Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Keep wishing and keep missing out on your enjoyment.

My goal is to get the best possible deal ever!! When I bought my 420, I paid $250 and thought it was a good deal. Now you can easily find it for cheaper than that. So I didn’t snooze there and I still lost. No matter what I do, I lose.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by WITCHCULT

I did ebay for mine. got it for like $250.

And you lose out on any warranty coverage.

[sapiendut]

A deal is not a deal if you lose the opportunity for enjoyment. $433 now or perhaps $400 later or perhaps it will be back to $450-$500. $33 dollars is not worth waiting IMO.

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

A deal is not a deal if you lose the opportunity for enjoyment. $433 now or perhaps $400 later or perhaps it will be back to $450-$500. $33 dollars is not worth waiting IMO.

Is Dolby Vision really that vastly superior to the HDR10 on 4K discs? Because that’s all that I’m missing since I own the 420, which is essentially the same player sans DV.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Is Dolby Vision really that vastly superior to the HDR10 on 4K discs? Because that’s all that I’m missing since I own the 420, which is essentially the same player sans DV.

Yes.


Plus if you ever move up to a 4k HDR projector and an HDFury, you can make the projector act like a low latency (HDR12 using RGB tunneling) Dolby Vision display.

[captainsolo]

I had to do the teardown and adjusting of the gear again but I managed to get my 820 working again...for the time being until it decides to have the tray go dead....once again.

[cascade 15]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

If you think $500 can get you the best turntable you ever own then you don’t know the first thing about turntable. The price range of turntable at $1000 ish is only starting to scratch the surface for an acceptable turntable. Usually at $2000 and above you start getting better turntable. The cheapest acceptable stylus is already around $500 the best ones will be in the rhouaands.

Why even bother with a turntable when there are CD's and BR & 4K players? You get what you think you are paying for when buying a turntable which I abandoned over 5 years ago, even with a lot of LP's sitting around in my collection. I don't miss the turntable at all. No way that any LP can do Dolby Atmos. But home theater has to do with customizing the audio to your own preferences. If you like the sound of a turntable, then so be it.

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by cascade 15

Why even bother with a turntable when there are CD's and BR & 4K players? You get what you think you are paying for when buying a turntable which I abandoned over 5 years ago, even with a lot of LP's sitting around in my collection. I don't miss the turntable at all. No way that any LP can do Dolby Atmos. But home theater has to do with customizing the audio to your own preferences. If you like the sound of a turntable, then so be it.

Well B&M stores like Best Buy and Target are pulling Blu-rays off their shelves and adding vinyls instead. Can’t understand that logic.

[Waboman]

[MassiveMovieBuff]

What would be a nice quality 4K player recommendation besides Panasonic that doesn't have freezing or skipping issues? I'm new to 4K and just found out that Kino and SF 4Ks have technical issues in Dolby Vision on Panasonic players connected to LG OLED TV setups causing constant PQ dropouts where the screen shuts off for a couple seconds then comes back on randomly. I'm looking into replacing my Panasonic UB-9000 sadly as it's been working great for me besides those 2 labels. Apparently it's caused by how Kino and SF encode their DV layers from what I understand. FEL vs. MEL.

Might even need to replace my TV instead from LG OLED to another brand/model.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Your statement subjective. You might as well say that for most people $99 turntable is the best they’ve ever heard. Also “a few hundred dollars” at your grandparents age when they were young equals to more than $1500 today.

Once you go past the ability to play your vinyl at the correct speeds without damaging them, the quality of the turntables becomes subjective. Obviously there's a lot of cheap junk but there are excellent ones at relatively lower prices too.

We have to remember that audiophiles are targeted with options that are just expensive because there's a market for them, there's no really gains in performance as price increases. The same for cartridges, once you go past a successful function, the differences can often become subjective as people prefer different sounds.

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

What would be a nice quality 4K player recommendation besides Panasonic that doesn't have freezing or skipping issues? I'm new to 4K and just found out that Kino and SF 4Ks have technical issues in Dolby Vision on Panasonic players connected to LG OLED TV setups causing constant PQ dropouts where the screen shuts off for a couple seconds then comes back on randomly. I'm looking into replacing my Panasonic UB-9000 sadly as it's been working great for me besides those 2 labels. Apparently it's caused by how Kino and SF encode their DV layers from what I understand. FEL vs. MEL.

Might even need to replace my TV instead from LG OLED to another brand/model.

Interesting. My ub820 is connected to an LG OLED with a Sony receiver between them and I have no issues with "constant PQ dropouts" or the screen shutting off for any amount of time. I've also had it directly connected for testing with no change in that. Admittedly, this is anecdotal, as I'm but one person, but there are others on this forum with similar setups that also do not have this issue... Any time I've encountered the display completely cutting out, as described in some recent posts, it has always been proven in testing to be related to HDMI issues. I've seen it on PC monitors, game consoles, and other devices as well as disc players, and (surprising to some) a cheap under-spec'd HDMI cable is typically the cause and much more likely than one of the expensive components. (this has been covered from many directions here)

This is not to say go out and spend $500 on an HDMI cable, but definitely go buy a reputable brand that is HDMI 2.0 or 2.1. (obviously, if you have a game console, 2.1 is a must) There are so many cables from times long past that are HDMI 1.4 or less and simply do not handle enough for 4k. Some nondescript options will work, but they are a crap shoot. Good on you for getting a good dice roll, but if you're experiencing dropouts like this, don't assume it's not that cable.

I trust you know this, but others may not: Test with just one cable from the player to your TV. If you still get dropouts, try a better cable or a different HDMI port on your TV. (the second port on that player is for audio only) You can also work on settings on the TV/player, like HDMI deep color (toggling on or off) or other settings to check what is (possibly) overwhelming the cable.

Assuming you have another device between the player and TV, once you have that single connection working without dropouts, test a second good cable the same way. Once you confirm that both those cables work with just the player and the display, add whatever switching device is in between with those two cables and confirm it is ok.

Hope all that helps.

[deatheats]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Same here, I've been wanting to upgrade my Panny 420 to a Dolby Vision player for the longest time and was hoping for the 820 to drop further, but now the price is going up! What the hell?

Seriously, screw it! I'll just pull the plug now at $450 and sell my 420 on eBay to get a little money back.

Sales on the 820 typically have been around Black Friday, in case that sways anyone’s opinion.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

What would be a nice quality 4K player recommendation besides Panasonic that doesn't have freezing or skipping issues? I'm new to 4K and just found out that Kino and SF 4Ks have technical issues in Dolby Vision on Panasonic players connected to LG OLED TV setups causing constant PQ dropouts where the screen shuts off for a couple seconds then comes back on randomly. I'm looking into replacing my Panasonic UB-9000 sadly as it's been working great for me besides those 2 labels. Apparently it's caused by how Kino and SF encode their DV layers from what I understand. FEL vs. MEL.

Might even need to replace my TV instead from LG OLED to another brand/model.

That sounds like HDMI cable problem.

[ToonySpoonGoon]

I got the Oppenheimer 4K the other day and sampled it on my UB820 and noticed flickering in the back of most scenes, anyone know if theres a remedy for this? I don't notice this on most other 4Ks

my tv is a LG C2

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by sojrner

[Show spoiler]Interesting. My ub820 is connected to an LG OLED with a Sony receiver between them and I have no issues with "constant PQ dropouts" or the screen shutting off for any amount of time. I've also had it directly connected for testing with no change in that. Admittedly, this is anecdotal, as I'm but one person, but there are others on this forum with similar setups that also do not have this issue... Any time I've encountered the display completely cutting out, as described in some recent posts, it has always been proven in testing to be related to HDMI issues. I've seen it on PC monitors, game consoles, and other devices as well as disc players, and (surprising to some) a cheap under-spec'd HDMI cable is typically the cause and much more likely than one of the expensive components. (this has been covered from many directions here)

This is not to say go out and spend $500 on an HDMI cable, but definitely go buy a reputable brand that is HDMI 2.0 or 2.1. (obviously, if you have a game console, 2.1 is a must) There are so many cables from times long past that are HDMI 1.4 or less and simply do not handle enough for 4k. Some nondescript options will work, but they are a crap shoot. Good on you for getting a good dice roll, but if you're experiencing dropouts like this, don't assume it's not that cable.

I trust you know this, but others may not: Test with just one cable from the player to your TV. If you still get dropouts, try a better cable or a different HDMI port on your TV. (the second port on that player is for audio only) You can also work on settings on the TV/player, like HDMI deep color (toggling on or off) or other settings to check what is (possibly) overwhelming the cable.

Assuming you have another device between the player and TV, once you have that single connection working without dropouts, test a second good cable the same way. Once you confirm that both those cables work with just the player and the display, add whatever switching device is in between with those two cables and confirm it is ok.

Hope all that helps.

Originally Posted by sapiendut

That sounds like HDMI cable problem.

Ugh. I don't understand what's going on. Do you guys have any reasonably priced/good quality HDMI cable options? Is the one that comes with the Panny 9000 player not very good? My cable runs from my player directly to my TV just fyi. No receiver yet.

[silverguise]

I have issues when playing DTS-HD on the UB820. It upmixes the audio to output at 7.1 multichannel PCM - even if it is a DTS-HD Mono track. Most of the time, this isn't a giant issue, but for some movies/shows it results in a poor audio experience. What I want is the 5 channel and lower mixes to output to my audio system.

I know it is the UB820, as my PS5 has no issues under the same conditions outputting just what is on the disk. It's almost as if the 7.1 Audio Reformatting is activated even though i have it set to Off. I have tried toggling the settings it with no success.

Wondering if anyone here has encountered similar issues as me or know a fix. Thanks

My setup is:

**TV**: Sony A90k | HDMI picture type: Enhanced | Passthrough enabled

**Sound System**: Sonos Beam (G2) + One Surrounds + Sub Mini | Tv Passthough eArc connection

**Player**: Panasonic UB820 | Video and Audio through same HDMI cable

**Relevant (?) Player Settings**: 7.1ch Audio Reformatting = Off | Downmix = Surround Encoded | Dynamic Range Compression = Off| Digital Audio Output: Dolby = Bitstream; DTS/DTS-HD = PCM; BD-Video Secondary Audio = Off

[chip75]

Originally Posted by silverguise

Wondering if anyone here has encountered similar issues as me or know a fix. Thanks

I think it's a quirk of the players. It's been mentioned a few times.

[Geoff D]

Yep, it's a "feature" kinda like how it forces everything on a DV disc into DV, I think the point is to reduce handshaking errors and whatnot but it ain't half annoying

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Ugh. I don't understand what's going on. Do you guys have any reasonably priced/good quality HDMI cable options? Is the one that comes with the Panny 9000 player not very good? My cable runs from my player directly to my TV just fyi. No receiver yet.

If you live in the States, any cable from Monoprice has been good to me. These look to be their newer certified ones that are CL3 rated.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=44712


I have these below and love them!
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=42681