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Panasonic UB820 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player w/ HDR10+ & Dolby Vision Expired
$400
$499.99
+ Free Shipping
Amazon has Panasonic UB820 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player w/ HDR10+ & Dolby Vision for $399.98. Shipping is free.
Thanks to Community Member supermanrob for finding this deal.
Features:
Thanks to Community Member supermanrob for finding this deal.
Features:
- Enjoy a new level of premium home entertainment with high dynamic range playback in four 4K/HDR formats ā HDR10+, HDR10, Dolby vision and hybrid log-gamma (hog)
- Panasonic powerful HCX Processor (Hollywood Cinema experience) delivers precise Chroma and HDR processing for beyond-dazzling color and detail in all your 4K/HDR content
- Works with Alexa - command a variety of operations without your remote with Alexa, Plus Access a wider variety of 4K content with 4K VOD streaming from Prime video, Netflix and YouTube
- 192-kHz/32-bit 4-DAC for high-res audio that reveals both rich and delicate tones. Twin HDMI terminals separate and transmit A/V signals for higher sound quality.
- Connect to your audio system for Hi-Res studio Master sound from DSD (5. 6 MHz/2. 8 MHz/11. 2MHz) and ALAC music files and WAV/FLAC/MP3/AAC/WMA/AIFF formats.
Original Post
Written by
Edited January 13, 2022
at 02:40 PM
So for anyone that missed out on last sale, Amazon has the Panasonic 820 player on sale for $399.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product..._6195
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product..._6195
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Give Feedback Model: Panasonic 4K Ultra HD With HDR10 Voice Assist Blu-ray Player
Deal HistoryĀ
Deal History includes data from multiple reputable stores, such as Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. The lowest price among stores for a given day is selected as the "Sale Price".
Sale Price does not include sale prices at Amazon unless a deal was posted by a community member.
Sale Price does not include sale prices at Amazon unless a deal was posted by a community member.
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| Post Date | Sold By | Sale Price | Activity |
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 04/13/24 |  Best Buy | $424.98 |
9 |
 01/31/24 |  Amazon | $422.99 |
15 |
 01/29/24 | Best Buy | $424.98 |
0 |
 11/16/23 |  Crutchfield | $350 frontpage |
248 |
 11/13/23 | Amazon | $348 frontpage |
130 |
| 11/12/23 | Amazon | $348 frontpage |
49 |
 07/11/23 | Amazon | $400 frontpage |
103 |
 05/04/23 | Amazon | $399.98 |
18 |
 12/05/22 | Amazon | from $398 frontpage |
186 |
 11/20/22 | Amazon | from $398 frontpage |
86 |
| 11/17/22 | Best Buy | $399.98 |
13 |
| 10/26/22 | Amazon | $400 frontpage |
284 |
| 10/11/22 | Amazon | $400 frontpage |
80 |
| 08/14/22 | Best Buy | $424.98 |
3 |
| 07/12/22 | Amazon | $400 |
15 |
| 06/14/22 | Amazon | $406.19 popular |
40 |
| 12/18/21 | Amazon | $397 frontpage |
195 |
| 05/10/21 | Best Buy | $400 frontpage |
250 |
| 01/20/21 | Amazon | $397.99 |
30 |
| 11/24/20 | Best Buy | $349 |
1 |
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Sort: Lowest to Highest | Last Updated 5/6/2024, 06:06 PM| Sold By | Sale Price |
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| Best Buy | $499.98 |
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268 Comments
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The rest of my post is pretty much informational. There's a lot of good information in it. But a few firmly believe that Dolby vision is a must-have because it's squashes HDR 10, don't even read it. There's no convincing you otherwise.
You know, the debates on this whole Dolby vision player versus the non-Dolby vision console reminds me of the PS versus Xbox discussions we've had for God knows how long.
The bottom line is Microsoft fixed the elevated black levels. The Xbox series X is a fantastic 4K UHD Blu-ray player and 2K Blu-ray player.
The above statement cannot be any simpler than that.
But the Xbox series X drive is a little noisier than a dedicated player. I can hear mine from 12 feet away when there's absolutely no other sounds from the movie playing. So that is not really a big deal from my use case.
If you have a Logitech remote or a media remote then that's a non-issue also. I mean who controls their console with the game controller when watching movies? I guess some people do. I've even done it and it's relatively easy to do.
Spend 30 minutes on YouTube listening to reviewers, and I mean the good ones like Vincent teoh on HDTVtest, assess HDR 10 versus Dolby vision.
Spoiler alert:. The differences are so minimal, that you can only discern a difference when doing a side-by-side comparison of a Dolby vision movie versus the HDR 10 version. In other words, don't let Dolby vision make or break your buying decision. HDR 10 on a calibrated system looks fantastic.
There's no doubt that this Panasonic 820 is a fantastic player also. I personally will not buy one because I have an Xbox series X and an Xbox One S that do a great job at playing 4K discs. And it's not important enough for me to have a player that plays Dolby vision discs based on the assessment of multiple experienced calibrators and reviewers.
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I ran out of popcorn
The reviewer also said that the UB9000's High Luminance projector was the best setting for his Sony OLED tv. Since that option is not available on the UB820, it implies that the reviewer would see the difference between the 820 and the 9000.
I know this, because I returned a 420, and bought the open box 820 for "High Luminance Projector", but then the 820 didnt have that option.
The quote I used was in his conclusion and just because he didn't have it on hand doesn't mean he hasn't reviewed it or had no knowledge of it's performance.
He was comfortable enough to write he "can't definitively state that it offers better SDR and HDR performance".
I'm going to guess you meant to say you bought an open box UB9000 since you got it "for "High Luminance Projector"" but then said correctly the 820 does not offer it.
If that's true did you try the two settings?
As I mentioned I compared all three he was talking about using an Oled display also and I read that article beforehand and we tried it.
The difference was so subtle we didn't all agree with his opinion and we had to scrutinize the images. The disc content & environment came into play with this also.
IMO from personal comparison regarding UHD and BD disc performance they are pretty much the same especially if you consider the price difference.
Thats what makes the the 420 a great pick for the $150 price for most people IMO. Giving up the common subtle differences between HDR vs DV for that performance and settings is a no brainer IMO.
The quote I used was in his conclusion and just because he didn't have it on hand doesn't mean he hasn't reviewed it or had no knowledge of it's performance.
He was comfortable enough to write he "can't definitively state that it offers better SDR and HDR performance".
I'm going to guess you meant to say you bought an open box UB9000 since you got it "for "High Luminance Projector"" but then said correctly the 820 does not offer it.
If that's true did you try the two settings?
As I mentioned I compared all three he was talking about using an Oled display also and I read that article beforehand and we tried it.
The difference was so subtle we didn't all agree with his opinion and we had to scrutinize the images. The disc content & environment came into play with this also.
IMO from personal comparison regarding UHD and BD disc performance they are pretty much the same especially if you consider the price difference.
Thats what makes the the 420 a great pick for the $150 price for most people IMO. Giving up the common subtle differences between HDR vs DV for that performance and settings is a no brainer IMO.
Aside from Dolby vision, the UB420 and UB820 are probably the same or "extremely" similar in video quality. I do think the UB820 is built better than the UB420. Plus the UB820 has the 7.1 output for people who use that.
The real thing that people need to talk about when comparing the Panasonic to other UHD blu ray players is the HDR optimizer. Its a game changer.
Aside from Dolby vision, the UB420 and UB820 are probably the same or "extremely" similar in video quality. I do think the UB820 is built better than the UB420. Plus the UB820 has the 7.1 output for people who use that.
The real thing that people need to talk about when comparing the Panasonic to other UHD blu ray players is the HDR optimizer. Its a game changer.
Yes it's pretty much just splitting hairs you're not really missing much especially for the price difference.
If you mean built better as in more solid feel I would agree but it does nothing as far as performance they are basically the same other than DV.
For a PJ there really is no advantage to the 820.
I would add the upscaling especially for PJ's and adjustment options other player don't have are other factors to point out with Panasonic players also
To this end Dolby Vision is demonstrably better, specially in the homes of the uninitiated who run non calibrated displays.
On Topic: The Series X bluray is not good, the PS5 is decent, but the stand-alone will give you the best audio and picture quality hands down. Hardware led Dolby Vision along with HDR optimizer all included in the ub820 guarantees a relatively peak viewing experience. Get this bluray player if you want the best, and buy plenty of physical movies.
If your projector doesnt support HDR or wide color... etc, then a $400 blu ray player is not for you.
All you should need, if you have optical audio out, and it can play 4K is about $150-200...Unless you want all the voice assist garbage
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To this end Dolby Vision is demonstrably better, specially in the homes of the uninitiated who run non calibrated displays.
On Topic: The Series X bluray is not good, the PS5 is decent, but the stand-alone will give you the best audio and picture quality hands down. Hardware led Dolby Vision along with HDR optimizer all included in the ub820 guarantees a relatively peak viewing experience. Get this bluray player if you want the best, and buy plenty of physical movies.
Bottom line is the differences were so minut. Sometimes dolby vision image look better. Sometimes the HDR 10 image look good. There were times, naturally, that the disc looked better because of the streaming bit rate. But that was not the focus of his assessment.
A lot of people here seem to discount a probably calibrated display. The mid to high level displays do an excellent job, generally speaking, of tone mapping HDR10. That's why the difference is between it and Dolby vision are minut, at best, via a side by side comparison.
As for the Xbox series X upscaler, it is on par with the upscaling used in Chromecast with Google tv, Amazon fire stick, etc. Meaning nothing special. The Nvidia Shield pro has a much better upscaler using the AI enhanced feature.
For playing 4K content, I still think the Xbox series X is an excellent player. It doesn't have to do much other than chroma upsampling. And it's debatable if it or my projector does a better job. Back in the analog days it was the big deal. Now it's all digital. Even the cheapest streaming sticks do a really good job at chroma upsample. My projector does an excellent job of tone mapping HDR10.
I would say that those folks with poor displays that are rated for HDR but can't really do hdr, low end televisions, would definitely benefit from the optimizer in the Panasonic.
To this end Dolby Vision is demonstrably better, specially in the homes of the uninitiated who run non calibrated displays.
On Topic: The Series X bluray is not good, the PS5 is decent, but the stand-alone will give you the best audio and picture quality hands down. Hardware led Dolby Vision along with HDR optimizer all included in the ub820 guarantees a relatively peak viewing experience. Get this bluray player if you want the best, and buy plenty of physical movies.
I can see why people would look at it that way especially because of the labeling but it's more the other way around.
I get this gets debated often, to simplify things in basic terms:
For people to view any form of HDR on current displays that HDR has to be tone mapped.
One form (and most common) is HDR10 it's a "static" HDR. It's open sourced and there is no standard so everyone has their own interpretation.
The other common form is Dolby Vision which is a "dynamic" HDR.
Dolby wanted a proprietary interpretation of HDR no one can manipulate so the tone map with this is built in(to metadata).
As you pointed out this tone mapping happens on the fly(dynamic) frame-by-frame.
Dolby determines how good or bad can't change it.
So when people talk about the differences between the two it comes down to how well Dolby transferred DV form vs how well your player tone maps the HDR.
That difference can vary widely from disc to disc.
Bottom line is the differences were so minut. Sometimes dolby vision image look better. Sometimes the HDR 10 image look good. There were times, naturally, that the disc looked better because of the streaming bit rate. But that was not the focus of his assessment.
A lot of people here seem to discount a probably calibrated display. The mid to high level displays do an excellent job, generally speaking, of tone mapping HDR10. That's why the difference is between it and Dolby vision are minut, at best, via a side by side comparison.
As for the Xbox series X upscaler, it is on par with the upscaling used in Chromecast with Google tv, Amazon fire stick, etc. Meaning nothing special. The Nvidia Shield pro has a much better upscaler using the AI enhanced feature.
For playing 4K content, I still think the Xbox series X is an excellent player. It doesn't have to do much other than chroma upsampling. And it's debatable if it or my projector does a better job. Back in the analog days it was the big deal. Now it's all digital. Even the cheapest streaming sticks do a really good job at chroma upsample. My projector does an excellent job of tone mapping HDR10.
I would say that those folks with poor displays that are rated for HDR but can't really do hdr, low end televisions, would definitely benefit from the optimizer in the Panasonic.
Well here is the problems.
1st I don't get why you would compare compressed streamed DV vs HDR disc, very few situations that's the case.
Even then I haven't ran into one streaming that was "better" than disc, kinda close yes.
Why people dismiss calibrated display, I would guess it's because people understand the chain:
content>device>display.
If you understand that then you understand there would a difference in using an Xbox X vs this player in that comparison.
Again to view HDR it has to be tone mapped to view it.
What always gets overlooked it all starts on how well that movie is mastered/transferred(content), we have no control with that.
So next is player(device) it will do the tone mapping unless you can bypass it.
My understanding in this price range and lower Panasonic is the only player to let you do this.
My guess is you haven't done a side by side comparison between the X and a player(especially Panasonic).
If you did you would see it's at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to HDR.
If you had said it was good enough for you is a completely different story and would completely understand under that aspect.
The optimizer is a benefit to every display because it will optimize(tone maps) that metadata to the best capabilities of your display.
The biggest benefactor is easily a PJ, pretty much a must have.
If games and not wanting another device to worry about and the X is good enough for you I completely understand, I'm not debating that.
I would agree for someone on a budget and just want the best picture out of the display they have, the 420 is the best choice IMO.
1st I don't get why you would compare compressed streamed DV vs HDR disc, very few situations that's the case.
Even then I haven't ran into one streaming that was "better" than disc, kinda close yes.
Why people dismiss calibrated display, I would guess it's because people understand the chain:
content>device>display.
If you understand that then you understand there would a difference in using an Xbox X vs this player in that comparison.
Again to view HDR it has to be tone mapped to view it.
What always gets overlooked it all starts on how well that movie is mastered/transferred(content), we have no control with that.
So next is player(device) it will do the tone mapping unless you can bypass it.
My understanding in this price range and lower Panasonic is the only player to let you do this.
My guess is you haven't done a side by side comparison between the X and a player(especially Panasonic).
If you did you would see it's at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to HDR.
If you had said it was good enough for you is a completely different story and would completely understand under that aspect.
The optimizer is a benefit to every display because it will optimize(tone maps) that metadata to the best capabilities of your display.
The biggest benefactor is easily a PJ, pretty much a must have.
If games and not wanting another device to worry about and the X is good enough for you I completely understand, I'm not debating that.
I would agree for someone on a budget and just want the best picture out of the display they have, the 420 is the best choice IMO.
You are right about me not doing a side by side comparison of the Xbox series X and another device in terms of comparing. My system is just not set up for that.
But I do have a JVC projector. And it does an excellent job at tone mapping. It is not the rs400 that had terrible tone mapping and needed custom curves. So really, when I have my Xbox series X connected to it, it just sends the data off the disk and the metadata. The Xbox does not alter the signal at all. My projector is doing all of the work.
I even had the Xbox series X connected to my newly purchased Sony a80j 77-in OLED. And it's the same story. That HDR disc playing in the Xbox looks fantastic. Again, my Xbox isn't doing anything. It sends the data and the metadata. The only thing it might be doing is chroma upsampling. I didn't check to what color space the Xbox was sending.
Will the HDR tone mapping performed by the Panasonic be as good as my Sony A80J oled? Will it be as good as my JVC 4K projector? To be completely honest, I cannot really say for certain. But I'm not going to spend money on a play and do a side by side comparison although I could easily do that and then return it
You are right about me not doing a side by side comparison of the Xbox series X and another device in terms of comparing. My system is just not set up for that.
But I do have a JVC projector. And it does an excellent job at tone mapping. It is not the rs400 that had terrible tone mapping and needed custom curves. So really, when I have my Xbox series X connected to it, it just sends the data off the disk and the metadata. The Xbox does not alter the signal at all. My projector is doing all of the work.
I even had the Xbox series X connected to my newly purchased Sony a80j 77-in OLED. And it's the same story. That HDR disc playing in the Xbox looks fantastic. Again, my Xbox isn't doing anything. It sends the data and the metadata. The only thing it might be doing is chroma upsampling. I didn't check to what color space the Xbox was sending.
Will the HDR tone mapping performed by the Panasonic be as good as my Sony A80J oled? Will it be as good as my JVC 4K projector? To be completely honest, I cannot really say for certain. But I'm not going to spend money on a play and do a side by side comparison although I could easily do that and then return it
Look at these threads and how often people debate something based on what they read and how they interpreted it.
That S&V article is a perfect example, reading the words "subtle" and "slightly better". Now in actual comparison he was splitting hairs.
You ask about tone mapping differences between Panasonic, Sony & a PJ,I've compared them.
The irony is you could only do that comparison on the Panasonic, no other player would let you do that including your X.
The odd thing here for some reason you think the X doesn't tone map and somehow just does a pass-thru of some kind "my Xbox isn't doing anything. It sends the data and the metadata".
Unless you have read somewhere the Xbox does this, I'm guessing it tone maps before sending it to your display like you understand the Panasonic does.
From doing a comparison with LG,Samsung,Sony,Panasonic & Xbox. Whatever the Xbox does it does not do it as well as the others when it comes to UHD,BD, DVD disc performance.
Is it a night and day difference, no but it was the obvious least favorable.
To be honest i'm not sure why anyone would be think otherwise, you're asking a device that's it's main design is games to also compete with a device solely designed for movie disc.
You paid a lot for that Sony and 4k PJ, IMO from personal comparisons you are not getting the best PQ that they are capable of from disc using an Xbox especially from that PJ.
Again not making any judgment just giving my opinion based on personal experience.
Look at these threads and how often people debate something based on what they read and how they interpreted it.
That S&V article is a perfect example, reading the words "subtle" and "slightly better". Now in actual comparison he was splitting hairs.
You ask about tone mapping differences between Panasonic, Sony & a PJ,I've compared them.
The irony is you could only do that comparison on the Panasonic, no other player would let you do that including your X.
The odd thing here for some reason you think the X doesn't tone map and somehow just does a pass-thru of some kind "my Xbox isn't doing anything. It sends the data and the metadata".
Unless you have read somewhere the Xbox does this, I'm guessing it tone maps before sending it to your display like you understand the Panasonic does.
From doing a comparison with LG,Samsung,Sony,Panasonic & Xbox. Whatever the Xbox does it does not do it as well as the others when it comes to UHD,BD, DVD disc performance.
Is it a night and day difference, no but it was the obvious least favorable.
To be honest i'm not sure why anyone would be think otherwise, you're asking a device that's it's main design is games to also compete with a device solely designed for movie disc.
You paid a lot for that Sony and 4k PJ, IMO from personal comparisons you are not getting the best PQ that they are capable of from disc using an Xbox especially from that PJ.
Again not making any judgment just giving my opinion based on personal experience.
The Panasonic can tone Map because the user tells it capabilities of the display. That's why the Panasonic Can tone map.
I do not see how the Xbox series X will tone map, and I'm talking about playing 4K UHD discs not gaming, because it has no idea the capabilities of the display. So there's no way for it to tone map because it doesn't know what the tone map to without knowing the display brightness.
Everything I've read, and reviewee videos I watched, about Xbox series X tone mapping applies to gaming only. Not uhd disks. And that's what I'm focused on in this thread.
So in that case, the only thing the Xbox series X Lacks compared to all of the other players out there, except for the panasonics, there's nothing. The Xbox series X as a Blu-ray player 4K is the same as every other player out there. The only thing Panasonic brings to the table is the option of tone mapping and a higher quality upscale for non 4K content. Well, this Dolby vision also but comparing that the HDR 10 on a calibrated display is not a huge benefit. I'll certainly not worth the price of $400 in this case when the 420 for $150 would be better.
But even the reviewers say, and it's common knowledge, the tone mapping is not needed if the display does it well. We'll have to agree to disagree on how well my JVC and Sony tone map
But I appreciate your posts and your opinion.
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8:20 into the video. A respected reviewer. Not as respected as Vincent teoh though, but who is?
Anyway it's an HDR 10 head to head comparison between the series X and the ub820.
Issues with black level and contrast can be dismissed because the contrast was affected by the elevated black levels, and the black levels were fixed in the Xbox series X a while ago.
The moral of the story is for HDR 10 content, off of disc, there's no difference between these players are so small that anyone with an Xbox series X should probably not be purchasing a standalone Blu-ray player.
Caveat is that he used his eyes his room his equipment.