Panasonic Flagship 4K Blu-ray Player Coming to US? (1 Viewer)

[John Sparks]

Am planning on picking up the Panasonic UB9000 from Value Electronics hopefully this Friday! How does everyone like there UB9000 so far? Just waiting for a grand total with tax and shipping!

Upgrading my Samsung 8500 4K Blu-ray to the Panasonic UB9000!

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I have the Sammy 8500 too. Can the UB900 do 3D and is it or can it be made region free?

 

[dpippel]

I have the Sammy 8500 too. Can the UB900 do 3D and is it or can it be made region free?

3D - Yes. Region-free - No.

 

[Dave Moritz]

The player will do 3D and it is region free for 4K UHD Blu-ray only.

 

[Dave Moritz]

There is zero tax and shipping if you live outside of NY.

If this is the case I should have enough funds to purchase my UB9000 for sure this Friday! Can not wait to get this player in the rack and hooked up to my Marantz SR-8012 & Sony OLED!

mmmmm what should be the first movie I watch with the new player???

 

[dpippel]

I must say that upscaling on the UB9000 (and the UB820) really is amazingly good. I watched portions of Twilight Time's second release of Journey to the Center of the Earth last night, and (aside from the dupes and fades) it looks like a 4K title. Astonishingly gorgeous!!!

 

[John Sparks]

The player will do 3D and it is region free for 4K UHD Blu-ray only.

Well, all 4K players are region free. I was asking about the BD.

 

[Dave Moritz]

To my knowledge there is no official way to make the Panasonic region free for standard 1080p blu-ray. And I am sure that would void Panasonic's warranty.

 

[Robert_Zohn]

Although officially Panasonic's UB9000 is not a region free BD player I have read of users sucessfuly playing EU region coded 1080p BD discs on the USA UB9000s. It seems that if you know the undocumented sequicence of buttons to press on the remote it will unlock the region coding. Sorry I don't know the buttons or sequence.

 

[dpippel]

Although officially Panasonic's UB9000 is not a region free BD player I have read of users sucessfuly playing EU region coded 1080p BD discs on the USA UB9000s. It seems that if you know the undocumented sequicence of buttons to press on the remote it will unlock the region coding. Sorry I don't know the buttons or sequence.

This only works for SOME titles Robert. I've found several, including Studio Canal's Region B release of Quatermass and the Pit, that it fails on completely. Here's how it works:

1) Insert non-Region A disc in player
2) When you see the region code error press STOP, then the TOP MENU button several times
3) If this works with the title you loaded, you'll get the disc's main menu. Select PLAY on the menu and you're good to go

 

[YANG]

From different experience shared in YouTube, "Stop, Top Menu" hack is not the only way to get the discs from other region to be playable in region locked Panasonic players.
One another mentioned way is "Stop, 1" where the latter is to go straight to the 1st title in the disc...

 

[Dave Moritz]

Getting my Panasonic UB9000 through Value Electronics and it is officially on it's way!

Thank you Robert Zohn @ Value Electronics!

 

[dpippel]

From different experience shared in YouTube, "Stop, Top Menu" hack is not the only way to get the discs from other region to be playable in region locked Panasonic players.
One another mentioned way is "Stop, 1" where the latter is to go straight to the 1st title in the disc...

Thanks. I'll give this a shot on Quatermass tonight and see if it works.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Panasonic UB9000 was originally set to arrive 5/22 on a Wednesday but it must be ahead of schedule and FedEx just informed me it will be delivered by end of day Tuesday 5/21. Can not wait to get this player hooked up to my Marantz SR-8012 and my Sony A9F 4K OLED!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I decided to send some of my business to Value Electronics, as well. I noticed the Panasonic UB820 was on sale at Best Buy for $50 off and I had a coupon for 10% off one item in store only, but the fine print mentioned it was good for regular priced items only. I took a chance and drove to the BB near me to see if they could apply the coupon to the sale price anyway, but they could not (it was worth a try).

I decided to see if VE would price match BB, but when I went to their website was pleasantly surprised to see they already had lowered their price to match. With no sales tax, it was a better deal and allowed me to support a forum sponsor.

I plan on swapping out an old Panny BD player in my main HT for the new UB820 and leaving my Sony X800 installed, as well. The Sony also plays SACD and DVD-Audio discs, and I really do not need a UHD player in our master bedroom (the only other room where we have a 4K display). I'm not sure what I will do with the old Panny BD player, as we already have a Sony BD player in the bedroom (and it rarely gets used).

 

[Tino]

I decided to send some of my business to Value Electronics, as well. I noticed the Panasonic UB820 was on sale at Best Buy for $50 off and I had a coupon for 10% off one item in store only, but the fine print mentioned it was good for regular priced items only. I took a chance and drove to the BB near me to see if they could apply the coupon to the sale price anyway, but they could not (it was worth a try).

I decided to see if VE would price match BB, but when I went to their website was pleasantly surprised to see they already had lowered their price to match. With no sales tax, it was a better deal and allowed me to support a forum sponsor.

I plan on swapping out an old Panny BD player in my main HT for the new UB820 and leaving my Sony X800 installed, as well. The Sony also plays SACD and DVD-Audio discs, and I really do not need a UHD player in our master bedroom (the only other room where we have a 4K display). I'm not sure what I will do with the old Panny BD player, as we already have a Sony BD player in the bedroom (and it rarely gets used).

Yup. I posted that deal in the RAH 9000 thread a few days ago.

Robert Zohn was kind enough to give me that deal last week even I purchased the 820 at his store.

$449. No tax. Great deal.

 

[Dave Moritz]

My Panasonic UB9000 just arrived and I swapped out the Samsung 8500 and watched Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 on 4K UHD Blu-ray. Received the player two days early which is nice, thank you Robert @ Value Electronics for getting the player out so quickly! Did not go beyond the basic set up but will be getting into the settings later. So far it is a big step up from the Samsung which served it's purpose. Very happy with my purchase and the player looks even nicer than I thought it would!

 

[George_W_K]

What makes it a big step up from the 8500 visually? I'm only asking because I'm getting closer to pull the trigger on the 820 to replace my 8500.

 

[dpippel]

From different experience shared in YouTube, "Stop, Top Menu" hack is not the only way to get the discs from other region to be playable in region locked Panasonic players.
One another mentioned way is "Stop, 1" where the latter is to go straight to the 1st title in the disc...

Tried this with Quatermass last night and it also did not work. On the other hand, BOTH this and the STOP, Top Menu button combo worked just fine on the German Blu-ray release of Tarantula. Seems that the authoring on some Region B titles defeats these little work-arounds. Too bad it's not consistent. I could get rid of my region-free BD player.

 

[Dave Moritz]

What makes it a big step up from the 8500 visually? I'm only asking because I'm getting closer to pull the trigger on the 820 to replace my 8500.

Improved detail and sharpness
Improved color at least to me it looks better
Build quality
HDR optimizer
Dolby Vision

And I was getting edge distortions from time to time on a regular basis with the 8500. This was not a problem when I first got the player but it seemed to be a problem that developed. The picture on the Panasonic just jumps out as being better right from the start and I have no doubt it is from better processing. Given the immediate improvement in picture the Panasonic gave me over the Samsung I truly believe the 820 will do the same for you. And you will also have the benefit of HDR optimizer. And watching Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 I felt there was more depth to the picture something I need to test out further by watching more content moving forward. But am very happy with what I see so far with the Panasonic. Let us know if you go ahead with the 820, personally I don't think you will be disappointed!

 

[George_W_K]

Improved detail and sharpness
Improved color at least to me it looks better
Build quality
HDR optimizer
Dolby Vision

And I was getting edge distortions from time to time on a regular basis with the 8500. This was not a problem when I first got the player but it seemed to be a problem that developed. The picture on the Panasonic just jumps out as being better right from the start and I have no doubt it is from better processing. Given the immediate improvement in picture the Panasonic gave me over the Samsung I truly believe the 820 will do the same for you. And you will also have the benefit of HDR optimizer. And watching Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 I felt there was more depth to the picture something I need to test out further by watching more content moving forward. But am very happy with what I see so far with the Panasonic. Let us know if you go ahead with the 820, personally I don't think you will be disappointed!

When you say edge distortions, that's probably what I'm seeing around people when they're in motion which I didn't know if it was the TV or player. And I definitely want to take advantage of the HDR optimizer because I have an OLED and I've heard really good things about the combo.