Panasonic DP-UB820 4K Blu-ray Player Review & Comments

I bought one for £199 in Sevenoaks Sound and Vision. Amazing player for that price, nothing else comes close. My Cambridge CXUHD cost £450 more! o_O
 
Definitely a no brainier @£199!
Thanks for the review Steve.
 
Thanks for the review Steve. I have this player into a C8 too. I hadn’t noticed any difference between having rather HDR Optimizer on the standard setting versus having it off (with the LG’s dynamic tone mapping function on in both cases) though it’s difficult to perceive any differences without watching side by side.

Would you (or anybody else with insight) recommend just switching it off? Also, does it make much difference whether it’s the player or the TV doing the upscaling of 1080p content?
 
Don’t forget to add the Sony X800 into the mix as it is a fully universal player and solidly built with a metal case, (You can also pick it up for about £250 these days) the only downside is no display or Dolby Vision. (Irrelevant if you are using a projector anyway)

Personally I would wait to see what CES brings, rather than splashing the cash now.

One thing you can’t knock though is the professional review of the Panasonic.

Bill
 
Sounds like the ideal player for just about anything.

Does anyone know if it’s possible to use the 7.1 outputs with volume control.

Straight into active speakers would be my preferred choice, although I do have a Lexicon I could route it through.
 
Panasonic really do take some beating with UHD players. I’ve got an oppo 203 and Panasonic ub700. I much prefer the panny, has no issues with any discs, whereas the oppo does on occasions.
 
Thanks for the great review..I also managed to buy one from sevenoakssoundandvision for £199 :)
 
Thanks for the review Steve.

Re. your comment on stripping HDR metadata, with my Epson LS10000 I’ve had no luck getting an SDR/BT2020 signal without the linker in the chain. On playback of a 4K disc, it just reverts to Rec.709 even if I set SDR/BT2020 in the menus. Presumably this is because it doesn’t officially support BT2020, even though in a practical sense it manages to do so fine.

So I’m presuming that with proper HDR projectors that do officially support BT2020, the player can just strip the metadata with no need for a linker.

Cheers
 
Got this player couple of months ago.

It can get a but noisy during 4K UHD playback but like my ex-UH700 it has played every disc flawlessly till date.

For this price, you won't get any fullly featured player supporting both HDR10 formats
 
Thanks for the review Steve.

Re. your comment on stripping HDR metadata, with my Epson LS10000 I’ve had no luck getting an SDR/BT2020 signal without the linker in the chain. On playback of a 4K disc, it just reverts to Rec.709 even if I set SDR/BT2020 in the menus. Presumably this is because it doesn’t officially support BT2020, even though in a practical sense it manages to do so fine.

So I’m presuming that with proper HDR projectors that do officially support BT2020, the player can just strip the metadata with no need for a linker.

Cheers
Yes, that's correct Graham.
 
Anyone upgraded from last years UB400?
I’m interested in this for the DV capability, and if it’s a bit quieter compared to the UB400 I’ll probably go for it.
UB400 is quiet during play, but when jumping chapters you hear it clearly...
I’d love the 9000 for build quality but not paying an extra £500 odd for that (as the audio side would not be appreciated).
 
because you get a useful display showing how the disc was encoded and what signal is being sent to the display. A second press of the button also brings up further HDR10 metadata, which is cool.

I don't get the HDR10 metadata on mine. I thought that was only available on the UB9000?
 
Anyone upgraded from last years UB400?
I’m interested in this for the DV capability, and if it’s a bit quieter compared to the UB400 I’ll probably go for it.
UB400 is quiet during play, but when jumping chapters you hear it clearly...
I’d love the 9000 for build quality but not paying an extra £500 odd for that (as the audio side would not be appreciated).

It's not quitier with 4K UHD discs compared to my ex-UB700. Discs with DV can get a bit more noisier if your player is within 8 ft from your listening spot.
 
I don't get the HDR10 metadata on mine. I thought that was only available on the UB9000?

Did you mean HDR10+? If yes then make sure it is enabled via the system menu.
 
You don't mention file support in your revire.

Previous Panasonic uhd players have had poor support for video file formats, even from their own range of camcorders. Has this improved eg

Will the player read a NTFS formatted hard drive?

Will the UB820 read H264 and H265 video files from a Blu-ray or dvd disc? (used as backup and formatted to UDF2.5)

Will the UB820 play home made UHD discs on a BD-R made with UHD creator?

I hope Panasonic have implemented these improvements into their new player. If they have then I would definitely buy one so I could do away with connecting the PC to the TV
 
Did you mean HDR10+? If yes then make sure it is enabled via the system menu.

No I mean pressing the Playback Info button a second time doesn't show HDR10 metadata like the review states, it only shows bit rate, audio format etc. when you press it.

I think that feature is only available on the UB9000.
 
No I mean pressing the Playback Info button a second time doesn't show HDR10 metadata like the review states, it only shows bit rate, audio format etc. when you press it.

I think that feature is only available on the UB9000.

Ah ok. Yes those advanced information like MaxCLL / FALL etc. could be limited to UB9000. Haven't seen them on 820.
 
I bought one for £199 in Sevenoaks Sound and Vision. Amazing player for that price, nothing else comes close. My Cambridge CXUHD cost £450 more! o_O
That's a great price, can I ask how long ago that was please as everywhere currently is about the rrp
 
That's a great price, can I ask how long ago that was please as everywhere currently is about the rrp
It's an ongoing offer, instore only.
 
Fantastic review thanks Steve.
I have had this player for about two weeks now and I sit five feet away, I am amazed that I cannot hear it spinning the disc, also the upscaling on Blu Ray is very impressive.
As for 4K, all I can say is wow...

I got mine for £269, with a RS £20 thank you voucher, and £10 off as a VIP member.
 
Any point in upgrading to a 4k player just for 1080p playback?
 
Any point in upgrading to a 4k player just for 1080p playback?

It will depend on what tv you have.
I have the Pana 55"802 Oled and I used my Sony blu ray player at first, but then purchased this PanaUB820 4K Player and I was shocked at the difference on blu ray quality.
At first I had to question are 4K disks worth bothering with because of the impressive Blu Ray quality, well,,, this was until I purchased the Matrix Trilogy.
Hope this is a help
 

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