The one? Ultra Blue Ray Player

rebulx

rebulx

Junior Audioholic
I can only speak for the X800 and not the X700 or X800M2. Netflix can be had in 4K HDR10 and DD 5.1 with the X800 Netflix app. The Apple TV 4K Netflix app can handle DV/HDR10 and Dolby Atmos. The X800 Youtube app can handle 4K HDR10 and 60fps. It outputs in PCM 2.0. The Apple TV 4K can now handle 4K, BUT, no HDR and no 4K @60fps. If you watch 4K 60fps material in the Youtube app, the Apple TV 4K will play it back at 1440 60fps. When the Apple TV 4K is set to allow Dolby Atmos, anything not in Atmos will be sent as PCM.
Guys, please help me. is PCM bad? what is that exactly? Is there a better bit rate to select? I'm using a Yamaha RX-A1080 in a 7.2 environment.
 
I

IansDad88(Don)

Audioholic
Guys, please help me. is PCM bad? what is that exactly? Is there a better bit rate to select? I'm using a Yamaha RX-A1080 in a 7.2 environment.
So I'm not the expert in this, but PCM is not "bad" per se. But if you have the option to set everything to "Bitstream" you should get the highest audio your individual devices can manage.

Up to and including Atmos and DTS-MSTR 7.1 as well as Dolby True-HD, and DTS Neural:X upscaling from 5.1 to 7.1

While not the expert, I know this to be true because it's how I'm set and what I get.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Guys, please help me. is PCM bad? what is that exactly? Is there a better bit rate to select? I'm using a Yamaha RX-A1080 in a 7.2 environment.
In short bitstream and pcm are the same. Bitstream gets decoded by the AVR and pcm gets decoded by the BD player.
 
Kaskade89052

Kaskade89052

Audioholic Samurai
Panasonic DP-UB9000 is a terrific player.
There is only one choice for a premium-built, all-aluminum chassis unit (which is the way gear USED to be...but sadly front displays and solid build quality is a thing of the past), and that is the UB9000.

However, the unit has a plethora of head-scratching shortcomings that some potential owners need to know about (especially given this thing's through-the-roof price; for the record, I own one):

First, it has a non-defeatable auto power-off function that gets REALLY annoying if you have some time, say, between discs you're loading; in my case, sometimes the dog has an accident that we need to clean up or can't decide on the second film we're gonna watch, and this sometimes takes longer than 15 or 20 minutes. The player will power off -- and also dim down its home screen before this happens, annoyingly -- after this time and there is NO way to override this in ANY setting in the menus. From what I've read, this was due to a European energy savings mandate, but that doesn't explain why Panasonic didn't eliminate this stupid feature for North American customers or customers elsewhere on the planet. Absolutely ridiculous feature.

Also, the player will not remember where you left off on ANY discs -- DVD, Blu-ray or UHD Blu-ray -- UNLESS the Blu-ray or UHD Blu-ray has been authored with the "RESUME: YES/NO" prompt, which will pop up the next time you insert the disc. If you press STOP during playback and then eject a disc, the player will NOT remember where you left off last -- something every player before the Panasonics in the 4K era did, including Oppos. This was another ridiculous thing to be missed by Panasonic.

Further, there is no power button standby/on light/indicator around or on the power button; this is hardly a make-or-break thing, but why couldn't Panasonic add one like the Cambridge and Oppo players have?

The front display is ridiculously stripped in terms of information -- all you get is a simple elapsed time for disc playback. No chapter information, audio codec data, nothing. Oppo, again, is SORELY missed in the disc player market because of touches like this...

Now -- if you're still a DVD enthusiast, as I am (I own a TON of DVDs still in our library and can't/won't get rid of all of them), this player just flat-out sucks for a number of reasons (though a lot of these will be relegated to my needs, personally). First, the Hollywood Cinema Experience processor in this thing has pretty cruddy 480i-to-2160 upconversion; I realize it's a HUGE burden on a player's processor to get 480 lines of resolution (interlaced mind you) up to 4K, but my Cambridge Audio CXUHD that I had before the Panasonic (I still have it; it's sitting in the closet as a backup because it developed a noisy DVD playback problem that the repair center couldn't fix; this player is a clone of the Oppo UDP-203) did not exhibit the artifacts I'm seeing with the Panasonic (using the same display settings, which are accurate in my television's Movie picture mode). Just like the first generation DMP-BD10A Blu-ray deck I used back in '08 or so (which I still have and use in the bedroom), the Panasonic just can't de-interlace properly, causing aliasing (jagged edges) and other problems when viewing DVDs.

But that's just the beginning: The DP-UB9000, like every Panny 4K player since the launch of their UB900 debut unit back in 2016, does not offer ANY screen/aspect ratio controls or zooming, as the player is locked in a widescreen-only output -- so if you want to watch, say, DVDs that do not have anamorphic enhancement (I still have a ton), they can't be "blown up" to be shown in their proper ratio via the Panny's remote (this was possible with all of Oppo's Blu-ray players and even their UDP-203/205...and, my CXUHD offered it too). Likewise, if you wish to stretch 4:3 DVD content to fill the 16:9 screen -- which is what I prefer, as I have a lot of 4:3 DVDs still in my collection -- you can't do it through the player; full screen DVDs will play with pillarboxing on the sides...which is technically correct on a 16:9 screen, but I loathe pillarboxing for some reason.

On a side note, we have been forced to begin buying Blu-rays and UHD Blu-rays to replace our non-anamorphic and full screen DVDs because of this zooming issue, and it's becoming pretty expensive; of course, on the flip side, it is an excuse to upgrade to the high definition version of certain titles. :D

Granted, I CAN use my Samsung TV's aspect ratio controls to custom-fit and blow up images as I like, but I don't prefer doing this because it's just a pain in the ass -- I'd need to go into the TV's settings, take it out of 16:9 Standard mode (which is what it typically sits in), switch it to Custom screen size mode, make adjustments with arrows to fit the image to the screen, then return that setting to widescreen once the disc I'm watching is over. Plus, by allowing for a custom zooming/shaping of aspect ratios, you end up over-zooming the intended ratio of the film, so it results in a too-focused or soft mess; it's just not worth it...I'd rather the player do this.

Then, there's also the issue of the picture adjustment controls only being available when you play a disc in the tray -- in other words, when you pop a disc in the UB9000 (or the other Panasonics, for that matter), you can access the picture adjustment controls (sharpness, noise reduction, et al) only if that disc is in and playing. Now, granted, I don't touch any of these controls (they're all on "0," the default positions, save for DVD playback, in which Panasonic has chosen the value of "2" for noise reduction and "edge correction" settings out of the box by default), but I find it odd and annoying that you can't access this menu -- even just to double check what your settings are -- unless a disc is in the drawer and playing. On the Oppo and Cambridge units, there was a Picture Settings menu that was accessible from the main setup menu, and a disc didn't have to be in the drawer.

Many of the settings of these Panasonics, too, are just overtly and unnecessary complicated and complex; case in point: There are a number of picture modes you can run the player in for each type of media you play (Normal, Cinema, Fine, Retro Cinema, etc.) plus three settings memories for each type of media (and one locked out "Standard" mode in which you can't adjust anything) plus picture mode defaults when playing 4K HDR content (Standard, Natural Environment, etc.)...it just all seems like overkill. Why not just include ONE output mode, allowing people to see what's coming off a disc, and then have a picture adjustment window for casual stuff like contrast, noise reduction, etc.?

I can go on and on about the "quirks" of this unit (and, apparently, they're shared with the other Panasonics) but there are also a number of good qualities -- build heft (for the 9000), 4K picture using the HDR Optimizer (another confusing system with a plethora of its own menus), upscaled Blu-ray picture due to the unit's unique chroma upsampling, et al.

While many will see this abundance of tweak options as a plus, it just all seems very overdone and unnecessary to me when the job of a good disc player should be to send out an accurate signal of what's on a disc (I do understand, though, that many projector owners need tweaking tools from time to time; in my case, I'm using a Samsung LCD).

I wish I could have snagged an Oppo 203 before they were off the market, but alas, I was too late; I'm not gonna pay twice as much as what the Panny 9000 costs NEW for something that's used, thus my decision to go with the 9000 for a premium, well-built option.
 
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Kaskade89052

Kaskade89052

Audioholic Samurai
Thats a fantastic review of the Pano 9000!
If you're referring to my post, rebulx, it wasn't really a "review," but more of what I felt were shortcomings of this model taking into consideration what Panasonic asks for it.
 
rebulx

rebulx

Junior Audioholic
so you were just venting? Anyways it was a good read. I enjoyed it.
 
Kaskade89052

Kaskade89052

Audioholic Samurai
so you were just venting? Anyways it was a good read. I enjoyed it.
Well, I was explaining what some downsides of the unit are for those considering it, being that it was being discussed in this thread.

Glad you found it informative, though; did you pick a player?
 
rebulx

rebulx

Junior Audioholic
I went with the Sony 800, it was an easy purchase at my local bb. So far I've been very impressed with the significant sound quality as compared to the steaming stuff I'm used too. I'm now spending a small fortune on new discs, just rewatched all the back to the futures, what a HUGE improvement in sound and video.
 
M

MTVhike

Audioholic Intern
The Sony UBP-X800m2 is also a good 4K blu-ray player. It has the advantage over the Panasonic as it will handle SACD and DVD Audio discs as well.
I own the previous UBP-X800 model and I am very satisfied with it. As a matter of fact, it performs just as well as my OPPO UDP-203.
I have the older UBP-X800, and was wondering what the M2 got you?
 
V

VMPS-TIII

Audioholic General
I see BB has this on sale:


I want to make sure to get DV and 4K UHD Audio - I also have the Sony 700 series but not sure I am getting the best quality out of BR 4K titles

Need to decide on the Pana or Sony also - same dilema
Here's the best bargain.

I can't imagine needing 7 RCA outs when HDMI takes care of it just fine.
 
Kaskade89052

Kaskade89052

Audioholic Samurai
I returned the UB820 after one evening of owning it; $500 for a lightweight piece of plastic that takes up half a shelf space? Yeah, okay.

I can only imagine how plasticky the 420 is...of course, it's not as pricey and some people don't care about aesthetics, but...
 
fast fred

fast fred

Full Audioholic
So is the Pana 420 truly DV and HDR compatible?

I will spend the extra funds if it is - My setup is LG GX 4k and Denon 6700

Of course I am all up for saving coin if the Sony's are compatible with latest DV, Atmos, HDR, etc

Thanks!
 

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