Official Panasonic DMP-BD35/55 Owners Thread - Page 302

True. Previous posters say they are still available at some Costco stores.

Thanks for the link. Seems a bit obtuse. Any reason to be wary of agreeing to the license under the laws of Japan?

Anyway, it IS curious that Panasonic USA web site only has 1.5 to download. And download to CD is my best option as my BD35 is not in a position to be connected to the internet

I have the Onkyo 805, PS3 and BD35. Before getting the BD35 I always thought that TrueHD wasn't as good as PCM and DTS-MA. However after getting the BD35 and having it bitstream to let the 805 decode I feel that their is no difference between the codecs, all are phenomenal and it's all mix dependent. Basically I find no difference on PCM and DTS-MA tracks but with TrueHD tracks the BD35 bitstreaming to the 805 sounds better. I'm thinking that the PS3 doesn't take into account dialnorm metadata and since it outputs it as PCM the 805 doesn't any dialnorm adjustments. But with the BD35 bitstreaming and letting the 805 decode it knows the dialnorm metadata to apply. Also since the 805 is a THX certified receiver Dolby sources get bumped up +4db in comparision to DTS material.

Ok, Here is the deal. I do not have the network connection where my BD35 is. So to connect BD35 to internet I had following options.

1. Pull a cable from my router to BD35. (This was out of question)
2. Use a Powerline ethernet adapter pair and extend it (This cost was about $100)
3. Use a dedicated Wireless extender (Costs $$$)
4. Use a capable router that can be flashed with DD-WRT that will make it extend my network wirelessly.

I picked option 4 as I found WRT54G-TM at my local T-Mobile store for $20. I found the procedure to flash DD-WRT on it from dd-wrt forum. And presto, I now have wireless extension of my home network. The router is sitting near BD35, one of it's Lan port is connected using lan cable to BD35.

I have a DB 55 and I use component video cables. I read in Home Theater that bluray disc copy protection prevents 1080i via component cables. Is this true? How do I know that my DB55 is providing 1080i to my projector? I have both the projector and the DB55 set to 1080i.

You can get Blu-ray play at 1080i but no for DVD.

I have a Harmony remote also, and the Subtitle button shows up but does nothing (as someone else has mentioned in this thread). I saw the post that says to go into the setup and set the subtitle language to "0000" but what's the deal? Is there truly no other way to easily toggle the subtitles on/off? Crazy!

I don't know if this is the problem, but I rented How the West was Won and the pixelized squares started forming and video messing up like crazy. I then found that the disc I rented had one big fingerprint on it. Cleaned it with my shirt(it's bluray) and walaaa, the movie played flawlessly then.

I was replying to this thread above by the way.

I did the same, as I had the linksys as a spare after A FIOS install.

Would you mind giving a brief outline how to do a calibration with the Eye-One?

I owned a BD30 for nearly a year and really loved it. Unlike my A35 which constantly had problem reading discs, out of 200 BD rentals my BD30 maybe hiccuped five times.

I've had the BD35 for about six weeks, and I swear, about 25% of movies seem to have problems. Namely I get picture and audio breakup, often for several minutes. While watching Dr. No last night I missed about five minutes of the movie because of read problems.

These are BB rentals, but like I said, with the BD30 VERY RARELY had issues. Has anyone noticed the BD35 seems to be much more picky about reading discs? Do I have a bad unit?

One reason I really liked my BD30 so much was that it was rock solid, and I'm quite disappointed the BD35 is acting more like my A35.

I have a BD35 and A35 and haven't had a problem reading disc on either. Maybe I don't rent enough movies?

I'm not sure why you guys are flashing it etc - i have the Linksys ethernet bridge i had been using on a computer (configed it to my network using the disc etc a few years ago). Plugged it into the BD35 and it worked. Didn't need to flash or do anything like that.

You can program in a sequence for subtitles on the Harmony. See this post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post15241368

I have a problem with my BD-55 with "The Mummy: The Dragon Emperor" the error message was the "Network Connection Failed" even though I've never had any connection problems with my player. To stop the message from popping up every few minutes, I had to restart the movie with my Ethernet cable disconnected.

Other movies work correctly with using BD live. I am thinking the problem is with the connection that the Mummy movie is attempting to connect too.

I must say that the BD-55 is very slow in starting any Blu-ray movie and reading the disk when the disk is Blu-ray. Regular DVD load fast and operate just like my regular OPPO 971 and regular Panasonic DVD player. I am very disappointed and talking with people that have other brands they state that this is a common problem with other brands. Is Blu-ray players ready for prime time?
Mike

Thank you! I will give that a try. For some reason, this post did not come up in my search.

I just recently replaced my 10 year old big screen and Sony DVD player with a Toshiba 54'' HD TV and a Panasonic BD35 Blu-Ray player. While I'm thrilled with the video, I now see that my audio suffers. I'm using an old Kenwood receiver that only has Dolby Digital (no DTS). A few Blu-Ray movies I have bought, such as Wall-E, only send out a DTS signal - so I can't use my receiver. I guess it is time to look at a new receiver.

I would like to get your suggestions. I've been reading about the Onkyo 606, bit I have a few doubts about the receiver - for example, I heard it does a bad job upscaling DVD video - is there a way I can just let the Panasonic take care of it?

In my set-up I would probably hook up my Time-Warner HD DVR to the receiver as well as the BD35 by HDMI and then run it to the TV.

Thanks for your help! ~Russell

I couldnt get Kung Fu Panda to go to BDLive w/my BD35. I think it may be due to the fact i don't have an SD card in the player?

I don't own any blu rays. I've watched about 12-15 blu rays and another 5-6 dvds from Netflix (as well as about 10 dvds I own) all of which have played flawlessy on my bd55. Regardless of how the disc looks, I clean every one thoroughly with Mobile Fidelity's Shine-Ola and demagnetize with a cheap Radio Shack high power audio/video tape eraser before playing them.

I also use a Marigo dvd mat on top of disks.

Yep you need at least a 1GB card,make sure you format the card.

Joe,

Great questions. I had used a PS3 exclusively for BD playback for nearly 1.5 years up until it died less than a month ago (I also own a Samsung 1500 that I picked up before the PS3 died to use as a secondary player for the kids upstairs). I purchased the PS3 almost exclusively to play BD movies on and have watched (roughly) 250 BD and DVD's on the PS3 since purchasing it.

As for the audio, I did a side-by-side test using my PS3 and Samsung 1500 (Samsung bitstreams the lossless codecs just as the BD35 does) and for most titles I simply could not tell a difference (I also have an Onkyo receiver). In some cases the audio was slightly louder via bitstreaming, but the PS3 sounded just as good once you level matched the audio. I still do not see bitstreaming as being a negative for the PS3 or a positive for bitstreaming players. Perhaps on extremely high end gear you may hear more of a difference, but at the end of the day lossless is lossless.

As for DVD upscaling I would give the BD35 the nod. It is not a night and day difference with regards to upscaling, but the BD35 performs slightly better based off my my experience. The BD35 also has the ability to upconvert at 24fps. I don't believe either my PS3 or my Samsung 1500 can do that. I also feel that the PQ for Blu-Ray on the BD35 is slightly better than the PS3 and Samsung 1500. I calibrated all three players using the Blu-Ray DVE disc along with a calibration disc found here at AVS in the display calibration section. It could be placebo but the BD35 seems to have a little more depth to the picture and blacks are a little more accurate for me. It is very close, but I would have to give the nod to the BD35 (note I am watching this on a 1080p projector on a 100" screen from 11ft away. On a smaller screen/further distance, the differences may not be as noticeable for both DVD upscaling or BD playback).

The PS3 is definitely faster at loading and playing discs. Sometimes noticeably faster (Lost Season 3 comes to mind). But I don't see this as a deal breaker for most people as the BD35 is still fairly quick with regards to most movies.

I also really prefer the PS3 XMB menu to the Panasonic menus. Again, not a huge deal, but still something to consider.

The other thing about the PS3 is that some people complain about the noise and its non-traditional shape (cannot stack anything on it). I kept mine in a very well ventilated cabinet in a cold room. I never really noticed the noise at all during BD playback, but the BD35 is silent and draws less heat. Not sure if this is an issue for you or not. The PS3 also does not support IR out of the box if you use a universal remote (although there are several workarounds).

In short, unless you are a gamer, I am not sure what the PS3 can really offer you that the BD35 does not already offer you. I would be inclined to save the $300 unless you really like to game and want to have a second BD player.

Depends on the BD movie (BD-J definitely plays a role). My BD35 is almost as fast as my PS3 for some titles and is much slower for others. My BD35 and Samsung 1500 are very close in loading times (the 1500 may be just a tad faster). I don't find the loading times to be a dealbreaker for me, but I have a feeling that you will find similar loading times for most stand alone players right now. I suspect this will improve in the future, but you may want to try out a PS3.

Me too, no problems and I get at least two rentals a week... I always clean the disks before I watch them also.

Yes. You need an SD card to utilize BD Live.

Welcome to hidef The Onkyo 606 is a very solid receiver for the money IMHO. As for upscaling, the 606 can upscale material to 1080i, but in your case you would just would just be using the 606 HDMI as a passthrough for video to your HDTV. It should not apply any upscaling. And yes, you would most likely want to hookup everything via HDMI into the receiver and then out to your HDTV over HDMI.

If you are using a HDMI in and out no up scaling takes place it is a pass through, The TV will take care of it.

It could be a bad unit. I've rented a number of BD titles and have had no issues with my BD35. I too used to have the BD30. If anything, my BD35 is more reliable...though I rarely had an issue on the BD30.

The Aiptek GO-HD is supposed to use the H.264 codec and generates .mov videos on an SD card, easily playable on my computer. However, the cards show no files when I attempt to play them on my BD-35, which is supposed to read AVCHD. I suppose I didn't research things carefully enough (again.)
Can anyone tell me what is wrong? Is there a solution?
Thank you.
Frank

I am user of the BD 35 and am very happy with it so far. Excellent video and audio quality