Panasonic DP-UB820EB, DP-UB420EB and DP-UB320EB Owners Thread

@GoingGoingGone: with the risks of image retention still a problem on OLEDs, I’m more than happy with my lowly non-OLED, especially as it doesn’t seem to have any iffy HDMI ports! ;)
From your reply you seem to have misunderstood the point in my post. It has nothing to do with your 'lowly non-OLED' and everything to do with the commonality of both my and the OP E6s. In my case UHD PQ was iffy on 25% of the HDMI ports (with a UB700/UB820), in the OP case DV PQ is iffy on 100% of his E6 ports with a UB820. May be a coincidence, or maybe not.
 
Ah yes, I see now. I mis-understood. Annoying having iffy kit. Still, now’s the time to upgrade. :D
 
I got the new cable today. Unfortunately the issue remains. I think my only other option is to use a different player if I want to watch a movie in Dolby Vision. It's a shame that the Panasonic isn't able to deliver the goods in the Dolby Vision department and it's also unfortunate that the LG is let down with it's poor treatment of DVDs.
It was great when Blu-ray players started to appear with twin HDMI outputs. I was able to watch a movie during acceptable hours, passing the sound to the surround system and cranking up the volume, and still be able to watch a movie or TV series at night by just using the TV for audio, without having to use two players. One player did everything I needed it to and now it seems I have to look for it again.
In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a future firmware update can solve minor compatibility issues with my current equipment.

Thanks for your help and suggestions guys.
 
Panasonic hasn't updated the 820 firmware for over a year. Only the newer UB450 (and its siblings) have had a recent update. I get the impression that Panasonic think that their work is done with the UB820. I don't think that one player is a universal enough of a solution. It's crazy to have to keep more than one player in a set-up at any one time, but that seems to be the case if you want to cover all bases. For me, the Panasonic 820 excels at HDR10 playback, beating my Sony X700 easily, but for everything else, I prefer the simpler design and operation of that player (stupid DV implementation aside).
 
Guys ulalala external SRT...
enhanced-firmware/panasonic-blu-ray-players/67-dp-ub420-dp-ub424-dp-ub820-dp-ub824-dp-ub9000-dp-ub9004/182-dp-ub420-ub424-ub820-ub824-ub9000-ub9004-enhanced-firmware-for-selected-models-eb-ef-eg-gn-p-pc#advfeatures

img.jpg
 
I've put about 10 disks through my ub820 and it seems to have tons of luminance noise that I'm not used too, any settings you'd recommend?
 
I know that a couple of 820 owners here have upgraded the machine’s remote by getting the handset that comes with the UB9000. I fancy doing the same. I’ve seen several places selling them, but does anyone have any supplier recommendations please? Oh yes, what’s the button on the 9000 remote that corresponds to the HDR Setting button on the 820’s remote please? It’s the only button that I couldn’t seem to match, unless I’ve been looking at a picture for the wrong model.
 
Last edited:
Anyone know how to make the volume control on the remote work with a xf9005?
 
Apologies for interrupting the thread; I was hoping to get some brief advice from owners of the DP-UB820 Panasonic bluray player.

Is there an iPhone/android app available from Pansonic or third party, which will allow control of the player over a local network (WiFi or Ethernet) - I am on IOS 13.

I see there were some earlier panasonic control apps that would do this, but nothing confirmed for the DP-UB820.

My current player is in an ventilated cabinet; being a sony it is able to use Sony's TV Sideview app to control it, which is very useful if needing to change settings mid movie, in a darkened room, and without having to open cabinet doors for line of sight with an infra red hand controller.

However, it has started to play up, sometimes refusing to play disks, other times picture and sound dropping out mid movie, and being around 7 - 8 years old and a base model, it's time to replace it I feel.

As I don't have a 4k TV as yet (but with upgrade plans) but simply full HD, I don't want to jump to the top Panasonic or Pioneer until I've changed the TV, as doubtless by then player specs and models will have changed as well.

As a 'bridge' towards a 4k TV, my choices come down to either the Sony X700 or the Panasonic DP-UB820.

If anyone has done any comparisons on these players and could comment as to sound and picture quality et al, that would also be much appreciated and very helpful as I'm vacillating between the two.

Many thanks again!
 
I own a Panasonic DP-UB 820 UHD 4k Player .
It is the best player I have ever owned , I have a Sony X700 very nice plays movies well.
As well as that I have a Samsung UBD-K8500 4k player , 1 Gen and it got boxed due to being
a Pain in the Bum , Spat the movie out saying it was dirty and needed cleaning , so I cleaned it.
Tried it again same thing , Tried to watch other movies then got freezing and jumping with a
clicking sound over and over , could not eject movie from remote or on player itself.
Had to unplug player from power to eject movie , Very frustrating.
My Friend had Generation 2 of this player and same problems.
Don't buy Samsung , Either get a Sony X800 or a Panasonic 820 , the Panny will not do SACDs
But I have put Music DVDs Concerts and they play Well , U2 , Kylie Minogue Fever ECT.
The Panny has no back to Menu function if you mistakenly watch the last episode of a movie
only click next or back until you get to where you need be.
Besides that It Is a great Player that can be Tweaked with a HDR Optimizer , Dolby Vision and
HDR10 Plus .
It has issues with Atmos from Netflix and Amazon , Netflix App always outputs in HDR/DV .
No SACD or DVD Audio , whatever they are ?
 
My recent attempts to buy a Sony 800XM2 (see the relevant thread) were thwarted by two brand new samples having faults and a third, supposedly new model that clearly wasn’t. The Sony X700 is a good lump, as is the Panasonic 450, both of which are comparable, performance-wise. The 820 is a nice lump, but the jump from the 450 to the 820 is not as pronounced as some might suggest, based on my experience. Where the 820 does score is in offering a lot more picture tweaking features, which are important to many.

Samsung no longer make players, BTW.
 
That is why I went with the 820 , It's Picture Tweaking Features .
All the Reviews gave it a good report .
I am very Happy with this Player and is Well suited to my LG C9 55OLED.
My rational was an investment , For the extra cost it does the Job I need.
 
Sorry about the double post above. Don’t even know how that happened. I didn’t even TYPE anything.

Can anyone explain to me the difference between BITSTREAM and PCM in the sound options menu?

I have the 820 connected directly to my LG C9 via HDMI. Today I loaded up a new Blu Ray that I got, National Lampoons Vacation, and the English audio track wouldn’t work. I switched the options in the player to PCM and it works OK. Please can anyone answer the following:

Is this a faulty disc, or is there a reason it wouldn’t play with BITSTREAM?

What is the difference between the two and what should I be using for my setup?

Should I change the TV audio settings to bitstream also so they match?

lastly what is “secondary audio track” setting all about? If I have that set to Automatic or Off I get sound dips on some discs. If I turn it to On these discs play without interruption.

Thanks
 
Sorry about the double post above. Don’t even know how that happened. I didn’t even TYPE anything.

Can anyone explain to me the difference between BITSTREAM and PCM in the sound options menu?

I have the 820 connected directly to my LG C9 via HDMI. Today I loaded up a new Blu Ray that I got, National Lampoons Vacation, and the English audio track wouldn’t work. I switched the options in the player to PCM and it works OK. Please can anyone answer the following:

Is this a faulty disc, or is there a reason it wouldn’t play with BITSTREAM?

What is the difference between the two and what should I be using for my setup?

Should I change the TV audio settings to bitstream also so they match?

lastly what is “secondary audio track” setting all about? If I have that set to Automatic or Off I get sound dips on some discs. If I turn it to On these discs play without interruption.

Thanks
PCM the player decodes the soundtrack. Bitstream the player sends the soundtrack digital bits untouched for the TV/AVR/Soundbar to decode.

Vacation is shown as having a DTS HD MA mono soundtrack. It would be odd if the C9 couldn't decode that via bitstream.

Secondary Audio has to be off to get HD soundtracks. I've always had this off and have never noticed any sound dips. What discs are you getting these with?
 
Last edited:
PCM the player decodes the soundtrack. Bitstream the player sends the soundtrack digital bits untouched for the TV/AVR/Soundbar to decode.

Vacation is shown as having a DTS HD MA mono soundtrack. It would be odd if the C9 couldn't decode that via bitstream.

Secondary Audio has to be off to get HD soundtracks. I've always had this off and have never noticed any sound dips. What discs are you getting these with? What setting were you using when playing Vacation?

It’s weird then that the TV couldn’t play the soundtrack from Vacation. Is this the original 80’s one and not the newer reboot you’re referring to? I wonder why it wouldn’t work then?

I noticed sound dips on Spider-man Into the Spiderverse 4K, Lord of the Rings Return or the King BD and Kick Ass 2 BD. I even got a replacement of Spiderverse before realising I could just turn that section off.
 
Does the LG handle DTS sound? I know Panasonic TVs can't.
The secondary audio is for commentary tracks, or descriptive audio I think. So with it on the main sound dips down when the commentator is speaking I believe. Without an extra bit of kit to hear the secondary audio on all you get is the main track going quiet.
 
It’s weird then that the TV couldn’t play the soundtrack from Vacation. Is this the original 80’s one and not the newer reboot you’re referring to? I wonder why it wouldn’t work then?

I noticed sound dips on Spider-man Into the Spiderverse 4K, Lord of the Rings Return or the King BD and Kick Ass 2 BD. I even got a replacement of Spiderverse before realising I could just turn that section off.
What secondary audio setting were you using when playing Vacation? If it was on that could explain why the TV didn't get the audio (HD soundtrack). Secondary audio on/off only affects bitstream and not PCM. Yes, original 80's one.
Does the LG handle DTS sound? I know Panasonic TVs can't.
LG dropped DTS decoder in the 2020 models. AFAIK prior to that (like the OP's C9) the TV should be able to decode DTS.
 
Well I tried European Vacation as well and that wouldn’t play either. If I turn off the Dolby Atmos setting on the C9 audio settings then it plays both Vacation films audio without issue.

I’ve done some more experimenting and the audio dips seem to be tied to that Atmos setting on the C9 too combined with a bad combination of settings from the player.

I’ve just turned it off to avoid messing about with it all.

Edit: If I enable “virtual surround” I think it’s called, on the LG then it won’t play the sound on Vacation either. Does anyone know of other DTS movies I could test this on to see if it’s a bug with the LG or a quirk with how these discs are coded?
 
Last edited:
The 820 is a nice lump, but the jump from the 450 to the 820 is not as pronounced as some might suggest, based on my experience. Where the 820 does score is in offering a lot more picture tweaking features, which are important to many.

Yea, more image options on the 820 and better chroma upsampling. Found the 450 introduced artefacts on HDR chroma test material that the TV direct and 820 don't.
 
hi guys, just joined the 820 club. before i trawl 128 pages, are there any posts w/ recommended settings? i've literally just plugged it in and hoyed Pitch Black through it to test run.
TIA
 
I have also recently bought 820 and thought to post my brief experience. I bought my first unit from Amazon, brand new sealed unit. When I first connected and played my first disc , frontal panel opened but then remained opened after disc tray closed. There was no other problems but front panel refused to close. It was unacceptable from a brand new unit with defect on arrival. There were no visible signs of external damage. It was returned to Amazon. I replaced it with another unit bought on line. 2nd unit is working fine. My recommendation are if you need HDMI cable length more than 2 meters than consider fibroptic cable as with normal cable may or may not carry 18GBS data that is required for 4K with HDR. Having said that there are members who are ok with normal cables up to 5 meters.
I haven’t played with setting much but I think secondary audio needs to be off to allow Dolby ATMOS. I have posted above to inform future buyers to be aware of front panel issue , however I don’t think is a common problem.
 
Last edited:
Ordered this to replace DP-UB450, I just need subtitle adjusting options( in Finland, everything is subtitled), and of course "they" say that picture is even little bit better. I'll get player after few days. And I keep 450 as a spare unit.

What about HDR optimizer, does Sony XF9005 need it?
 
Last edited:
Ordered this to replace DP-UB450, I just need subtitle adjusting options( in Finland, everything is subtitled), and of course "they" that picture is even little bit better. I'll player after few days. And I keep 450 as a spare unit.

What about HDR optimizer, does Sony XF9005 need it?
Try it and decide for yourself.
But with a max nits output of around 1,000 dropping to around 700 in Cinema Pro mode it will likely benefit from using it. Having said that a lot of newer released UHDs are being mastered at 1,000 nits maxiumum or less. So HDR Optimiser wouldn't kick into play for these ones if you used the 1000 nits LCD display type in the Panasonic setup.
 
Hi I recently purchased the UB-820 and so far have played 4k discs of Le Mans 66, Greatest Showman, Interstellar, The Meg and John Wick 1 and every so often in each of these films there is some slight judder mainly on peoples movements especially heads/mouths when talking (quite hard to describe accurately but its not a lip sync issue as its visual and not audible). Are there any settings i could make adjustments on the player to fix this as not touched anything so far on it?

The player is hooked up to Sony ZF9 soundbar HDMI2 which in turn is connected to ARC on Panasonic GZ950 65inch and usually on pro 1 or 2 picture setting. i have changed black frame insertion from off to min but still get these slight judders that last a second or less regardless of BFI setting

I'm assuming its the player doing this as this issue isnt apparent when watching skyq or netflix etc on the tv itself

Thanks in advance for any help to tweak settings that might elimnate this issue.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom