Panasonic UB420 UHD Blu-ray player $297 @ Noel Leeming / The Market

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Forums › Bargains and Deals › Panasonic UB420 UHD Blu-ray player $297 @ Noel Leeming / The Market

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rb99

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#2516726 3-Jul-2020 12:26

Got it in March 2019 and its still going, which it should be. Obviously I've not compared it to other 4k drives but I'm happy with it. Only done about 25 actual 4K discs, but its used for ordinary BR as well.

Did the firmware myself. Far as I remember it was, after stressing out about firmware, I'm going to brick it, I never update firmware unless I really have too etc, really easy and took about a minute.

Haven't looked at MakeMKV forums an awful lot about firmware since, but think there was something about there being later versions that made it more difficult to downgrade to previous (ripping) versions, but also think there was something about that being overcome again. So probably best to browse around a bit more about that, as I shall, now you've got me interested again...

Edit: the Marty person sending modified drives seems to have satisfied customers from looking through the threads. No personal experience of course. Course, not sure about postage at the moment.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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ShinyChrome

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#2516745 3-Jul-2020 12:59

rb99:

Got it in March 2019 and its still going, which it should be. Obviously I've not compared it to other 4k drives but I'm happy with it. Only done about 25 actual 4K discs, but its used for ordinary BR as well.

Did the firmware myself. Far as I remember it was, after stressing out about firmware, I'm going to brick it, I never update firmware unless I really have too etc, really easy and took about a minute.

Haven't looked at MakeMKV forums an awful lot about firmware since, but think there was something about there being later versions that made it more difficult to downgrade to previous (ripping) versions, but also think there was something about that being overcome again. So probably best to browse around a bit more about that, as I shall, now you've got me interested again...

Great, that's good to hear. I'd heard some could be a bit fussy. Yeah, it seemed like it became a problem with v1.04 of the firmware, but then someone figured it out and now, not a problem.

I'm now wondering if I just cancel my order, get a drive for ripping instead and start down that path, since my Xbox does a poor, but still passable, job of playing spinning disks for now.

Behodar

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#2516750 3-Jul-2020 13:10

I went through the rigmarole of 'upgrading' an Asus a while back, which involved connecting it to a circa-2005 motherboard as the DOS-based flashing software couldn't see a modern SATA controller!

The drive died after about a year :(

I haven't replaced it yet, so that LG is a possibility!

rb99

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#2516763 3-Jul-2020 13:36

Who knows which is best. Stick with the Pany while its cheap(er) and miss out on the backups, streaming round the house, Dolby Vision (if it matters to you). Go for the LG (or alternative) which is good so long as you can do the firmware (shouldn't be a problem), and miss out on the cheap Pany. Throw caution to the winds and go for both for less than the current price of the X700 (hey, its not my money...).

There don't seem to be a lot of these drives around at the mo (maybe a covid/supply thing ?), and they're a (bit) cheaper at PBTech for a few days as well, so...decisions, decisions.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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JPNZ

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#2516782 3-Jul-2020 14:08

From talking to my mate at HN we are not going to see super sharp pricing on home technology / entertainment from now to the end of the year. He said COVID has destroyed a lot of supply lines and as stock levels reduce pricing stays constant or increases. Demand across the board is strong but stock levels are very low. NL told me there are less than 15 of the UB420 in NZ through their network currently.

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JPNZ

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#2516932 3-Jul-2020 18:33

Well that’s going to be my shortest experience with a new product ever. Picked up the UB420 and granted discs are not my main form of viewing it’s a slow clunky pile of garbage.

Click movies then USB. “No folders or files” clearly there are my Pana OLED sees them fine. Move files out of folder direct onto drive. No luck still no files.

Put music onto drive. No files. Try a USB stick and diff format USB HDD still no files. Try network sharing slow buggy complicated just terrible. Won’t see my drive attached to network either.

I’m taking it back tomorrow and biting the bullet for an Apple TV 4K and try plex or infuse.

Panasonic 65GZ1000, Onkyo RZ730, Atmos 5.1.2, AppleTV 4K, Nest Mini's, PS5, PS3, MacbookPro, iPad Pro, Apple watch SE2, iPhone 15+

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Behodar

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#2516976 3-Jul-2020 18:49

Good to know. I use a USB drive with my non-UHD Sony, as the primary source of video. It sounds like the Panny is as incompetent as the Toshiba it replaced.

The only limitation with the Sony is that it required MBR partitioning (not GPT). The Toshiba, on the other hand, only handled FAT32 and therefore couldn't play anything over 4 GB!

ShinyChrome

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#2516988 3-Jul-2020 19:34

JPNZ: Well that’s going to be my shortest experience with a new product ever. Picked up the UB420 and granted discs are not my main form of viewing it’s a slow clunky pile of garbage.

Click movies then USB. “No folders or files” clearly there are my Pana OLED sees them fine. Move files out of folder direct onto drive. No luck still no files.

Put music onto drive. No files. Try a USB stick and diff format USB HDD still no files. Try network sharing slow buggy complicated just terrible. Won’t see my drive attached to network either.

I’m taking it back tomorrow and biting the bullet for an Apple TV 4K and try plex or infuse.

Ha, makes me feel better about cancelling my order today! I decided that even for the cheap price, since my Xbox plays UHD blurays passably and neither have DV, I wasn't really gaining anything much. I'd heard the interface was not great, but that's bad, man. At least you can send it back for a refund.

After rb99 and others convinced me, I think I might just go down the unraid + ripping with makemkv route myself, since I can direct play it on my shield with a client. What a turn of events this thread has been!

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#2517309 4-Jul-2020 18:35

Well let me just say Apple TV plus infuse app is brilliant. Absolutely fantastic

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rb99

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#2517332 4-Jul-2020 19:37

Am still tempted by the Apple TV 4K, even though I've got a perfectly good Shield.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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lapimate

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#2517546 5-Jul-2020 14:20

dafman: ... I'm assuming a BR player could remain unused for years without risk of component fail from lack of use? ...

Hazards might be "bearing stick" if kept entirely unused (may not be such a problem if the bearings are Fluid Dynamic Bearings) and perishing of (if any) rubber or similar wheels/idlers/shock absorbers.

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Loismustdye

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#2517610 5-Jul-2020 16:25

rb99:

Am still tempted by the Apple TV 4K, even though I've got a perfectly good Shield.

if it helps We are an Apple household and I went from a Apple TV 4K to a shield pro in the lounge in order to get plex atmos pass through as the Apple TV doesn’t.

ilovemusic

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#2517929 6-Jul-2020 13:57

JPNZ:

Yes I'm really betwixt and between on this one. It would be a good match for my new GZ but I hardly ever use disc media (although my boss has hundreds of 4K discs and is willing to let me borrow from week to week) but the media player side of it works better for me. Being able to plug in a ext HDD and play all formats and particularly audio formats would be good.

Unless there has been a very recent firmware update addressing the issue, the UB420 does not playback lossless audio (Dolby True HD, Atmos, DTS-HD MA, DTS-X) from digital files on ext HDD, USB etc.

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#2518006 6-Jul-2020 14:39

ilovemusic:

Unless there has been a very recent firmware update addressing the issue, the UB420 does not playback lossless audio (Dolby True HD, Atmos, DTS-HD MA, DTS-X) from digital files on ext HDD, USB etc.

Thanks, I returned the UB420 as it wouldn't recognise any media files from 3 different drives including one that my Panasonic GZ OLED would read easily.

Panasonic 65GZ1000, Onkyo RZ730, Atmos 5.1.2, AppleTV 4K, Nest Mini's, PS5, PS3, MacbookPro, iPad Pro, Apple watch SE2, iPhone 15+

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