frontpage Posted by brianlb1 • Jan 27, 2025
Jan 27, 2025 1:09 AM
Item 1 of 5
Item 1 of 5
frontpage Posted by brianlb1 • Jan 27, 2025
Jan 27, 2025 1:09 AM
Panasonic UB820 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player w/ HDR10+ & Dolby Vision
+ Free Shipping$391
$497
21% offAmazon
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I have had one for 3 years and I can tell you it's night and day better - especially for upconversion of 480p (DVD) or 1080p (Blu-Ray) content. I did an A/B comparison with an LG 4K UBK90 player and the difference was startling.
The claim to fame on this model is the video processing chip that does upconversion and something called tone mapping which will take all of the pixels in the image and on the fly re-map them to values that are within spec of your display device. This is crucial for 4K HDR material when viewing on an older 4K TV or on a projector where brightness in HDR is limited. This player will brighten up the image with the re-map so that it doesn't look as dark and dull.
I use this in my theater room with my Epson 5050UB projector and it makes a big difference for HDR material.
I you don't need the above, then you can definitely get a less costly player.
Panasonic just released the UB450 in the US/Canada markets. It has Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG HDR formats but lacks the upconverter processing of the 820.
The UB420 which has been available for quite some time doesn't support Dolby Vision, HDR10+ or HLG though it supports HDR10 for 4K HDR content AND also has the UB820's upconversion circuit for enhancing DVD and 1080p Blu-Ray content.
Both of those models are available for between $175-$250. They don't have a front display, are physically smaller with some compromise on build quality and simpler menu, but they are a good alternative if you are looking to save some $$$.
An xbox is not a great movie player so while it can be an alternative, it's not great.
Better scoop up the Panasonic 4K players before they are no longer available. There has been NO mention of them going away, but it seems that most electronics manufacturers have exited or plan to exit the physical media market. Sony & Panasonic remain as the few dominant 4K player manufacturers. Hopefully the stay in the market but who knows.
Sony makes a good player but their menu sucks and one of the most frustrating things about their players is for Dolby Vision content, you have to manually go into the player menu and enable Dolby Vision to run in this mode. If you forget to turn it off and pop a non-DV disc (HDR10 only) it won't give you any errors but the colors will be all messed up.
What a poor firmware implementation. How stupid - the players all know the disc capabilities when they read the initial bits. It's just poor programming on Sony's part to never have fixed this for auto recognition and default into Dolby Vision when a disc has both.
Lowest historical I ever saw for new was $319.99
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank MerryGalley459
The UB820 is definitely an upgrade over the Xbox for 4K Blu-ray playback. With Dolby Vision, HDR10+ support, superior HDR optimization, better upscaling, etc. That being said, an Xbox will be just fine for most.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank scarFromAguitar
Lowest historical I ever saw for new was $319.99
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank marc3
I have had one for 3 years and I can tell you it's night and day better - especially for upconversion of 480p (DVD) or 1080p (Blu-Ray) content. I did an A/B comparison with an LG 4K UBK90 player and the difference was startling.
The claim to fame on this model is the video processing chip that does upconversion and something called tone mapping which will take all of the pixels in the image and on the fly re-map them to values that are within spec of your display device. This is crucial for 4K HDR material when viewing on an older 4K TV or on a projector where brightness in HDR is limited. This player will brighten up the image with the re-map so that it doesn't look as dark and dull.
I use this in my theater room with my Epson 5050UB projector and it makes a big difference for HDR material.
I you don't need the above, then you can definitely get a less costly player.
Panasonic just released the UB450 in the US/Canada markets. It has Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG HDR formats but lacks the upconverter processing of the 820.
The UB420 which has been available for quite some time doesn't support Dolby Vision, HDR10+ or HLG though it supports HDR10 for 4K HDR content AND also has the UB820's upconversion circuit for enhancing DVD and 1080p Blu-Ray content.
Both of those models are available for between $175-$250. They don't have a front display, are physically smaller with some compromise on build quality and simpler menu, but they are a good alternative if you are looking to save some $$$.
An xbox is not a great movie player so while it can be an alternative, it's not great.
Better scoop up the Panasonic 4K players before they are no longer available. There has been NO mention of them going away, but it seems that most electronics manufacturers have exited or plan to exit the physical media market. Sony & Panasonic remain as the few dominant 4K player manufacturers. Hopefully the stay in the market but who knows.
Sony makes a good player but their menu sucks and one of the most frustrating things about their players is for Dolby Vision content, you have to manually go into the player menu and enable Dolby Vision to run in this mode. If you forget to turn it off and pop a non-DV disc (HDR10 only) it won't give you any errors but the colors will be all messed up.
What a poor firmware implementation. How stupid - the players all know the disc capabilities when they read the initial bits. It's just poor programming on Sony's part to never have fixed this for auto recognition and default into Dolby Vision when a disc has both.
You should get a $75 blu ray player instead. Kinda serious.
- the comment about the Sony. Yeah the Sony will work but some players pause randomly in the middle of a movie. If you can get one for a good deal by all means do it. But Panasonic it #1 right now.
I have had one for 3 years and I can tell you it's night and day better - especially for upconversion of 480p (DVD) or 1080p (Blu-Ray) content. I did an A/B comparison with an LG 4K UBK90 player and the difference was startling.
The claim to fame on this model is the video processing chip that does upconversion and something called tone mapping which will take all of the pixels in the image and on the fly re-map them to values that are within spec of your display device. This is crucial for 4K HDR material when viewing on an older 4K TV or on a projector where brightness in HDR is limited. This player will brighten up the image with the re-map so that it doesn't look as dark and dull.
I use this in my theater room with my Epson 5050UB projector and it makes a big difference for HDR material.
I you don't need the above, then you can definitely get a less costly player.
Panasonic just released the UB450 in the US/Canada markets. It has Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG HDR formats but lacks the upconverter processing of the 820.
The UB420 which has been available for quite some time doesn't support Dolby Vision, HDR10+ or HLG though it supports HDR10 for 4K HDR content AND also has the UB820's upconversion circuit for enhancing DVD and 1080p Blu-Ray content.
Both of those models are available for between $175-$250. They don't have a front display, are physically smaller with some compromise on build quality and simpler menu, but they are a good alternative if you are looking to save some $$$.
An xbox is not a great movie player so while it can be an alternative, it's not great.
Better scoop up the Panasonic 4K players before they are no longer available. There has been NO mention of them going away, but it seems that most electronics manufacturers have exited or plan to exit the physical media market. Sony & Panasonic remain as the few dominant 4K player manufacturers. Hopefully the stay in the market but who knows.
Sony makes a good player but their menu sucks and one of the most frustrating things about their players is for Dolby Vision content, you have to manually go into the player menu and enable Dolby Vision to run in this mode. If you forget to turn it off and pop a non-DV disc (HDR10 only) it won't give you any errors but the colors will be all messed up.
What a poor firmware implementation. How stupid - the players all know the disc capabilities when they read the initial bits. It's just poor programming on Sony's part to never have fixed this for auto recognition and default into Dolby Vision when a disc has both.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank neomatrixviper
I have had one for 3 years and I can tell you it's night and day better - especially for upconversion of 480p (DVD) or 1080p (Blu-Ray) content. I did an A/B comparison with an LG 4K UBK90 player and the difference was startling.
The claim to fame on this model is the video processing chip that does upconversion and something called tone mapping which will take all of the pixels in the image and on the fly re-map them to values that are within spec of your display device. This is crucial for 4K HDR material when viewing on an older 4K TV or on a projector where brightness in HDR is limited. This player will brighten up the image with the re-map so that it doesn't look as dark and dull.
I use this in my theater room with my Epson 5050UB projector and it makes a big difference for HDR material.
I you don't need the above, then you can definitely get a less costly player.
Panasonic just released the UB450 in the US/Canada markets. It has Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG HDR formats but lacks the upconverter processing of the 820.
The UB420 which has been available for quite some time doesn't support Dolby Vision, HDR10+ or HLG though it supports HDR10 for 4K HDR content AND also has the UB820's upconversion circuit for enhancing DVD and 1080p Blu-Ray content.
Both of those models are available for between $175-$250. They don't have a front display, are physically smaller with some compromise on build quality and simpler menu, but they are a good alternative if you are looking to save some $$$.
An xbox is not a great movie player so while it can be an alternative, it's not great.
Better scoop up the Panasonic 4K players before they are no longer available. There has been NO mention of them going away, but it seems that most electronics manufacturers have exited or plan to exit the physical media market. Sony & Panasonic remain as the few dominant 4K player manufacturers. Hopefully the stay in the market but who knows.
Sony makes a good player but their menu sucks and one of the most frustrating things about their players is for Dolby Vision content, you have to manually go into the player menu and enable Dolby Vision to run in this mode. If you forget to turn it off and pop a non-DV disc (HDR10 only) it won't give you any errors but the colors will be all messed up.
What a poor firmware implementation. How stupid - the players all know the disc capabilities when they read the initial bits. It's just poor programming on Sony's part to never have fixed this for auto recognition and default into Dolby Vision when a disc has both.
The UB420 does support HDR10+ and HLG but not Dolby Vision. You might need a firmware update for this. I have both the 420 and 820. I just recently got an open box 420 in good condition for $140 from Best Buy. The unit looks brand new with the remote still sealed. I returned the UB450 back to Amazon because my old LGOLED does not support DV.
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