Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Update that lens cleaner trick ended up not working.

I got the Panasonic UB9000 from Bombay Elect. A little over a month ago. After the above issues I had, and others with Panasonic models had, I got in contact with Bombay E. And they agreed to let me send it back and they were going to send me a new one. Well once it got back to them there was a couple days delay, and I finally requested they refund me the purchase.

I then placed a new order from 220 Electronics (also used a 15% off code with was nice.

Got player today and fingers crossed but I have played The first 40 mins of theatrical cut of Jade (Vin Syn) 4K that had all the issues, got no issues, I then out in Golden child again played it for about 30 mins over and past where it gave me issues, and it played fine.

I have yet to play Breathless or Possession of Joel Delaney so i can’t comment on those yet

And then I remembered! Me and some others were having playback issues on Powerhouse Inidcator’s Girls without Shame & The Iron Rose 4Ks.

Iron Rose for some of us, the main menu would only give us the background image and NOT give the menu options / play etc. and if when it would, we would soon have thr pixilation freezing issues.

I have had no menu issues on either Rollin 4K as of yet, both have played first 10-15 min fine.

Now with Panasonic we can’t figure out how is it older VS newer models of the UB9000 or is it coincidence /luck.

That said both 220 / Bombay cover up the serial # info with their own # and month year. My Bombay I sent back was May2024 while my 220 noted April2024 - now doesn’t mean much whenit could just be luck
In general.

Figured I would share this experience since my player(s) were new purchases and I was lucky to return the Bombay and go with 220.

I'm glad you got it sorted, and ditched the lemon unit. My guess is, that first unit probably took a hard shock in transit/shipping to you, and the optical drive was most likely slightly out of alignment. It's a very heavy unit, and the courier service probably dropped or threw it down pretty hard and damaged it internally. I have four of the Panny 9000 units, all of them from 220, modded for region-free, and they've all been completely trouble-free so far. It's my second favorite player after my pair of Oppo 203s. They're very quiet and have been highly reliable for me.

When I buy a 4k player online, I pay for expedited shipping, usually 2-day express, to drastically minimize the amount of time and abuse that it is exposed to from the courier services and their thug employees that often deliberately handle packages as roughly as possible. A 4k player is just too fragile to go ground, or get transferred to several different conveyor belt systems and vehicles, over and over, getting dropped, kicked, thrown and even banged or crushed by other heavy packages, repeatedly. This logic has served me well so far.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

I feel like the UB9000 is crap.

Almost every other 4K i play is always have those digital blocking / freezing / and plays in a slow motion at times or completely jagged

Currently trying to watch VS Jade

It’s so friggin annoying. Never had issues so bad with my OPPO

And let me stress I have a direct power supply from the fuse box and i have my equipment plugged thru a Panamax power conditioner.

No player with this price tag should have disc playback this crappy.

The discs are MINT and just in case I will take them out and wipe them properly.

I wish some company would make a high end player that is worthwhile.

I got fed up with mine...and I went through TWO of them...way too finnicky and hugely disappointing given their premium cost. I ended up Ebaying them both and buying a cheaper Sony thats nowhere near as well made in terms of build quality but has had far fewer playback issues than the 9000s I owned. One of them was the original model, the other one was the newer K model, and neither was worth the $$.

[Necril]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

When I buy a 4k player online, I pay for expedited shipping, usually 2-day express, to drastically minimize the amount of time and abuse that it is exposed to from the courier services and their thug employees that often deliberately handle packages as roughly as possible. A 4k player is just too fragile to go ground, or get transferred to several different conveyor belt systems and vehicles, over and over, getting dropped, kicked, thrown and even banged or crushed by other heavy packages, repeatedly. This logic has served me well so far.

Might be just a coincident, but I too have had better luck with players bought from local retailers than ones bought online. Altough I'm fully aware that even the store bought players go through transportation at some point.

[Auditor55]

R.I.P. OLED

Micro LED TV has 2 ��� Advantages over OLED, & It's Becoming Cheaper! - YouTube

[BijouMan]

Are these machines still even being made? Sony now makes only the UBP-X700U. Panasonic and Sony have both stopped making BD-R and BD-RE discs. Pioneer has stopped making computer disc drives, and I don't even know if Hitachi-LG still makes computer disc drives or if the ones for sale now are just new old stock. I did not want the Blu-ray Disc system to end now!

[Telemachus]

I'm back to using the 820 4k upscaling for 1080p Blus, I used my TV to do the upscale for what seems like the better part of a year, but went back to the Panny and think I like it a little more, even with their sharpening sauce it looks impressive.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

Are these machines still even being made? Sony now makes only the UBP-X700U. Panasonic and Sony have both stopped making BD-R and BD-RE discs. Pioneer has stopped making computer disc drives, and I don't even know if Hitachi-LG still makes computer disc drives or if the ones for sale now are just new old stock. I did not want the Blu-ray Disc system to end now!

My UB9000 was made in September.

[DRC72]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

I'm glad you got it sorted, and ditched the lemon unit. My guess is, that first unit probably took a hard shock in transit/shipping to you, and the optical drive was most likely slightly out of alignment. It's a very heavy unit, and the courier service probably dropped or threw it down pretty hard and damaged it internally. I have four of the Panny 9000 units, all of them from 220, modded for region-free, and they've all been completely trouble-free so far. It's my second favorite player after my pair of Oppo 203s. They're very quiet and have been highly reliable for me.

When I buy a 4k player online, I pay for expedited shipping, usually 2-day express, to drastically minimize the amount of time and abuse that it is exposed to from the courier services and their thug employees that often deliberately handle packages as roughly as possible. A 4k player is just too fragile to go ground, or get transferred to several different conveyor belt systems and vehicles, over and over, getting dropped, kicked, thrown and even banged or crushed by other heavy packages, repeatedly. This logic has served me well so far.

I bought my 9000 from Crutchfield back in 2019. It was well packed and shipped UPS Ground, and I never had an issue.

[danny24]

Originally Posted by Auditor55

R.I.P. OLED


Micro LED TV has 2 ��� Advantages over OLED, & It's Becoming Cheaper! - YouTube

Maybe at some point. Right now they make OLED's look like a bargain.

[sapiendut]

Yup. They’re severely overpriced and still unreliable. Have a couple clients with microLED, neither clients are happy with the picture quality and the (lack of) near-perfect colour accuracy

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

I'm glad you got it sorted, and ditched the lemon unit. My guess is, that first unit probably took a hard shock in transit/shipping to you, and the optical drive was most likely slightly out of alignment. It's a very heavy unit, and the courier service probably dropped or threw it down pretty hard and damaged it internally. I have four of the Panny 9000 units, all of them from 220, modded for region-free, and they've all been completely trouble-free so far. It's my second favorite player after my pair of Oppo 203s. They're very quiet and have been highly reliable for me.

When I buy a 4k player online, I pay for expedited shipping, usually 2-day express, to drastically minimize the amount of time and abuse that it is exposed to from the courier services and their thug employees that often deliberately handle packages as roughly as possible. A 4k player is just too fragile to go ground, or get transferred to several different conveyor belt systems and vehicles, over and over, getting dropped, kicked, thrown and even banged or crushed by other heavy packages, repeatedly. This logic has served me well so far.

Nah. I have brought my 9000 everywhere when doing calibration for my clients. Literally flown around the world. The unit is 7 years old and it’s still work perfectly.

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Nah. I have brought my 9000 everywhere when doing calibration for my clients. Literally flown around the world. The unit is 7 years old and it’s still work perfectly.

Sounds good. Now box it up, hand it to USPS, ship it to Miami, FL and back, and see how great it's doing. In pieces.

[sapiendut]

LOL. I use the original box that it came in and put it in airline baggage. It has flown to India, US, Germany, Russia, Dubai, Australia and Indonesia. I’m surprised that it still works. Hehehehe

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by Naiera

My UB9000 was made in September.

My UB820 was made in October 2024. Purchased from B&H in December.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I'm back to using the 820 4k upscaling for 1080p Blus, I used my TV to do the upscale for what seems like the better part of a year, but went back to the Panny and think I like it a little more, even with their sharpening sauce it looks impressive.

I tried the BD upscaling on my LG C2 OLED but I just liked the way the image looked a little better when done by my UB820. Perhaps looking at test charts would say it's "oversharpened" but I couldn't tell it was detrimental in motion on real world BDs, not test signals.

Since one of the impetuses to getting a Panasonic to replace my older Sony was the Auto-Dolby Vision switching I didn't want to then have to keep switching the output resolution instead. (Although at least with a BD you know exactly what the setting should be without checking for logos everywhere.)

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by Naiera

My UB9000 was made in September.

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

My UB820 was made in October 2024. Purchased from B&H in December.

Yes, except...THIS is the year all of the events I listed occurred, not 2024. In 2024, it seemed as though those events would not happen anytime soon, but now all of a sudden they happened. Mind you, Sony had only started making BD-R 128 discs in 2018, 8 years after the specification was finalized (I was shocked when Sony announced it would even start making these because it had been so long), and Pioneer had only released its last line of disc drives in 2022.

[jephdood]

Had my first playback issue with the 820 tonight. "The Mist" blocked up and froze on me maybe 20 minutes in. Disc looks perfect, but wiped it with microfiber anyway. Firmware up to date. Bought the movie too long ago to complain to the retailer or the studio. Freezes at the same point every time, so it's probably the disc.

[DKLou]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Yup. They’re severely overpriced and still unreliable. Have a couple clients with microLED, neither clients are happy with the picture quality and the (lack of) near-perfect colour accuracy

This is likely true. Ill stick with OLED until further notice. That might be a long time.

My 820 Panasonic player has been quite reliable. As always, make sure your discs are clean/smudge free as it seems all new 4k players are picky about that.

[samuelkhan999]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

LOL. I use the original box that it came in and put it in airline baggage. It has flown to India, US, Germany, Russia, Dubai, Australia and Indonesia. I’m surprised that it still works. Hehehehe

What did u do for the voltage situation as your 9000 is 110-120v

[samuelkhan999]

The HDR optimiser needs to be updated with nit adjustment option. I know tvs do a very good job now. Still, it would be a nice tool on the 820/9000