Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[Geoff D]

Same RPM too? The physical layers themselves are also different. But he’s said he’s got no problems reading BD50s, so bang goes that theory anyway.

[sofaman]

Originally Posted by DJR662

I've been experiencing the exact same thing as you: 1080p discs will always play just fine, while a lot of 4K discs will not load (have to keep trying until it eventually does play).

I did some testing last week and I noticed something (on my player at least): it's double layer 4K discs that will not play, triple layer discs seem to work (now). I repeatedly tried playing The New York Ripper, Salt and Independence Day, and they all failed each and every time (lots of noises coming from the drive, you just know it will not play). Then I did the same thing with Bladerunner 2049, Dune (2021), Black Hawk Down and Zombie, and every title immediately played each and every time I tried (insert disc, begins playing the movie, stop, eject and insert again, rinse, repeat).

Not sure if this has always been the case though (BD66 not working vs BD100 working), or if this just happen to have evolved recently...

This sounds identical to me, although I watched Independence Day a few days ago and it only took 3 attempts

Last night I tried to watch Ghostbusters II, but after 30mins or so had to give up. Only took 10mins to get the Many Saints of Newark working tho, lol.
I just tried Bladerunner 2049 and it worked first time...twice!

I can categorically assure you this only started happening a few months ago, every disc worked fine before then without a sniff of a problem!

[George.P]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

You know you can have two devices hooked up at the same time, right?

Sure, guessing most people know that. That wasn’t the OP’s point - they wondered if there was a way to have those subtitle features while playing a UHD on the Panasonic.

[chrisandy007]

Originally Posted by hansolo

Yes, it is. UHD BD title is playing in my photo.
Conditions are (I assume):
1. you need to have firmware supporting this feature
2. USB drive must be connected, have "sub" folder in root directory and inside it subtitle file named "sub.srt".
3. Disc needs to be loaded and playback on (this part I assume, haven't tested. Is it even possible to enter Subtitles menu if disc is not playing?)

Regarding 1. What firmware are you using?

Also tried again on fat32, same thing. Firmware: 1.69.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by sofaman

This sounds identical to me, although I watched Independence Day a few days ago and it only took 3 attempts

Last night I tried to watch Ghostbusters II, but after 30mins or so had to give up. Only took 10mins to get the Many Saints of Newark working tho, lol.
I just tried Bladerunner 2049 and it worked first time...twice!

I can categorically assure you this only started happening a few months ago, every disc worked fine before then without a sniff of a problem!

Is your player above an AVR or amplifier. I don’t recommend placing disc readers directly above high heat generating devices. Laser pickup can age prematurely in high heat environment.

Try cleaning the assembly too.

[sofaman]

Originally Posted by Tok

Is your player above an AVR or amplifier. I don’t recommend placing disc readers directly above high heat generating devices. Laser pickup can age prematurely in high heat environment.

Try cleaning the assembly too.

Hi Tok. No mate, the player is sat alone with plenty of ventilation, as is my AV amp. I'm expecting some compressed air to arrive today so I'll try that first. Is Isopropyl ok to use on the lens, should I need to?

[Animatic33]

Interesting how a few of us are having this no read/ trouble loading UHD issue, my 820 is in the shop to see what might be the issue. My model was manufactured in 2018, and has the latest firmware (1.69). Part of me is leaning towards the firmware being a suspect, maybe in some setups it causes issues? My first run-in was with the Ebola Syndrome UHD from VS, then it was fine, and then my Skyfall UHD threw the whole works into chaos.

One thing I did not try before sending it to the shop for repairs, was to disable Dolby Vision support and see if it was trying to load DV on non DV discs.

[lemongrass]

I had a problem with some foreign font files, and at least in my case, it turned out I just needed to convert them to UTF-8, there's a free online converter that works well.. https://subtitletools.com/convert-te...to-utf8-online

Originally Posted by medikoo

I have RF firmware and external subs worked. Still note that given option is displayed in a menu only if USB stick with properly named subtitles files is injected.

Nonetheless I found this feature useless as font that's used for subs doesn't support many characters, e.g. in Polish we have some diactric letters, and out of ca7 only 2 are displayed well, rest are presented as squares.
Maybe for German specific chars there's better support.

AFAIK this feature was made specifically for Chinese market, so main focus is on Chinese chars there

[rickardl]

Originally Posted by Animatic33

Interesting how a few of us are having this no read/ trouble loading UHD issue, my 820 is in the shop to see what might be the issue. My model was manufactured in 2018, and has the latest firmware (1.69).

How do you know when it was manufactured? My European 820EGK was assembled in the Czech Republic, that is all I can see from the back panel info. Bought in April 2018. No issues with loading UHDs, fw 1.69.

[sofaman]

Originally Posted by Animatic33

Interesting how a few of us are having this no read/ trouble loading UHD issue, my 820 is in the shop to see what might be the issue. My model was manufactured in 2018, and has the latest firmware (1.69). Part of me is leaning towards the firmware being a suspect, maybe in some setups it causes issues? My first run-in was with the Ebola Syndrome UHD from VS, then it was fine, and then my Skyfall UHD threw the whole works into chaos.

One thing I did not try before sending it to the shop for repairs, was to disable Dolby Vision support and see if it was trying to load DV on non DV discs.

I was kinda hoping it was a firmware thing, but so few people seem to be affected by it.
Strange that yours all went wrong with Skyfall .... mine started with GoT which has known read issues apparently. Surely just playing a disc couldn't cause such long term malfunction?
I'll give that DV thing a go a little later ...

[equinoa88]

Hey everyone, I'm really leaning towards getting the UB820 based on all of the overwhelming positive reviews and word of mouth. However, I have read that this player (like all, from what I hear) has some hiccups and ticks. That said, would it be fine to stick with the manufacturers 1 year warranty or for those that currently have it, should I opt to purchase the extended warranty that will cover 2 years? It's an extra $80 so if owners think that I'll be fine with the 1 year, I'll put that $80 towards a receiver. Thanks!

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by equinoa88

Hey everyone, I'm really leaning towards getting the UB820 based on all of the overwhelming positive reviews and word of mouth. However, I have read that this player (like all, from what I hear) has some hiccups and ticks. That said, would it be fine to stick with the manufacturers 1 year warranty or for those that currently have it, should I opt to purchase the extended warranty that will cover 2 years? It's an extra $80 so if owners think that I'll be fine with the 1 year, I'll put that $80 towards a receiver. Thanks!

Personally I think if something is truly going to go wrong, it will happen within the first year.

[hansolo]

Originally Posted by chrisandy007

Also tried again on fat32, same thing. Firmware: 1.69.

And is it official directly from Panasonic site/servers or modified "feature enhanced" version? Latter is needed for external subs I think at least with 820. Also, advanced features need to be enabled by remote control button sequence. After that they are "on" for good until you choose to turn them off. Support for external srt subtitles are part of enhanced features.

[rickardl]

I don't know if this "trick" with forced subtitles has been mentioned in this thread but here it is:

If you have one the Panasonic players, like the DP-UB820, you can move the subtitles below/outside of the visible picture, set Subtitle Position to -30 and you are good to go!
(haven't checked the whole movie but -30 took care of the two-liners in the beginning)

[Riggins1]

I have been playing around with my tv settings a lot recently to try and fix the flickering issues I have been experiencing. Nothing seems to work. My 4K movies play perfectly but most of my blurays have some hints of flickering. It’s really frustrating. Tried to watch the UK Blu-ray of Once upon a time in the west tonight but turned it off cause I was so annoyed by the flickering. Maybe I’m at that point where I actively look for it but I’m starting to think it has to be the player. So weird though.

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by Riggins1

I have been playing around with my tv settings a lot recently to try and fix the flickering issues I have been experiencing. Nothing seems to work. My 4K movies play perfectly but most of my blurays have some hints of flickering. It’s really frustrating. Tried to watch the UK Blu-ray of Once upon a time in the west tonight but turned it off cause I was so annoyed by the flickering. Maybe I’m at that point where I actively look for it but I’m starting to think it has to be the player. So weird though.

Can you refresh our memories and remind us what TV you have?

Is this flickering on ALL blu-rays you watch? And only in low light scenes?

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

DVD playback sucks on these Panasonics.

As I mentioned earlier, I have played DVDs on this machine and they look fine to me. I always set the player to output 480p when playing DVDs.

[Waboman]

DVDs? What are those?

[Riggins1]

Originally Posted by pbz06

Can you refresh our memories and remind us what TV you have?

Is this flickering on ALL blu-rays you watch? And only in low light scenes?

I have an LG OLED CX. It’s mostly noticeable in dark scenes but on the Once upon a time in the West BD it was apparent even in lighter scenes.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Waboman

DVDs? What are those?

An absolute necessity for anime fans such as myself. Then there's also countless music related releases that will never see the light of day on on a format beyond DVD. Oh, and I have the Japanese DVD of this movie called Kill Bill Volume 1.