Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[AudioMaverick]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

Guys, I think my UB820 is a lemon. ...

What firmware version are you on, right now? It might be worth trying the upgrade, if you haven't already. I hope that is it.

I've had my player for about 3 years, and it was always 'wonky' with certain discs. I wrote in for several 4K replacements for the first couple years, before the distribution companies started changing policy. Universal was the first to become reluctant.

I sent my unit in for a calibration and inspection in summer of 2023. It came back as 'nothing found', but Panasonic released FW update 1.76 in late August. The unit seemed to act nicer. In July 2024, I got a notice that FW version 1.82 was available. The unit seems to play 4K much more smoothly... so far.

The 'U820' really does a nice job with 2K and audio decoding, but I have an older Sony DBP-S6700 that I typically play 2K, DVDs & CDs thru.

With LG being the latest to drop out of the optical disc player market, I am getting worried I'll have a library of non-playable media in the not too distant future... just like my Laser Discs, Beta Max tapes, Cassettes, 8-Tracks... At least, I still have a way to play vinyl!

[Bernardo A.]

Originally Posted by AudioMaverick

At least, I still have a way to play vinyl!

That's true, we'll always have vinyl... Record players are simple and can be made by anyone. But optical discs require rather complex devices.

[TotallyTuned]

Originally Posted by AudioMaverick

What firmware version are you on, right now? It might be worth trying the upgrade, if you haven't already. I hope that is it.

I've had my player for about 3 years, and it was always 'wonky' with certain discs. I wrote in for several 4K replacements for the first couple years, before the distribution companies started changing policy. Universal was the first to become reluctant.

I sent my unit in for a calibration and inspection in summer of 2023. It came back as 'nothing found', but Panasonic released FW update 1.76 in late August. The unit seemed to act nicer. In July 2024, I got a notice that FW version 1.82 was available. The unit seems to play 4K much more smoothly... so far.

The 'U820' really does a nice job with 2K and audio decoding, but I have an older Sony DBP-S6700 that I typically play 2K, DVDs & CDs thru.

With LG being the latest to drop out of the optical disc player market, I am getting worried I'll have a library of non-playable media in the not too distant future... just like my Laser Discs, Beta Max tapes, Cassettes, 8-Tracks... At least, I still have a way to play vinyl!

Unfortunately the player is already up to date with 1.82, I checked. But I have come up with a plan, buy another one and see if it skips on the same disk. If it does, I will know that Panasonics just can’t handle a particular kind of flaw. If it does not skip I know the “old” one needs repairs.

[Herry Dunston]

Question: does the UB9000 have the same ability to auto-switch between HDR and Dolby Vision like with the 820?

[sapiendut]

Yes

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by Herry Dunston

Question: does the UB9000 have the same ability to auto-switch between HDR and Dolby Vision like with the 820?

It also has the same "ability" to force Dolby Vision onto everything that's on the disc, if the movie is in DV. That includes menus and extras.

[Herry Dunston]

I'm getting two conflicting answers. That's not good.

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by Herry Dunston

I'm getting two conflicting answers. That's not good.

What's conflicting about them? Yes, both the UB820 and the UB9000 output in Dolby Vision if they detect its presence on the disc, you don't need to manually flip a switch.
The downside is that they force everything that's on the disc into a Dolby Vision container, so if you want to watch the SDR extras correctly in SDR, you do need to switch the Dolby Vision output to off from the player menu, before playing them.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by Hedrox

What's conflicting about them? Yes, both the UB820 and the UB9000 output in Dolby Vision if they detect its presence on the disc, you don't need to manually flip a switch.
The downside is that they force everything that's on the disc into a Dolby Vision container, so if you want to watch the SDR extras correctly in SDR, you do need to switch the Dolby Vision output to off from the player menu, before playing them.

Honestly though, is anyone actually bothered by that? I mean, the main feature is one thing, but the special features? Ehh. Most of the time the features are on the companion BD.

[Herry Dunston]

Originally Posted by Hedrox

The downside is that they force everything that's on the disc into a Dolby Vision container, so if you want to watch the SDR extras correctly in SDR, you do need to switch the Dolby Vision output to off from the player menu, before playing them.

How's this different than Sony's players manually enabling Dolby Vision for all discs?

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by Herry Dunston

How's this different than Sony's players manually enabling Dolby Vision for all discs?

He's talking about the extras dude. The 820 automatically reads a disc to be HDR-10, HDR-10+, or Dolby Vision. When you're watching a DV disc with special features on it that are typically 1080p SDR, the player doesn't auto switch to SDR. So you're watching featurettes in a DV container. That's all. For 4K with just HDR-10 the SDR special features are indeed shown in SDR.

[Herry Dunston]

Originally Posted by jess1581

He's talking about the extras dude. The 820 automatically reads a disc to be HDR-10, HDR-10+, or Dolby Vision. When you're watching a DV disc with special features on it that are typically 1080p SDR, the player doesn't auto switch to SDR. So you're watching featurettes in a DV container. That's all. For 4K with just HDR-10 the SDR special features are indeed shown in SDR.

That's a downer for me. When I read that the Panasonic players can auto-detect varying types of HDR, they would respond accordingly to all contents in a disc. That it can go from DV to a movie then a HDR or SDR on the bonus content or menu (depends); worked for AppleTV. If those players recognizes a DV pass on a disc but hardcodes everything on the disc within the same pass, then it's essentially the same as enabling Dolby Vision on a Sony UHD player before putting on a 4K disc.

I was expecting more flexibility than that.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by Herry Dunston

That's a downer for me. When I read that the Panasonic players can auto-detect varying types of HDR, they would respond accordingly to all contents in a disc. That it can go from DV to a movie then a HDR or SDR on the bonus content or menu (depends); worked for AppleTV. If those players recognizes a DV pass on a disc but hardcodes everything on the disc within the same pass, then it's essentially the same as enabling Dolby Vision on a Sony UHD player before putting on a 4K disc.

I was expecting more flexibility than that.

Well is it really that big a deal? Like I said, more times than not, the extras are on the companion blu-ray that comes in the overall set, otherwise the 820 successfully reads a disc and presents it according to what it has whether its a DV disc, HDR10 disc, or an SDR disc. We're talking a scenario that you'd only have to deal with a few times out of the many I'm sure that you spend watching 4K discs or BD's. I guess I don't care as much about watching extras as they were intended... only the movies themselves.

[Herry Dunston]

Originally Posted by jess1581

Well is it really that big a deal? Like I said, more times than not, the extras are on the companion blu-ray that comes in the overall set, otherwise the 820 successfully reads a disc and presents it according to what it has whether its a DV disc, HDR10 disc, or an SDR disc. We're talking a scenario that you'd only have to deal with a few times out of the many I'm sure that you spend watching 4K discs or BD's. I guess I don't care as much about watching extras as they were intended... only the movies themselves.

It is for me. Especially since more companies like WB are adapting to include bonus content on the 4K discs, and don't include the blu-ray discs as a result. Knowing there are bonus content out there that are encoded in DV, it would be nice to know which feature is in what format.

[Telemachus]

I rarely watch special features anymore I don't have the patience, but for my collection Arrow puts extras on UHD a lot of the time, and I have to manually turn off DV, no it's not a big deal just a mild annoyance. Checking the Sony for DV before every film is more annoying.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I rarely watch special features anymore I don't have the patience, but for my collection Arrow puts extras on UHD a lot of the time, and I have to manually turn off DV, no it's not a big deal just a mild annoyance. Checking the Sony for DV before every film is more annoying.

^this.

[HallowedSZ]

The Sony literally makes me homicidal with that nonsense. I had to get an 820 to save my sanity.

[teddyballgame]

don't forget you can load custom wallpaper

[rroeder]

That's cool where do you go to do that?

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by rroeder

That's cool where do you go to do that?

Put a picture you like on a USB stick, open it in the player then "set as background".