Technical Issues and Questions

[therewillbeblus]

I still don't have a 4K tv, but everything else is 4K and so I still needed good HDMI cables so that everything else works well together, especially after the last firmware update my receiver had that updated some 4K feature in it (this was years ago). The ones I settled on and use everywhere are: Monoprice 4K Certified Premium High Speed HDMI Cable 3ft - 18Gbps Black. Should be good for any 4K situation, and they are inexpensive, and pretty darn durable. (Not sure BF15 code will apply, but wouldn't hurt to try, but perhaps they are BF priced already.)

I suggest the 6ft length as that's the optimum length for an HDMI cable, if I remember right. (Not mandatory)

Wow, very cheap- thanks for the info!

[therewillbeblus]

So I'm continuing to have a lot of inconsistent issues with my Panasonic 420 player- which has now moved from mostly 4K discs to including blu-ray discs that are spotless and in some cases never been played. The film stops around the same points each time (within the same disc) which would seem to indicate an issue with the disc itself, but there's not a speck of dust/scratch/etc. on them. The firmware says it's updated on the player, and I'll do the disc cleaning w/ soap, water, fiber cloth, etc. and nothing changes. Everything I read online says it has to be an issue with the disc or the firmware, but is there any chance of another option?

I may need to clean my player.. does anyone have any recommended lens cleaners? I've never had to do it before, but it strikes me as curious that the discs would be stopping at the same chapter each time if it was a dirty lens

[jheez]

That sounds frustrating! Could it be happening at the layer change? Or is it multiple points in the movie?

[therewillbeblus]

For Temple of Doom it was around the 1:15-1:30 minute mark, but for A Christmas Tale it happened at 1:52 and no chapter stops after would work; not sure what the “layer change” is and what to do about it? It’s not across the board though- DVDs play and I watched Eyes Wide Shut without a problem afterwards

I’ve read conflicting reports online about cleaning players- some people don’t ever seem to bother. I’m curious what people here do, but I don’t see what else could be it

[domino harvey]

The Desplechin is one of the bronzing Criterion discs, it may have nothing to do with your player

[therewillbeblus]

The Desplechin is one of the bronzing Criterion discs, it may have nothing to do with your player

Yeah thanks, I saw that and emailed them last night in case that's the issue, but this has been indiscriminately happening with other spotless discs too so I'm just wondering if there's anything else I may be doing or failing to do that's contributing to the problem

[fdm]

It does sound plausible it could be a dust related issue. The dust doesn't quite disturb the top layer's playback, but possibly hinders the playback of other layers. (For Oppos, you can take the cover off, remove something, and then (carefully) clean the laser head surface with a qtip and alcohol to clean of the dust… haven't done it myself.)

[Roger Ryan]

It does sound plausible it could be a dust related issue. The dust doesn't quite disturb the top layer's playback, but possibly hinders the playback of other layers. (For Oppos, you can take the cover off, remove something, and then (carefully) clean the laser head surface with a qtip and alcohol to clean of the dust… haven't done it myself.)

... not sure what the “layer change” is and what to do about it?

Just to try and draw attention to these two thoughts, many DVD and Blu-rays (identified as "dual layer") will have two layers of information on the playable surface of the disc. I believe UHD discs will often have more than two layers, right? This allows more information to be encoded on the disc without having to compress the information as much. For some discs, the main feature might occupy one layer whereas bonus features will occupy the second layer. But, often, the main feature will span across both layers. When played on a well-operating player, you won't even notice the layer change - it will be seamless. However, judging from my experience with players, the first thing that I start to notice when a player is beginning to fail (apart from slower loading times) is the player will have more difficulty changing from one layer to another seamlessly; the image may freeze for a moment, or the freezing may occur several times on either side of the layer change. Usually, these layer changes happen mid-way through a feature, but they can happen later in a feature as well (just depends on how the disc is encoded).

I hadn't given any thought to the fact that dust on the player's optical reader could interfere with the player successfully reading second or third layers while not affecting the player's ability to read the first layer. That's definitely something I'll look into if my current player starts fritzing out.

[therewillbeblus]

That's interesting, and makes a lot of sense. I'm worried about opening my player to remove dust/clean the lens, because I've read about this doing more harm than good, and given that UHDs/players have been way more delicate than blu-ray/players, I'm (perhaps foolishly) applying the same logic to that: If I open this thing and try to do anything to it, it'll break completely

[fdm]

When it comes time for me to have such problems, I'll be trying it. Or at least I'll be opening it up to take a look (in my case i won't hurt anything, as that's how some people installed there Oppo region free kits). I don't seem to put nearly as much wear and tear on my players as some here (my dvr and streaming have grabbed ahold of me and won't seem to let go), so that could still be a while. (Plus at least for now Oppo still supports their players for a modest fee.)

Anyway some sort of cleaner disc may help in the meantime for you, or it could dork things up even more (I have no experience, you might want to see what's on amazon and read the bad ratings to see whether they work).

[therewillbeblus]

Does anyone have any particular brand of microfiber cloths you'd recommend vs others? I feel like I've never managed to come away from cleaning a disc without scratching it -not in a way that leaves it unplayable, but no matter how gentle I am, it just ends that way. Curious if there are better cloths than the one I'm using

[DeprongMori]

Anyone in the UK have a Panasonic DP-UB820P 4K UHD player? (Or even a UB420P.) I’m trying to localize a problem I’m having on my US “region-hacked“ player.

My UHD player balks at 720x576/50i content on Blu-rays — I get only audio with no picture. My player doesn’t have any problem with Region B 1920x1080/50i material, such as Andrea Arnold’s “Red Road” and the “Dekalog” discs. No problem with the Region 2 DVD content either. I’m guessing that’s the case across all the Panasonic UHD players, but I don’t know yet whether it is a problem with the UK players as well as the modded US players. If the native unmodded UK players exhibit the problem, I might be able to persuade Panasonic to fix it in a firmware update.

Some UK Blu-ray discs with 720x576/50i supplements for testing include the 2022 release of “The Draughtsman’s Contract”, and “Witchfinder General”. I’m sure there are plenty.

[Soothsayer]

I was unable to find any other posts regarding this question so I'll ask here.

On the Cohen blu ray release of "Van Gogh", when my disc gets to the main menu, it's only showing "Extras". I have tried seemingly everything I can find on my remote and nothing is giving me options to play the film. This has occurred with multiple Sony players (no other players in the house to try unfortunately). Anyone else experience this issue? Thanks.

[hearthesilence]

I was unable to find any other posts regarding this question so I'll ask here.

On the Cohen blu ray release of "Van Gogh", when my disc gets to the main menu, it's only showing "Extras". I have tried seemingly everything I can find on my remote and nothing is giving me options to play the film. This has occurred with multiple Sony players (no other players in the house to try unfortunately). Anyone else experience this issue? Thanks.

Something similar happened to me with the menu on Daughters of the Dust. Another Cohen Blu-ray too:

Does anyone have the Cohen Collection's Daughters of the Dust Blu-ray? I just got it and for some reason I can't get to the feature film. When I'm on the menu, the ONLY visible and selectable option is "EXTRAS" and nothing else. If I select "EXTRAS," I can't even backtrack to the top menu. If I let the menu play, it just loops the same clip reel over and over.

I haven't had the chance to try it on a different player yet, but domino mentioned it was a player-related issue. Maybe something to do with Cohen's menu authoring as well?

[jheez]

I don't know if this is helpful - The Cohen Daughters of the Dust is a two blu-ray set, with the second disc only having extras. If you haven't already, I'd make sure they didn't accidentally send you two extras discs, even if the disc you're using isn't marked "bonus features". They could have printed the art on the disc wrong?

The bonus disc has a menu that only lists "extras" as a menu option. Then it has a couple interviews/Q&A. If you select "extras" on the main disc, it won't have the interviews.

Worked ok on my Panasonic player fwiw. The Cohen Van Gogh is also a similar 2 disc set

[Soothsayer]

Ah didn't even realize it was 2 discs. First disc was obscured by booklet. Thanks for the tip jheez!

[Lemmy Caution]

I've had players which had trouble with the layer change. Sometimes cleaning with one of those discs with an eyelash did the trick. Other times, the player was just aging out. But layer change freezing or stutter was almost always the first sign of a dusty lens or failing player.

[hearthesilence]

Ah didn't even realize it was 2 discs. First disc was obscured by booklet. Thanks for the tip jheez!

Color me embarrassed, that's exactly what happened with me too. Thank for the help jheez and thanks for bringing this up Soothsayer!

[bad future]

Having the main feature hidden under the leaflet and the bonus disc clearly visible threw me off on another Cohen release -- I didn't realize PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN came with a bonus film, so I spent several minutes wondering how they could have put the wrong disc in the case and looking into getting a replacement. womp womp.

[denti alligator]

Does anyone know the proper “peak nits” setting for HDR output to an Epson 5050? I have a Panny UHD player that, I assume, does this for me. But when I play 4K content from my HTPC I use J.River and in their video output settings you have to select the nits. I suspect my setting (currently 180) is too high, creating a rather darker image than it should be. I guess without knowing I could download a digital version of a UHD I have and compare to the Panny output to set it right?

[EddieLarkin]

I've no familiarity with the projector but I assume it wants to know the peak nits you're getting from it that have been measured after calibration. Unlike a specific TV model, which essentially has a publishable peak nits level that will be broadly the same across all units, it is impossible to know the same with a projector outside of calibration because of all the variables involved: screen size, screen gain, throw distance, room conditions. Consequently, the projector isn't going to know how to tone map properly unless someone has calibrated it, so the peak nits setting can be entered accurately (this is also the reason why Dolby Vision is not available on projectors, because the entire system relies on knowing what the peak nits are of the display device).

I've only ever owned one projector, a mid range JVC, and before calibration it was next to useless. Trying to eyeball settings and dial in proper black level etc is a fools errand (let alone colour), and I can't imagine how much more difficult dealing with HDR must be. Projectors essentially demand calibration, unless you're happy looking at a very inaccurate image.

[denti alligator]

Thanks. I’d like to have it calibrated, but I have not been able to find someone in my area to do it. Bummer.

[Drucker]

Was there any issues reported on Singing In The Rain? I picked up the disc brand new the other week, and got home and tried watching it, but it's very glitchy and won't play through in full. Disc was new in shrink wrap and looks fine. The enclosed blu-ray played thru in full on my player.

I've reached out to WHV for a replacement disc, which they said is not guaranteed. Did I get a lemon? Has anyone else experienced something like this?

[therewillbeblus]

My UHD of Singin' In The Rain played through, but I can't count how many times brand new, spotless UHDs glitched in my player. I imagine it's the format/player issues and not the disc, but you never know. I've found some luck cleaning the disc (regardless of it being spotless) using the normal dish soap/water method, and sometimes ejecting the disc turning off the player and reinserting it will work. But I've also had some discs (i.e. Temple of Doom) where I repeated all these methods across several days and ultimately just asked for a replacement after it glitched in the same places, despite it being clearly brand new.

[Drucker]

Good to know. I'm still on my old plasma, and have no intention to upgrade to a 4k TV anytime soon. I'd like to bust out some of my 4k discs which offer substantial upgrades to the previous blu rays (and really wanted to hear the original audio for Singin'), and look good enough on my TV even with the inherent limitations. So while I have tested out 4k discs on my plasma, last night was the first time I tried to watch one in full. But only got a few minutes in before it started to glitch.