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Official Sony BDP-S590 and BDP-390 Thread - Page 42

post #1231 of 3464
6/7/12 at 4:00am
HDCD encodes the lowest order bits of CD audio to add 4 bits of resolution. It's transparently compatible with the recording format used for all CDs. You have to look closely at a CD's artwork to see if HDCD was used, and sometimes they even forget to mention it. If you're using TV speakers, though, you're unlikely to notice whatever small improvement it provides. More info is available in the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Definition_Compatible_Digital

Often UK productions are released in All-Region format but recorded at 50Hz. In particular, several documentary TV programs originating in the UK at 50Hz were re-recorded at 60Hz for US audiences with a different narrator. Often discs like that can be ordered from Amazon UK at significantly lower prices than their US counterparts.
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post #1232 of 3464
6/7/12 at 4:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Selden Ball View Post

HDCD encodes the lowest order bits of CD audio to add 4 bits of resolution. It's transparently compatible with the recording format used for all CDs. You have to look closely at a CD's artwork to see if HDCD was used, and sometimes they even forget to mention it. If you're using TV speakers, though, you're unlikely to notice whatever small improvement it provides. More info is available in the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Definition_Compatible_Digital
Often UK productions are released in All-Region format but recorded at 50Hz. In particular, several documentary TV programs originating in the UK at 50Hz were re-recorded at 60Hz for US audiences with a different narrator. Often discs like that can be ordered from Amazon UK at significantly lower prices than their US counterparts.

I own the Planet Earth production from BBC, it's the original series, however i bought it locally from best buy a couple years ago. I think it's 1080i. It plays fine on all my players including the 590. I thought I'd mention that title because i remember reading posts here of people saying it wouldn't play. David Narrates my copy, his last name escapes me at the moment. I have been able to play H.264 content I downloaded from youtube as 1080p/25fps from usb. I would assume, those files are PAL, and they play fine on both the 570, and 590.
Edited by MacinMan - 6/7/12 at 7:11am
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post #1233 of 3464
6/7/12 at 7:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott View Post

It does not remember your place in a DVD after you remove it. I tried it with a couple of different titles. Weird thing is that it starts the disc differently depending upon whether it was in the drive when you turned it on. If you insert the disc while the player is on it will start with the FBI/Interpol warning and any trailers, etc. If the disc was in the drive when you turned it on and hasn't been played yet, it will start chapter 1 of the main title, skipping all that.

I found another odd quirk on the 590 w/ a DVD. I had the machine turned off w/ a DVD in it. Instead of turning on the machine, waiting for it to boot, then ejecting the disc, I just pressed Eject while the machine was off. It did eject the disc, but the machine was frozen. Apparently, it expects the disc to still be in the machine when it's turned on, and I messed up the sequence.

I was used to being able to eject like this w/ my previous DVD and BD players, but I now remember to boot up the machine first.

Doug
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post #1234 of 3464
6/7/12 at 7:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dougotte View Post

I found another odd quirk on the 590 w/ a DVD. I had the machine turned off w/ a DVD in it. Instead of turning on the machine, waiting for it to boot, then ejecting the disc, I just pressed Eject while the machine was off. It did eject the disc, but the machine was frozen. Apparently, it expects the disc to still be in the machine when it's turned on, and I messed up the sequence.
I was used to being able to eject like this w/ my previous DVD and BD players, but I now remember to boot up the machine first.
Doug

Wow that sounds strange, I've done that on both the 570/590, the panny and magnavox players and none of them have ever crashed.
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post #1235 of 3464
6/7/12 at 7:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by apw2607 View Post

...I indicated they weren't, or at least don't appear under collections ...With a 3D category.
Huh? AFAIK, there's always been a 3D title collection. There was bitter discussion as to how last year's Panasonics couldn't play those titles and if you looked at the collection on one of them it showed empty.
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post #1236 of 3464
6/7/12 at 8:30am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott View Post

Huh? AFAIK, there's always been a 3D title collection. There was bitter discussion as to how last year's Panasonics couldn't play those titles and if you looked at the collection on one of them it showed empty.

I'm sorry but the 3d category in collections doesn't show up for me on the Sony. Does it for you? All I'm saying is that the 3d films are actually available if you use the 3d search string.

This was not a comment about comparing anything to the Panasonic. This was just information to help others with vudu 3d as the question has come up before.
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post #1237 of 3464
6/7/12 at 8:49am
has anyone experimented with the 3d depth slider in the 3d options menu duing a 3d movie? i think kicking it up one notch to 1 helps 3d image quality, but it doesn't stay there, it always reverts back to "0". Wish there was a way to save the setting.
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post #1238 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dougotte View Post

I found another odd quirk on the 590 w/ a DVD. I had the machine turned off w/ a DVD in it. Instead of turning on the machine, waiting for it to boot, then ejecting the disc, I just pressed Eject while the machine was off. It did eject the disc, but the machine was frozen. Apparently, it expects the disc to still be in the machine when it's turned on, and I messed up the sequence.
I was used to being able to eject like this w/ my previous DVD and BD players, but I now remember to boot up the machine first.
Doug

I had the exact same problem once. Was forced to disconnect the 590 from power to get it working again. I am not using quick start so it can take awhile for things to get going, all the while WAIT appears on the units display. Now I wait until WAIT changes to OPEN on the Sony display before pressing the remote. No problem since and I've been using the 590 daily since March.
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post #1239 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:14am
I usually turn off quick start, not sure how much extra it would add to the power bill each month, long term, has anyone compared their bill with and without quick start enabled, to know whether, or not it makes a huge difference? trying to keep the bill as low as possible.
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post #1240 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacinMan View Post

I own the Planet Earth production from BBC, it's the original series, however i bought it locally from best buy a couple years ago. I think it's 1080i. It plays fine on all my players including the 590.
If you bought it in the US, it might be a version which had been re-recorded at 1080i60. What does it say on the packaging?
Quote:
I thought I'd mention that title because i remember reading posts here of people saying it wouldn't play. David Narrates my copy, his last name escapes me at the moment. I have been able to play H.264 content I downloaded from youtube as 1080p/25fps from usb. I would assume, those files are PAL, and they play fine on both the 570, and 590.
My understanding is that it's the 25/50 fps discs that are a problem. The 590's manual explicitly states on page.39 that the 590 cannot play discs recorded in the PAL color system.

PAL actually refers to the analog color encoding used by most European analog video systems rather than the framerate. It doesn't really apply to the contents of DVDs (which are digital and use MPEG-2), except insofar as they're intended to be played on a player which outputs analog PAL video. Sorry to be picky. I've often used the term loosely, and the manuals do, too. The actual on-disk MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video formats use YUV color encoding, not NTSC or PAL.

At any rate, when I try to play All-Region 576i50 DVDs of PAL TV programs from Australia in my S590, it complains that the discs have an invalid format. (They play fine in my Region 1 Sharp BD player.) I don't have a network connection for my player, so I can't comment on how it handles streaming video framerates.
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post #1241 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by apw2607 View Post

I'm sorry but the 3d category in collections doesn't show up for me on the Sony. Does it for you? All I'm saying is that the 3d films are actually available if you use the 3d search string.
This was not a comment about comparing anything to the Panasonic. This was just information to help others with vudu 3d as the question has come up before.
I only mentioned the Panasonics because of the bother about how the 2011 Panasonics don't play VUDU 3D was how I remembered the 3D collection being there.

When I search for "3D" on the S390 I get 8 hits, only one of which is an actual 3D title (Piranha 3DD); there's one other with 3D in the title, Night of the Living Dead 3D, but it has "(2D Version)" suffixed.

If you care about VUDU 3D, this might be an advantage of the 2012 Panasonics, inasmuch as the 3D collection does appear and it plays those titles correctly.
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post #1242 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:22am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott View Post

I only mentioned the Panasonic because the bother about how the 2011 Panasonics don't play VUDU 3D was how I remembered the 3D collection being there.
When I search for "3D" on the S390 I get 8 hits, only one of which is an actual 3D title (Piranha 3DD); there's one other with 3D in the title, Night of the Living Dead 3D, but it has "(2D Version)" suffixed.

Wait though, do you have the 390 or the 590? Its possible if its a 390, and because that isn't 3D, you wont see any 3D titles in the VUDU client ?
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post #1243 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by apw2607 View Post

Wait though, do you have the 390 or the 590? Its possible if its a 390, and because that isn't 3D, you wont see any 3D titles in the VUDU client ?
You right--I do have the S390 so by rights 3D titles shouldn't show up at all redface.gifrolleyes.gif
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post #1244 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Selden Ball View Post

If you bought it in the US, it might be a version which had been re-recorded at 1080i60. What does it say on the packaging? My understanding is that it's the 25/50 fps discs that are a problem. The 590's manual explicitly states on page.39 that the 590 cannot play discs recorded in the PAL color system.
PAL actually refers to the analog color encoding used by most European analog video systems rather than the framerate. It doesn't really apply to the contents of DVDs (which are digital and use MPEG-2), except insofar as they're intended to be played on a player which outputs analog PAL video. Sorry to be picky. I've often used the term loosely, and the manuals do, too. The actual on-disk MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video formats use YUV color encoding, not NTSC or PAL.
At any rate, when I try to play All-Region 576i50 DVDs of PAL TV programs from Australia in my S590, it complains that the discs have an invalid format. (They play fine in my Region 1 Sharp BD player.) I don't have a network connection for my player, so I can't comment on how it handles streaming video framerates.

Right, I understand about the PAL/NTSC formats, they from my understanding have no meaning to blu-ray like they did analog tv programs. Why people still use them i'm not sure, as far as DVDs go, yes NTSC and PAL still apply especially to commercial discs as they still bare the respective logos. Yes PAL is 25fps NTSC is 30fps, and film is 24fps. Or is NTSC 60fps ? it's been a while since i've reviewed standards in detail.
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post #1245 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:41am
Standard NTSC video (480i) provides 60 interlaced fields per second, producing 30 frames per second. (actually it's slightly slower than that).
Standard PAL and SECAM video (576i) provide 50 interlaced fields per second, producing 25 frames per second.

But anyhow, I'm very interested in learning what is shown as the resolution and frame rate on your copy of Planet Earth.
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post #1246 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:46am
Quick thought on resuming a DVD that I didn't see mentioned...

Wouldn't there need to be some sort of internal memory for this to work? Has anybody tried a USB memory stick?
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post #1247 of 3464
6/7/12 at 9:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Selden Ball View Post

Standard NTSC video (480i) provides 60 interlaced fields per second, producing 30 frames per second. (actually it's slightly slower than that).
Standard PAL and SECAM video (576i) provide 50 interlaced fields per second, producing 25 frames per second.
But anyhow, I'm very interested in learning what is shown as the resolution and frame rate on your copy of Planet Earth.

I looked at the back of the planet packaging. All it says is:

Video Format: High Definition 1080i
Aspect ratio: 16x9
Main Audio: Dolby digital surround
Disc Format 4X BlurayDisc 25

Hope that helps.

The Link on amazon is here: http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Earth-Complete-BBC-Blu-ray/dp/B000MRAAJM/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1339088223&sr=1-4
This is the closest I can find that resembles my set.
Edited by MacinMan - 6/7/12 at 10:01am
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post #1248 of 3464
6/7/12 at 10:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by woody777 View Post

Quick thought on resuming a DVD that I didn't see mentioned...
Wouldn't there need to be some sort of internal memory for this to work? Has anybody tried a USB memory stick?
I reported that it didn't work above--there was a 16GB USB flash drive installed.
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post #1249 of 3464
6/7/12 at 11:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacinMan View Post

....
This is the closest I can find that resembles my set.
Thanks!
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post #1250 of 3464
6/7/12 at 12:54pm
Can anyone please answer these?

1) Reading previous posts it seems like the s590 supports mkv, mpeg etc video formats over DLNA. Please correct me if I am wrong. But is it possible to stream the subtitles (.srt) over DLNA?
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/support-info.pl?info_id=957

2) Does it support subtitles for netflix movies?

I've a Sony KDL55NX720 and it doesn't support any of the above (and it's very inconvenient to connect the laptop every time wink.gif). So wanted a player which can meet above requirements. If no, are there any alternatives from LG, Samsung etc.? Please share.

Thanks,
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post #1251 of 3464
6/7/12 at 1:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaushal98 View Post

Can anyone please answer these?
1) Reading previous posts it seems like the s590 supports mkv, mpeg etc video formats over DLNA. Please correct me if I am wrong. But is it possible to stream the subtitles (.srt) over DLNA?
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/support-info.pl?info_id=957
2) Does it support subtitles for netflix movies?
I've a Sony KDL55NX720 and it doesn't support any of the above (and it's very inconvenient to connect the laptop every time wink.gif). So wanted a player which can meet above requirements. If no, are there any alternatives from LG, Samsung etc.? Please share.
Thanks,

1) no I've not had any luck with embedded subtitles within MKV

2) yes. Supported.
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post #1252 of 3464
6/7/12 at 2:06pm
wow I just found a nice fix on the 590 over the 570, with the latest firmware, it seems like the option to output 24p for DVDs and BDs are now separate. I find this a nice addition, as auto 24p can screw up DVD output especially for TV shows. That was the last major gripe i had with the 570, as it only had one option to control both, and when it was a DVD containing a TV show, many times i'd lose, several seconds of A/V while the player switched modes.
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post #1253 of 3464
6/7/12 at 2:08pm
Thanks apw2607. Would you know if anything from BDP570, LG BP620 or Panasonic DMP-BDT220 would support that?
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post #1254 of 3464
6/7/12 at 3:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacinMan View Post

wow I just found a nice fix on the 590 over the 570, with the latest firmware, it seems like the option to output 24p for DVDs and BDs are now separate. I find this a nice addition, as auto 24p can screw up DVD output especially for TV shows. That was the last major gripe i had with the 570, as it only had one option to control both, and when it was a DVD containing a TV show, many times i'd lose, several seconds of A/V while the player switched modes.

Yes, I agree. I had a 580 and the 24p setting caused issues more times than not on DVD content !
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post #1255 of 3464
6/7/12 at 3:15pm
Thread Starter 
Want to share photo's on your iPhone, onto your display/tv through your Sony 390/590/790 ?!

Here's a use for that terrible internet browser on the Sony. Point the browser on your Sony BD to http://www.photobeamer.com/

Then, download the photobeamer app from the iTunes store. Run the app, select a photo to share and then point the phone at the screen. Bam .. your photo appears on the screen inside the Sony BD web browser. Its like "magic".

Pretty cool. The App is $.99c, and I'm not affiliated in anyway with the app developer, but thought you guys might want to play.

There could be other versions, for other platforms too. But it does work with the 590 and the iPhone 4s. Quality is pretty decent, although it does look like its not full resolution.
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post #1256 of 3464
6/7/12 at 3:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaushal98 View Post

Thanks apw2607. Would you know if anything from BDP570, LG BP620 or Panasonic DMP-BDT220 would support that?

You know, I was just looking around on the Serviio site (DLNA server that works well with the Sony's) and one of their developers is saying that I think he got embedded subtitles working with the S790. Hmm ....

heres a link to the thread

http://forum.serviio.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6248&p=45104&hilit=subtitles#p45104

Soooo. ... it might actually work. I think I need to do some more testing.
Edited by apw2607 - 6/7/12 at 3:22pm
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post #1257 of 3464
6/7/12 at 3:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by apw2607 View Post

Yes, I agree. I had a 580 and the 24p setting caused issues more times than not on DVD content !

I feel more confident about retiring the panasonic 85 from 2010 now. This new sony is on par with the panny now. The panny did auto 24p for BD of course. But also had an optional 24p setting for DVDs, but was strictly manual for DVDs so now with the new sony, it's about the same so DVDs aren't forced into 24p mode. I don't think DVD video was designed for 24p, if it were, then stand alone dvd players would have had the option before now.
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post #1258 of 3464
6/7/12 at 3:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacinMan View Post

I feel more confident about retiring the panasonic 85 from 2010 now. This new sony is on par with the panny now. The panny did auto 24p for BD of course. But also had an optional 24p setting for DVDs, but was strictly manual for DVDs so now with the new sony, it's about the same so DVDs aren't forced into 24p mode. I don't think DVD video was designed for 24p, if it were, then stand alone dvd players would have had the option before now.

DVDs were/are encoded at 480i60, which means to get to 24p you need to do a pull-down from the interlaced content to recreate the original 24p format. Blu-rays are native 24p, so outputting them is easy. Since not everything is encoded perfectly, and recreating the 24p format can be tricky fro 60i content, that's why the feature is limited. If it works 100% of the time more of us would use it I'm sure, but it doesn't do that.
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post #1259 of 3464
6/7/12 at 3:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaushal98 View Post

Thanks apw2607. Would you know if anything from BDP570, LG BP620 or Panasonic DMP-BDT220 would support that?

Hi again.

Right, I stand corrected. Maybe something got patched recently in the last firmware, because I'm sure I tried this before ...

In any case, I found a MKV AVC test file with embedded subtitles here (TEST III) ... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1054962

It played perfectly on the Sony. Audio was present (DTS), and english subtitles were displayed.

So there you go, the new 2012 Sony's do support subtitles embedded in MKVs.

Media info from test file FYI >

* * * Media Inspector 0.7.443 file analysis report.
* * * Media Inspector is ©2011 by Diego Massanti - http://mediainfo.massanti.com
* * * MediaInfoLib by Jerome Martinez - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
Created on: Jun 7, 2012 3:43:49 PM PDT
Report for file: iguana.monsi.1080p.bd9.sample.mkv

General / Container Stream #1
Total Video Streams for this File.................1
Total Audio Streams for this File.................1
Total Subtitle Streams for this File..............1
Video Codecs Used.................................AVC
Audio Codecs Used.................................DTS
SubTitle Codecs Used..............................UTF-8
Available Sutbitle Languages......................English
File Format.......................................Matroska
Play Time.........................................1mn 0s
Total File Size...................................81.0 MiB
Total Stream BitRate..............................11.3 Mbps
Encoded with......................................mkvmerge v2.9.7 ('Tenderness') built on Jul 1 2009 18:43:35
Encoding Library..................................libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Video Stream #1
Codec (Human Name)................................AVC
Codec (FourCC)....................................V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Codec Profile.....................................High@L4.1
Frame Width.......................................1 920 pixels
Frame Height......................................1 080 pixels
Frame Rate........................................23.976 fps
Total Frames......................................1442
Display Aspect Ratio..............................16:9
Scan Type.........................................Progressive
Color Space.......................................YUV
Codec Settings (Summary)..........................CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
QF (like Gordian Knot)............................0.192
Codec Settings (CABAC)............................Yes
Codec Settings (Reference Frames).................3
Video Stream Length...............................1mn 0s 143ms
Video Stream BitRate..............................9 569 Kbps
Bit Depth.........................................8 bits
Video Stream Size.................................68.6 MiB (85%)
Video Stream Language.............................English
Audio Stream #1
Codec.............................................DTS
Codec (FourCC)....................................A_DTS
Audio Stream Length...............................1mn 0s 146ms
Audio Stream BitRate..............................1 510 Kbps
Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................CBR
Number of Audio Channels..........................6
Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz
Bit Depth.........................................24 bits
Audio Stream Delay................................7ms
Audio Stream Size.................................10.8 MiB (13%)
Audio Stream Language.............................English
Subtitle Stream #1
Language..........................................English
Format............................................UTF-8
Codec ID..........................................S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec Info........................................UTF-8 Plain Text
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post #1260 of 3464
6/7/12 at 4:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott View Post

I reported that it didn't work above--there was a 16GB USB flash drive installed.

Oops... sorry I missed it! Thanks for checking.
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