Official Panasonic DMP-BDT110/210/310 Owners Thread - Page 217

My 210 doesn't make any discernible noise at all, but we sit about 10' away.

My 110 is silent too. Several people in this thread have had problems with noisy players while others are quiet. I think consensus is it varies between units (should be the same for all three models though). Based on your description, I'd go for a replacement.

Backup movies to external hdd for playing on 310

Is it possible to backup movies to an external hard drive and then connect that drive to the 310 via usb and have those movies play?

If this is doable, can some suggest an appropriate hdd? Also, what file system would be best? I would just want to copy the movie and audio (of course), no extras.

Thank you for your help and advice.

Steve

Ditto. We've had the 210 for two weeks now, and the only discernible sound from it is when the drawer opens/closes. Otherwise, silent.
Terrific little source unit...love it!

I haven't heard that "too much noise" complaint for several months now. The ability to hear the frequencies at which it makes the noise seems to be fairly rare .

I'm hoping someone can give me some input. I'm looking at either the Panny bdt210 or the LG bd670.
They are about the same price, and seem to have about the same apps, etc.
I've heard bad and good about both of them.
I plan on using this as our primary DVD/BD player and streaming Amazon/Netflix player.
I currently have a PS3, but obviously can't stream Amazon. (I'm using HDMI thru a Sony STR-DG720 receiver to a LG 50PK550 Plasma)
What I am hoping to find out:
Which one will stream netflix/amazon with the fewest issues?
Which one has better image quality for BD/DVD upscaling?

Thanks!

Thanks. Maybe I just got a bad unit. I'll return it and cross my fingers for a quiet replacement.

Others with this complaint have tried replacement units to no avail. Good luck.

i rip my movies with dvdfab 8 to an exFAT formatted drive. i have a canadian player so i often use divx which is not supported for U.S. models. other than that i use mkv with h264.

I sincerely appreciate the info.

You may be right but the dvd upconversion is so good, I'll likely give panasonic another chance. Plus, the touch free sensor is the cat's meow.

PS: I've identified one of the causal mechanisms in the noise chain. Playback is noticeably noisier at the start of the film rather than at the end. The disk is spinning much more quickly at the start of the film, producing more noise.

In the meantime, I've pushed the player as far back as it will fit towards the back of the cabinet, and keep both cabinet doors shut. Noise is still noticeable albeit greatly reduced. The only significant achilles heel in a player which does a lot of things right, and is clearly superior in certain areas (dvd upconverting, nice menus).

I have the 210 and a LG LHB536 HTIB. I have had no issues with the 210, but the LG can be buggy when it comes to streaming from Netflix. The unit can be slow to respond to inputs from the remote, and if I try to adjust the volume just after starting a stream the unit sometimes freezes up and I have to unplug it and try again. It is speculation on my part, but it seems like the LG doesn't have the processing power to handle even relatively simple commands at times when streaming.

As for picture quality the units are about equal as far as I can tell.

I admittedly did not read through the complete 217 pages of this thread so if something was covered I apologize in advance. I picked this player up because I did hear it had better 3d performance than my phat ps3. Also having read that it accepted the N network, I figured it would be better for streaming video from my PC then my ps3 as well.

I have followed everything that I could locate to advise me how to set up a network drive and all I get from the BDT210 is cannot connect to the network, it doesnt give the slightest indication as to why not, whether a piece of the information inputted is incorrect or anything.

If PS3 media server is doing the transcoding on the PC end and then sending it over to a PS3, why does this same procedure not work with the 210. It even does it to my Sony TV.

I recently downloaded mezzmo and using the bdt210 (mkv) profile, ANY video I selected said cannot play file. Switching to bdt210 profile played back my 1080p mkv files but definitely not in 1080p or anything remotely close, not likely that it was even 480p to be honest.

Last question, if my 3d receiver is not DTS-HD or MA, and my 210 is connected to this received then connected to the TV via HDMI ARC, is the correct audio settings for me for 3D movies to be PCM on both primary and then NO to secondary audio. Would this make the 210 due the encoding and sent it to my received that does accept LPCM so I would have HD audio with 3D picture. Would I be able to do the same with my PS3, it was my understanding that the hardware of the PHAT PS3 was not capable of sending HD audio and 3D image through HDMI together. I keep hearing that the ps3 now supports DTS HD and MA but it is not even an option I can select in manual settings, (maybe because I do not have bitstream selected?)

I don't have experience with mezzmo, but others here have reported great success using it with Panasonic players.

One clarification though: DLNA and "Network drive" are two completely different features on your Panny:

1) DLNA is a feature that relies on a server (Mezzmo, Windows Media Streaming, various NAS servers) to deliver a video stream to the Panny. Any video except MPEG1/2 must be transcoded by the server before streamed to the player, which causes some quality loss and occasionally instability. DLNA requires no setup on the Panny.

2) Network drive is a feature where the Panny reads files directly from a network share (windows share, NAS, or drive connected to a router). This way, the player supports more video formats (MP4/H.264) and more features (subtitles, better FF/Rew). However, video must be in MKV containers in order to be recognized. (International players also support DivX). The Network drive feature must be enabled in the Panny's Network settings, and each drive connection must be configured and saved individually.

Maybe you already knew this. I apologize in that case. But in your post it sounded as if you used the two terms interchangeably - and clearly lots of users who post here are confused about it.

Personally I have used both features successfully, but I prefer Network drive for the improved quality and features.

Thank you for your response. I was aware of this difference and prefer to use the network drive for the exact reasons you stated, I just can't seem to get it to connect. For ip address I'm correct in using the ipv4 address right? Since its connected via cable to my router?

Yeah, it can be a convoluted setup process. It has been discussed extensively in this thread. I'm on my phone now which makes linking to posts difficult. Search in this thread for a post by me from Dec 7 containing the words "network drive dhcp". That post contains the info you need - including links to other posts that describe how to get your files to play once you have network drive working (that's the difficult part...)

Let us know how it goes.

Some enterprising person should write an extensive FAQ for this product similar to this one that we could refer people to. Perhaps the mods could append it to the top post or insert a link to it there. I'm definitely not that person, but I thought I'd suggest it .

Too late for that now, this thread will start to die when new models come out.

Indeed, it gets tiring to write the same responses over and over. Lately I've taken to simply give pointers to those exact posts that I know contain such write-ups. But increasingly many people are unwilling (or unable) to perform even the slightest bit of studying and reading on their own - even when you point them to exact descriptions and steps. They prefer to keep playing trial and error, then when they get tired of banging their heads against the wall, they ask for help and expect a YouTube video that is made specifically to address their situation.

I've seen it in other tech forums too and it's gotten pretty bad. I've been active in online forums, newsgroups, SIGs etc all the way back to the early 80's, and this inability to perform individual study is worse than I've ever seen before.

Note: Of course this doesn't apply to everybody, I am not trying to offend anybody. But anyone who has followed this thread for an extended time will know what I'm taking about.


And that too.

OK, enough off topic...

Update: You should watch the movie "Idiocracy". It's comedy (and hilarious) but frighteningly accurate at the same time.

Hi - newbie to the forum, wonder if anyone can help with an issue I have on my player, I originally had a 210 and was very pleased with the DVD upscaling, the player stopped playing Blu rays after a few days and was replaced by a 310 by Sevenoaks (since they had no 210's left in stock) my 310 has just arrived and the upscaling on the 310 is rubbish by comparison making me think there is something wrong with this player, I have the latest firmware. The picture is not crisp and quite grainy

Anyone any ideas before I phone Sevenoaks back and tell them they have sent me a second faulty player?

Thanks

I am thinking maybe they sent you a refurb'ed 310 with output resolution or picture settings leftover from a previous user.

Try a hard reset: On the remote, hold down yellow-blue-ok, then right until it displays "08 Fin", then hold down ok till it turns off.

For playing DVDs you also want to turn down the display settings (Display button during playback). But that would not account for differences to your 210.

Other suggestions, anyone?

Edit: Here is a more detailed description of the reset procedure copied from an earlier post:

A. With the player powered off (standby), press and hold OK, Blue, Yellow on the remote together for 5 seconds until display shows "00 RET".

B. press Right on the remote control until display shows "08 FIN".

C. Press and hold OK for at least 3 seconds.

D. Wait for display to show "HELLO", then "BYE", then the player turns itself off.

Thanks for that - got to 00 RET stage but then I only get options 00 RET, 03 VL, 04 PRG, 05 P/N, 07 D/C and 11 TFS, no 08 FIN????

My bad: you have to start from power off. Hit return now if you're still in that menu. Then power off, then do the blue-yellow-ok.

Edit: I updated the steps in my earlier post to mention that you have to start from power off.

Hey I'd like to thank you for helping me out with my issue. I think the problem was that I didnt actually map a network drive in windows, at least I think thats what it was because I have it working now. Picked up my files but two things I have noticed that I am hoping you can give me a hand on. I was playing back a SBS MKV and it stuttered a lot. I wouldnt say it was unwatchable but it definitely bogged and did so quite often. I would think since I have a wireless N router it wouldnt be a bandwith issue. I also tried playing a 17gb backup of one of my Harry Potter movies and received the "cannot play file" message, this was also and MKV but does have mutliple audio tracks. Any idea why this file wouldnt play at all and the other file would be stuttering?

Agreed. What I've done, and this is mainly for my own knowledge, is create little Word docs with what I consider accurate information on a given HDTV topic, including my own settings, to refer back to. I've even posted them from time to time. It helps me to answer a question that hasn't come up for quite awhile (my memory not quite being what it was ) What I've noticed though is about this time every year the same types of questions start appearing. Must be from all the first-time buyers over the holidays

Thanks for the feedback. And good job getting the network drive working. That makes you an expert already compared to most users!

Basically I would recommend you check the links inside the post I referred you to. One of them is to a post from Nov 9 that sums up how to convert or fix mkv files.

Update: Since I am at my PC now, I was able to find that post I referred to and include a link below. It sums up the difference between DLNA and Network Drive (which you already knew), how to set up network drive (which you also know now) and how to make working MKV files -- either by re-muxing (retaining the original video encode) or by re-encoding:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0#post21314280

Once again, good job so far. Keep us posted on your continued progress.

That's not a bad idea. I too find it impossible to remember all the details (and yes, more so as I get older ) But I also think a thread like this is a great archive of knowledge on a subject in itself, although admittedly highly unstructured. Often, when I see a new question posted, I remember an answer, but not necessarily the details. Still, that means it's quick to search the thread and find those relevant posts.

Maybe you're right there are particularly many newbie questions after Christmas, never thought about that. Such questions are fine, that's what forums are for, to share information and help -- as long as questioners are prepared to make an effort to help themselves and not just expect others to do all the work for them.

I see people posting " Please help, I didn't do my homework, I made a mistake and I think I screwed up my equipment" kind of questions (not so much in this thread), then more posts every 10 mins as they keep messing around and cannot understand why someone hasn't posted answers already -- as if it were an Emergency Room with doctors standing by and nothing else to do. That's what ticks me off

I'm with you on that one. "Bumps" drive me crazy in those cases. Quite often all they need to do is RTFM a couple of times

I did a direct comparison between the Sony BX-58 and Panasonic 210/215. The Panasonic has better picture quality with both blu ray and standard dvd's.

DVD's play back with better color and resolution. The interlacing is less noticeable and objectionable. Overall, the image quality is more lifelike, more detailed. The Sony image is more "video-like" with artifacting, and with washed out colors by comparison.

On blu ray, there is less motion blur on the panasonic. The difference is more subtle than it is with dvd's, but I clearly prefer the panasonic.

The menu system is absolutely bare bones on the sony, but very well thought out and simply much nicer to look at on the panasonic.

The sony is a bit "quieter"; or perhaps it's high pitched whine is less objectionable to me.

Both of these 3d players with wi-fi are distinctly noisier than the sony bx18, which is very quiet during playback.

If you can tolerate a little bit of extra mechanical noise during playback, the panasonic is the clear winner.

From what I can tell, the oppo is the only player which is clearly superior, and not necessarily in terms of picture quality, but in build quality. The price of the panasonic is absolutely rock bottom, which still gives you great features, a great picture and a pretty menu system, but with the tradeoff evident in flimsy, thin build material.

It should be noted that this issue has been discussed a few times in this thread and that almost none of us can hear the unit in operation at all, at least while sitting at normal distances from it (if I get within a few feet of it I can hear it playing DVDs but not BDs).