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Official Panasonic DMP-BD35/55 Owners Thread - Page 394

post #11791 of 14895
4/17/09 at 5:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary J View Post

Netflix will stream their version of HD on a 5Mbs connection without issue. Most broadband connections are at least that. So I think the statement "unless you have superfast networking, you wouldn't be able to stream a moving (sic) in chunks in realtime while watching it" is inaccurate for many people.

A lot of people still can only get DSL in their area, and it's nowhere fast enough.

The average speed in the U.S. is 3.9, which is lower than the 5 you say is needed for Netflix.

I rest my case!

http://www.mediapost.com/publication...art_aid=103057
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post #11792 of 14895
4/17/09 at 5:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Mitchell View Post

No doubt most NTSC SD DVDs purport to offer 30fps content at 720x480. But that seems to be the external view of the data, how it gets presented downstream from a SD DVD player. About halfway down the HomeTheaterHiFi DVD Benchmark article, it describes three different ways the same information might be encoded on the DVD, examples 1, 2, 3, where example 1 shows four consecutive 24fps progressive frames similar to blu-ray, example 2 shows the same information unrolled as 10 fields after telecine, and example 3 shows the same as 5 frames after telecine. Following the instructions in the field flags, the MPEG data would be passed identically to the set as 30fps. So the citation in wikipedia can be true, while the seemingly contrary statements in many DVD upscaling reviews that often, most, or nearly all Hollywood SD DVDs contain 24fps progressive data can also be true.

Being curious, I ran down a couple of programs, DVDDecrypter and DGMPGDec. Combined I was able to extract the video content from a DVD chosen at random, in my case Predator2, and look at the frame info. Indeed, DGMPGDec reports the film information as progressive frame, at least in this sample of one. Assuming the Panasonic player is reasonably smart when 24fps mode is selected, it should be rendering the exact frames from the SD as they are recorded, without adding or constructing any information.

So I went back and worked through the settings from source to display, rereading the sections of the manuals that applied, and asking questions on various forums when I couldn't follow what a manual was saying, and I'm please to report that...

I was full of sh*t.

I now have 480i/60 coming into our scaler over SD-SDI, the scaler set to 60 -> 24 lock and 1080p, and it's sending 1080p/24 to the 141FD, which is set to advance to display it at 1080p/72, and it all works!

Thank you, and stash64, and jcalabria, and others who pushed back on my ignorance. I wouldn't have gotten this working without a shove in the right direction.
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post #11793 of 14895
4/17/09 at 6:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sk20 View Post

A lot of people still can only get DSL in their area, and it's nowhere fast enough.

Of course the faster the connection the better the experience but since you still don't get it I will spell it out for you. Netflix streaming runs on any broadband connection (including DSL) by adjusting the quality by determining the connection speed.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/6...wlc=1240018454
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post #11794 of 14895
4/17/09 at 6:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary J View Post

Of course the faster the connection the better the experience but since you still don't get it I will spell it out for you. Netflix streaming runs on any broadband connection (including DSL) by adjusting the quality by determining the connection speed.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/6...wlc=1240018454

So what you're saying is, if I get one of these streaming boxes, I can experience the full resolution of youtube on my 60" plasma.

Awesome!

I think I'll pass.

The point of my original reply was that there are some approaches to downloading movies where the movie is downloaded in its entirety ahead of time (like for example overnight), and then once downloaded they can be watched in realtime with an acceptable streaming rate, but that doing it that way requires having enough local storage to hold the full movie, and that even with a memory card the BD55 wouldn't have enough storage, and therefore a firmware upgrade wouldn't make the nut, which I think is a clear answer to the poster's original question.

Your answer is also valid, if there's enough bandwidth. I'm not arguing that. But don't assume there's enough bandwidth.

As for "but since you still don't get it", that was rude.
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post #11795 of 14895
4/17/09 at 8:08pm
Hi All,

There have been reviews of the above BR disk and they have mentioned the disk having a DTS MA Audio track. I purchased the above from amazon.com but the only two tracks available are Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo. Is the HD Audio track found in "an Easter Egg"? Has anyone been able to find this Audio track?

Regards

Alay
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post #11796 of 14895
4/17/09 at 8:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sk20 View Post

A lot of people still can only get DSL in their area, and it's nowhere fast enough.

The average speed in the U.S. is 3.9, which is lower than the 5 you say is needed for Netflix.

I rest my case!

http://www.mediapost.com/publication...art_aid=103057

DSL can be very fast. My $35/mo ATT DSL consistently gets 6-7Mbps downloads.
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post #11797 of 14895
4/17/09 at 8:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sk20 View Post

...

I now have 480i/60 coming into our scaler over SD-SDI, the scaler set to 60 -> 24 lock and 1080p, and it's sending 1080p/24 to the 141FD, which is set to advance to display it at 1080p/72, and it all works!

Thank you, and stash64, and jcalabria, and others who pushed back on my ignorance. I wouldn't have gotten this working without a shove in the right direction.

You're welcome; I'm glad you got it working. I once shared the opinion you espoused on how SD was recorded, before I read some more about the mpeg frame structure, so I do understand. Thanks to this discussion, though, I now have tools that let me see what frame structure is really used on a particular DVD, and I have more confidence in how 24fps SD is handled by the BD35. That's cool.
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post #11798 of 14895
4/17/09 at 9:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alay View Post

Hi All,

There have been reviews of the above BR disk and they have mentioned the disk having a DTS MA Audio track. I purchased the above from amazon.com but the only two tracks available are Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo. Is the HD Audio track found in "an Easter Egg"? Has anyone been able to find this Audio track?

Regards

Alay

While the movie is playing, have you tried hitting the display button, then cursoring down to the Soundtrack area? You can cursor up/down to change see what soundtracks are available and change it while you are watching the movie.

Refer to page 28 in your manual.

You can also use the AUDIO button on the BD55 remote to change the soundtrack. Page 20.
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post #11799 of 14895
4/18/09 at 12:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by yngdiego View Post

DSL can be very fast. My $35/mo ATT DSL consistently gets 6-7Mbps downloads.

So you must live real close to an ATT facility. I don't and they can't offer me anywhere near a speed like that.
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post #11800 of 14895
4/18/09 at 2:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by yngdiego View Post

DSL can be very fast. My $35/mo ATT DSL consistently gets 6-7Mbps downloads.

Sigh. We're lucky to get 1.4. We live in the boonies, more than a mile from what's supposed to be the maximum possible distance from a central office. But at least it's quiet and we see bobcats sometimes.
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post #11801 of 14895
4/18/09 at 6:34am
It's not always helpful to say but I haven't had any HDMI signal issues in the 6 months I've used the BD55 in my system. The Monoprice 4x2 Matrix switcher feeds to a JVC RS2 through a 30 foot BlueJeans cable and a Sharp LC-46SE94U at the end of a 55 foot BlueJeans cable. The shorter lines into the switcher are Monoprice 6 footers. Yes, all are 1.3 certified pieces and the displays are 1080P/24. Monoprice may have a "newer" unit than my HDX-402 unit so YMMV.

An issue was the switcher was too sensitive to the Niles IR repeater signal until I reduced it. It takes too many seconds to negotiate and switch which is noticable but I'm used to that behavior. All cables are strain releaved and supported. Yes, I'm anal having worked (at a younger age) inside missiles and such.

Quote:
Originally Posted by queendvd2 View Post

I need to pass 1080p.

A splitter so that my LCD can also use my HT equipment. Here is the precise splitter. My bad, it's 1.2a not 1.3.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Can't seem to get a handshake with the BD55.
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post #11802 of 14895
4/18/09 at 9:59am
I was just on Panasonics web site and they still only list the 1.7 firmware update. So my question is can I get the 1.8 update some people are talking about downloaded to CD?

Jeff
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post #11803 of 14895
4/18/09 at 10:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pronghorn/az View Post

I was just on Panasonics web site and they still only list the 1.7 firmware update. So my question is can I get the 1.8 update some people are talking about downloaded to CD?

Jeff

Links to Panasonic Japan site are discussed here.
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post #11804 of 14895
4/18/09 at 10:44am
Does anyone have a summary of the changes made by the firmware updates? I am still running 1.1 with absolutely no problems. I do not us BD live or allow my BD disks to go online. I just want to watch the movie.

I am following the theory if it's not broken, don't fix it. Just wondering if any of the updates speed up the loading of disks and the booting of the player.
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post #11805 of 14895
4/18/09 at 11:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Bailey View Post

While the movie is playing, have you tried hitting the display button, then cursoring down to the Soundtrack area? You can cursor up/down to change see what soundtracks are available and change it while you are watching the movie.

Refer to page 28 in your manual.

You can also use the AUDIO button on the BD55 remote to change the soundtrack. Page 20.


Hi Lee,

Thank you for the suggestion. You were right. The display button does show the sound as being DTS MA

Regards

Alay
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post #11806 of 14895
4/18/09 at 12:22pm
Is there a way to make the BD35 hold the HDMI output setting at 480?

I like to have the bd35 set to 480 to output DVDs. I let my receiver do the upconversion (Onkyo 906). BD35 alsways defaults to "Auto" setting, which seemingly results in a double converison (or maybe the receiver just bypasses the signal to the tv if it is already converted). Would like to avoid having to make this change every time I load a dvd.
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post #11807 of 14895
4/19/09 at 3:32am
here's the only list i've seen for n.a./euro regions going back to 1.5 on 10/30/08:
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/c...5/bd55_na.html

for asia going back to 1.2 12/15:
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/c...bd35_asia.html

descriptions aren't very, well, uhmmm... descriptive.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudy81 View Post

Does anyone have a summary of the changes made by the firmware updates? I am still running 1.1 with absolutely no problems. I do not us BD live or allow my BD disks to go online. I just want to watch the movie.

I am following the theory if it's not broken, don't fix it. Just wondering if any of the updates speed up the loading of disks and the booting of the player.
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post #11808 of 14895
4/19/09 at 5:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by yngdiego View Post

DSL can be very fast. My $35/mo ATT DSL consistently gets 6-7Mbps downloads.

Plus he does not understand what streaming is which is not "downloading movies where the movie is downloaded in its entirety ahead of time (like for example overnight), and then once downloaded they can be watched in realtime with an acceptable streaming rate".
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post #11809 of 14895
4/19/09 at 7:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pronghorn/az View Post

I was just on Panasonics web site and they still only list the 1.7 firmware update. So my question is can I get the 1.8 update some people are talking about downloaded to CD?

Jeff

Go to this site
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post #11810 of 14895
4/19/09 at 9:11am
Ok, we downloaded 1.8 from Pannys website. We inserted the disc andit immediately said "unsupported". What did I do wrong?

Jeff
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post #11811 of 14895
4/19/09 at 9:23am
Seems like Samsung added Netflix streaming to couple of BR players AFTER they were released. It was done by a firmware upgrade.




http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10073519-1.html

"Samsung is adding the ability to stream Netflix videos and Pandora's online music service to its latest Blu-ray players. Starting today, a free firmware update will add both services to the BD-P2550."




http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/1...g-adds-ne.html

"If you own either the BD-P2500 or the BD-P2550 (go check the back of the box. We'll wait) then you can grab a free update which will give access to the Netflix "Watch Instantly" service (of course, you'll need to be a NetfLix subscriber, too)."


So it seems like a firmware update can add Netflix streaming. However, Samsung did this back in October '08. If Panasonic didn't do it for 35/55 maybe they don't want to or they can't.
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post #11812 of 14895
4/19/09 at 9:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dinotoad View Post

I set BD live to "prohibit" with the hope of speeding access up and because I see no value in it. Now the following message pops up while viewing a BD:

network connection refused
please confirm setup
bd-live internet access

I can't believe this is how it is supposed o work. Does anyone know how to get around this? I want to stay connected just for firmware updates.

I had this problem a couple of months ago and set my BD35 to "Allow(ALL) Access" which I thought had solved the problem once and for all. Last night Bolt wouldn't load period(went into full stop after trying to load the Top Menu.) Spent an hour and a half trying Allow(ALL)/Allow(Limited)/Prohibit, Prohibit would play, but with the Network Connection Refused Message. Finally it worked with Allow(ALL) after switching some unrelated settings back and forth(they were all back to where I had them when it started working again.) Could this be because the 1.8 firmware update didn't uphold my settings correctly(even though they appear in the settings menu to have been?)

Anyway, I've read some of the past responses and it seems if all else fails I can unplug the ethernet connection temporarily rather than have a bum evening. Feedback?
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post #11813 of 14895
4/19/09 at 10:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pronghorn/az View Post

Ok, we downloaded 1.8 from Pannys website. We inserted the disc andit immediately said "unsupported". What did I do wrong?

Jeff

Assuming you created the disk correctly -- Panasonic indicates that Microsoft's default software on Vista for writing disks does not handle ISO9660 format -- then I remember seeing the following note at the end of their updating instructions:

[Note]:
If the firmware version currently installed in the Panasonic BD player is the same or more recent than the firmware version on the update disc, "UNSUP/PORT" will be displayed for approximately 5 seconds on the front display of the Panasonic BD player. In this case, an update is unnecessary -please remove the disc.

So perhaps 1.8 is already installed in your player. (I have seen instructions for how to verify this in the manual.) If you really have an earlier version, you need to look into how you wrote the CD, whether there was some option you needed to enable to get it to be ISO9660 format. Panasonic indicates this was the default under Microsoft XP when writing a file to a blank CD, but Vista works differently.

I have mine connected by wire, so I have not gone through the CD firmware upgrade process myself, and I cannot say which option works under Roxio or Nero.
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post #11814 of 14895
4/19/09 at 10:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by inphoenix View Post

Seems like Samsung added Netflix streaming to couple of BR players AFTER they were released. It was done by a firmware upgrade.




http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10073519-1.html

"Samsung is adding the ability to stream Netflix videos and Pandora's online music service to its latest Blu-ray players. Starting today, a free firmware update will add both services to the BD-P2550."




http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/1...g-adds-ne.html



"If you own either the BD-P2500 or the BD-P2550 (go check the back of the box. We'll wait) then you can grab a free update which will give access to the Netflix "Watch Instantly" service (of course, you'll need to be a NetfLix subscriber, too)."


So it seems like a firmware update can add Netflix streaming. However, Samsung did this back in October '08. If Panasonic didn't do it for 35/55 maybe they don't want to or they can't.

The problem is the Samsung players already had the streaming hardware built-in and an agreement with NetFlix,the BD35/55 do NOT have the hardware and Panasonic doesn't have an agreement with NetFlix.
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post #11815 of 14895
4/19/09 at 10:52am
"Seems like Samsung added Netflix streaming to couple of BR players AFTER they were released."

Because they were built with the necessary hardware. In the same way a few stand alone blu-ray players added DTS HD MA decoding after being released.

You can not add features via firmware to enable a function the hardware does not support. If you are talking about something like a PS3 that is a computer, you can add all sorts of things to it. A PS3 and a stand alone blu-ray player are not apples to apples.

If the supporting hardware was in place in the BD35/55 I can assure you it would be in Panasonic's best interest to enable additional features and to have avoided all the additional cost in hardware changes and production.

But if you think streaming can be added via firmware please contact Panasonic customer support and ask them to add it to the bd35/55, bd30/50, etc.

There is a difference between "adding" a feature and "enabling" a feature.
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post #11816 of 14895
4/19/09 at 10:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary J View Post

Plus he does not understand what streaming is which is not "downloading movies where the movie is downloaded in its entirety ahead of time (like for example overnight), and then once downloaded they can be watched in realtime with an acceptable streaming rate".

I very clearly described two different approaches to downloading movies.

One approach streams in realtime, with a little bit of local buffering. That approach requires sufficient bandwidth, or requires being willing to watch really low-rez video when insufficient bandwidth is unavailable. That approach might work with a firmware update, but would only work for the lucky less-than-half of the U.S. population that has broadband that's fast enough to make the picture quality acceptable. (And now other posters are saying even then it wouldn't work, because some streaming hardware is required in the box that's not in the BD55.)

The other approach--and there are boxes you can buy that do this--have sufficient local storage for entire movies. They can download overnight even on a slow connection, and give the viewer a full-rez movie the next day. That was the approach I said would not work with a mere firmware upgrade, because there is insufficient local storage.

I obviously do understand this stuff, so I don't know why you continue to say I don't. You might go back and read what I actually posted instead of continuing to insult me. I don't know why you've decided to start picking on me, but it's annoying. What did I ever do to you?
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post #11817 of 14895
4/19/09 at 11:26am
Since neither of these units stream anything why is the discussion about streaming even in this thread?
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post #11818 of 14895
4/19/09 at 11:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kegobeer View Post

Yet another Bedtime Stories problem here. Just like everyone else, I was stuck in an endless loop of trailers, gumballs, reboot. I tried disabling the internet, cleaning the disc, etc. I was about to remove the ethernet cable when I decided to eject my SD card. Now the disc plays just fine. I'm got the latest firmware on the BD35.

Thanks for the SD tip. It worked. I had called Netflix to complain but they had no clue. My BD35 firmware was updated from 1.5 to 1.8. Still wouldn't play. I passed the SD card fix on to Netflix. It's the first BR disc I've had a problem with.
Thanks again.
Roger Prince
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post #11819 of 14895
4/19/09 at 1:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsmiddleton4 View Post

Since neither of these units stream anything why is the discussion about streaming even in this thread?

Someone had asked if streaming could be added with a firmware update. We were just trying to answer his question.
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post #11820 of 14895
4/19/09 at 1:43pm
Sorry sk but I'm not an idiot. You two have gone at each other WAY past answering a simple question about how firmware works for features.

Maybe you two should start a separate thread on streaming?
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