Exactly! Streaming services have to do so much compression on the media to stop their servers getting overloaded that Blu-ray always ends up being way better quality. Even with non 4K discs. I recently bought Star Trek Next Gen on Blu-ray and it is sooooo much better than the Netflix version. The colours are more vibrant, there is a huge increase in detail and the motion is much better e.g. when the ship is moving you can see all the windows in perfect detail unlike on Netflix where they are blurred. Hopefully physical media stays around for a while longer :)
happy to see you can rent 4K blueray disc,just trying find best outfit. Hate steaming no matter your wifi even it's hard wire ethernet,you'll get buffering sooner or later,Agggggg!
You really can't beat the quality of Discs. Make sure we back the media. Problem I have is even if the consumers love a product like DVD and Blu-ray (that took ages to establish) they kind of change things by force even if we are happy with what we got. One way they did things before to get people to buy the tech is to genuinely strive to improve quality. The convenience age of streaming is to compromised for my liking. And it's so cool to have a disc in your hand and that. Makes you want to watch them when you end up flicking through your own discs.
@@truhunk1 I bought it and I like it a lot! I think it loads a little slowly but, I'm impatient. It is flexible and feature packed! I think the one I most appreciate is the ability to have DTS soundtracks convert to PCM automatically. I know that sounds backwards but, that's the only way those soundtracks will play through my Sonos Arc. I would, and may, buy another UB820. I am still building my physical 4K movie library. My tv is a Sony X900H. This is a monster setup for me that has a few compromises, but overall is extremely satisfying!
@@mvhlsc7 That's good to know. One question please. The ub820 does upscale regular blu-ray discs, do the 4k discs actually look better than the upscaled blu-rays ? Thanks.
@@truhunk1 Most times yes but, it really depends on the source material (some Blu-rays are hard to improve opon) and how thoroughly the transfer is performed. I am an audiophile so, having movies with lossless soundtracks is important to me, which is why I choose 4K when I can, but not at any cost. I frequent sites like 'Blu-Ray. Com', 'Films at Home' and 'MovieGuy365' for reviews of the video transfer and soundtrack quality, of movies I'm interested in, to help me decide if I should upgrade or keep what I have already.
Good review as always,bought an HSU vtf3 mk5 sub upon seeing u review the mk2 & let me admit it's a monster for such a reasonable price,how come most prominent channels don't tlk about these subs is beyond me
jon blaze Hsu is a sleeper brand for sure. I think marketing department isn’t a big corporate type, more of a family business. I have their VTF-3 MK5 also. I was going to get two but their sales guy talked me out of it and he was right, it is indeed a monster!
Thank you for watching and I'm glad you're enjoying the HSU! Yea I'm sure the VTF3 is a monster! The VTF2 is still my main sub and I'm loving it! I'm not sure why they aren't more videos / reviews out there, I'm guessing it's marketing just like @supperconductor said.
You have 12 different releases of the same movie!? Even as a dedicated movie addict myself, who lives to watch great movies on disc, to me, the fact that your collection includes 12 different versions of Star Wars: A New Hope, seems quite excessive! And I say that even as someone who, for example, has watched Apocalypse Now at least 20 times in total, between my viewing of it in a movie theater, multiple times on VHS, then on DVD, followed, of course, by viewing that great film on 1080p Blu-ray, and finally, having watched it about three times on UHD 4K Blue-ray, over the last year and a half. And I've had 1 VHS version of Apocalypse Now, 2 of its DVD releases, 2 of its Blu-ray versions, and naturally, now have the UHD 4K Blu-ray of the movie. So that means that my favorite film has had 6 versions of it which were part of our movie collection here, at one time or another. But honestly, I just can't imagine ever increasing the total # of versions of that movie that we've acquired to possibly reach the level of a dozen different releases! And in 2 cases I only acquired new versions of that movie in order to have features & documentaries about the film, that had not been available before.
I own this player a few years ago. It was very nice. And just to advise you and a community. Though it does not play SACDs. It will play DSD. I played Diana krall on it. And it sounded awesome in DSD. . Great video by the way. Thank you for the detailed info. It's good to see that you take pride in your gear
Great review. My only complaint about this unit is the remote. It's just crap, especially the button placement. I've hit the stupid netflix key so many times trying to navigate the dvd menues, and when this happen, you have to start all over again , it won't take you back to where you were.
Thanks for another great review. I ordered the 820 on Thursday, it should be here Monday. I've wanted it since it first debuted mostly for the HDR optimizer. I've had the LG UBK90 for about two years and it's a great player but I think the 820 will definitely bea upgrade in both picture and sound quality. Now that I have a receiver and speakers it's going to help upgrade my entire system. I can't wait!
@@danemoreno88 thanks. I've enjoyed the LG UBK90 very much and it's worked great, no skips or hiccups or freezes of any kind. I just know that the 820 will be much better.
@@HomeTheaterHobbyist and Christmas is coming early! And often! 😂😂 finally got a receiver, that's been two years in the making. Then Denon announced their new lineup and I was like damn you Denon!! 11 channels of processing for $1200 is crazy. I've got the Onkyo TX-NR686 and it's a great starter. I have two pairs of the Micca OoO speakers and they're surprisingly great for no bigger than they are and fill my room with sound. Already had the neighbor pounding on the wall and that's without a subwoofer. I've got another pair on the way for Atmos channels and I will be ordering a sub probably this week. And you'll appreciate this, I found old speaker up in the attic here at my apartment and currently using it as a center. It's better than nothing, and it still works. It's from a stereo system from JC Penny from around 1977!!! Having a center though was a game changer for being able to turn up the dialogue and still keep explosions and stuff lower. Still though, even though everything is new, I've already got upgradeitis. Haha. I'm thinking how much nicer would different speakers sound up front? How would everything look on an OLED? I've gone down the rabbit hole and there's no going back now.
Recently bought a 820 for $347.99(now $397.99) from World Wide Stereo fulfilled by Amazon. It's a great player that's replacing a Sony x800. It looks amazing playing through my 65" Sony x960h!
I've been using this player for the past six months. The dual hdmi out is the best feature in my opinion, the interface could be faster, but overall I like it a lot
Hi, do you experience the streaming app is slow response in the player? Like the Amazon prime app, whenever you go down, up, left, right in the app, it takes 3-5 seconds to click on the next...
Awesome review I agree with your ratings to me it’s the best player around I can live without the sacd or dvd audio so to me it’s a 5/5 all around Panasonic really hit it out of the park with this one
Thanks for the video. I have the Panasonic Blu-ray BTT-490. By mid-October, 2023, Netflix will no longer support this player. I've been looking at the UB820 as a replacement, but not being knowledgeable about these things, I'm a little confused. The BTT-490 I have now came with passive 3 ohm speakers for the 5.1 surround sound built into the player. Since the UB820 doesn't include speakers, does it even support passive speakers plugged in to the RCA audio jacks on the back, assuming I get some with the correct impedance match... or will I need powered speakers... or some type of receiver/speakers setup? And if powered speakers will work, what ohm speakers does the UB820 support?
Great review. This is exactly what I needed, to the point and covered all my questions. I used your links for the player and the HDMI cable to help you out. I will use this Panasonic for movies only as I have a Sony UBP-X1000ES now and it sometimes gets stuck when playing a Blu-ray disc. I will use the Sony just for SACD and DVD-Audio playing. Thanks!
Can you do me a favour? I'm from Brazil and I would like to know if this device can read .srt subtitles from the usb while playing a disc before importing
Great review. Just subscribed. I’m moving back to physical media and this machine is on my list. To be honest I have a couple of streaming services and have been really disappointed with the quality of some of their ‘4K’ content. My standard Blu-ray player is better quality in some cases.
Another fine review. And I totally agree with your assessment about buying media... It's definitely the way to go for the absolute best video and sound quality. Glad you mentioned the Sony UBP-X700... But is the Panasonic worth the extra cost over the Sony?
Thank you! If you are planning to purchase a player I'd go for the Panasonic because it does offer HDR10+ which the Sony does not offer. Also many people have mentioned issues with their Sony freezing during 4K playback, I haven't experience this on my player but I've heard it a lot. While I've only heard from 1 person who said the Panasonic froze during 4K playback. As far as upgrading.......... I would only upgrade if your Sony player is freezing a lot and you have a Samsung TV that supports HDR10+.
I bought the Sony last year... And I still haven't had any freezing issues using any discs. My Samsung TV does support HDR10+, but I don't see myself upgrading my player just for that one feature.
@@HomeTheaterHobbyist Yes, the exact reason I've bought 2 UB-820s (the 1st in March 2021, and the 2nd in early Sept. 2022) is due to this Panasonic model being known for not freezing up, like some Sony UHD 4K players do when trying to deal with the 3rd data layer of some 4K Blu-rays. But only a 4K disc that has a movie on it that's quite long, such as being at least 2 hrs 45 or 2 hrs 50 min in length, or longer, needs to use a 3rd data layer for an UHD 4K movie to be able to fit on a SINGLE UHD 4K disc. However, I've long been a big fan of Sony, with us still using 3 Sony 1080p Blu-ray players in 3 rooms of our house. BUT, since Panasonic's UB-820 unit has never frozen up when playing any of the 48 movies we have on UHD 4K Blu-ray (nor with any of the 1,082 movies of our regular Blu-ray collection), I simply have to 2nd the opinion of those saying that the UB-820 should be the choice of serious home theater fans who want to view movies in the highest PQ possible, while having the least amount of trouble possible.
I just bought the UB820 for $350 pre Black Friday which makes it a even better deal and I already have the UB420 that doesn't have DV but still a great little player
And over a year later still no replacement for the 820 (nor Sony 800 Mk2) - think that its a bit like LD - few players, slowly updated - then format ended. Don't get me wrong I LOVE 4K UHD and have some more discs on order (as well having NF / D+ / AP) I still want my 'own' copy .....still have an extensive LD collection which I never watch but have no plans to clear. Thank you for your review.
Thanks for the great review. I have a couple 4k movies in my Vudu library, so finding out this player doesnt have Vudu was very helpful. Still might get it though.Thanks again.
Sony 700 has a vudu app ,i got both the panosonic and sony,hooked to an lg c9 0led,with a nakamichi shockwafe sb ,if one 4k player acts up i use the other
@@HomeTheaterHobbyist I have quite a few blu rays that won't play. The Accountant, Batman Beyond, the Friday the 13th films and Justice League War are just some of them. Do you have this problem?
I had been on the fence about upgrading from my Samsung m8500 for a while and always had this on the top of the want list (having seen a lot of reviews and youtubers high praise but your review is the one that finally got me to pull the trigger and I couldn’t be happier. What a great player compared to just about everything else out there!
Just arrived cause my Sony 800M2 froze mid way right out of the box with any disk. Does this have any issues like that? Also, is Dolby Vision automatic? Really like it has an optimizer. You don't get 4K on streams they really reduce quality and sound. I always liked that get true audio/video and I own disks, plus you get digital codes these days so it's a no brainer.
I saw on another review yesterday that this player does automatically switch, whereas the much cheaper Sony 700 makes you do it before every film. That’s worth the upgrade alone.
@@mattcarpenter318 I ended up getting this player. No complaints or issues and has lots of features to get best audio and image quality of disk beyond your 4k good tv. Worth it ive tested 3 months now all my top 4K movies and a lot of blue rays. Im really satisfied.
Just buy the Panasonic 420 instead. It features the same HCX processor and HDR optimizer as the 820 minus Dolby Vision. Save some money since the 420 is cheaper.
I like the optimized but it only works on HDR10 content not Dolby Vision or HDR10+. If you don't have Dolby Vision, I'd go for the 820 instead of the 420 because the 420 doesn't support Dolby Vision and that format is really common.
How do you have this wired to your Receiver? Just one hdmi cord? I have heard the sound is not the best Can you let the receiver decode all of the Audio? Will receiver downgrade the video?
Yes, hdmi is the best way. A modern receiver will pass the video signal on to the tv without manipulation. Then process the audio automatically or based on the setting that the user determines.
I just picked up this player and have been pretty happy with it so far. Sadly I bought it at nearly full price so I missed out on the sale Amazon is doing right now though!
Ok. Your review convinced me. I have not so small collection of DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray3D and Blu-ray 4K. New consoles play most of them but not all. And picture quality is not great sometimes. I want a simple player. Put the disc in, push play on remote, watch the film in the best picture and audio quality I can afford. I think these are the last years we can buy such a device. In a year or two, only high end 4K disc players or used market will be your options. After that, you will own nothing you paid for. Sad times 😔
Hi this is Scooter Steve I have the UB 9000 I just got it three days ago I got used on eBay but I’m watching things on RU-vid. A lot of people are saying it does not play the 4K videos I don’t have a 4K video I just have regular Blu-ray ditched and I was worrying about that and then on your website you talk about HDRHDR of conteck switch And where to go when I push the button like you’re showing it doesn’t show anything like that so I don’t know why it doesn’t do anything but I’m just putting a regular Blu-ray disc in it and I don’t see anything like what you’re showing built into the box please let me know why scooter is Steve I appreciate it. Thank you.
Hi! I'm not sure if it has Dolby Vision HDR support so that would be a drawback for me but if you're not worried about it then it should work fine. Also I did review it's brother the X700 here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S9BaTd9D_Gg.html Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the review, sir! Have you ever had the opportunity to use or test either the Oppo UDP-203 or 205? If so, did this compare favorably? Also, is the Xbox Series X on your radar for a potential review as a UHD player? Most are anticipating the Xbox Series X to come it at around $500 and so it will be interesting to see how it compares to models like the Panasonic DP-UB820 while offering considerably more options.
Thank you, no I haven't had a chance to test either Oppo 😕. I haven't thought about the Xbox or PS5 for that matter because I'm not much of a gamer but that could be a good test. Let me think about it. 🙂
I've compared my Xbox 1 to my Sony x700 and the colors are more vibrant on the stand alone 4k player. The xbox 1 can get the job done but it's focus is on video games vs a standalone since it has more options to tune for your tv.
If I understand your setup correctly, it sounds like your TV has upward firing speakers. If this is the case, you're sitting in the right place for the sound to reflect down to you, and your ceiling is
Gr8 review.. but still not able to decide between Sony x800m2 and Panasonic UB 820. I have Sony a8h with does not support hdr10+. For TVs that does not support hdr10+ does buying 820 worth?
Would I see a massive improvement over my current sony ubpx700? And what do you mean by not playing DVD audio. Does that mean I wouldn't be able to play my DVD's with it?
It’s not a huge difference between the Panasonic and Sony. I wouldn’t recommend an upgrade unless you need hdr 10+ for some reason. It will play standard DVDs just fine. DVD Audio is a special disc format that was created for higher quality audio playback (higher than cd quality)
SACD and DVD-Audio are niche formats, that never became mainstream. Personally, I don't even own a SACD nor a DVD-Audio disc. Considering the Panasonic 820 incompatibilities of playing SACD and DVD-Audio, it wouldn't matter to me because I don't have any of those music formats and were never interested in SACD's and DVD-Audio anyway.
can you answer my question. If playing a music CD and you want to FF the track to the middle , can you hear it skimming through. So get a tiny glimpse as it skims
@@HomeTheaterHobbyist Oh Man. That little thing of being able to hear the track is essential to me. A CD with hidden track at the very end after a 20 minute of nothing. You need to hear the disc being scanned to know when the track starts. ..That sort of thing.. Do you know of any that are region free that will scan a disc.
Hello! I just bought this as an upgrade to my previous 4K player. I installed it the same way my last one was. HDMI Video/Audio Out plugged directly into my TV. Unfortunately on many of my movies the video is now slightly lagging the audio. This never happened with my previous player. Any idea what’s causing this, or how to fix it? Thanks!
Just wondered if anyone has found a way of disabling all video processing. I want to pass the calibration tests from my trusty Spears & Munsil Blu-Ray disk to my TV without any changes being introduced by the player. I can stop it upscaling by setting the output format 1080p instead of Automatic, but is that enough to completely stop the rest of processing? Looking for a bypass mode if one exists. Thanks in advance.
I was thinking about buying this because it supports dolby vision, my Sony tv does as well. I currently have the samsung 850, it's a decent player but it doesn't support dolby vision. Should I go for this one or no?
It’s a great player, I love it. If you want a cheaper player that also does Dolby vision check out this Sony: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S9BaTd9D_Gg.html. The main downside is you have to into the menu and select DV before playing a disc it doesn’t detect the content and play it but it works well other wise.
@@HomeTheaterHobbyist I have this player now, but all my 4k movies that support dolby vision are very dim. Is there a reason for this or a quick fix? My tv is a Sony 900f.
I just bought an oled with only 2 out of 4 hdmi ports that has the 2.1 feature. So far my ps5 and soundbar are in those 2 slots. As far as best picture for this player, does it need to be in one of those 2 hdmi ports or can it be any of the normal ones?
Yes, it's still "ok" to buy. I haven't heard of a new one launching. If Dolby Vision isn't a big deal then stick with what you have unless the HDR optimizer is something you desire.
Recently purchased this unit going to pair it with a Samsung QN900B which does not support dolby vision, should i turn off dolby vision on the 4k bluray player or leave it on. Any help would be great ? Thanks.. Phil
Do you know if the HDMI out audio port can be used with an adapter that works for USB 2.0? I'm just wondering because I'm using a DAC and a pair of headphones, and it only supports USB 2.0 Audio.
I just ordered this, coming Tuesday with a bunch of 4k blu ray discs. I have an older 4k TV, a TCL Roku, but the next step will be the Vizio 65" P series Quantum X. Unfortunately, as of today, only place I can find the TV is Costco, a full list price. I'm hoping it comes into stock at other retailers leading up to the holidays and some discounting occurs.
@@bingo67lum hey man i totally get what your saying ,its a lot of cake. I would keep in mind black friday is not far off,and there may be some great deals on all brands of tvs,happy watching
You said it plays DVD, how well does it upscale it? I’m kinda confused, you said it doesn’t play DVD audio, it plays dvd but not the sound? I’m confused by that.
It does not play DVD Audio which is a special form of DVD which was specifically for high quality audio. It was supposed to be higher quality than CD and competed with the SA CD (Super Audio CD) format. DVD Audio is different from standard DVDs made to play video. This player does play standard DVD along with its audio. It upscales standard DVD well but obviously the upscale won’t be as good as 4K UHD or upscaled 1080p.
Can anyone confirm if the Netflix app through this player outputs sound in Dolby Atmos? To my knowledge there is no way to get Atmos sound from Netflix without a TV with eARC or Atmos processing.
Yeah my girlfriend can't tell the difference in PQ between standard Bluray and 4k both look the same to her 🙄 Older I get the less I care about PQ too really, only be buying the best real 4k movies not 4k fake junk.
Excellent review, you’ve twisted my arm in me purchasing this player with my new OLED. I have currently been using my PS5. I think the only negative for me would be the remote. It’s very reminiscent of my old Panasonic DVD surround sound player remote from 2007. Thank you. 😎👍🏻
@@anunusualironiccircumstanc2246 Does this player freeze for you at all? My PS5 occasionally freezes on some discs so I’m looking to make the switch to a dedicated player
Like use the optical cord to connect to the tv, then have the avr connect to the hdmi arc slot. So the blu doesn’t have to connect to the avr. Or is it easier to use the hdmi slots on the blu ray player
You can connect to tv via hdmi but make sure your connecting the AVR to a tv that has an hdmi eARC (enhanced audio return channel) connection. E-ARC has enough bandwidth to send lossless audio like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and DTS-HD Master Audio to the receiver. Typically I connect to my receiver because it has more hdmi connections so I use it as my switcher, while it sends the 4K hdr signal onto the tv. Hopefully this helps.
Do you know how to enable DolbyVision or hdr playback on files saved to my usb? I recorded to hdr content on my phone and saved it to a usb but it doesn't play through this device on hdr
It plays standard DVD just fine, video and audio. It does not play a special disc format called ’DVD Audio’ which was high resolution music disc format. Sorry for the confusion.
@@HomeTheaterHobbyist i mean can it work with any usb, or does it need to be formatted to certain format. because i have try but it didnt worked, it reads the video but it wont play.
