting a player or TV to the internet may cause problems and to use a streaming box like Apple TV instead. They were right I have never looked back. Only time I connect either the TV or player to the internet is for updates and I shut it off again.

Anyone serious about streaming needs an Apple TV. Anything else is a compromise. This isn't just an opinion; it's a fact. No "smart" TV platform or other streaming device has all the same features in one place or get the best video quality on all the services.

[Papylon]

Hello, I'm new here, so please be understanding if I ask a simple question according to you. My setup includes an LG OLED, a 4K AVR, and of course, Panasonic UB820 player.
In your opinion, what are the best settings on UB820 to achieve the best picture in DV and HDR?
For now, I have the UB820 connected to the AVR, and from the AVR to the TV using an HDMI eARC cable, but I want to try connecting the UB820 directly to the TV to see if there's any difference.
Thank you very much for your suggestions.

[IlCorvo]

Does anybody know if I can use the rattlebyte mod for a unit containing 1.70? Rattlebyte's firmware only goes until 1.69

[IlCorvo]

Originally Posted by Papylon

Hello, I'm new here, so please be understanding if I ask a simple question according to you. My setup includes an LG OLED, a 4K AVR, and of course, Panasonic UB820 player.
In your opinion, what are the best settings on UB820 to achieve the best picture in DV and HDR?
For now, I have the UB820 connected to the AVR, and from the AVR to the TV using an HDMI eARC cable, but I want to try connecting the UB820 directly to the TV to see if there's any difference.
Thank you very much for your suggestions.

@sapiendut has a video where he shows appropriate settings for the player on his YouTube channel.

[Papylon]

Originally Posted by IlCorvo

Does anybody know if I can use the rattlebyte mod for a unit containing 1.70? Rattlebyte's firmware only goes until 1.69

Isn't it easier to write to them and ask that question? You will have 100% certainty whether their mod works with firmware 1.70.

[Papylon]

I found a comprehensive guide for the Panasonic UB820 on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deS54GTSEQA&ab_channel=HDMOVIESOURCE