Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I got my sale UB-820. April/2023 build date, 1.70 firmware but updated to 1.76. Looks good so far.

Jan ‘23 for my open box. No issues yet on my end but I can test drive it for two months.

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Thanks for the help. I set it up to your specs and looks phenomenal

I used that tutorial as well. Excellent walkthrough. Enjoy the player.

[samuelkhan999]

Originally Posted by welcometothepartypal

Do you happen to know if they have black friday sales? I just looked at their website and am very interested in picking up an 820 region free with 3yr warranty from them.

Don't know. They do sell on ebay however. If a promo code is available via ebay you can use that

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Holy balls they actually hit my $350 price point, someone on this very forum told me that would never be possible and I would be waiting forever lmao, just ordered!!

It must be forever!

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Fiffy

On eBay you can find tons of sellers in China who sell the UB9000 remote for under $10 shipped to the US. Just search for N2QAYA000172 and make sure that the product image shows the "HDR Settings" and "-10s/+60s" buttons. If you pick a seller with a good rating the risk is small. I got one that way for my 820 a couple years back and it works perfectly and is far better than the 820 remote.

Not bad advice. I'm sure it works; it just doesn't say Panasonic on it and since it's not in my hand, I wouldn't be able to vouch for the quality of materials.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

Jan ‘23 for my open box. No issues yet on my end but I can test drive it for two months.



I used that tutorial as well. Excellent walkthrough. Enjoy the player.

Mine was open box too and I've had it for several years.

[Esox50]

Wanted one of the 820's. Have had one in my cart each of the last few years, but never pulled the trigger. Just kept thinking "You got the Oppo 203, why do you need this?" I've always wanted a second player, kind of a "just in case", but I also think the Penny has some more stuff to "play with". At yesterday's price...I couldnt resist anymore.

Updating to the 1.76 firmware right now, and gonna check it out. Glad this finally happened. Of course, this means Panasonic will be coming out with new players soon. LOL.

BTW: June '23 build date for those interested.

[Telemachus]

If Panny actually did release new players I wouldn't even be mad, this deck is sick and then I can just buy the new one when it's on sale later. Sadly I think it's more likely current players stop production at some point and people rush to buy up all the remaining stock

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by thebarnman

Not bad advice. I'm sure it works; it just doesn't say Panasonic on it and since it's not in my hand, I wouldn't be able to vouch for the quality of materials.

I'm fairly certain these are the exact same remotes that Panasonic uses, minus the trademarked logo. Mine looks and feels as well made as any OEM remote. All made in the same sweatshops in China anyway.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Fiffy

I'm fairly certain these are the exact same remotes that Panasonic uses, minus the trademarked logo. Mine looks and feels as well made as any OEM remote. All made in the same sweatshops in China anyway.

The two I have had a sticker where the Panasonic logo goes and underneath that logo was the Panasonic logo (logo Inception). As far as I can tell they're legit.

[alleycat]

I wondered if anyone had come across this before. I noticed on my 820 that when I play a disc with uncompressed pcm audio (2.0 or 5.1) the audio is out of sync by about 50ms. If I play the same disc in a different player (using the same AVR) it plays perfectly in sync. If I play any other type of audio track on the 820 (DTS, Dolby etc) it plays perfectly in sync. Is this just a quirk of the player or is there a setting that can be changed? Thanks

[bhampton]

I have been using a Panasonic UB150 for a while.

I just ordered a replacement disc drive unit for my UB9000PKII so I hope that will be fun to swap out and I can go back to my higher quality player.

The 150 has been good though.

[Telemachus]

Okay I've seen the light on this player, it's a baddie, destroys the Sony. The HDR Optimizer totally saves the Heat UHD for me. Dynamic Range Adjustment+2 and Tone Curve (Black) +1 makes it look so much better, doesn't seem to compromise the picture any. The Natural setting looked a bit brighter but a tad boosted to me. Does anyone else turn this thing on or just leave it off most times?

[Naiera]

The most important features relate to subtitles, IMO. Being able to move them and especially being able to lower the brightness on them. I wouldn’t want to be without either feature on my setup.

[Cherokee Jack]

Cheers for all the positive feedback on the Chinese knockoff UB9000 remotes. Finally pulled the trigger and placed an order.

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Okay I've seen the light on this player, it's a baddie, destroys the Sony. The HDR Optimizer totally saves the Heat UHD for me. Dynamic Range Adjustment+2 and Tone Curve (Black) +1 makes it look so much better, doesn't seem to compromise the picture any. The Natural setting looked a bit brighter but a tad boosted to me. Does anyone else turn this thing on or just leave it off most times?

Perfect example of why I couldn’t live without a Panasonic. It’s still a dark disc no matter you do with it but it’s perfectly watchable thanks to the HDR Optimizer. And yes, I keep mine on for all HDR10 discs. I only fiddle with it when watching especially dark or bright discs. Cliffhanger is one example where it was far too bright with my usual settings.

Originally Posted by Naiera

The most important features relate to subtitles, IMO. Being able to move them and especially being able to lower the brightness on them. I wouldn’t want to be without either feature on my setup.

I occasionally watch movies with my dad, who’s hard of hearing, and being able to put subtitles on for him without ruining my own enjoyment is indeed very nice.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Esox50

BTW: June '23 build date for those interested.

To me that's very interesting. I know there are no new players from Panasonic and boy would I love for them to improve upon a few of the features on the 820, but at least they are continuously still being made. Hopefully that means minor improvements based from feedback over the years.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Okay I've seen the light on this player, it's a baddie, destroys the Sony. The HDR Optimizer totally saves the Heat UHD for me. Dynamic Range Adjustment+2 and Tone Curve (Black) +1 makes it look so much better, doesn't seem to compromise the picture any. The Natural setting looked a bit brighter but a tad boosted to me. Does anyone else turn this thing on or just leave it off most times?

Once set, I keep the Optimizer on. Someone stated here recently that it turns off automatically during Dolby Vision playback which is something I didn't know.

Even if that's not the case, I think (at least for me) the Optimizer is a set it once and forget it kind of thing.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by Naiera

The most important features relate to subtitles, IMO. Being able to move them and especially being able to lower the brightness on them. I wouldn’t want to be without either feature on my setup.

I like that option too; particularly on the projector the default settings are much too big and too bright. But I wish there was a way to make the settings permanent.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by thebarnman

Once set, I keep the Optimizer on. Someone stated here recently that it turns off automatically during Dolby Vision playback which is something I didn't know.

The clue is in the name, it's an HDR Optimizer. Dolby Vision does it's own thing.

I'd do play around a bit, but I don't play as many of my discs as I'd like, so I generally leave it alone.

[Cherokee Jack]

Originally Posted by chip75

The clue is in the name, it's an HDR Optimizer. Dolby Vision does it's own thing.

I'd do play around a bit, but I don't play as many of my discs as I'd like, so I generally leave it alone.

Sony seeing a Panasonic automatically switch between Dolby Vision and the HDR Optimizer:

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Naiera

The most important features relate to subtitles, IMO. Being able to move them and especially being able to lower the brightness on them. I wouldn’t want to be without either feature on my setup.

Yup. I usually bring down the brightness to 50% for both OLED and projector. Too bad it doesnt stay that way. Magnetar supposedly will do that too but it’s been 3-4 months since that promise and still nowhere to be seen.