Panasonic UB-9000 won't read 4k discs

[Walsh1]

I've owned my Panasonic UB-9000 for almost 3 years now. It has developed an issue. It won't read 4k discs now. I can eventually get it to read after opening and closing the tray repetitively. It will eventually read the movie after 30 to 45 minutes of trying. And by that point I'm angry. Determined but angry. LoL. It reads Blu-ray movies fine. But 4k discs are the issue. So I absolutely am not buying that this is dust or something on the lens.

What is the issue and how can I have my machine serviced and where? Are there repair shops for this nich sort of thing in King County Washington?

After 3 years it seems like it's premature to have to drop over a grand on a premium player.

 

[TLS Guy]

I've owned my Panasonic UB-9000 for almost 3 years now. It has developed an issue. It won't read 4k discs now. I can eventually get it to read after opening and closing the tray repetitively. It will eventually read the movie after 30 to 45 minutes of trying. And by that point I'm angry. Determined but angry. LoL. It reads Blu-ray movies fine. But 4k discs are the issue. So I absolutely am not buying that this is dust or something on the lens.

What is the issue and how can I have my machine serviced and where? Are there repair shops for this nich sort of thing in King County Washington?

After 3 years it seems like it's premature to have to drop over a grand on a premium player.

Well it likely has one of two causes. The most likely is dirt on that laser lens. So the first thing to do is use a cleaning disc. If that does not work, then open the unit up and clean the laser lenses with a Q-tip soaked in isopropyl alcohol

The second most likely problem is that that laser has got slightly out of alignment. In that case the unit will need professional attention.

You can go all "mouth and trousers" about rejecting the most common cause, but that is your stubborn funeral. You asked for an opinion and you have got one from someone with considerable experience in these matters. Until you proceed as I advised I have no further advice for you at this stage. By the way these units have multiple lasers , because of the different light wavelengths required to read different discs. So it is common for a player not the read one particular type of disc.

 

[lovinthehd]

Is it still under warranty? I suspect not. Local service is getting hard but might check out if a factory service center is near you. I'd agree with TLS that it's possibly still a cleaning/alignment thing, whether you can deal with that, hard to know.

 

[Walsh1]

Ok forum friends,
To follow up on this thread I've now completed using the disc Dr cleaning disc. I've ran it through twice for good measure. My player is still having issues as it plays 4k discs haphazardly with success/failure.

I'm not sure how comfortable I am with opening up my disc player and locating the lens to clean with isopropyl alcohol. But I know it's a method of troubleshooting.

At this point I'm curious if there is a way to find a place to service it. Possibly realign the laser or whatever, if that is the issue.

My frustration might be at breaking point soon as to just purchase another 4k player. It's unfortunate to dump another G on a player after having this one for only 3 years.

 

[TLS Guy]

Ok forum friends,
To follow up on this thread I've now completed using the disc Dr cleaning disc. I've ran it through twice for good measure. My player is still having issues as it plays 4k discs haphazardly with success/failure.

I'm not sure how comfortable I am with opening up my disc player and locating the lens to clean with isopropyl alcohol. But I know it's a method of troubleshooting.

At this point I'm curious if there is a way to find a place to service it. Possibly realign the laser or whatever, if that is the issue.

My frustration might be at breaking point soon as to just purchase another 4k player. It's unfortunate to dump another G on a player after having this one for only 3 years.

I have the same disc player, I bought mine just over four years ago. I have had no issues.

One thing I should have asked you is what HDMI cable are you using? Some over on he AVS forum have had your issue, and solved it with a better cable.

4K takes much more bandwidth than 2K. For 4K you need HDMI 2.1 rated cables, from your player to the the receiver and from your receiver to your TV.

In addition these cable can not be long. 12' is max and some are reporting issues with cables over 10'. If you have HDMI cables over 10' then I strongly recommend active hybrid optical HDMI cables. The run from my AVP to the TV is over 30' and I use a hybrid active Ruipro cable.

So check you cables and specification. Before you go any further change your HDMI cables before you chuck out your UB9000.

If you exclude the HDMI cables, you have nothing to lose from opening up the player. The laser lenses will be pretty obvious.

I have done a search for a service manual, and one is not available. There needs to be a change in law regarding this.

I have just found on the Panasonic website that these units were prone to your problem. That have a firmware update that apparently solves this problem.

• A firmware update of version 1.55 or higher required.

My firmware is up to date, so make sure yours is.

One other issue I was not aware of. Some BD discs require the player has to be connected to the Internet to play properly. I never heard this before. My player is connected to the Internet by cable.

It seems that Panasonic only offer warranty service, which is one year. That is a disgrace to only offer one year warranty service. As well as not publishing a service manual they do not list any service centers.

This epitomizes everything that is wrong with the AV industry at present and is a disgraceful state of affairs.

Companies should be levied fines that hurt for not providing service manuals, listing service centers and keeping parts readily available.

One other thing I should have mentioned is that if you update the firmware, make sure you connect the unit to your router with an Ethernet cable. Wi-Fi is not reliable enough and if the stream gets interrupted it will ruin the player until the BIOS is reflashed and the firmware re-installed. With no service centers you would be SOL.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Ok forum friends,
To follow up on this thread I've now completed using the disc Dr cleaning disc. I've ran it through twice for good measure. My player is still having issues as it plays 4k discs haphazardly with success/failure.

I'm not sure how comfortable I am with opening up my disc player and locating the lens to clean with isopropyl alcohol. But I know it's a method of troubleshooting.

At this point I'm curious if there is a way to find a place to service it. Possibly realign the laser or whatever, if that is the issue.

My frustration might be at breaking point soon as to just purchase another 4k player. It's unfortunate to dump another G on a player after having this one for only 3 years.

That’s why I only spent $140 on my Panasonic 4K player.

My Sony 4K player died after 2 years. No way I’m spending a lot on these.

 

[TLS Guy]

That’s why I only spent $140 on my Panasonic 4K player.

My Sony 4K player died after 2 years. No way I’m spending a lot on these.

That was what the late Ted Perry, founder of Hyperion records said about CD players years ago. He said the ability of CD players to play discs was inversely proportional to their cost!

 

[lovinthehd]

I haven't allowed any of my bluray players to connect to the internet since setup of each and have no issues yet playing a disc.

 

[isolar8001]

I haven't allowed any of my bluray players to connect to the internet since setup of each and have no issues yet playing a disc.

What TLSGuy was referring to is discs that have Java features...actors bios, studio info and so forth.
Like streaming services have when you are watching.
Those features won't work without an internet connection, but the disc should still play.

No doubt though that disc players are unreliable....this certainly hasn't helped physical media sales.
Those thousand dollar disc players aren't any better than the two hundred dollar ones as far as longevity goes.

They should concentrate more on the quality of the mechanism, and leave out all the streaming crap and such.

 

[lovinthehd]

What TLSGuy was referring to is discs that have Java features...actors bios, studio info and so forth.
Like streaming services have when you are watching.
Those features won't work without an internet connection, but the disc should still play.

No doubt though that disc players are unreliable....this certainly hasn't helped physical media sales.
Those thousand dollar disc players aren't any better than the two hundred dollar ones as far as longevity goes.

They should concentrate more on the quality of the mechanism, and leave out all the streaming crap and such.

Yeah those type of features that require the internet I have no problem missing out on, prefer the full suite of extra features be on the disc, tho.

 

[TLS Guy]

I haven't allowed any of my bluray players to connect to the internet since setup of each and have no issues yet playing a disc.

How to you know when a firmware update is required? Us older guys tend to think right away that issues like the OPs are going to be mechanical. However, after extensive research last night I find that is not necessarily so. It does seem that 4K disc players are reporting more issues.

I have not had issues with my Panny UB90000, but I have done every firmware update. So far so good.

My top end Sony player has been more problematic in that it used to lock up. Unplugging and reconnecting would solve it. After all the firmware updates it seems not to do it. I have that player to play SACDs, which the Panny does not. In any event, I learned years ago to have more than one disc player in the room, as there always seems to be the odd disc that will play on one player and not another. My AV room actually has four disc players connected. In addition to the top end Panny and Sony, I have my old Marantz CD player, and a small universal Sony, not connected to the Internet. This will play discs from any jurisdiction.

What struck me last night was how prevalent problems playing 4K discs are and BDs in general to an extent. So it seems the OP has plenty of company. The major disgrace is the lack of service, especially out of warranty. So buying at the lower end of the market, may well be good advice. That means more disposable electronics.

Having said that though, with streaming making such rapid progress, you can see the end of physical media. In the last 15 years streaming has made meteoric progress. What amazes me is that that Internet infrastructure has kept pace with the massive increase in demand.

The quality of the BPO stream is now as good as the physical disc. I think that was why they issued that two disc set to renewing members to show that point. I can not detect a difference from the stream or the physical discs.

A recent performance of Lohengrin was put up on the Metropolitan Opera stream. I watched it yesterday. Both picture and sound were stunning. The sound and its perspective was among the best I have heard. It was a wonderful performance. There were also visual effects that would not have been visible to the seated audience.
A huge Orchestra in the pit, a 130 member opera chorus on stage for the bulk of the opera, and brass players also turning up on stage for dramatic moments.
I have to say the quality of the whole thing was just stunning. I would never have believed anything like that would be possible in my lifetime, such a short time ago.
That really has made me wonder about the viability of physical media in the future.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

That was what the late Ted Perry, founder of Hyperion records said about CD players years ago. He said the ability of CD players to play discs was inversely proportional to their cost!

I’ve owned many CD players, DVD players and changers, BD players, $2K and $3K Denon Universal players. Even Many $1500 Pioneer LaserDisc players and one $800 Toshiba HD-DVD Player. None of them have died on me.

And then I got a $200 Sony 4K UHD player that died after 2 years. Also two $1K Sony TVs that died after 6 years. And I’ve never had any TV die on me in my life. So either it’s just bad luck or they don’t make them like they used to.

So it makes me want to spend less on these things so that I can use the rest of the money on replacing them in a few years.

As for media players, these days I mainly use my HTPC (that I built) anyway.

 

[TLS Guy]

I’ve owned many CD players, DVD players and changers, BD players, $2K and $3K Denon Universal players. Even Many $1500 Pioneer LaserDisc players and one $800 Toshiba HD-DVD Player. None of them have died on me.

And then I got a $200 Sony 4K UHD player that died after 2 years. Also two $1K Sony TVs that died after 6 years. And I’ve never had any TV die on me in my life. So either it’s just bad luck or they don’t make them like they used to.

So it makes me want to spend less on these things so that I can use the rest of the money on replacing them in a few years.

As for media players, these days I mainly use my HTPC (that I built) anyway.

Same here I stream mainly with my HTPC and my DAW, which are home builds. I do use the the BPO LG app for streaming Atmos from that site, as it is not possible via Windows.

I will say one thing about costly complex gear. There are a lot of potentially fragile devices in AV devices now, especially TVs. I wonder if a lot of failures that people report are due to lack of protection. I install really robust protection, and all three systems, including the TVs are protected by surge protection at service entry and protected by UPS devices. Power amps are the only equipment not connected to UPS. This is another reason not to use receivers, as it is not really possible to protect them via UPS as they contain power amps.

I proved the point at our medical center years ago, when the president asked me to take this portfolio because of the enormous cost and disruption of equipment failures. My first step was to invest and install in protection. So, I put in place an extensive and comprehensive program. The failure rate literally fell off a cliff. This really brought home to me the importance of robust protection to me. So protection has a prominent place and role in my system design of all three systems here.

 

[lovinthehd]

I’ve owned many CD players, DVD players and changers, BD players, $2K and $3K Denon Universal players. Even Many $1500 Pioneer LaserDisc players and one $800 Toshiba HD-DVD Player. None of them have died on me.

And then I got a $200 Sony 4K UHD player that died after 2 years. Also two $1K Sony TVs that died after 6 years. And I’ve never had any TV die on me in my life. So either it’s just bad luck or they don’t make them like they used to.

So it makes me want to spend less on these things so that I can use the rest of the money on replacing them in a few years.

As for media players, these days I mainly use my HTPC (that I built) anyway.

I tend to think of it as price point mentality, keeping a product aimed at a price point even if you have to let the bean counters loose on it

I've only had two optical disc failures, my original Sony D-5 (50?) after many years of use, particularly in the car....and a Samsung bluray player. My Sony players have been fine, altho I haven't tested my old cd changer in a while but did work last time I tried. I do regret in a way not buying another Oppo, would have at least been a decent investment return

 

[TLS Guy]

I tend to think of it as price point mentality, keeping a product aimed at a price point even if you have to let the bean counters loose on it

I've only had two optical disc failures, my original Sony D-5 (50?) after many years of use, particularly in the car....and a Samsung bluray player. My Sony players have been fine, altho I haven't tested my old cd changer in a while but did work last time I tried. I do regret in a way not buying another Oppo, would have at least been a decent investment return

I have not had a lot of trouble with disc players but some.

After a lot of use my Revox CD player failed. This was an early player bought in 1984. I just put it away and bought a Marantz CD player which is still part of the system here. A member joined looking for one of those Revox players. The problem was the drawer motor had failed. I sourced the part from the retired Revox service manager, who still had two tucked away. So I repaired it, and sold it to the member for a good but fair price.

I had a Panasonic BDT220 fail. I had two of them, one in the family room at our lake home, the other at our Eagan townhome. One of the Lasers failed in the one at the lake. A new drive was available online so I bought one and installed it, but could not get it to work. Of course there was no service manual available. Anyhow I phoned Panasonic and they told me that for security reasons a code had to be entered. That is corporate BS of course. Anyhow I persuaded them to send me a code and instructions of what to do with it, and it worked. I still have these, and one is in our great room and the other in my storage pile.

I also have an Oppo player, it is a fairly early player. It is a BD-83. I was planning to use it in the AV room here, but it would only give a mauve picture via my Marantz 7705 and my LG OLED. So I moved it to the family room here were it still works with the older Marantz AVP 8801.

I already had the Panny BD9000. However that does not play SACDs, so I had to replace the OPPO in the AV room with a Sony top line player. Both the Panny and Sony had issues orionally, which got solved with firmware upgrades. Then I have a cheap Sony to play PAL discs of which I have number.

So that is my story with disc players. Overall nothing out of the ordinary, but two would not be working without my service interventions.

 

[lovinthehd]

I have not had a lot of trouble with disc players but some.

After a lot of use my Revox CD player failed. This was an early player bought in 1984. I just put it away and bought a Marantz CD player which is still part of the system here. A member joined looking for one of those Revox players. The problem was the drawer motor had failed. I sourced the part from the retired Revox service manager, who still had two tucked away. So I repaired it, and sold it to the member for a good but fair price.

I had a Panasonic BDT220 fail. I had two of them, one in the family room at our lake home, the other at our Eagan townhome. One of the Lasers failed in the one at the lake. A new drive was available online so I bought one and installed it, but could not get it to work. Of course there was no service manual available. Anyhow I phoned Panasonic and they told me that for security reasons a code had to be entered. That is corporate BS of course. Anyhow I persuaded them to send me a code and instructions of what to do with it, and it worked. I still have these, and one is in our great room and the other in my storage pile.

I also have an Oppo player, it is a fairly early player. It is a BD-83. I was planning to use it in the AV room here, but it would only give a mauve picture via my Marantz 7705 and my LG OLED. So I moved it to the family room here were it still works with the older Marantz AVP 8801.

I already had the Panny BD9000. However that does not play SACDs, so I had to replace the OPPO in the AV room with a Sony top line player. Both the Panny and Sony had issues orionally, which got solved with firmware upgrades. Then I have a cheap Sony to play PAL discs of which I have number.

So that is my story with disc players. Overall nothing out of the ordinary, but two would not be working without my service interventions.

IIRC a great deal of the world's cd players at one point had at their core Sony mechanisms. I do like the multich SACD capabilities of my Sony bluray players, all just lower models (S5100 and S6700). I think Oppo does still provide service, altho not sure for something as old as the BD83. The Sony players I have are a bit plasticy and odd shaped, and the 6700 had handshake issues with a particular combination of brands....and recently discovered the 5100s had the ability to help rip multich files so even better.

 

[TLS Guy]

IIRC a great deal of the world's cd players at one point had at their core Sony mechanisms. I do like the multich SACD capabilities of my Sony bluray players, all just lower models (S5100 and S6700). I think Oppo does still provide service, altho not sure for something as old as the BD83. The Sony players I have are a bit plasticy and odd shaped, and the 6700 had handshake issues with a particular combination of brands....and recently discovered the 5100s had the ability to help rip multich files so even better.

There is nothing actually wrong with the player, but the HD output is not forward compatible and it works fine when connected to older gear, just not newer gear with later HDMI specs.

 

[lovinthehd]

There is nothing actually wrong with the player, but the HD output is not forward compatible and it works fine when connected to older gear, just not newer gear with later HDMI specs.

What do you mean the hdmi isn't forward compatible? The forward gear should be compatible with older versions, tho.

 

[TLS Guy]

What do you mean the hdmi isn't forward compatible? The forward gear should be compatible with older versions, tho.

Not if you are Oppo! Their older gear will not work properly with newer gear. I suspect their HDMI implementation was not correct.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not if you are Oppo! Their older gear will not work properly with newer gear. I suspect their HDMI implementation was not correct.

Many still use such gear. Yours is the only report like this I've seen. What were you trying to do?