Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[roar]

Took my 9000 to an authorized service provider and they’ve recommended replacing the laser assembly unit, $340 (CDN). With $1,200 invested in the unit I’ve opted to replace it. Fingers crossed I can play 4K’s more reliably.

[hansolo]

Originally Posted by jblank

Any idea what the UB450 will be sacrificing in comparison to the UB820?

I think 450 model has been available already some years in Europe. It has Dolby Vision and HDR10+ and it's build around completely different SoC platform. Maybe Mediatek, not the Panasonic's own SoC used in 900x/82x/42x series players. Hence the better file playback support but it's missing HDR-to-SDR tonemapping and HDR-to-lower-NITS capabilities of older models. Build quality is similar to 420.

[CSM101]

I have a question. Why does my 820 play certain UHDs that are hdr10 in DolbyVision? I’m assuming something in my settings? I have plenty of hdr10 discs that play in hdr but why does the DolbyVision show on certain ones? Malum, Raw Deal SC, and Raw Deal Eagle are the discs in question. There may be more, but I just noticed on these.

[jblank]

Originally Posted by hansolo

I think 450 model has been available already some years in Europe. It has Dolby Vision and HDR10+ and it's build around completely different SoC platform. Maybe Mediatek, not the Panasonic's own SoC used in 900x/82x/42x series players. Hence the better file playback support but it's missing HDR-to-SDR tonemapping and HDR-to-lower-NITS capabilities of older models. Build quality is similar to 420.

Would the 450 be a better player than my Sony X800M2?

[DAT_JB]

And the maybe the most value of the 450 is: It has zero playback problems with any kind of 4K disc and the same goes for Dolby Vision.
I'm very happy with mine which I bought in December 2019.

And another plus is, that the power supply unit is externally.

[drush9999]

Found out something that might be of interest to people who have some glitchy discs playing on the 820 like me.

Go to Player Settings > System > TV Settings > VIERA Link
and turn that ***** off.

All my discs that glitched before no longer glitch.

Thanks to the Panasonic dude who told me.

[roar]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Found out something that might be of interest to people who have some glitchy discs playing on the 820 like me.

Go to Player Settings > System > TV Settings > VIERA Link
and turn that ***** off.

All my discs that glitched before no longer glitch.

Thanks to the Panasonic dude who told me.

What do you mean by glitchy, like they won't load and you're kicked to the menu? Or they play but the glitch out/pixelate during playback?

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by roar

What do you mean by glitchy, like they won't load and you're kicked to the menu? Or they play but the glitch out/pixelate during playback?

They pixellate during playback, something to do with the HDMI signal being interfered with.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by CSM101

I have a question. Why does my 820 play certain UHDs that are hdr10 in DolbyVision? I’m assuming something in my settings? I have plenty of hdr10 discs that play in hdr but why does the DolbyVision show on certain ones? Malum, Raw Deal SC, and Raw Deal Eagle are the discs in question. There may be more, but I just noticed on these.

I know HDR10+ has priority, not sure if HDR10 has, but you'd need to disable it in the options if the disc also has Dolby Vision.

[CSM101]

Originally Posted by chip75

I know HDR10+ has priority, not sure if HDR10 has, but you'd need to disable it in the options if the disc also has Dolby Vision.

The discs in question are only labeled as hdr , and my tv is not capable of playback for HDR10+. On all my hdr discs except for the ones I mentioned, they play back in hdr and DolbyVision discs play in DolbyVision. These three discs however, playback with DolbyVision enabled. I’m wondering if they have DV but aren’t labeled as such ( I doubt that) or what causes this little glitch?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by CSM101

The discs in question are only labeled as hdr , and my tv is not capable of playback for HDR10+. On all my hdr discs except for the ones I mentioned, they play back in hdr and DolbyVision discs play in DolbyVision. These three discs however, playback with DolbyVision enabled. I’m wondering if they have DV but aren’t labeled as such ( I doubt that) or what causes this little glitch?

Sorry I misread your post, I'd still try disabling DV and testing those discs, as well as experimenting or checking the HDR10+ setting with your player.

[gizmo83]

Hello guys, any rumor about new players this year?
It seems these players are hard to find ... (italy)

[hansolo]

Originally Posted by jblank

Would the 450 be a better player than my Sony X800M2?

Sorry, I have zero experience with Sony 4K players. Also, I don't have Panny 450 myself, only sw-modded 820 model.

450 also misses multi channel analog outputs and time indicator display in front panel just like 420. Former is not used by many these days but I think traditional time display is a must.

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by jblank

Would the 450 be a better player than my Sony X800M2?

Considering that all Sony players have disc lockup issues and the manual DV toggle, I would say "oh yes." I went from an X700 to the ub820 and love it for those two reasons alone, but if you like those "features" on the Sony, then no. Many in this thread have already posted the pros and cons of the 450 vs the 420 or 820.

[jugmarker]

I wonder if anyone here could help with an issue I've been having. It's audio dropouts every so often for just a split second. Through googling, I've read on this and other forums of users with similar issues in the past, but unclear if many have ever come up with an actual solution or not.

First, my setup:
So I have the Panasonic ub820 connected via hdmi to a Samsung Q60T TV connected via hdmi e-arc to Sonos Beam 2 soundbar. The Samsung has passthrough enabled.

(The Samsung TV is not Dolby Vision capable but I can live with that as it's the item I've had the longest and I wasn't planning forward at the time.)

Last night, I was watching Mad Max Black & Chrome edition on blu-ray and was getting these audio drop outs at approximately 10 minute intervals. I'm pretty certain it's not a disc issue as I was able to rewind and hear the audio fine. I was also able to test if setting changes fixed the issue by starting the film up at the same scene over and over from the scene selection menu and playing for 10 minutes to hear the audio drop out (or not).

I also had a similar issue recently when trying to watch the The Others 4K (Studio Canal) although it happened less frequently, maybe 3 or 4 times during the film, and my wife swears it has happened with other discs as well, including with our previous Sony blu-ray player, but I don't really remember this. (This was before we had the soundbar and audio was just being output to the TV)

The only "fix" I could get to work was to change the digital audio outputs from bitstream to PCM which obviously results in the Sonos soundbar not playing the full quality audio, but at least I can avoid the distraction of the audio drops for the time being.

I also have an Apple TV 4K connected through the TV to the Sonos soundbar which when I play an appropriate file on iTunes (tested with Mission Impossible:Fallout), the Sonos display shows as playing Dolby Atmos audio.

Now, I think my HDMI cables are only 2.0, but all 3 I have in use are the exact same kind purchased at the same time. I'm thinking of getting an HDMI 2.1 cable to see if that solves it, but would I be fine only replacing the cable from the Panasonic to the TV, considering the Apple TV is able to pass through Dolby Atmos audio without issue over the other two cables?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by jugmarker

Now, I think my HDMI cables are only 2.0, but all 3 I have in use are the exact same kind purchased at the same time. I'm thinking of getting an HDMI 2.1 cable to see if that solves it, but would I be fine only replacing the cable from the Panasonic to the TV, considering the Apple TV is able to pass through Dolby Atmos audio without issue over the other two cables?

Might be worth swapping the cables around to see if you get the same results, you could also try disabling eARC.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by CSM101

The discs in question are only labeled as hdr , and my tv is not capable of playback for HDR10+. On all my hdr discs except for the ones I mentioned, they play back in hdr and DolbyVision discs play in DolbyVision. These three discs however, playback with DolbyVision enabled. I’m wondering if they have DV but aren’t labeled as such ( I doubt that) or what causes this little glitch?

The SC edition of Raw Deal absolutely has DV.

BUT, in case you didn't know, the Pannysonics have a 'feature' which forces DV onto everything on a disc if it detects that DV is present anywhere on it, e.g. you might have an SDR company logo, an HDR10 menu and a DV main feature on the same disc but the Panny will force the DV on all of it. Sometimes a disc which doesn't has DV might have some junk in its coding which is indicating that DV is present, so the Panny then forces it to on. This happened to me with one of the DC animated Warners UHDs, can't remember which one tho

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by jugmarker

[Show spoiler]I wonder if anyone here could help with an issue I've been having. It's audio dropouts every so often for just a split second. Through googling, I've read on this and other forums of users with similar issues in the past, but unclear if many have ever come up with an actual solution or not.

First, my setup:
So I have the Panasonic ub820 connected via hdmi to a Samsung Q60T TV connected via hdmi e-arc to Sonos Beam 2 soundbar. The Samsung has passthrough enabled.

(The Samsung TV is not Dolby Vision capable but I can live with that as it's the item I've had the longest and I wasn't planning forward at the time.)

Last night, I was watching Mad Max Black & Chrome edition on blu-ray and was getting these audio drop outs at approximately 10 minute intervals. I'm pretty certain it's not a disc issue as I was able to rewind and hear the audio fine. I was also able to test if setting changes fixed the issue by starting the film up at the same scene over and over from the scene selection menu and playing for 10 minutes to hear the audio drop out (or not).

I also had a similar issue recently when trying to watch the The Others 4K (Studio Canal) although it happened less frequently, maybe 3 or 4 times during the film, and my wife swears it has happened with other discs as well, including with our previous Sony blu-ray player, but I don't really remember this. (This was before we had the soundbar and audio was just being output to the TV)

The only "fix" I could get to work was to change the digital audio outputs from bitstream to PCM which obviously results in the Sonos soundbar not playing the full quality audio, but at least I can avoid the distraction of the audio drops for the time being.

I also have an Apple TV 4K connected through the TV to the Sonos soundbar which when I play an appropriate file on iTunes (tested with Mission Impossible:Fallout), the Sonos display shows as playing Dolby Atmos audio.

Now, I think my HDMI cables are only 2.0, but all 3 I have in use are the exact same kind purchased at the same time. I'm thinking of getting an HDMI 2.1 cable to see if that solves it, but would I be fine only replacing the cable from the Panasonic to the TV, considering the Apple TV is able to pass through Dolby Atmos audio without issue over the other two cables?

Test a new 2.1 (good quality) cable if you can, but I'd bet that's it. Remember that Atmos is wrapping a base layer that can be lossy, and that low-bitrate compression is exactly what streaming uses. The Apple TV stream is not the same pressure on your cable. The next logical link is your TV, as eARC dues not have fixed requirements, and the that older TV may be munging that audio... But the cable is more likely.

Hope that helps.

[CSM101]

Thank you GeoffyCat. Yes I have heard of the DV feature with the Pannys, I just didn’t know exactly what it did. My doubts with the Raw Deal discs were that neither of the ones that I have are labeled with Dolby Vision and I figured that would be something they would want advertised on the packaging.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by CSM101

Thank you GeoffyCat. Yes I have heard of the DV feature with the Pannys, I just didn’t know exactly what it did. My doubts with the Raw Deal discs were that neither of the ones that I have are labeled with Dolby Vision and I figured that would be something they would want advertised on the packaging.

Most of StudioCanal's discs have Dobly Vision. Most of those do not say anything about it on the packaging, anywhere. But they do has it.

I do believe that the Eagle Raw Deal is indeed HDR10 only.