Official Panasonic DMP-BD60/80 Owners Thread - Page 74

Chris,
I did what you recommended and was able to set my HDMI main to through to get it to work properly and not just 1080i.it seems to be working better now.I still get what you called HDMI handshake whem I put HDMI main to 1080p but I think leaving it on through instead of 1080i will give me what i need.now in 4.source setup/4.picture adjust should I set the resolution to through which is what THX recommends or set it to 1080p?
thanks again for the help!!!
Zane

when did you get the panasonic 60? its on sale for 199 now.
the panasonic 80 is on sale for 299.
they did say they will price match amazon.
Jacob

Well, I finally got hit with a "random freeze". The wife and I were watching The Patriot, right at the end, as Mel Gibson and family are riding up to the house under construction, the picture froze for a few seconds and resumed, rather like a DVD layer change. I just hope it does not become epidemic now and that Panasonic fixes this. This one freeze is my only complaint thus far after a couple of months ownership.

Have the reports of freezes been just for blu-ray discs or have there been cases where it also happens for DVDs? If the problem is somehow analogous to waiting for a process to finish or an interrupt, like what you have on a computer, a firmware update might not be sufficient to fix it.

...and Amazon has the 80 for about $35 cheaper!

My BD80 player has only had freezes with blu-ray movies.
It freezes playing both rentals and brand new disc's.
Only freezes for a few seconds and then resumes playing.
It has happened now enough times for it to become an official issue for me.
I no longer have confidence that I could play a blu-ray movie with guests over, and know that it's not going to freeze at some point on me.
I am now looking to get another player (Denon 2010CI) as it should also have better quality 7.1 analog components than the Panny BD80.
The down side is the Denon is more expensive, and the Panny 80 has already dropped over $100 in the few months I have owned it.
I have already tried the Oppo 83, so this is not an option for me.
Could be waiting for quite some time to see if this freeze issue will ever be fixed, so I will be most likely moving on.

Since I am always pausing to answer the telephone or go to the bathroom, a 5 second freeze, every fifth(?) blu-ray disc is an extremely minor annoyance to me. However you might want to check out the new Vizio VBR100, due at Walmart for $188 this month. There is a thread on avsforum also.

I believe this random freezing only affects Blu-rays.


I watched many more than 5 discs before the problem manifested itself. If it does not get any worse, I can live with it. I, too tend to pause for bathroom breaks, drink refreshment, answering phone, letting the dog out and back in, etc. In fact, I used to wonder if my habit of doing that was somehow keeping me from having the freeze. I guess not.


Actually, I could live with a freeze even with guests over. What I could not live with was the lock-ups/skipping I experienced with the Pioneer P51. If a disc locked up on that player, then it was "movie over-watch something else".

I went through two Pioneer 51's before picking up this BD60. I am going to live with this one as it is now too late to return it to Best Buy. I am not made of money, and will not even think about getting another player unless: a.) I can afford it, and: b.) it is absolutely certain that it will work properly. There can be little doubt that stand-alone Blu-ray players are somewhat buggy. While a lot of prognosticators debate the success or failure of the Blu-ray format, I am surprised that bugginess of equipment is not offered up more often as a possible reason the format to fail

I returned my BD60 because I already had a BD30 and the freezing on brand new disks was bacoming annoying but I don't see any other better option in the market for less than $ 500 . If you look at the other players threads , they have even more problems.
I think everything now is made in China and I don't trust they use high quality components. Never had a single glitch with the BD30 (made in Japan) and I couldn't care less for any BD Live stuff. I will wait for a next generation or even a confirmation that a new firmware will fix the BD30, although I have a feeling the freezing is hardware related.

I just purchased the BD60 and experienced the "random freeze" that you're referring to with Hellboy on Blu-ray. It was only for a few seconds. I have watched at least a few DVD's on it and didn't experience said issue. I'm impressed with the player itself so far and wouldn't mind having a few extra features added to the Viera Cast (i.e. Hulu, etc.).

When watching standard def DVDs, when I look at the information I get by pressing the "display" button, it says I have 2.1 digital. This happened with Matrix Reloaded and the latest Mummy movie.

I am hearing sound in all five speakers and the subwoofer. Is the info reported under "Display" wrong?

I have the BD-60 running to a Yamaha 5.1 receiver (RX-V620) that decodes Dolby Digital and DTS. I am using the optical out from the BD-60 to the optical in on the receiver. I set the HDMI audio to off and have the audio output set to bitstream and secondary on. I am running HDMI to my Panasonic tv. Viera link is enabled.

I tried changing the audio settings, but nothing changed what was reported under "Display."

I searched the forum but couldn't find anything related to this specific issue. I thought I read a post several days ago about some audio setting that was not in the manual, but I couldn't find it this time.

I appreciate any help I might get on this.

For those still looking around for a Blu-ray player, the upconverting seems to have really improved the images of SD DVDs. I haven't done an A/B comparison with my previous player, but the fuzziness that used to bother me with standard def DVDs is gone.

Thanks,
Rene

I became interested in the Panny 60/80 a few weeks ago. I also have a strong interest in the Oppo 83. I'm torn between the two because while I don't need the format options(DVD-A, & SACD) the 83 offers, I like the build quality and 'heft' factor of the Oppo. I have both a Toshiba XA1 and XA2 for SD conversion so really don't even need that feature of the Oppo. I always seem to go for equipment that offers more than I really need at the moment, but like 1st gen stuff, and the intrigue of the 'universality' of the Oppo. Analog out is important since I don't have an HDMI 1.3 compliant AVR that decodes TrueHD or DTS-HD.

I was almost set to pull the trigger on the 83 at $500, but the Panny 80 is very compelling, and I could save ~$200 in the process. Do I really need all that the Oppo offers, and more importantly, is it worth the price difference? The Panny would suit my needs just perfectly, but is it the best, state-of-the-art machine this side of the high-end realm? For all it can do, the 83 seems like a real bargain, but if you don't need those extra features, is it really a bargain? I don't even need the V-cast feature of the Panny since my Sony TV and Tivo HD offer similar streaming options.

What to do, what to do.

redjr...

Hey guys. Can someone please explain to me what the freezing is about. I know it has been discussed before. I searched the forums and couldn't find a clear answer. I have had the BD-60 for 2 months. The first 10 blu rays I watched had no problems. I rented the lost blu ray (that just came out) and it kept on freezing for like 5-10 seconds. What is this about? Is this something that gets progressivly worse? Is there anything I can do? I download the latest firmware. Thanks a lot. I know you guys are probably sick of talking about this.

My problem was from burning DVD-Rs too fast. I have 16x media (verbatim) and i was burning them at 16x. I slowed the burn speed to 8x and they are playing fine. I was also able to download the latest 1.7 firmware.

Sorry to change the subject but I am new and would like to know if it is possible to load new firmware updates vis the USB port? The instructions say that you have to burn a CD-R but nothing about the USB. It would make sense to load on a key than transfer to the player but I am not sure.

Thank you

Hmmm...I think CD-R and direct ethernet connection are the only means to do the FW upgrade on these players... i think they'd have mentioned it if USB fw upgrade was possible....

my Samsung LCD can do fw upgrade via USB. But i don't think the Panny BD's can do usb fw upgrade.
someone more savvy might reply soon...

I took my panasonic 605 back tosam's club. I was then able to get best buy to price match the panasonic 80 from amazon.com. it was like 286 or so.

enjoying the new player.
Jacob

Anyone use the 60 with a 720P TV/Projector? If so hows the scaling quality vs 1080P?
Thanks

Rover,

Because you have a 720p flatscreen it really doesn't matter how well the Panasonic 60 can scale to 1080p. At least not for you till you buy a 1080p (native) HDTV. You will never get more than 720p. And the 60 scales to 1080p fine (from 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i).

Time to buy a 1080p flatscreen!!

This reviewer at Amazon claims simply shutting the machine off between disks can prevent or eliminate the freezing. Anyone care to comment?

I'm not sure of the reason but if its a temporary freeze it does sound like a buffering issue.

I just hope Panasonic guess's better than we do. I played two BD movies back to back Saturday(Knowing and Gran Torino) with no freeze on either. go figure.

Thanks
My TV takes 1080P & my Pj takes 720P so i was hoping someone else would have tested with 720P, i guess not....

I had several freezings watching no more than 1 BD disk a day, never watched 2 on the same day and the unit was always powered off in between. I don't buy this.

I have my BD605 connected to a 52" 720p LCD and it appears to do about as well as the OPPO DV-981 it replaced.

I bought the 60 no more than 2 mths ago.$249 was the sell price!!

Dude, not trying to take a personal shot here, but a 52" screen is way too big to get a decent picture displaying a 720 image. Maybe you have an older set, but the typical recommendation is that a 40" is the biggest screen to have with for 720. Even a 40" is starting to push it. Of course, the farther away from the screen you are, the less it is noticeable.

Thanks
Do you have the player set to 720P or do you let the TV scale by imputing 1080i?

Too funny, i think the joke is on you "DUDE"

Given our O So Wise Premier's penchant for emulating all things Canadian (change, change, change - 52% wanted it, BOY did 100% of us get it), how much of that CDN$329 (US$289 as of 7/14/09) is VAT?

Under US$200 w/ free S/H and no tax down south as of mid July, eh...

Really?

I realize that some programs on TV are broadcast in 720 (like some sports for example), but a TV with a max resolution of 720 is not going to look good when the set is bigger than 40 inches.

When I have some time I will try to post some "professional" opinions on this. I am not even sure if there are many 720 sets are even on the market, let alone above a 37 inch model.....

Okay, you got me. Maybe a 40" is on the smaller side.

I guess 46" is a suggested size according to Crutchfield;

http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/lea...esolution.html

Anyway, having a 60" 1080 Sony ($4000.), a 40" 720 Sony ($1000.00) and a 37" 720 Vizio ($350.00), I stand behind my statement.

I sit about 8 feet from my 40 inch Sony and if I sit closer, its blurry. When i bought it, I could have bought a similiar Sony with 1080 but it was $500.00 more. Not worth it in my opinion.

My 60 incher looks FABULOUS at 14 feet.

My Vizio is in the bedroom, and at 10 feet away it looks great.

I guess if a person has a 52" 720 set and it looks good to them, great. But how close are they to their set? I guess I have a more discerning eye. I have read it and seen it before......the larger your screen size, the more you want to go with a 1080 set. My opinion is he is not getting everything that Blu Ray has to offer with a 52" set that is only accepting up to a 720 signal.

Agree?