Panasonic UB9000 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player - Best Settings (In-Depth Explanation)

I discuss all the settings on the Panasonic UB9000. These settings also apply to the sister model UB820 also, which uses almost exactly the same features. This video explains all the settings that these players have and why I choose them. It's an in-depth discussion & explanation of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Players, and how I've set players up from the very early years of LaserDisc, DVD, and Blu-ray. It's a long video, but I wanted to put something out there that fully discusses the settings on this player, and how to avoid any setup issues on this player even on other players.

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you can take something from it.

BEST SETTING TLDR = 4K, 12-bit, Auto 4:4:4 chroma for ease of use.
This setting makes it so chroma will be dropped in favor of color depth which will always result in the best image quality possible for 4K HDR, 60 FPS content, and 4K HDR 24 FPS content.

CORRECTIONS
--I meant to say Technics for the CD/SACD Player, not Toshiba.
--I meant to say Auto 12-bit instead of just Auto.
--I meant to say FEL instead of MEL when talking about the higher bit-rate version of metadata for Dolby Vision.

Sometimes there's a lot going through my mind at once, and catch myself naming something wrong. Hope that helps it's anybody misunderstood those parts of the video.

HDMI 2.0 SPEC
Player settings should be 12-bit. In the case of Gemini Man and 60 frames per second content in HDR, chroma should be set to Auto 4:4:4 so the player retains bit-depth at 12-bit and keeps to the HDMI 2.0 spec by switching to 4:2:2. Or manually set 4:2:2 chroma for all content. As long as your display is good, this shouldn't be an issue, and both should look equal. This will keep the 12-bit color depth at 60 FPS, 4:2:2, and 4K. In this case, Auto (from a usability standpoint) is best because it will correctly adapt to the HDMI 2.0 spec and rating bit-depth, and that is the most important thing. Older displays are best set to auto so it switches between 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 as needed because displaying 4:2:2 might look incorrect in some cases. This is the best setting for usability for all display types also. However, I like to control things and manually set 4:4:4 chroma, knowing that I'm not watching 60FPS content.
If you set the player to 10-bit, 60 FPS content will downgrade to 8-bit because 60 FPS content is out of the HDMI spec at 4:4:4. You don't ever want this, so always use 12-bit.

4:4:4 / 4:2:2 NOTE
If they don't look equal then there is a weakness in the chain somewhere. Check the Player, TV, and even receiver or any passthrough device you are using to see if anything is getting in the way. When both look equal, the Player and the Display complement each other perfectly, and this is the best-case scenario when watching 4K HDR 60 FPS content.

If your TV has issues displaying 4:4:4 and you can see issues, or have seen reports that 4:4:4 simply doesn't work on your TV then force 4:2:2. I've done this on my older TVs and it looked perfect when using 4:2:2 so do what suits you best.

Animation is a good place to test 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 using 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. How do curved objects look? The Spears and Munsil test disc also has many useful patterns to check to see if your display or even player has issues with 4:2:2 or 4:4:4.

PLAYER INFORMATION
The new 4K models have a K on the end. This means they have brand-new chips for audio. This was because of the AKM factory fire. The audio chips have the same specs as the previous model, but I have heard reports of smoother audio performance using analog outs. I use another player for that, so I can't speak to that, but if that is the case it's always nice to hear.

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My name is Carl, I run a family-run business with my dad (Glen) and my brother (Mark) called HD MOVIE SOURCE. I love movies and all the tech that goes along with them. I love to talk about the quality of transfers a lot, it's an enormous enjoyment in my life. I love calibrating speakers, and subwoofers, encoding 4K content, sound, and anything techy. This is what I love to do. I'm also a big gamer with my brother and World of Warcraft also sucks up a lot of my time, LOL. Somebody has to do it right? Any questions please let me know.
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[JanPatrickLucas]

Your sweater says it all my friend...you are indeed a "Champion"! Panasonic should officially endorse you for this tremendous offering. Thank you for taking the time. Best wishes.

[perrysmiles]

An excellent job on explaining every detail needed about the settings on the UB9000 and the UB820. Near the end of your video, you say it was a long version, however I felt it was a perfect, calm explanation of How and Why.
Thank you so much for sharing your keen knowledge with us home theatre enthusiasts like yourself... very much appreciated!

[knowthycell]

I recently discovered how to watch region locked Blu-ray’s on this player. It’s very simple and only entails pressing menu & back on the locked message screen.

[alwayspushing]

Just had this player delivered today!!! Watched this whole video while setting up and probably the most mundane, boring, put me to sleep video I could have absolutely needed!!! Absolutely fantastic!!! Great job and I hope you keep the content coming. My first Demo will be Ready Player One 🎥 🍿 🔊🔊 setup with 65" LGG2, 7.4.4 surround system, Denon, Emotiva, SVS and now Panasonic 🔥
Thank you again from Detroit, Michigan

[nobody]

Thank you so very much for this video. I used your settings and I am now enjoying my UB820!

[gamegenieny]

Fellow LG C9 user here with a UB 820 (from twitter) and watching this vid was fun. I've calibrated my TV and Home theater but I always love watching these kind of videos just in case there's something new I can learn. Funny is the S&M disc menu, I've had that on my screen so much lol ! Love the Panasonic players, only down side is the playback of some digital files. Not an issue if you're just using it for discs mainly. You've caused me to change a few of my settings, mainly the ones set to Auto. Solid logic behind it and I probably left it that way out of an abundance of caution. Thanks for all the info here !

[philkbaker]

Another fantastic video Carl I went through the menus with you and made changes I found it extremely informative and really helpful I've only got the 820 multi region which I must say is the best player I've ever had and I had a blu rayer from day one my old sony still plays I've had 5 players and 2 4ks. The Panasonic player plays everything you put in it. Thank you Carl for explaining all the technical stuff truly brilliant video 10 🌟 👍

[swansong]

I have deleted my previous negative comment. That video was superb. Having watched it all the way though and 0:03 just purchasing the 9000, you helped me so much. Such a thorough walk through. Amazing. Thank you

[georgestephens]

this is exactly the video I needed to learn about my new Panasonic 820 setting and what they do,

[MarkTallen]

An excellent video, I've almost had my UB9000 for 2 years and you have taught me a few things. I made a few tweaks to my settings based on your video. Thanks.

[ChadAV]

Thanks for the video, man. I have a UB820 and I was messing with the settings but I needed someone to explain to me what they actually were. I'm really nowhere near as much of a videophile as I am an audiophile, but everything looks great!

[AUTOBOTRONIC]

My UB9000 came in yesterday, taking off all day Friday to set up.

[crow-bl]

Very informative. Made some tweaks based on your recommendations. Thank you for taking the time to do this. It is greatly appreciated.

[beansandbeards.]

Thanks for this amazing soothing walk through.
I have a Sony Bravia OLED.
I was having a lot of handshake issues between the TV and the Arcam.
This seems to have solved it.
Thank you again.

[audiofrik]

You have taught me so many things from this video. Thanks for all the work you put into it for making it possible.

[psgrimm]

Thank you so much for this thoughtful and detailed settings video, it was very helpful to me!

[vincent-uiry]

Hi, I just wanted to comment on your video. I'm a first time viewer and I need to say WOW THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO. As you mentioned you noticed there really isn't any videos out there providing in depth walk through for this player. The amount of time YouTube describing step by step each setting was exactly what I needed and what I've been looking for and researching for, for soo long. I currently have on this player for maybe almost a year and a half two years as well as a LG OLED C1 TV. I'm not new to TVs and tech but I'm not super super experienced and just like you I always like to look at different settings and I wonder different things so when I came across your video I was very appreciative for it. My TV is also professionally calibrated. With that being said I have two questions for you and maybe you could provide some insight.

1. With my old led TV I have the setting for HDR tone mapping on the TV itself the LG C1 but the player also has the HDR optimizer for HDR content I've asked this question on some sites but never really got a good concrete answer it always seems 50/50. But the question is is should I leave HDR tone mapping set to ON as well as the HDR optimizer set to "ON" on the player? Or should I turn the HDR tone mapping setting to "OFF" on the TV and set to "ON"on the player, or lastly do Off for the player and tone mapping ON for the TV. I wasn't sure if having them both on if they both cause conflicting tone mapping issues or not, As knowledgeable as you seem I figured this would be a good question for you.


My second question is relating to the sound settings I currently have a Sennheiser Ambeo Max sound bar, So I was curious what your recommendations are for some of those sound adjustments that you mentioned in the video as I know you mentioned about having the AV system set up and surround sounds but since this is a soundbar it's a bit different but it does play a lot of the audio that you mentioned


If you can get back to me I would really appreciate it and also you have gained a follower.

[best-rslq]

Nice and very useful video thanks a lot.
Got this player playing on the panasonic lz2000 it's something else.

[scott]

Thanks so much for this. Only seeing HDR with my new Sony X95K has been bugging me for a few weeks and your video helped me finally get Dolby Vision working (along with an input setting tweak on the Sony). Thanks for going through all the settings and short explanations.

[chipmunk]

Outstanding deep walk through.! Thanks ☑️👍