Blu-ray Player Reviews

Wow Kris, phenomenal review.
You gave us all the highlights (HDR optimizer being the golden nugget), with concise use of words.
I've been waiting for the release of this Panasonic model in order to determine if I will upgrade. My evasive answer is yes, but not yet.
I will wait until next model year, when the likelihood is that HDMI 2.1 output (video) will be part of the package.

Last year, after experiencing noise problems and questionable build quality while disregarding the store manager's advice about spending the extra money on the UB900, I purchased AND returned TWO LG UP970 4K players back to the retailer and with a sheepish look on my face and the manager saying "I told you so", I bought the Panasonic UB900 and boy am I glad I did.

This is a superior player in every way and although with not quite the build quality of the Oppo 203 and the lack of DVD Audio and SACD capability, early on its evaluation, a number of reviewers( and I would concur)that the UB900, compared to the Oppo 203, was evaluated as having slightly superior performance in HDR mode and the scaling of BR discs to 4K Ultra HD on a 4K compatible set. Panasonic has certainly upped their game and although somewhat more expensive than the average player, with the feature set on these players ane Oppo now gone, in my opinion, these are the players that stand out from the pack. I wonder though, since my current UB900 DOES have 4K/HDR streaming support, in regard to the UB820, I am assuming there is a firmware update forthcoming to add this feature?

I am not sure whether I will even need the new UB820, however, should the UB9000 become available in North America, that is a player that would be of interest to me.

Will the HDR to SDR conversion work well enough to work with a projector calibrated to 20fl?

I’m happily streaming Netflix in 4k/HDR on my new 820 running the current firmware v1.26.

I had to turn off the “HDR10+” setting first though in the Player Settings / HDMI menu. That obviously should not be on by default.

I also have Dolby Vision turned off because my 2016 OLED can’t be calibrated in that mode. No big loss because Netflix HDR 10 with the HDR Optimizer on looks great! I’m getting Atmos audio as well!

Not so good news with the Amazon and YouTube apps though. So far I haven’t been able to get HDR in the Amazon app and the YouTube app doesn’t look right either.

Does the 820 processing do anything to improve the picture from BluRay or DVD discs ?

I don't understand where this review is coming from. It concludes with "adds much-needed features to optimize HDR playback" but I disagree. Rather it adds useless features so the manufacturer can try to charge more.

To me, the primary job of any Blu-ray player is to extract the bitstream from the disk and send it on *unmodified* to either the AVR or the HDR capable 4K TV. I don't see the need for any on board processing, at least in the mainstream case, and that certainly shouldn't cost $500!

Perhaps there are a few people out there with non HDR capable 4K TVs, who might find this player's on board processing useful, but I would suspect they are the minority given how quickly the market has moved.

Product is unavailable from any distributor (Amazon, Crutchfield, etc.) that I would trust as of 12/28/2018.

As on 7/16/2019, the player is available at Crutchfield and Amazon. I was desperately seeking a UHD player with a timer display, as I do sometimes like to see how far I am in a movie.

That’s a feature that the now discontinued Oppo Digital players offered, and would have been a welcome addition to this player so that other sources could take advantage of its unique HDR processing crawl space encapsulation miami fl