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#1 ·
Circuit City online has gotten the new Panasonic players in a bit earlier than expected and the first orders are shipping today. Those that opted for "express" shipping (like me
) will begin receiving players on Tuesday the 14th. It is time for a new owners thread.


I have owned the previous Panasonic BD30, as well as numerous other models. I currently have the LG BH200 and PS3 in my system for comparison and I'll be posting my comments on the new Panasonic BD35.
 
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#10,021 ·
Ok, I purchased the BD-55 but have the following issues.


When I connect my player to the RX-V2600 (no TrueHD Decoder or 1080P) with HDMI, I can listen to both BD & DVD but if I connect the HDMI directly to the TV with an optical connection made to the receiver for audio I cannot get any sound at all. I understand that this may be the case for BD but why can I not hear DVD tracks. I have HDMI audio set to off. I have tried both bitstream and PCM but no luck.


Any help would be great.
 
#10,022 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Newfiestang50 /forum/post/15777114


Ok, I purchased the BD-55 but have the following issues.


When I connect my player to the RX-V2600 (no TrueHD Decoder or 1080P) with HDMI, I can listen to both BD & DVD but if I connect the HDMI directly to the TV with an optical connection made to the receiver for audio I cannot get any sound at all. I understand that this may be the case for BD but why can I not hear DVD tracks. I have HDMI audio set to off. I have tried both bitstream and PCM but no luck.


Any help would be great.

If you're using the HDMI cable only for video directly to your TV, go into the menu and set HDMI Audio to "Off." Also, make sure that your AV receiver is set to the right input for your optical connection. I set up my father's 'BD 35 this way and it works fine.
 
#10,023 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by s2silber /forum/post/15777496


If you're using the HDMI cable only for video directly to your TV, go into the menu and set HDMI Audio to "Off." Also, make sure that your AV receiver is set to the right input for your optical connection. I set up my father's 'BD 35 this way and it works fine.

Checked and re-checked. As I said above HDMI audio is set to off, & optical in is connected to DVD audio in on my receiver.


Any more suggestions would be great because right now I am forced to connect it through HDMI to the receiver but resolution is scaled down to the native resolution of my 2600 since that is all it will pass through. The audio sounds better this way (PCM TrueHD etc) but I think I would rather loose a bit of the audio quality than the video.
 
#10,024 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by ack_bk /forum/post/15776483


So who is going to be the genuie pig?



My BD35 has been rock solid, so I am reluctant to upgrade.

I saw the post about the new 1.7 update this morning and immediately turned my HT on and updated my bd35 (I'm connected the the internet). Soon after I watched a movie, it was a standard DVD, and everything worked as usual. Has anyone ever actually heard of a firmware update to a HT component that did harm to it? I always keep up to date with all the new firmware, I've always thought of them as improvements and not possible problems. "To each his own".
 
#10,025 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by guygamps /forum/post/15741990


OK, heres what I did.


I connected the DBMP35 to my Yamaha via a pair of very very high quality phono interconnects, analogue output of the Panny to CD input of the Yamaha and set the Yamaha to Pure Direct. Had a good listen and A/B'd against the HDMI input with the Yamaha doing the DA conversion.


Both sounded the same, quite edgy and brittle, like early CD players of the 1980s, and as I said, lacking bass extension.


So.. I went and got my Pioneer DV747A, currently on EBAY but not sold yet.


Plugged it up using same audio cables to the same input on the Yamaha and listened the same CDs.


MUCH better! the edginess of CD is nicely tamed, smoother/warmer sounding, and the bass feels like an extra octave has appeared.


So I don't need to by an Oppo 980HD, I just need to not sell my Pioneer DV747A


Also, remember my other gripes? boot up time, lack of numeric keypad entry? those are also addressed by using the Pioneer for CD/SACD.


Does mean running two players though which I didn't really want to do, which in turn means finding space for it in my otherwise pretty full AV rack.


Thanks,


Guy

So, resigned to having to keep my Pioneer DV747A plumbed up, I felt that I could make a cost saving by exchanging the BDMP35 for a Sony BDS350, the same shop had it for a fair bit less, and I couldn't see the point of spending the extra if it wasn't good enough to replace my old player for CD playing duties.


the dealer was a bit snotty, but I did it, told him I was not happy with the Panny due to CD disk replay performance and got refunded the difference (Quite a bit of cash) and came home with a Sony.


Much nicer menus on screen, better looking machine, nicer display on front panel, better build quality..... but... the picture quality on Blu Ray disks is not nearly as impressive, I noticed it immediately, the things that wowed me when i watched Blade Runner on the Panny, were just gone on the sony. In fact at times watching blade runner, I am not even sure I am watching HD! with the Panny I was never in doubt...


I also straight away noticed the audio quality is not as good. Again the Panny just blew me away with high frequency response that without being bright or tiring felt like it went up forever in to the HF spectrum, whilst the Sony (though good) again just lacks the Wow factor sound wise....


This is wierd, in both cases I can assure you the set up is identical, bitstream audio to my Yamaha RXv1800, Yamaha doing the decoding (displaying Dolby True HD on front panel) and picture set to 1080i output.


What amazes me is that the Sony has had awesomely good reviews, and if I hadn't got the Panny first I would not even know what I was missing, but I did have the Panny and I do know what I was missing....


ho hum...


Can't go back and change it again though, the shop manager was snotty enough first time around.


Still not that bothered... and here's why... since I have resigned myself to hanging on to the Pioneer for now, I have also decided that when the Oppo Blu Ray play does come out, I will buy one once any firmware oddities have settled down, then I can sell both the Pioneer (cos the Oppo will play SACDs, and from expectations should perform very well audio wise), and the Sony.


So the Sony is likely just a stop gap.


Still i can';t help but be a bit annoyed with myself..... and happy to admit it at least in the confines of this forum.


Guy
 
#10,026 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Newfiestang50 /forum/post/15777587


Checked and re-checked. As I said above HDMI audio is set to off, & optical in is connected to DVD audio in on my receiver.

From the player's perspective, there's not much to do. Plug in the optical cable and play a disc. If you set the DD and DTS outputs to bitstream, the player sends encoded tracks to your processor. If you set them to PCM, the player outputs stereo PCM. Either way, the player is outputting digital audio. So, if you aren't getting sound, I think the problem has to be downstream of the player - the cable or the AVR input selection or the AVR setup for that particular input. I suppose the player might have a bad optical output port. You could try the coax output instead.
 
#10,027 ·
Will give 1.7 a shot tonight on my BD35.

As for the Chroma problem on the Tudors DVD I had already placed the disc back in the mail. Someone mentioned turnning 24P off and my guess is that would fix the issue. I'll just stick to my HD-XA2 for regular DVD viewing as I really don't want to change the settings on the BD-35 everytime I watch a DVD. Besides I have probably watched less than 10 DVDs since I got my first HD-DVD & Blu-Ray players so it's really no big deal to me.
 
#10,028 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by BWG707 /forum/post/15777625


Has anyone ever actually heard of a firmware update to a HT component that did harm to it? I always keep up to date with all the new firmware, I've always thought of them as improvements and not possible problems. "To each his own".


Actually yes,a couple of updates for the Toshiba XA2 made things worse but Toshiba fixed it.I updated my BD35 to 1.7 without any problems so far.
 
#10,030 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark7pt1 /forum/post/15777842


What I'm wondering is why he is using an optical cable in addition to his HDMI. Or why any one wouldn't just use the HDMI from the BD player to the AVR with another HDMI from the AVR to the HDTV.


Because his/her AVR doesn't decode HD audio,I would use the analog out on the BD55 and let it decode the audio.

I agree with BIslander that it's probably a bad cable or connector.
 
#10,032 ·
I have followed this thread and Im sure it has been said before, but if I am using analogs, can I have hdmi audio(pcm specifically) set to on and still receive lossless through the analogs? I know the manual says to have it off, but I thought I read it doesn't matter with analog connections(only optical/coax)? thanks... and sorry if this has been asked
 
#10,033 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by moviegeek /forum/post/15777873


Because his/her AVR doesn't decode HD audio,I would use the analog out on the BD55 and let it decode the audio.

I agree with BIslander that it's probably a bad cable or connector.

If his AVR has at least an HDMI 1.1 input, he should just use it by sending PCM for the lossless formats, IMO.
 
#10,034 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by BWG707 /forum/post/15777625


I saw the post about the new 1.7 update this morning and immediately turned my HT on and updated my bd35 (I'm connected the the internet). Soon after I watched a movie, it was a standard DVD, and everything worked as usual. Has anyone ever actually heard of a firmware update to a HT component that did harm to it? I always keep up to date with all the new firmware, I've always thought of them as improvements and not possible problems. "To each his own".

There have been issues with other BD CE's and player with firmware updates. I typically wait a few weeks to ensure was broke, or there are no new major issues. I know with my Samsung 1500 BD player I am not on the latest firmware since the player is working fine and a number of people had issues with the latest firmware.


The fact that Panasonic has such infrequent firmware updates does lend me to believe that they have thoroughly tested it. I wish the CE's would give us more precise information as to what is included with each firmware update and a better explanation as to what has been fixed.
 
#10,035 ·
I have a BD-35 connected to my Yamaha RXV-2700 and then to my Panasonic AX100U projector. The Projector says it will take a 1080P 24 signal. But When I try to set the 24 frames on my BD-35 I can not change the choice to yes. The sub menu comes up but I can not get the cursor to move to the other box. Any ideas? Also since my projector really is only 720P 60 does this even matter?
 
#10,036 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark7pt1 /forum/post/15777842


What I'm wondering is why he is using an optical cable in addition to his HDMI. Or why any one wouldn't just use the HDMI cable from the BD player to the AVR with another HDMI cable from the AVR to the HDTV.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newfiestang50 /forum/post/15777587


...right now I am forced to connect it through HDMI to the receiver but resolution is scaled down to the native resolution of my 2600 since that is all it will pass through. The audio sounds better this way (PCM TrueHD etc) but I think I would rather loose a bit of the audio quality than the video.

He needs HDMI direct to the TV for video reasons.
 
#10,037 ·
Tried watching Cloverfield and half way through got the same problem. Freezes up and getting the copywrite error message again. This disc was FLAWLESS. Not a single scracth or crack etc. Panasonics reply was saying I was trying to watch copywrited discs even though I told them it was working half way through and it was from Netflix so obviously they join the ranks of uninformed customer service reps. I do not know what else to do. I am current with firmware, this disc had no visual imperfections of any kind. I bought this player to use with Netflix and it's a pain in the a_ _ to not be able to finish a movie and to wait several days to finish it. I STILL was never able to finish National Treasure 2. I gave up after the 2nd disc would not work. I am past the return period and about ready to smash this damn player. I am happy the majority of you do not have this problem. I rec'd many private messages about this so I know I am not alone with this problem. If anyone has any ideas other than saying to buy new discs (I only want to watch them once) I am open to any suggestions. If the disc showed scratches etc I would blame Netflix but at this point I blame the player. Sorry for venting but I am really frustrated. I was so excited to enjoy Blu Ray and now this. Even the movies that do work I can not enjoy because I have no faith in the player now and just waiting for it to freeze up and give me the lovely copywrite error message.
 
#10,038 ·
Just so you know I've watched both disks on my BD55 and my BD30 with no problems. Own National Treasure. The Cloverfield I rented at Blockbuster.
 
#10,040 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_6 /forum/post/15779762


Is it still possible to get a 55, or should I wait for the 80? Any ETA on the 80?


This will be my first standalone BD player

The newer Panasonic players are rumored to come out in April. I am not sure how readily available BD55s are out there right now. I know the 35 is very hard to find.


If you can, you might want to wait to see some reviews on the newer players.
 
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