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Official Panasonic S52S thread

post #1 of 451
4/9/06 at 5:12pm
Thread Starter 
Saw them in boxes in circuit city today. Even when they put one on display, they never have dvd players displayed while connected to tv sets though. (I wonder why?)
I don't see them on panasonic's website yet (I wonder why that's the case, also.)
It upconverts over HDMI, and seems to play a plethora of disk types.
And incredibly enough, it was the most inexpensive upconverting dvd player in the store at the moment.
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post #2 of 451
4/10/06 at 2:48pm
I'd like to know about this player also. Mainly, what chip for upconverting does it use? The S97 and discontinued S77 both used Faroudja.
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post #3 of 451
4/10/06 at 3:29pm
Calinb has one over at avforums...http://www.avforums.com/forums/showt...&highlight=s52

Here's a picture of the Panasonic DVD-S52EG-S
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post #4 of 451
4/12/06 at 10:13am
I picked the DVDS52S up from CC yesterday, but was only able to play with it briefly yesterday evening. I didn't see any indication of the chipset. I connected it to a panny ae700u projector (I swapped out my LG dvd418).

Must be doing something wrong, because I could not get it to recognize any Divx discs, though it supposed to support mpeg4. Tried dvd+r and cdr; will give dvd-r a shot tonight.

I tried a couple of DVDs upconverted to 720p. Pirates of the Carribean looked marginally better on the DVDS52S. I backed up Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith to a DVD+r double layer to give it a shot. Revenge of the Sith on the DVDS52S was stunning (the best picture I've seen outside of a true high definition signal).

If I can't resolve the divx issue, I'll end up returning it to Circuit City. Though it does appear to be a heck of a buy if you're limiting it to DVD videos. It's currently on sale on their web site for $8 bucks cheaper than what I paid in store.
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post #5 of 451
4/12/06 at 12:34pm
Sounds good. I took advantage of that $9 discount on line (free shipping too!) and am awaiting my S52 to be delivered.

Just out of curiosity, does the rear have analog outputs for 5.1 surround sound speakers? I have read that it only has digital outputs for 5.1 (coaxial and optical), but the instructions / owners manual that I have seen on the web suggests that there are analog (rca jack type) ports for 5.1 connection.

I've also heard that DVD-A output is sent only through the HDMI connection. Is that true?

Thx.
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post #6 of 451
4/12/06 at 7:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubick View Post

I have read that it only has digital outputs for 5.1 (coaxial and optical), but the instructions / owners manual that I have seen on the web suggests that there are analog (rca jack type) ports for 5.1 connection.

Where did you see a owners manual on the web

DR
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post #7 of 451
4/13/06 at 2:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dvreid View Post

Where did you see a owners manual on the web

DR

You can find an English manual here: http://www.panasonic.co.uk/customer-...140828&fmt=pdf
Which is odd as it doesn't appear to be available in the UK yet
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post #8 of 451
4/13/06 at 5:29am
That's what I'm talking about. See page 8 ---> analogue 5.1 connectors are shown and discussed.
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post #9 of 451
4/13/06 at 5:59am
The only actual picture of the player's rear I've seen is-
http://www.avforums.com/forums/attac...9&d=1140594153
Which clearly lacks 5.1 outs. So, maybe the UK manual indicates the UK model will have these. This would make more sense, since they are generally of more use than MC via HDMI, which few people have on an amp. The only other way to get MC DVD-Audio out is via 5.1 outs. The player in the picture is not a UK (Euro?) model since it lacks a SCART socket. Maybe it's US/Canadian? The owner of the pictured unit does say he was given a 'CES demo' unit as a gift. Lucky chap!
As you say, the manual does clearly state 'To enjoy multi-channel surround sound, connect with 5.1 ch AUDIO OUT terminals (➜ right ) or HDMI terminals (➜ page 7).'
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post #10 of 451
4/13/06 at 7:13am
I purchased the DVD-S52 last night. From what I could tell, the most dramatic difference was in digital animation and movies with lots of digital effects. Standard movies were clearly better as well but not as dramatic. It replaces a six or seven year old Samsung.
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post #11 of 451
4/15/06 at 5:17pm
Seen this player at CC, it looked cheaply made.
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post #12 of 451
4/16/06 at 4:33am
I might pick one up this week, maybe it wont have any shift problems with my panny plasma like my LG 418 has.
With CC's great return policy unlike BB where they test it for you and give you a hard time,CC doesn't even look in the box.
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post #13 of 451
4/17/06 at 7:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bud-man View Post

I might pick one up this week, maybe it wont have any shift problems with my panny plasma like my LG 418 has.
With CC's great return policy unlike BB where they test it for you and give you a hard time,CC doesn't even look in the box.

As a fellow Panny plasma owner I would be interested in what you think of its HDMI upscaling feature with that display. Please post your comments when you get a chance. thanks.
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post #14 of 451
4/17/06 at 10:26am
dsmith901, i picked it up at lunch, when i get home tonight i'll give it a try!!
I'm most excited about the mpeg4 playback, what ive read on the player is it will play mpeg4 on cd-r, i will run it thru the paces with all my stuff tonight.
Just hope the HDMI doesnt have a 1/2" top shift like my LG and Sony players ive owned.
Ive been waiting for a year to get a panny player, that supports playback of multiple formats.
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post #15 of 451
4/17/06 at 1:15pm
Anyone care to take some pictures of the inside of this player, so we can see which chip(s) it uses?
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post #16 of 451
4/17/06 at 2:01pm
The guy on the other forum wasn't happy with his divx playback...how's your experience been? Any sync issues?
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post #17 of 451
4/17/06 at 5:01pm
I took the cover off at work, there's a big chip near the hdmi connector that say's Panasonic, the other smaller chips i never heard of and need a maginfiying glass to recognize.
Initial impressions are nice, alot i mean alot of different adjustments, 100 times more than i've ever seen with any other player i've tried.
Xvid/Svcd's burned on a DVD are a No Go
DTS Audio on a CD-R ...no go
PAL as usual a NO GO!!
No more Shift problems!!!
The zoom feature is the most advanced ive ever seen
I will keep the LG for all the other stuff, but this looks like a keeper!!
Panasonic needs to still wake up and get with the internet revolution...but this is a start!!
There might be hacks for this player and could be hope

I still dont know what panasonic's problem is with PAL!!

I will report back soon with inside pic's!
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post #18 of 451
4/18/06 at 6:39am
Bud-man, thanks. So it looks like it does not use the Faroudja processor, which may be a good thing if it avoids the MB issue that is worse on plasmas (from what I have read). Looks like maybe Panasonic has designed their own processor?
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post #19 of 451
4/18/06 at 7:54am
Looks so dsmith901, i saw no macroblocking issues when i tested a few dvd's, pq looked pretty good, with the amount of adjustments it might take awhile to get it right on.
Main thing i'm happy about is no more shift issue's when setting to 1080i.
Also i found a divx firmware update for the S47, i dont know there actually the same or not. ......possibly!!
This player finally appears to be a match for our 50 series plasma's.
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post #20 of 451
4/18/06 at 2:13pm
Does anyone know how the zoom is? I currently have a Panasonic S97S. I like the picture, but the zoom looks horrible through HDMI, although the settings are very flexiable. I would like to be able to zoom 2.35 movies to 1.85 aspect ratio. Thanks

Teddy
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post #21 of 451
4/18/06 at 2:36pm
teddyc23, look in the above threads for the manual, page 13, let me know if it's any different than your 97.
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post #22 of 451
4/18/06 at 4:12pm
Hi Bud-man. I took a look at the manual. The zoom functions look the same as my s97s. I was wondering how the quality of the zoomed picture looks? On the s97s as soon as you do any zoom (Even like 0.05), it looks like half the lines are missing. I was wondering if this DVD player actually has a watchable zoom. Like to take a 2.35 movie and fill a widescreen TV. Thanks so much for your information.

Teddy
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post #23 of 451
4/18/06 at 5:45pm
anybody compared this with the new sony dvp ns75h? im debating with these 2 players. if the picture is comparable i might get the panny since its cheaper and is available in black.
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post #24 of 451
4/18/06 at 5:58pm
teddyc23 -- I don't understand why you want to do that to a 2.35:1 movie. You are making the picture bigger (true zoom) and you lose all of the information that is on each side (and on a lot of 2.35:1 movies that's a lot of information that can be key to what the movie director intended you to see). It sounds like you've been brainwashed into thinking that all pictures have to be 16:9 in order to be "good".
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post #25 of 451
4/19/06 at 7:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wheel301 View Post

I picked the DVDS52S up from CC yesterday, but was only able to play with it briefly yesterday evening. I didn't see any indication of the chipset. I connected it to a panny ae700u projector (I swapped out my LG dvd418).

Must be doing something wrong, because I could not get it to recognize any Divx discs, though it supposed to support mpeg4. Tried dvd+r and cdr; will give dvd-r a shot tonight.

I tried a couple of DVDs upconverted to 720p. Pirates of the Carribean looked marginally better on the DVDS52S. I backed up Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith to a DVD+r double layer to give it a shot. Revenge of the Sith on the DVDS52S was stunning (the best picture I've seen outside of a true high definition signal).

If I can't resolve the divx issue, I'll end up returning it to Circuit City. Though it does appear to be a heck of a buy if you're limiting it to DVD videos. It's currently on sale on their web site for $8 bucks cheaper than what I paid in store.

I'm having no luck either with Divx or Xvid, burned on either DVD or CD-R, ive tried plenty of disc's my 418 plays flawlessly.
Calinb and the AVForums are from UK, there models are different, only place i saw mpeg4 is on the cardboard flip cover that stuck to a new dvd player, does not say anywere on the box it supports divx, i think it's not in the firmware or decoder chipset.

Pal disc's play sound but not video, blank screen

Actually all the adjustments dont really have any effect on PQ or sound quality, maybe mines a lemon?
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post #26 of 451
4/19/06 at 4:56pm
I was looking at one of these at CC last night and it looked intriguing-but then I asked myself "you already have 6 dvd players-do you really need another one?"-especially since I have an LGA-511 amd an LGDVB418 in my collection which in my opinion are the best xvid/divx players out there right now.
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post #27 of 451
4/19/06 at 7:32pm
The manual from the link above states that it can't read divx/mpeg4 files burned on DVD+R/RLs but DVD-Rs should work. Thats too bad.
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post #28 of 451
4/20/06 at 2:16am
Manual from above is from the UK, my manual shows nothing about divx, just mpeg 4 thats used on there camcorder recordings, .asf standard bullcrap.
wont play any divx/xvid whatsoever!!
yea zrdb, i too own them players and then some...why did i buy this?
no more shift on my panny plaz, adjustments that ive never seen before from a sub $100 player, supefast tray loading and detection, real nice PQ, blow's our LG's outta the water!!
Lack of PAL support is the deal killer for me, i can live without divx but not PAL...i dont need to worry about if it's gunna play or not, hell, i havent worried about that sine my first apex player 7 yr's ago!
That is the reason ive never bought a mainstream player to this day yet!
Maybe next yr panasonic will get there head outta there arse!!

They think, americans are stupid, why would they need pal or divx support, it's ok we give it to europe, the avg joe goes and buys his dvd's from walmart, why would he need region free, pal,.avi support, no we'll give him worthless format's like Highmat, HDCD things they think they'll use but wont.
Sony is another brand i'll never buy do to the same thinking!
Until they realize the internet revolution is going strong here, then they will give us what we want!
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post #29 of 451
4/20/06 at 5:13am
Just playing your standard DVDs that you buy? I have the Sony N75 for my Philips plasma which is great...but I'm always looking for the better quality/cost ratio

Even if the PQ is the same, it would be hard to beat Sony's audio. Anyway, just curious.
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post #30 of 451
4/20/06 at 6:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bud-man View Post

Manual from above is from the UK, my manual shows nothing about divx, just mpeg 4 thats used on there camcorder recordings, .asf standard bullcrap.
wont play any divx/xvid whatsoever!!
yea zrdb, i too own them players and then some...why did i buy this?
no more shift on my panny plaz, adjustments that ive never seen before from a sub $100 player, supefast tray loading and detection, real nice PQ, blow's our LG's outta the water!!
Lack of PAL support is the deal killer for me, i can live without divx but not PAL...i dont need to worry about if it's gunna play or not, hell, i havent worried about that sine my first apex player 7 yr's ago!
That is the reason ive never bought a mainstream player to this day yet!
Maybe next yr panasonic will get there head outta there arse!!

They think, americans are stupid, why would they need pal or divx support, it's ok we give it to europe, the avg joe goes and buys his dvd's from walmart, why would he need region free, pal,.avi support, no we'll give him worthless format's like Highmat, HDCD things they think they'll use but wont.
Sony is another brand i'll never buy do to the same thinking!
Until they realize the internet revolution is going strong here, then they will give us what we want!

Since you live in the US and have first access to every Hollywood DVD, why do you need PAL support? Keep in mind that 99.9% of US consumers do not need or want PAL, so you can see why a company like Panasonic would prefer to put its money elsewhere, like into video circuitry.
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