Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[thebarnman]

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.

HDR simply stands for High Dynamic Range. And as far as I know, there are five HDR formats such as

HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision and Technicolor: (Advanced HDR by Technicolor)

Dolby Vision "does it's own thing" in the way it utilizes dynamic metadata in the same way HDR10+ does.

So if I put in a Dolby Vision disc mastered at 10,000 nits without any type of tone mapping; how does my TV handle that? AFAIK, there's no information coming from the TV to my player to help with that unless possibly there's some funky stuff going on with the EDID from the TV itself?

Otherwise I'm under the impression the HDR Optimizer optimizes all HDR content.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I'll say this: I've now encountered a pretty major issue with the player. It's not playing back a lot of my files. I'll burn files to disc or have it connected via usb. No mp4's. And it's having a lot of problems with audio as well. Won't play any DTS-HD MA, AAC or DD+ audio tracks and will, in some cases, completely refuse to play the file.

Also is there an on-screen display that will show you what audio track you're listening to - not the number but what track it is (english 5.1, french 2.0, etc)?
'
Shocking that this player doesn't have that.

Erm…without wanting to sound like a complete c*nt, did you not do any researching of those aspects before ye bought it? I aks because these Pannys with Uniphier chips are AWFUL for file playback, like genuinely the worst I’ve encountered, and they won’t do lossless/high res audio on file playback either - point being, it’s something I’ve lamented often in this here thread

That said, the MediaTek-based models like the UB450 are vastly betterer for file playback, they still won’t play the occasional file but have no issues with MP4s or lossless audio or whatever.

And no it doesn’t show you what specific audio track is playing, the full info screen just gives you the format and channel count of the audio while the other info bar just shows chapter and time elapsed.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Erm…without wanting to sound like a complete c*nt, did you not do any researching of those aspects before ye bought it? I aks because these Pannys with Uniphier chips are AWFUL for file playback, like genuinely the worst I’ve encountered, and they won’t do lossless/high res audio on file playback either - point being, it’s something I’ve lamented often in this here thread

That said, the MediaTek-based models like the UB450 are vastly betterer for file playback, they still won’t play the occasional file but have no issues with MP4s or lossless audio or whatever.

And no it doesn’t show you what specific audio track is playing, the full info screen just gives you the format and channel count of the audio while the other info bar just shows chapter and time elapsed.

Nope. Clearly I did no research. It's widely regarded as the best player so i got it. Had no idea it couldn't do what lesser players do easily. That really sucks.

I mean...what choice do I have? I clearly have to get two players now, unfortunately. Unless there's a player that will do it all that I'm not aware of.

[Telemachus]

I have never found a TV app (Plex etc.) or a disc player that wasn't a **** show to play back my files. Plex is somewhat useful at times, but it likes to transcode things just because of a subtitle track or PCM in a Matroska file or something tiny and stupid. I just use IINA to play back most everything via a MacMini over HDMI and life is way better, VLC also works but it's just not updated very much. I would not blame this player or really any smart TV app they just add these features as an afterthought. Funny enough I noticed the Sony players play Dolby Vision files no problem which is pretty useful.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I have never found a TV app (Plex etc.) or a disc player that wasn't a **** show to play back my files. Plex is somewhat useful at times, but it likes to transcode things just because of a subtitle track or PCM in a Matroska file or something tiny and stupid. I just use IINA to play back most everything via a MacMini over HDMI and life is way better, VLC also works but it's just not updated very much. I would not blame this player or really any smart TV app they just add these features as an afterthought. Funny enough I noticed the Sony players play Dolby Vision files no problem which is pretty useful.

I'm not really talking about playing it back from a drive. My primary concern is from discs. More often than not, I'm making my own bonus discs with all the features that the studios leave off. I guess those are ok but it's frustrating that none of the DTS-HD tracks will play. This is all incredibly frustrating. The LG that I've been using since 2017 played pretty much everything I threw at it. The PQ clearly isn't as good as this Panny, though. And the drive was loud AF. But, again, never had this problem. Ugh.

[Telemachus]

Ah dang, I haven't made a disc in forever. Well that kinda sucks, but I mean I don't think they are claiming compatibility with anything but retail discs, seems like you need a dual setup to have it all.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Nope. Clearly I did no research. It's widely regarded as the best player so i got it. Had no idea it couldn't do what lesser players do easily. That really sucks.

I mean...what choice do I have? I clearly have to get two players now, unfortunately. Unless there's a player that will do it all that I'm not aware of.

You can try looking into the MAGNETAR UPD-800. Don't know if it will play all the files that your talking about but I think it will play more than what the Panasonic 820 will.

Personally, I don't think the MAGNETAR UPD-800 is as quality of a player like the Panasonic but I do know it also plays DVD-Audio and SACD.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Nope. Clearly I did no research. It's widely regarded as the best player so i got it. Had no idea it couldn't do what lesser players do easily. That really sucks.

I mean...what choice do I have? I clearly have to get two players now, unfortunately. Unless there's a player that will do it all that I'm not aware of.

Sorry dude. As an actual UHD disc spinner it’s prolly the best one out there of those that are still commercially available (and aren’t stupidly expensive OPPO clones), but as a file player it’s downright contemptible.

[danny24]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Ahh ok. I guess I was trying to push it on a file that wasn't playing back properly.



Yep. This is a pretty major problem for me. I have so many burned discs and upgraded transfers. I'm debating whether to return it at this point. It might just be time to go the server route.

Panasonic's and Sony's are not friendly for playing some media files. They play some but Oppo, Reavon, Magentar all the expensive players play them fine no problem. The Pioneer LX500 plays them fine no problem as well. One of those players would be like a dream come true for you. If you play stuff like that the Panasonic won't play everything for sure.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by thebarnman

So if I put in a Dolby Vision disc mastered at 10,000 nits without any type of tone mapping; how does my TV handle that?

The player sends a signal to the display, once DoVi is detected it tone maps to it's capabilities on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame basis dynamically.

As far as I know the Optimizer would mess up that process as it would map things out before it hits the display.

[VirtuaBranson]

Really enjoying the player. I assume when it’s set to Auto for BR discs it’s the player doing the upscaling and setting that to 1080p the TV does it?

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I'll say this: I've now encountered a pretty major issue with the player. It's not playing back a lot of my files. I'll burn files to disc or have it connected via usb. No mp4's. And it's having a lot of problems with audio as well. Won't play any DTS-HD MA, AAC or DD+ audio tracks and will, in some cases, completely refuse to play the file.

It’s dogshit for file playback. Terrible compatibility and plays everything at 60Hz. If you bought it to play files on, you bought the wrong player.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Ahh ok. I guess I was trying to push it on a file that wasn't playing back properly.



Yep. This is a pretty major problem for me. I have so many burned discs and upgraded transfers. I'm debating whether to return it at this point. It might just be time to go the server route.

Buy a Zidoo.

[Telemachus]

It might just be placebo but I swear HDR10 on this player looks better than the Sony. I always thought Dolby Vision discs looked better than HDR10 discs on my old player, but I was watching Avengers Infinity War last night and was floored how it just caught my eye more on this new player. Also I can definitely notice 1080p Blu rays looking better with the player set to 4K output.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Naiera

It’s dogshit for file playback. Terrible compatibility and plays everything at 60Hz. If you bought it to play files on, you bought the wrong player.

Originally Posted by Naiera

Buy a Zidoo.

almost everything is burned onto a disc. Unfortunately that won't help. I rarely use hard drives

[sfmarine]

Player is back to $350 on Amazon.

[Telemachus]

And they have one for $308 from the warehouse

[Compson]

Originally Posted by VirtuaBranson

Really enjoying the player. I assume when it’s set to Auto for BR discs it’s the player doing the upscaling and setting that to 1080p the TV does it?

Correct. Auto means it outputs everything at the resolution of your display. Really no reason to use the Auto setting, which could cause delay. If you want to upscale everything, just set the player on 4K.

[Telemachus]

I set mine to 4k, it seems better than letting the TV do it

[VirtuaBranson]

Originally Posted by Compson

Correct. Auto means it outputs everything at the resolution of your display. Really no reason to use the Auto setting, which could cause delay. If you want to upscale everything, just set the player on 4K.

Why would Auto cause a delay?