Official Sony BDP-S590 and BDP-390 Thread - Page 80

Selden, this is an explanation I can sink my teeth into.

Here is the cable that I purchased to connect the BluRay to the receiver:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019HL8Q8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01

I'm assuming that one is A-OK.

I have no clue what the builder used to run the HDMI line to the projector mount location, but I'm going to take a wild guess that it's not adequate. It's a very beefy cable, which surprised me, I'll have to see if I can look at the printed specs, if that will even help.

Thanks!

Sony chat was no help. Spent an hour with what appeared to be a computer simulated support rep named Becky. who at one point was running me through soft and hard reboots for the BR player, which I explained was in another room so be patient I might be 5 minutes, but, anyway, when I returned 3 minutes later she had ended the session because I wasn't responding. I will be publishing my copy of this conversation in an appropriate forum when I have a chance. I think all Tech sites need some humour and this dialogue is hilarious.
Since Sony left me high and dry last night, I decided to get up early this a.m. and work back through all my settings and hook ups. Turns out it was a failed optical input on my reciever. so currently I am manually switching between 2 optical cables (Satelite and BRP ) to my one live optical jack as required. Went on line to search for an optical digital switch (1 to 2) would suite me fine, but it appears in the simpler units 1 to 3 is typical and from reading the 3rd person reviews (not the obvious 5 star vendor initiated rebuttal reviews) they are junk. Can anybody here recommend an inexpensive, reliable, basic optical switch.
Thanks Dave

Its published ratings certainly look OK to me. Long cables do tend to be problematic. Sometimes the signal coming out of the receiver is marginal, so that connecting a player directly to the cable works fine, while running it through a receiver results in sparklies and dropouts.

As previously mentioned, often just turning off the "deep color" option in the player and/or receiver is enough, since that reduces the bitrate by about 30%. (Blu-ray discs only provide 8 bits per color channel. Upscaling that to 12bits usually is best left to the projector if it's done at all.) If there still are glitches, setting the player or receiver to output a lower resolution (like 1080i or 720p) usually will do the job.

HDMI repeaters or signal boosters sometimes can help if you want to try to get a full 1080p resolution.
You're quite welcome. Please let us know if any of these suggestions actually help.

Just thinking ahead. After doing more reading I came across something that made a light-bulb go off in my head. Would something like this be appropriate:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011012&p_id=8121&seq=1&format=2

All of the sudden, the two cat5 cables running alongside the HDMI cable begin to make some more sense to me =]

Thanks again!

Selden, I had him turn off deep color and voila! He then tried 12 bit and static came back, but at 10 bit,voila again!

Thanks!

I mostly use vTuner from my AVR and I have a collection of BBC streams in my favorites folder, but the Sony version may be more restricted. Thanks for the correction.

Does your stereo have any coax inputs? It bitstreams the same as optical. Monoprice has cheap digital coax cables. Even RCA might work for a short run.

Also, your input may not be bad. Sometimes the little door breaks, blocking the light sensor, or something else could have broken off in there. You may want to check before resorting to a switch.

mdavej;

Good suggestions. Unfortunately, as others have posted here previously, coax usually doesn't work with BluRay Players (decoding issues I think). It seems O.K for a couple of minutes and then there are intermittent sound drop outs (not as bad with DVD but still unlistenable) . I didn't mention it before because that was my first hookup a week ago. I just took my coax from my old DVD player and plugged it in to the new one as that was how my old DVD player was linked to my AVR. However,when I experienced the intermittent drop outs I came here and searched and found an explanation for that.. Then I realized I needed optical (with no HDMI on my AVR)
I will check the input jack again , but it initially it looked O.K to me. Just didn't work. Also my Receiver is basically telling me there is a problem as I can't select DVD optical . The selection menu just goes from DVD coax to VCR 1 an 2
Thanks for following up on this... Cheers, Dave.
Edited by stillgolfing - 12/13/12 at 9:30pm

This doesn't sound right to me. Are you using a cable designed for digital coax use to connect the coax output to your receiver? If using a standard RCA cable designed for analog use, that could explain your problem as the resistance in analog cables can vary and still meet specifications whereas coax digital cables are required to be 75 ohm.

That's the first I have ever heard of this. Coax digital audio should be exactly the same as TOSLink. Just different ways to carry the signal. As pointed above, you need to use a video cable (which has the same impendence), not audio cable to coax connection.

It is the digital cable I used from my regular DVD player which I just replaced with the BluRay. That unit produced 5.1 surround via the digital coax out to AVR's digital coax in jacks. I have it marked as "DVD Digital Coax out to AVR but the manufacturers markings just say OFC Interconnect Cable by Electrohome, so maybe its not 75 ohm, but worked OK for 7 years with the old player. Maybe I will see if a friend or neighbour has an extra 75 ohm cable that I can use to test the digital coax connection method out again.
Thanks, Dave

If you are hearing intermittent drop-outs, it's likely either a *very* bad cable (or loose connection) ...or... there is a hardware failure with either the coax output or input (i.e. something is wrong with the either the BD player or the AVR).

Try another coax port on your AVR and check if you hear the same results; if the optical input method works, then it may be a problem with the BD player's digital coax out - return it for a new one. But the coax and optical ports all go through the same digital board, so there is no issue of compatibility if the hardware is working correctly.

DVDs have a lower bitrate DD 5.1 audio (typically 480kbps max IIRC) than BD discs (typically 640kbps). Your old cable probably barely works with DVD. Any yellow video cable (or green, blue, red component video cable) will work.

You should also check the owners thread for your AVR. Some older AVR's can not handle the higher bit rates of the lossy codecs found on BD's.

You're very welcome.

fwiw, I've read a few posts where people have mentioned that they've had indications that somehow voltage spikes were introduced in their CAT-n cabling which damaged the HDMI circuits connected to them. Presumably appropriate surge suppressors are available. I've personally had no experience using CAT-n for HDMI.

It might be appropriate to check the connectors on the RCA cable and on the electronics. They might be damaged or have loose connections. Wiggle them very gently to see if the dropouts get worse or improve. Some cables are designed so you can take the connector shells off easily and look at how well they're soldered.

The maximum bitrate for Dolby Digital from Blu-ray discs of 640 Kbits/sec is less than the maximum bitrates for DTS audio and for CD audio, which are well over a megibit/sec. In other words, the DD audio signal shouldn't be affected by the cable if DTS and CD audio are OK. Ancient receivers might have a problem decoding the higher bitrate, but in that case they should be silent, not have dropouts.

Thanks for your help Foxbat121. I checked out a digital cable thread here this morning and found that a video cable should work (The shorter the better apparently). I had lots lying around as my previous TV inputs were composite video. Picked out a six footer, hooked it up and am good to go now. Great 5.1 surround from the Sony. The previously mentioned cable was also old and quite long (16 ft) so there may have been several reasons why it didn't work properly.
Cheers, Dave

Another long delay in posting. I'm on DSL and every one is now home from work or school and online ................ I guess?
Is it possible to delete a post when you end up posting twice?
Dave
Edited by stillgolfing - 12/14/12 at 2:31pm

SIRIUSXMSTREAMER with TVeristy -

Anyone else use SiriusXMStreamer? I can get TVersity to see my folders but each time it says "file not playable or supported" or whatever error message.

Anyone else streaming SiriusXM through their 590?

Now that I have got digital surround sound from my BD player to my AVR via a 75 ohm coax video cable, I have discovered that my AVR's 2nd optical jack is not dead (when all else fails read the manual). Turns out it is actually the 2nd CD connection and you select it physically at the Receiver by pressing the "digital" button. I didn't know this because my CD player does not have an optical out, so the CD player was auto defaulted to analog (CD-1).
I tested the BD player with an optical cable and selected CD>DIGITAL at the Receiver and got surround sound. My question now is - Is there a difference between digital sound via the coax and digital sound via an optical cable? If not that is great, then I would go with the coax setup as the optical would have to be "switched" back and forth at the AVR when going from playing CD to watching BluRay (also the optical set up would confuse the other usual suspects in the house - "physically select Cd>DIGITAL on the Receiver to get surround sound from the BD......... really?").
Thanks Dave

Still -

Personally I don't think there is any (discernible) difference between the digital coax and the optical. As long as your coax is the proper type. I have seen forums where people swear to hear a difference but I think most people agree its six of one half dozen of the other. In other words, no difference.

It's exactly the same protocol passing exactly the same bits, just a different physical layer. It's like saying that you can hear the difference between the same MP3 file when played from an HDD as opposed to when played from a CD or DVD.

Not very impressed with the S590 which I just picked up yesterday, if I'm being honest about it. Half the time when trying to play back my makemkv rips on a usb it freezes completely and I have to hold the power button down to force it to turn off. The other half refuse to play completely. This really isn't what I had in mind.

Can anyone recommend a failsafe way of backing up Blu-rays that the S590 will actually play without freezing? I did try tsmuxer to convert some of my mkvs, but for many of them it just doesn't detect the audio stream.

Oh yeah, and I'm guessing Sony don't update the firmware often. It's rare that I buy something that's running the latest already.

Edit: Thankfully, m2ts copies of a couple of my movies that wouldn't play before are now playing back just fine. At this point I'm guessing I'm going to have to completely redo my collection to m2ts instead. Life's a bitch

Edit 2: Unfortunately subtitles don't seem to want to show up, nomatter what I do. Doesn't matter for English-speaking parts, of course, but some of the best movies of late just happen to also have foreign-speaking parts (The Avengers, Bourne, etc). Going to try mkvmerge with these new m2ts files and see if they'll show when they're set to default and forced...

Edit 3: No joy. It refuses to play my movie's subs, nomatter what I do. I can switch between audio streams no problem, but subtitles it just doesn't want to know.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears :\
Edited by Venturai - 12/16/12 at 4:29am

M2TS doesn't have the capability to store/manage subtitles or chapter markers. You need a more complex container for that, such as MKV or M4V.

M2TS is the most compatible container for the Sony player, since it can host both h.264 and VC-1 video (both common w/ Blu-ray), along with HD audio - all of it lossless from the original. And, as you've discovered, it will playback really well on the 590 as long as your network can handle it (i.e. the Sony won't do any buffering, so you need a clear wireless channel or a wired connection).

With the Sony player, and for using sub-titles w/ all video encoding standards, you are in rough shape. Serviio doesn't support streaming sub-titles with this player and I don't *recall* that the Sony player will display embedded sub-titles w/ MKV (I may very well be wrong or my information is out of date, but I couldn't make this work in the past).

Either burn-in your subtitles (i.e. as you encode the video) ...or... do as I did and switch to another system that supports the features you want - a lot of options out there. I've said this a number of time on this thread: it's too bad because the video renderer quality on the 590 is amazing for the price.

Internet over HDMI - Receiver to Blu-Ray Player Setup

I'm looking for help configuring my Sony BX59 Blu Ray player so that it can access the internet via the HDMI connection to my Denon AVR 2112 Receiver. The receiver has a working ethernet connection (can update firmware and listen to internet radio stations), however I'm unable to configure the blu ray player so that it can access the internet over the HDMI connection.

I've read through both the Denon and Sony manuals, but if there's information as how to set up internet over HDMI, I'm missing it.

Suggestions? I appreciate any advice you can offer.

Yeah it's really quite frustrating, because it can do the hard part no problems. The files playback just great, and I can get full DTS-HD MA 7.1 too. Just no subtitles. They're contained in the m2ts files, but the software just doesn't want to know.

While I'm pretty much stuck with this player now, I wouldn't mind knowing what system you switched to that supports these features.
Edited by Venturai - 12/16/12 at 2:05pm

I don't think Ethernet over HDMI is likely supported by the player, which would explain why you saw no mention of it in the manual. You should just pick up an Ethernet switch to feed the Internet to both devices.

Love this site (been here a few days now and many members have pitched in to help me solve some of the problems I have experience while setting up my new Panasonic Plasma TV and my first ever Blu-ray player (Thanks to all). Just to educate myself, I have been working my way thru the 80 pages of comments here (up to 18 now) and ran across a comment about DVD up scaling
What I would like to know is, with this Sony do I have to activate a setting or is up scaling automatic? The reason I ask Is the first DVD I watched a couple of days ago was Once Upon Upon A Time in the West and it was awesome, the Usual Suspects (all those others leaches and hangers on that live in or pass thru my place:)) thought it was a blu-ray disc. However, last night we watched a special edition. directors cut of Midnight Run and it looked like a really well worn VCR tape. I Know what we see displayed is based on many criteria, but this difference was absurd. I'm thinking while troubleshooting the various setup and connection issues I have been experiencing I have (either on my TV or on my BD player shut something off that relates to DVD up scaling). All feedback appreciated,
Cheers, Dave
Edited by stillgolfing - 12/16/12 at 5:39pm

Just got me 590 a couple weeks ago. Just a little quirk maybe someone can help me with.
Every time I start a video stream , with the exception of Netflix, Amazon and Vudu, it seems I have to stop and start the stream over to get an HD quality stream. Is there a setting I might have to set differently or something? This does not seem to occur with the big three services I mentioned.
Edited by david0406 - 12/16/12 at 6:07pm

I went out and purchased my S590 today, but am struggling getting it wired up properly to my STR-DA4ES receiver. I'd really appreciate any help or suggestions folks here can provide. I'm not real good with component wiring, but it's my understanding I should be trying to hook this up with a Digital Coaxial rather than the standard Red/White/Yellow audio/video cables that came with the unit (the guy at Best buy explained that I can only get Dolby Digital using Digital Coaxial connection, and using the cables that came with the unit will only deliver analog sound). So, I purchased the Digital Coaxial cable separately.

Here is a link to the back panel of the DA4ES Receiver. As you can see, under the DVD/LD section there are jacks for the standard Red/White/Yellow audio/video cables that came with the player. and there is also an S-Video connection, which I believe is useless for connecting the S590 player.

In the lower left area, there is a 'Digital Coaxial In' connection for DVD/LD, which I assume I should be using to connect the S590, but I'm perplexed that this jack is already being used by a Digital Coaxial cable that comes from my digital Comcast cable box (from a "Digital Audio Out" jack on that unit). I have no idea why the digital Comcast box is being wired to the DVD/LD Digital Coaxial jack, but I have always had good surround sound for cable, and assume it is just for function.

My main question is whether it is as simple as moving the Comcast Digital Audio coaxial to the CD/SACD Digital Autio jack immediately above the DVD/LD one, or might this wreck the sound I get from normal cable viewing (or do other electrical harm)? Alternatively, is there some other way to free the DVD/LD Digital Audio Coaxial jack while maintaining the good surround sound I get with Cable TV?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.