Official Panasonic DMP-BD35/55 Owners Thread - Page 25

[quote=sourbeef;14906320]OK here is what I have come up with reading through tons of threads. I have a Onkyo 705 receiver. I checked it, unfortunately it is vulnerable to the DTS bomb. I just got a Panasonic BD-35 bluray player.

Please let me know if you are able to resolve the update using the BD-35. I could not get my dvd player to read the disc, and apparently not all dvd players can be used for the update.

Anybody using one of these with a Panasonic SA-XR700 receiver? The SA-XR700 does not do DTS-MA or Dolby TruHD on board, but is supposed to take already-decoded 7.1 bitstreamed to either of the HDMI inputs. For this reason I bought an SA-XR700 and decided to wait until the DMP-BD50 came out to get a Blu-ray player. Now the DMP-BD55 has come out before I could acquire a 50, and with the lower price point it seems a no-brainer. Just wondering if anyone has had luck with this arrangement for playing back DTS-MA and Dolby TruHD titles.

I am, admittedly and to a fault, a brand loyalist. I can't wait to add a Panny Blu-ray player to my TH-PZ750u and SA-XR700, and I think the DMP-BD55k may be just the ticket.

I also got in on the AAA Circuit City deal. Total was 275.99. The only CC that had it in stock was 31 miles away. They also only had 1. As I was about to place my order I called over there wanting to make sure they did not turn their only 35 into a display unit. They guy told me they did not have a 35 but they had a 30 or 55 available. I told him the computer says you have one, then he finally said oh yeah I typed it in wrong. I ordered it and they had it waiting for me in the front when I got there an hour later. I brought back my Samsung 1500, it was flawless until Made of Honor.

de novo

I have the Integera 9.8. Instructions from Integra advised the use of a cd player. However, I used my old Panasonic DVD player and it worked like a charm. Do you have the Onkyo instructions? If not make sure you get them.

Tony

Bingo. I think we have a winner. Although now I think I might have lent out my older Fifth Element DVD when I got the super bit mapped one. Is the SBM special edition DVD of Fifth Element also non-anamorphic? I kind of doubt it but I'll take a look. What about Amadeus? Was that non-anomorphic widescreen?


Um, actually, I still own the laserdisc versions of these (who's the geek now?) so I didn't buy them again on DVD. I'll see if I still have Fifth Element.

-CB

A two part post here.

First, non-anamorphic SD is a big issue for me, going back to the early days when Fox and others refused to join the party. Now anyone who cares is paying the price. I have several favored non-anamorphic SD movies that will never be on BD (Exotica and House of Games are two that come to mind) so I'm screwed and I'm pissed.

I couldn't care less about filling my screen. What I care about is proper AR (in the context of this post.) Near as I can tell, the only way to display a non-anamorphic SD in a widescreen set is both window and letter boxed (is there a word for that?) I took the CNET review to say that this is just what the pannys do. A poster here seems to be saying that this is just what they do as well, but he feels it's wrong.

My point is, if I'm reading his post (and the CNET review) correctly, he's wrong. The only way around it is if the player auto-zoomed, and I'd run screaming in terror from any player that dared do that without my expressed authorization (which it wouldn't receive.) I'm only posting this because there seems to be a lot of confusion about it. So to summarize, anyone can watch whatever they like, however they like, but if you want your non-anamorphic widescreen SD media to be technically correct on a widescreen display, it's going to be window/letterboxed.

Second - I'm totally confused on the MPCM thing. If I get a BD35, set it for PCM out on HDMI, will my receiver (Onk 875) still be doing all management? Does it lock me into using the 35 for speaker management? I'm thinking of LFE as well as Audyssey stuff.

End of Violence and True Romance are both NA I think.

I upgraded my Samsung 5000 combo player for the Panny BD-35 due to the lack of AVCHD support for the Samsung. Now, I can insert the SDHC card from my HD camcorder and play back gorgeous HD home videos without any additional cable connections to my Bravia 52" XBR4, as well as play back AVCHD video recorded on regular DVDs.
The Samsung's picture on Blu Ray seems to have a bit more pop, the BD-35 has more natural tones, but both are excellent. I haven't yet compared the picture from SD DVDs.
My only regret is that I could have programmed my Harmony remote to display subtitles from the Samsung with a single click and with the Panny, I've to go thru the disc menu and several clicks. I'm using the BD-55 codes from the Harmony website since they do not yet have the BD-35's codes in their data bases. The Samsung's OSD is also more intuitive than the Panny's.

It's definitely not "wrong" to zoom a non-anamorphic DVD to fill a 16:9 screen. It will zoom the image without geometric distortion so that the image fills the screen horizontally. If the underlying film is 2.35:1, then you will still get black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The original aspect ratio is respected. I believe this is how most DVD players handle non-anamorphic discs. From what the other Chris says, the Panasonic puts the image in the center of the screen window-boxed and letter-boxed by default but there is a zoom function that allows you to fill the screen (again, without any geometric distortion not cropping of the original image). His complaint is that, when zoomed, the subtitles of a sub-titled DVD sometimes appear outside the visible area of the screen. I haven't tested this but I would bet he's right. The only way Panasonic could fix that would be to move the location of the subtitles (assuming they defeatable subtitles) but if there are hard subtitles in the movie itself then you'd be out of luck.


Your receiver speaks DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD so bitstream would work for ya. I think the Onkyo does bass management with all digital inputs (PCM, Dolby and DTS) but check your manual to be sure. You'd be fine with either the BD55 or the BD35.

-CB

What is your opinion of the 35 versus the 1500 in picture quality, regardless of the problems with the 1500?
Thanks

I have tried to find the online manual for the Panny 35 but nothing is listed on the Panasonic USA site for this player or the 55.
I have ordered the 35 from Amazon which indicates delivery for 10-29-2008 and I usually try to get the manual before I get the player. Usually that can be done, but I seem to have no luck.
Does anyone know where to get this manual for the BD35 online?
Thanks

Just wanted to respond for anyone thinking that the LFE is weak from the 55..I upgraded from the 10a to the 55. ANd I had issues with some titles with low LFE. Especially on some music titles. ANd I had tried doing all kind of adjustments with speaker size, calibration everything, and would still have some discs that I wasn't satisfied with the low end...I should say this is over analog output I don't have hdmi..
Well With the 55 the titles I had some issues with, SOUND GREAT.....Plenty of low end, nice and tight and punchy with the lossless codecs...I'm so satisfied with this player..And I can see a definite upgrade in PQ ...
Hope this helps some of you..
Rick

My00t8, I don't know if the SA-XR700 will bitstream or not but this New AVR will...

(www.panasonic.com/pressroom) the article you want is dated 9/3/08 Panasonic's New AVR SA-BX500

Steve

I searched the thread and found a reference at post #360. I think it is the only place to find the manual right now.

Yeah, the Lossless Codecs in PCM are quite dynamic. And yes, the PQ is better in this player than previous Panasonic Blu-ray players. I bought The new Incredible Hulk on Blu-ray today and PQ and Lossless sound via internal PCM is quite outstanding.

I did notice that with the analog outs on the 55 I had to set the audio output to Bitstream for everything. So yes the player will send the lossless codecs correctly in the analog ouput , where as you could set the 10a to PCM for the lossless and Bitstream for DD and DTS....
I'm watching some movies I had and it is like watching them for the first time....
Rick

Picked up a BD35 at CC yesterday as my first BD player. So far, extremely impressed....what a picture. Plays very nicely with my aging-gracefully Panasonic AE900 @ 1080p/24. Finally got to watch the non-NDR'd import of Pan's Labyrinth I bought months ago...very nice. Iron Man tonight!




It certainly does. I owned one briefly and it accepted MC LPCM from my Toshiba A2 and Oppo 970.

I bitstream now from the BD30, I was just wandering through my mind wondering if it would be any use experimenting with PCM from the player. I can't decide whether to bother with the BD35, having the BD30 already. Not clear if the 700u can take full advantage of the 35 (the 4:4:4 thing) and not clear yet if the FW upgrades (BD30) have improved deinterlacing - there seems to be rumors about this but I just a few days ago brought mine up to date.

I may have misstated myself on the NA thing - I understand that zooming preserves AR, but it looks crappy. I don't know if this is a function of the zooming process, or if it just makes it easier to see the flaws that are there to begin with. To me, live with it is all you can do, and we wouldn't have to if not for the studio idiots in the early days of DVD

Unless I'm mistaken, zooming doesn't give you any additional pixels but merely "zooms" into a particular region and retaining the same number of pixels. The video looks worse because defects become more apparent and there is a loss of resolution.

From the manual of my Onkyo TX-SR505:

"The multichannel DVD input is for connecting a component with a 5.1-/7.1-channel analog audio output, such as a DVD-Audio or SACD-capable DVD player, or an MPEG decoder.
Note:
While the multichannel DVD input is selected, the Speaker Configuration settings are ignored, and signals from the multichannel input are fed to the speakers as they are.

SW Sens
On some DVD players, the signal from the multichannel subwoofer output is 15 dB higher than normal. You can change the subwoofer sensitivity to match your DVD player. Note that this setting only affects signals connected to the SUBWOOFER input jack of the multichannel DVD input. You can select 0 dB (default), +5 dB, +10 dB, or +15 dB. If you find that your subwoofer is too loud, try the +10 dB or +15 dB setting."

So, am I still going to have trouble adjusting for LFE, or is the Onkyo manual backward and "higher than normal" should read "lower" and the adjustments are to strengthen rather than soften output?

Also, the manual says if the multichannel component has a 5.1-channel analog audio output, don’t connect anything to the AV receiver’s SURR BACK L/R jacks. But it doesn't say what to do if the multichannel component has 7.1 (which the BD55 has) but only 5.1 speakers are connected (as in my case). Should I connect all 7.1 from the panny? If I connect only 5.1, will the panny output only lossy 5.1, or can it output lossless 5.1?
TIA

There is no test tone for the sub.

[quote=de novo;14911903]
I used the 30 to update several different models including the 705. The 35 should work, also.

S~

I think the confusion may be in how you're asking the question. How did you actually phrase it?

If you said something about listenting to lossless audio with the 661, one might think you're asking if it can decode bitstreams, which it can't. However, as others have mentioned from first hand experience, it's fully capable of processing MPCM up to 7.1. So a player, like your HD-A2 or the 35/55 that decodes lossless to MPCM and outputs over HDMI will work just fine. The 661 even has the computing muscle to matrix 5.1 MPCM to 7.1, IIRC; something that other receivers in its price class and generation had trouble with.

Also, another post referred to the 661 as HDMI v1.1, but it's actually 1.2. Can't remember what 1.2 gains you over 1.1, though.

Enjoy your 35 and spend the money on software and a Monoprice HDMI switcher since you've got more HDMI devices (cable, A2, 35) than inputs. :-)

-Brent

HDMI 1.2
- Adds SACD streaming as proprietary DSD format.

I am not going to update the Onkyo 705 for the DTS bomb thingy, if that is what you are asking. Instead, I have set my BD-35 to send PCM, in other words, the player will decode all the audio first and send it out via HDMI as PCM. The player can decode all the audio, including the important ones like DTS-HD MA, and Dolby True HD. I don't have to update the 705 if I send it via PCM, since that will not cause a DTS bomb.

Confused a little. If a title is recording in 7.1 and you have a 5.1 setup everything that is supposed to be in the rears and surrounds are just sent to the 2 rear speakers of the 5.1 setup correct? you don't loose any information correct?

jimi

Jack,
Can you please answer a question for a fellow AE900 owner? Are you able to activate 24fps? I know the AE900 will accept a 1080p/24 signal (I do it with my Samsung 1400), but since I believe the Panasonic BD players won't "force" 24p, I'm wondering if this specific combo will work. Thanks.

Yes, that is what it does. Sorry to cause confusion, when I said "window boxed" I meant bars all around. I thought that is what window box meant.


Letterbox - bars top and bottom
Pillarbox - bars on sides
Windowbox - bars all around.

Anyway, Chris B. summed up my post correctly:


I inferred from the CNet review that it was auto-zooming, as I have heard other players can detect and zoom non-anamorphic letterbox content. That was what I meant when I said they were wrong.

And yes, zooming window boxed content can look pretty bad sometimes....

The one I watched was a rental, so I won't be able to compare results with you. Though I think there were some forced subs in that movie. Dont know about Amadeus. I think Godzilla might be, and I think there is some french stuff in that, I'll check it.


Lets hope your LD player holds up. I am not sure that GL will ever put out the OOT on Blu-ray.

BTW, the subs I was referring to that got cut off in Jedi were not hard -- my JVC DVD player correctly relocates them when I have it on zoom.

People should not be too concerned about this, the player does a nice job. You can zoom the non-anamorphic stuff without spoiling its aspect ratio. If you need to see subtitles that are getting cut off, simply un-zoom it.

But enough about SD. Did I mention that Speed Racer blu-ray looks fantastic?

I just finished scraping my family's jaws off the floor.