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Audio or video issues with Star Wars? Please select your player and receiver.

  • Player: Panasonic

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Player: Pioneer

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Player: Samsung

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Player: Oppo

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • Player: PS3

    Votes: 2 28.6%
  • Player: Other

    Votes: 2 28.6%
  • Receiver: Pioneer

    Votes: 2 28.6%
  • Receiver: Denon

    Votes: 1 14.3%
  • Receiver: Onkyo

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Receiver: Other

    Votes: 1 14.3%

Experiencing audio dropouts on Star Wars?

71K views 664 replies 144 participants last post by  LNEWoLF 
#1 ·
Are you experiencing audio dropouts and/or video glitches (freezing, pixelating) when watching any of the Star Wars Blu-ray discs?


Early reports around the forums point toward Episode II (Attack of the Clones) being the most likely to cause problems. Early reports also seem to indicate that certain Panasonic and PS3 players are more prone to have the problem.


If you are experiencing these issues, please use the poll to select your player and receiver brand. Please then post additional details as a comment in the thread. Please follow this format:


Player: Brand & Model

Receiver: Brand & Model

Episode(s) affected:

Player set to Bitstream or PCM:


Additional comments:


Mark
 
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#2 ·
Player: Panasonic DMP-BD35

Receiver: Pioneer VSX-94TXH

Episode: II - Attack of the Clones

Player set to: Bitstream


Both my player and my receiver have the most recent firmware installed. I am experiencing both audio dropouts and video glitches (freezing and pixelated image) with Attack of the Clones. The Phantom Menace played without issues. I have not yet watched the remaining four episodes.


Mark
 
#3 ·
Panasonic Bdt-350, Denon 2808ci. Audio dropouts in IV, huge spike in the V during the crawl intro. My wife actually thought she broke her glass. I called Panny support and their engineers will look into it. I had previous setting on bitstream with audio issues. Switched over to lpcm and issues went away, EXCEPT there was NO rear surround on VI.
 
#4 ·
Player: Panasonic DMP-BD35

Receiver: Denon AVR-889

Episode: IV - A New Hope

Player set to: Bitstream


My player has the the most recent firmware installed and there is no firmware showing as available on the Denon website for my receiver. I experienced the static in the side and rear surrounds at the start of IV (after the 20th Century Fox logo fades and the Lucasfilm logo is on screen) and had numerous (a dozen or so) audio dropouts throughout the movie. I have yet to try the other films other than 10 minutes or so of ESB. I plan on watching the whole thing this weekend but will likley switch my player to output PCM so I don't get annoyed!


BTW, in my haste, I f^%$ed up my vote and checked off "Pioneer" for my receiver.
Any idea how I can "fix" my vote?!?
 
#5 ·
I watched TPM last nite on my DMP-BD85 and three times had it shut down my pioneer vsx1120. First when they escape from naboo thru the federation blockade right when they fire on the ship my pioneer shut off.


Turned the reciver back on replayed the scene again, turned off again. Turned the volume down a little bit and it played thru, but did it again when the pod race began. Switched over to the PS3 and was fine until Darth Maul showed up, he must of used the force and shut my receiver down again



One more time and finally made it thru the movie, never had that happen before, weird.


Panasonic BD85

PS3

Pioneer VSX1120
 
#6 ·
Player: Pioneer Elite BDP-23FD

Receiver: Pioneer Elite VSX-33

Episode: V

Player set to: Bitstream


I had one short audio drop out during Episode V about midway through the film. Episodes 1 and 4 played fine.


Update: audio and video froze for about 10 sec during ROTJ right as Luke and vader began battling.
 
#8 ·
Player: Panasonic DMP-BD35

Receiver: Denon 3311

Episode: IV

Player set to: Bitstream


I experienced 3 or 4 audio drop outs during ANH. I have not watched any of the others yet. I learned after watching it of an August 2011 firmware update for the BD35 and have done that, but not had time to try the movie again. I may just switch to LPCM and go with that.
 
#9 ·
I had a horrendous reintroduction to the supposedly vanquished DTS HD-MA "audio bomb" while watching Episode IV.


I watched the movie from the beginning for a while and had no problems, but when I went to the Scenes menu and selected the "Millennium Falcon" scene - BOOM! The instant the scene began I got the mother of all audio spikes through every channel simultaneously It sounded like the house exploded and I was sure that I had blown all of my speakers (thank goodness for the durability of SVS).


I tried it again with the volume extremely low and heard it again. If I let the disc play up to that point it doesn't happen, but if I use the menu to go directly to that scene it happens every time.


I have a Panasonic DMP-BD35 and Onkyo TX-SR705 with the DSP patch installed that had fixed this problem for the past 2 or 3 years, at least until this disc showed up. This appears to be caused by the well-known DTS HD-MA "audio bomb" glitch. Apparently it was never completely fixed after all.


I'm afraid now to try any of the other discs. I don't know how many more shocks like that my speakers will withstand. This is really disappointing.
 
#10 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Logan5 /forum/post/20973066


I had a horrendous reintroduction to the supposedly vanquished DTS HD-MA "audio bomb" while watching Episode IV.


I watched the movie from the beginning for a while and had no problems, but when I went to the Scenes menu and selected the "Millennium Falcon" scene - BOOM! The instant the scene began I got the mother of all audio spikes through every channel simultaneously It sounded like the house exploded and I was sure that I had blown all of my speakers (thank goodness for the durability of SVS).


I tried it again with the volume extremely low and heard it again. If I let the disc play up to that point it doesn't happen, but if I use the menu to go directly to that scene it happens every time.


I have a Panasonic DMP-BD35 and Onkyo TX-SR705 with the DSP patch installed that had fixed this problem for the past 2 or 3 years, at least until this disc showed up. This appears to be caused by the well-known DTS HD-MA "audio bomb" glitch. Apparently it was never completely fixed after all.


I'm afraid now to try any of the other discs. I don't know how many more shocks like that my speakers will withstand. This is really disappointing.

I am experiencing the exact same problem with a Pioneer BDP-05FD player and the Onkyo TX-NR906 AVR.... If I skip chapters the audio bomb will occasionally show up and it's a doozie of a bomb... gotta be over 120dB. I can get around the issue by having the player decode the signal and send a PCM signal to the Onkyo. I had a Onkyo TX-NR905 which had the DTS issue and had to upgrade the DSP firmware to fix it. I was not aware that the newer 906 model was experiencing the same problem.


Oddly enough, I cannot replicate the problem when I play the movies from my Sony BDP-S58 blu-ray player.
 
#12 ·
I wrote Panasonic about the Star Wars audio problem and I received the following reply:

Quote:
Thank you for your inquiry. Please include a memory card of size 2GB in slot on unit, format and then attempt to play movie again. This usually helps with playback of BD discs.

Thank you for sharing your feedback and we will have our research and development division look into this issue. It is very important to our company that we listen to our customers and provide appropriate solutions. Thank you for your input and your time in letting us know of your concerns.


We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for contacting Panasonic.

Unfortunately, I already have a 2GB SD card installed in my BD35 so that suggestion is not going to fix the problem. But at least I've helped get it on Panasonic's radar.


In other news... I watched Episode III, Revenge of the Sith this evening and it lost audio and the image froze up for a few seconds in two places. When I fast reversed the playback and played the offending sections again they played fine.


I'm torn on whether these audio/video issues are being caused by mastering/replication or by players/receivers. Panasonic players are leading in the poll results while receiver brand is more evenly distributed. Hopefully Panasonic will take the reports seriously and issue a firmware update.


Mark
 
#13 ·
We have a thread over in England with the same sort of issues. Since I reported this the original AVS thread its grown to quite a size.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-r...-problems.html


For what it is worth, I have the US Region A set and play on the following equipment, both with the same bugs...


Player : Sony BDP-S370 Region A machine

Player : Sony PS3 Slim (UK Model)

Amp : Sony STR-DA5300


The easiest test you can do to spot the fault is to pop in Episode IV A New Hope and skip to chapter 16. As the star destroyer moves towards the Death Star you will drop out twice in a matter of about 2 seconds. If you don't get that, I think you are pretty safe with the audio on this set (bar any disc operational issues).


EDIT - I think you will need to put SONY on the poll for the player and the amp!!!
 
#14 ·
That's exactly the reference point I've been using when troubleshooting! As you say 2 dropouts in quick succession at the angle change.


By switching Blu-Ray players and AVRs around I've been able to confirm it's my Denon amp to blame (1909). When the BD player does the decoding (i.e. the AVR is receiving PCM) the problem goes away and if I switch to another AVR (Onkyo) I can bitstream without drops. I've emailed Denon as the 1909 can't have the firmware updated without going to a Service Center. It's out of warranty but I'm not paying £80 to fix such a blatant error on their part.
 
#15 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Logan5 /forum/post/0


I had a horrendous reintroduction to the supposedly vanquished DTS HD-MA "audio bomb" while watching Episode IV.


I watched the movie from the beginning for a while and had no problems, but when I went to the Scenes menu and selected the "Millennium Falcon" scene - BOOM! The instant the scene began I got the mother of all audio spikes through every channel simultaneously It sounded like the house exploded and I was sure that I had blown all of my speakers (thank goodness for the durability of SVS).


I tried it again with the volume extremely low and heard it again. If I let the disc play up to that point it doesn't happen, but if I use the menu to go directly to that scene it happens every time.


I have a Panasonic DMP-BD35 and Onkyo TX-SR705 with the DSP patch installed that had fixed this problem for the past 2 or 3 years, at least until this disc showed up. This appears to be caused by the well-known DTS HD-MA "audio bomb" glitch. Apparently it was never completely fixed after all.


I'm afraid now to try any of the other discs. I don't know how many more shocks like that my speakers will withstand. This is really disappointing.

I never had the "bomb" issue with my Onkyo TX-SR 705, but I did on Ep V when chapter-skipping backwards. Pretty dang scary. Oppo BDP-83. I will look for this when I play Ep VI. Or maybe it's time to go back to LPCM.
 
#16 ·
I also had the DTS bomb on Episode V at the beginning when the probe driods are disbursed. It was not during regular playback though. I had paused the movie, came back a minute later, hit play, and boom, bomb. Got scared. Paused it immediately, hit play again, and boom, bomb twice! I was beyond paranoid at that point, testing too see if any speakers were damaged.


I turned the volume down(not sure if that would make the bomb quieter) and tried to recreate it during normal playback, and also pausing and replaying. Luckily, I could not get the bomb again.


I am using a the Panny BD110 bitstreaming to an Onkyo 3008. Both with the newest firmware.


Thought the DTS bomb issue was resolved years ago......


I've watched all 6 films and did not experience any other issues.
 
#17 ·
Player: Pioneer BDP-320

Receiver: Denon AVR-790

Episode: II - Attack of the Clones

Player set to: Bitstream


Video appears to be fine but I am experiencing drop outs when playing AOTC. I was aware of the problems so I checked this episode first and the problem does go away if I change my 320 to PCM, however I loose my pretty blue light. I did watch TPM last night while bitsreaming and it played fine
. I seriously doubt there will be a firmware update on my old receiver but Pioneer is still supporting the 320. I going to try bitsreaming ATOC on my PS3 at known problem spots tonight to see how that compares to the 320 because I really have no life to speak of
. Will report back with findings.
 
#18 ·
Player: Panasonic BD35

Receiver: Denon AVR-890

Episode: II - AOTC, Episode IV ANH

Player set to: Bitstream


I have audio dropouts on both and pixelization on AOTC. BD35 has the latest firmware and the 890 is not field upgradable so it probably doesn't. No dropouts when the BD35 is set to PCM.
 
#19 ·
Player: Oppo BDP-80 (firmware up to date)

Receiver: Denon AVR-2808ci (firmware up to date)

Episode(s) affected: II, IV, VI

Player set to Bitstream or PCM: Bitstream (problems disappear when I switch to PCM)


I've had audio dropouts on both II and IV and also on the THX trailer after the credits on IV and VI. They all go away when I switch my player to PCM. I even switch out my HDMI cable but, it had no effect on the dropouts when bitstreaming.
 
#20 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Booth /forum/post/20973487


I wrote Panasonic about the Star Wars audio problem and I received the following reply:




Unfortunately, I already have a 2GB SD card installed in my BD35 so that suggestion is not going to fix the problem. But at least I've helped get it on Panasonic's radar.


In other news... I watched Episode III, Revenge of the Sith this evening and it lost audio and the image froze up for a few seconds in two places. When I fast reversed the playback and played the offending sections again they played fine.


I'm torn on whether these audio/video issues are being caused by mastering/replication or by players/receivers. Panasonic players are leading in the poll results while receiver brand is more evenly distributed. Hopefully Panasonic will take the reports seriously and issue a firmware update.


Mark

I am in contact with the director of Blu-ray player development at Panasonic Japan about the issue. Will report back if he is able to determine any cause.


-CB
 
#22 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by boylan13 /forum/post/20974305


I am in contact with the director of Blu-ray player development at Panasonic Japan about the issue. Will report back if he is able to determine any cause.


-CB

He suspects DSP issues on the receivers but this is all very preliminary and his people are looking into it. I gave him a bunch of different receiver model numbers to test with.


BTW, owners should also report these issues to tech support of the respective companies as Mark has done. If it doesn't end up being a problem with the encode or authoring of the discs, then we're all going to need a ****load of firmware or DSP upgrades!


-CB
 
#24 ·
Am I the only one that is experiencing freezes/pauses in the video at the same time the audio drops out? Here's is what happens:


The audio disappears. A fraction of a second later the video freezes. 1-5 seconds later the video resumes (sometimes stuttering a bit before it resumes normally). Then 1-3 seconds after that the audio resumes.


If it was JUST the audio I'd be more inclined to suspect the receiver as part of the problem. But how does the receiver cause the video to pause/freeze? And sometimes the video gets pixelated. How does the receiver cause that?


Granted, my HDMI is routed through my receiver. Perhaps an appropriate test would be to route my player directly to the TV and then play known trouble spots?


I think I'll do that. When I watch Episode IV I'll try the skip to chapter 16 test that englishbob suggested. I'll try it a couple of times with the receiver in-line to confirm I'm having the issue. Then I'll try it by bypassing the receiver. Should make for an interesting test! (But it's important to note that, for me, immediately reversing (rewinding) the playback and playing a "problem" section over again seems to eliminate the problem for that section of the movie.)


If the problem goes away with the removal of the receiver I'll go back and watch the first half out of Attack of the Clones again (with receiver out of the loop).


BTW, englishbob, I can't add anymore options to the poll. The limit is 10 entries. When I created the poll I had not read any reports from Sony standalone player owners having the issue, just the PS3.


Lastly, I responded to Panasonic customer service to let them know I already have a 2GB SD card installed and to update them that I had two pause/freeze audio dropouts on Episode III. Here is their response:

Quote:
Thank you for your feedback. We do apologize for the inconvenience you are presently faced with however we are making every effort to correct the issue at hand.


When I created this poll I thought the results would mostly be limited to Panasonic players and maybe the PS3. But it's looking like every popular brand of player (except Samsung) has had problems. I think the Panasonic figures are higher simply because there are more people with Panasonic players on the forum. Ditto for Denon receivers.


My suspicion is switching to some sort of DTS authoring/mastering error on the discs themselves. I truly hope that is NOT the case. I don't envision Fox being in any kind of a hurry to replace defective discs.


Mark
 
#25 ·
To add - my picture issues with AOTC (1-2 seconds of image pixellation @ the 1:19:00 area - Anakin/Shmi @ the Tusken camp) occurred on my Panny BD35 while connected via COMPONENT video.
 
#26 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by jwebb1970 /forum/post/20974814


To add - my picture issues with AOTC (1-2 seconds of image pixellation @ the 1:19:00 area - Anakin/Shmi @ the Tusken camp) occurred on my Panny BD35 while connected via COMPONENT video.

Component connection directly to your TV or through your receiver?


Mark
 
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