Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[HeavyHitter]

You really have to do a true A/B comparison with the same scene regarding Netflix vs UHD BD on Oppo. If there is still a Netflix improvement, my guess is something with settings.

Re: upscaling. I did do a comparison the other night with the 820 and my NP5. I looked at the Spears and Munsil 1080p BD disc and one of the 1080p AVS test patterns. I sent 1080p from the 820 and let the JVC upscale and then compared to letting the 820 upscale to 4K. The 820 upscaling to 4K was superior on chroma and luma patterns. Text might have been a hair sharper too. No difference really with that high freq ringing. I would need to do more testing to see if this is just how the 820 operates (optimized for 4K output vs 1080p) and/or it's just superior to the JVC upscaling. Either way, letting the 820 upscale to 4K with the JVC is superior in this case. I did leave all of the Panasonic settings to default.

[Wormicide]

Originally Posted by MisterXDTV

Just buy a Sony X700 Player for the same money. Perfect DV playback

It's also a much better USB media player

That’s a thought but I’d like something that doesn’t freeze up on 100gb discs

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

I currently have an Oppo 203 (and a JVC projector with built-in tone mapping). Does the Panasonic 9000 offer any picture quality advantages? Either with native 4K HDR content (maybe improved chroma upscaling etc.?) or with upscaling 1080P or DVD sources? I've found myself surprised quite a few times watching 4K Netflix content on my PS5 and how it often subjectively "looks better" to my eyes than many UHD discs (better color, more detailed, more natural/organic overall image quality) and so I'm wondering if my Oppo is really delivering the best image possible. (this weekend I plan to do some in-depth testing with playing UHD discs on the PS5 and also verify every variable at play).

I currently have a UB9000 and a PS5, and previously had an Oppo 203 (sold). This is on a 77 Sony A9G so my observations and opinions may not be applicable to a projector. Talking big picture picture quality, the Panny and Oppo are 1a and 1b. The Panny has slightly better chroma upsampling and a hair sharper upscaling (and more ringing?). Features like the HDR Optimizer come in handy as a tool to play around with, and from what I hear their HDR to SDR conversion is top notch. Apparently it does suck with DVD deinterlacing, but I haven't watched a DVD in over a decade.

However, I much preferred Oppo's UI look and feel, and also some minor video settings that allow you to send 4:2:2 10-bit for example.

Either way, unless you have them side by side and are pixel peeping, it's a wash and both are in the upper tier.

With the PS5, I'm likely going to get heat for this but I also found it to be top notch and just about equal quality. Most people online are sensationalistic and just copy paste "omg the panny is so much better, not even close" and ironically enough either they don't own a PS5 nor tested it with S&M or test patterns. Its only shortcoming is no dolby vision support really. Unless I'm looking at the test patterns wrong, the chroma looks just as good as anything I've seen (flipping my TV setting between Custom which rolls off chroma anyway, and Graphics which maintains 4:4:4). When people get a new player like an 820, they expect to see massive differences and I'm sure they convince themselves they see it, the same way new speaker cables seem to magically make an audio signal more punchy/airy/dynamic/forward/walnuty lol. Nope.

In a blind test just watching a movie in motion, I'm convinced almost nobody except Geoff would be able to tell a difference from normal seating distance especially.

With that said, I do understand and believe the Panasonic is the best of the best (overall), just saying I see it more in the margins and I wouldn't push someone into FOMO territory to make them feel they need to "upgrade" if they are already happy with a PS5.

[Geoff D]

Dude, without scrutinising test patterns I highly doubt I could tell any of the major marques apart for BD and UHD playback, and that includes the consoles (though didn't the Xbox have an issue with 23.98 output at 24 or something like that?). As you say, it's when people are like "OMG this player DESTROYS my [whatever], there's so much more colour and detail!" that I can't help but roll dem eyes.

For DVD playback then I do think that the Panny 820/9000 line is demonstrably worse than any MediaTek-enabled equivalents, but hey, we keep getting trolled, uh, I mean, told that no-one watches DVD so that doesn't matter.

[mkozlows]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

For DVD playback then I do think that the Panny 820/9000 line is demonstrably worse than any MediaTek-enabled equivalents, but hey, we keep getting trolled, uh, I mean, told that no-one watches DVD so that doesn't matter.

Googling around for a minute tells me that the "best" DVD player is some Sony thing. It costs $39. I would request that everyone who is upset about the Panasonic's DVD playback pretend to themselves that it costs $539 instead of $500, and that it comes with a high-quality bespoke dedicated outboard playback unit, a level of dedication to the DVD format that blows away the competition.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Dude, without scrutinising test patterns I highly doubt I could tell any of the major marques apart for BD and UHD playback, and that includes the consoles (though didn't the Xbox have an issue with 23.98 output at 24 or something like that?). As you say, it's when people are like "OMG this player DESTROYS my [whatever], there's so much more colour and detail!" that I can't help but roll dem eyes.

For DVD playback then I do think that the Panny 820/9000 line is demonstrably worse than any MediaTek-enabled equivalents, but hey, we keep getting trolled, uh, I mean, told that no-one watches DVD so that doesn't matter.

Yup. Because of this stupidity I still have my Sony 590, Sony 790, and Oppo 105D for DVD playback. I no longer have too many DVDs but I still want to be able to watch my DVD concerts and music videos in the best possible way.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Not sure I follow. You are aware that the Optimiser changes the MaxFALL as well as the MaxCLL, yes? So when it's on the 1000 nit (OLED or Medium/High LCD) modes then the Optimiser will cap MaxCLL at 1000 nit and MaxFALL at 800 nit IF the content exceeds those figures. So if you had a disc which had MaxCLL of 1245 nits and MaxFALL of 1000 nits then turning on the Optimiser would change those to 1000 and 800 respectively. But for MaxFALL under 800 nits then it will leave it unchanged whilst capping the MaxCLL to 1000 if it still exceeds 1000 nits.

Does that make sense?

It makes perfect sense. I knew the Optimizer capped the MaxCLL but didn't realize it also caps the MaxFALL as well. I'm assuming the picture would look different if it was capped at 800 nits vs say 1,000 nits for the MaxFALL? This would explain why I see a bit of a difference between the HDR10 layer vs the Dolby Vision layer. That and the fact it's 12 bit vs 10 bit.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

For DVD playback then I do think that the Panny 820/9000 line is demonstrably worse than any MediaTek-enabled equivalents, but hey, we keep getting trolled, uh, I mean, told that no-one watches DVD so that doesn't matter.

This is true. Just how Panasonic views streaming apps on their 4K UHD Players, DVD playback isn't really focused on. Should it be? Absolutely since you are paying $500-$1,000 for the player. But I will say, I don't play that many DVDs on my 820. But that's just me. Those of you who have 100's of DVDs expect a great player and Panasonic seems to be on the low end when it comes to DVD playback.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by PUsokrJosh305

This is true. Just how Panasonic views streaming apps on their 4K UHD Players, DVD playback isn't really focused on. Should it be? Absolutely since you are paying $500-$1,000 for the player. But I will say, I don't play that many DVDs on my 820. But that's just me. Those of you who have 100's of DVDs expect a great player and Panasonic seems to be on the low end when it comes to DVD playback.

I don’t think Reavon and Pioneer have any of their players even have streaming capability and they are priced at $1000 - $2000

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

I don’t think Reavon and Pioneer have any of their players even have streaming capability and they are priced at $1000 - $2000

Considering the Panasonic's streaming abilities .....

I would rather my disc player not have streaming abilities.

I even like DVD play back on my Panasonic UB9000. For a DVD, it looks really good.

I realized I didn't have a copy of Wolf Creek so I started seeking one and found it streaming for $10 and on DVD for $3. I decided I would get the DVD and the HD streaming copy but after watching the DVD I never bothered getting the HD streaming version.

[panasonicst60]

Originally Posted by pbz06

I currently have a UB9000 and a PS5, and previously had an Oppo 203 (sold). This is on a 77 Sony A9G so my observations and opinions may not be applicable to a projector. Talking big picture picture quality, the Panny and Oppo are 1a and 1b. The Panny has slightly better chroma upsampling and a hair sharper upscaling (and more ringing?). Features like the HDR Optimizer come in handy as a tool to play around with, and from what I hear their HDR to SDR conversion is top notch. Apparently it does suck with DVD deinterlacing, but I haven't watched a DVD in over a decade.

However, I much preferred Oppo's UI look and feel, and also some minor video settings that allow you to send 4:2:2 10-bit for example.

Either way, unless you have them side by side and are pixel peeping, it's a wash and both are in the upper tier.

With the PS5, I'm likely going to get heat for this but I also found it to be top notch and just about equal quality. Most people online are sensationalistic and just copy paste "omg the panny is so much better, not even close" and ironically enough either they don't own a PS5 nor tested it with S&M or test patterns. Its only shortcoming is no dolby vision support really. Unless I'm looking at the test patterns wrong, the chroma looks just as good as anything I've seen (flipping my TV setting between Custom which rolls off chroma anyway, and Graphics which maintains 4:4:4). When people get a new player like an 820, they expect to see massive differences and I'm sure they convince themselves they see it, the same way new speaker cables seem to magically make an audio signal more punchy/airy/dynamic/forward/walnuty lol. Nope.

In a blind test just watching a movie in motion, I'm convinced almost nobody except Geoff would be able to tell a difference from normal seating distance especially.

With that said, I do understand and believe the Panasonic is the best of the best (overall), just saying I see it more in the margins and I wouldn't push someone into FOMO territory to make them feel they need to "upgrade" if they are already happy with a PS5.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Considering the Panasonic's streaming abilities .....

I would rather my disc player not have streaming abilities.

I even like DVD play back on my Panasonic UB9000. For a DVD, it looks really good.

I realized I didn't have a copy of Wolf Creek so I started seeking one and found it streaming for $10 and on DVD for $3. I decided I would get the DVD and the HD streaming copy but after watching the DVD I never bothered getting the HD streaming version.

Disc players should just be disc players. There is not a single player that I have tried that I want to use their streaming capability, or lack thereof.

[andrewl923]

Been waiting for months for the UB820 to drop to $400, does this go on sale often?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by andrewl923

Been waiting for months for the UB820 to drop to $400, does this go on sale often?

Have you tried Best Buy's open box deals? just over $400 if there's stock in your area.

[andrewl923]

Originally Posted by chip75

Have you tried Best Buy's open box deals? just over $400 if there's stock in your area.

None anywhere near me.