Official Panasonic S52S thread - Page 9

The online manual must be wrong. I have an actual paper manual that came in the box of my Canadian s52 and it does not indicate 5.1 analog outputs and does say DVD audio must use HDMI connection.

The online manual is the UK version. Panasonic told me that it is the only one that they have available in electronic format.

Question..I have the S52 connected to Sony KDF -50E2000 HDMI to HDMI.
I recorded a football game on ABC in a room with cable out of the wall staight to Panny DVD recorder and TV ( obviously 4 x 3 ).

When I played it back on S52, it filled up the screen when I expected it to have bars on the side...The quality wasn't bad and it did not appear to suffer from any stretching effects. I just wanted to see if the quality would be better if I viewed in 4 x 3 but I could not figure out to *make* it view 4 x 3 ( I did change to pan and scan ) and this did not work.. Why is it displaying 16 x 9 and can I change it ?

Thanks.

Leave it for the tv that you are using. Change the picture auto settings to 4:3

Either change your actual tv to 4:3 mode or go into the Panny s52 setting and change the 4:3 setting to "shrink"(or "auto").

Just picked up one of these in Canada and am amazed by the upconverting to 720p that it does on my Sony 42" RP-LCD KFE42A10. My previous unit was an LG LDA-531 and the upconversion is noticeably better on the Panny. My question is, which A/V Enhancer features do you use to get the best out of this player?

However one bit fault is it's divx/xvid playback. I had a disc of Lost episodes that it would not even accept, then a disc of Alias episodes which it played very jerkily and with horrible macroblocks/articats. The LG in comparison beats the Panny hands down when it comes to MPEG-4 playback. Too bad too, cause I really like the user interface on the Panny. Might have to return it if I decide to bite the bullet and get the Oppo 971!

okay I figured out that it was the packed bitstream and QPEL on my encodes that was causing the problem. Once I made encodes without those features the xvids played better on the S52 than the LG (which suffers from bad black and white crush). The colour reproduction on the S52 is just outstanding and the Depth Enhancer feature works wonders on both MPEG-4 files and my DVD-Rebuilder encodes (which are DVD-9 to DVD-5 encodes). Couple questions:

1) Does anyone know if Panasonic is working on firmware upgrades to this unit? Specifically I'd be interested in seeing greater MPEG-4 support (such as the features I mentioned earlier which currently do not work)

2) Is it possible to jump to a specific time in a movie? Divx file? My LG could and I rather liked that feature.

Very sad there is no Position Memory on this panny. I have an old progressive scan Panny that had it and all of us in the house got very used to it and it's horrible to see Pan has decided to let that feature go.

I haven't seen/heard of any plans to update the ROM in the S52. You can get a firmware hack at:

http://www.dcevolution.net/panasonic...tpage&Itemid=1

This will make it Region Free and disable U.O.P. (at least that what the site says)

It's too bad that DVD-A plays only via HDMI on the 52; there are not alot of AVR's with HDMI inputs and outputs yet. I have to play DVD-A through my Panny DMRes20 and that is not great. I like the player's audio enhancements. The recorder is good as a recorder but it did not fit the bill as a player which the 52 does well.

Is there any way to adjust the color decoding for 720p/1080i on the S52?

Do you mean to change the decoding so that it's not the HD Colorspace and change it to SD Colorspace? If so, the answer is most probably...no (and I doubt that any HDMI DVD player can be changed without hacking the chips themselves).

Tks for the reply, N'Yeti.
Nope. The color decoding via HDMI at 720p and 1080i appears to be incorrect on the S52 I'm testing, so was just wondering if there's any way it can be fixed/tweaked on the player. It's fine at 480p via HDMI. But not at 720p/1080i.

This is based on looking at the player on 2 different displays, and comparing with two other upconverting players that have correct color decoding at 720p/1080. Tried to fix the problem by adjusting color decoding on the display as well, but that didn't work.

Ok. Did you set the decoding to RGB instead of 4:2:2 or 4:4:4?

Are you running it with anything beyond the default settings? What kind of display are you using?

Some people have found that if you leave the defaults on but go into the picture menu select User and then put color at - 5 that it clears up a bit of the red push that the S52 seems to have with some displays.

Thanks again N'Yeti. Tested with both a Sony 34" XBR CRT via DVI with RGB, and a Hitachi plasma via HDMI with RGB, YCbCr 4:4:4 and 4:2:2. Same result in every case. Color decoding aligns just fine at 480p, but not at 720p/1080i. Also tried tinkering with the User Picture Adjustments Color setting on the player, and the decoding is still noticeably off even with Color on the player adjusted down to -5 or -7. The decoding won't align correctly for 720p/1080i regardless of how saturation is adjusted on the player or display, even with add'l tinkering to Hue and the color decoders on the display.

Current settings for Sony CRT via DVI...

AV ENHANCER: OFF

SETUP/VIDEO
TV Aspect: 16:9
TV Type: Standard (Direct View)

SETUP/HDMI
RGB Range: STANDARD, to allow passage of BTB/PLUGE. (Have tried Enhanced as well. The Enhanced setting only seems to work w/DVI btw, and not HDMI.)

FUNCTIONS/PICTURE MENU
Picture Mode: USER
Video Output Mode: 1080i (Have also tried 720p and 480p, and 720p has the same decoding issues as 1080i. 480p is the only mode that seems correct.)
Transfer Mode: Auto1
HD Picture Enhancer: 1 to 3, depending on the content (and display).
HDMI Color Space: RGB (have tried both YCbCr 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 as well on the Hitachi plasma.)

FUNCTIONS/PICTURE MODE/USER/PICTURE ADJUSTMENTS
Contrast: 0 (default)
Brightness: 0 (default)
Color: 0 (default)
Gamma: 0 (default)
Depth Enhancer: 0 (default)
MPEG DNR: 0 (default)

FUNCTIONS/DISPLAY MODE
4:3 Aspect: NORMAL or SHRINK
Just Fit Zoom: 16:9 STANDARD for anamorphic widescreen DVDs, and 4:3 STANDARD for Fullscreen 4:3 DVDs
Manual Zoom: x1.00.

I believe everything else is set to the defaults.

I would think that 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 would be the way that you'd want to go with the output. Have you tried using DVE at either of those two settings (especially with the CRT). I've used the S52 with my Panny ct34wx15 and it produces quite a nice picture at 1080i using HDMI and outputting at 4:4:4. Normally, I run my S77 into the Panny...but the S52 has a nice sharp picture (though as I noted, unless you turn down the color a bit it does push a bit more red that I'd like).

What specific color coding issues are you seeing?

By the way, you will find that running DVE at 1080i on 4:4:4 will look different at 480p. Same the other way around.

Interesting to note that the open/close tray button on the remote that operates my Panny DVD recorder also opens and closes the tray on my s52...

Despite your footer, it has been published elsewhere. The open/close button was omitted and substituted for another. On the other hand, if you use another Panasonic Remote with the open/close button or a universal or Logitech type remote, you can use the open/close button there - same for the S77 that also lacks the control on the remote.

Hello,

I spent more than an hour reading this forum. A lot of interesting things but I still didn't find the answer I was looking for.

I'm looking for a good divx player.

My questions are:

1) I'm buying a cheap Panasonic S42, connect it through component, and wait a little while for a next generation dvd palyers to buy one with a HDMI output?
2) Is it worth to buy now the Panasonic S52 just for the HDMI?
3) Or third, I'm adding 100$ bucks over the price of S52 and going with oppo 971?

I live in Canada so S42 and S52 do play divx. I'm also interested in having a dvd that plays PAL movies and have subtitles for the divx (that is oppo 971).

But, what interests me most is the picture quality. On HDMI, does Oppo 971 have a much better PQ than the Panasonic S52? Does it worth to pay 100$ more just for the difference in PQ?

As a display I'm using a Samsung 32 lcd (LN-328W).

Thank you,

The Oppo uses the Farouja to output over HDMI, a wonderful scaler/deinterlacer. The Panasonic S77 uses the same chip (except the S77 also uses it for 480p component - the Oppo can't do 480p over component). The S52 doesn't have this chip. The S52 puts out a nice sharp image over HDMI (with no pixels being cut from any sides - DiVX looks great). The S52's component is nowhere near as good as its HDMI. The Oppo 970 doesn't have the Farouja but is rated higher than the S52. Both Oppos will play PAL. The S52 doesn't decode PAL.

Does this help?

Yes, it helps. It helps a lot. Thank you very much. It is one of the first posts I saw when actually it is stated: - DiVX looks great). I just came from a friend who owns a S52 and saw a movie in divx via component, and no complaints, very very good pq. If you're saying that over hdmi it has even better pq, that's great.

I'm sure that oppo is better. But, I would like to know if actually somebody had seen a difference between the two, and can say: yes, I've seen them both and 971 has a much better pq than the S52.

I'm willing to pay the difference just if it is a striking difference in to the quality. I don't want to pay an extra $100+ just because 971 passed I don't know what tests that S52 didn't, or anything similar, and just because 971 is doing something that I'll never see or doesn't help me visually.

Thank you again for your post. At least now I have somebody's opinion on S52's HDMI.

Perhaps you can borrow/try out one and see for yourself. I prefer the divx from the S52 over the divx in my Pioneer 588a. But if I had to pick one for picture quality alone, I'd say the S77 beats out the 588a and the S52. The S77 has the same Farouja as the Oppo 971. The 971 has the same mpeg decoder as the 588a (great for errors and seamless layer change). Each has their own particular nuance. Personally, I prefer the S77 over the Oppo 971 but that is only because of the 971 not putting out 480p over component.

If anyone want to spend around $300, I'd recommend the Denon 1930CI. If your panel is under 42", there is no way you can tell the difference between the 1930 and the $850 2930CI or the $3000+ Denon 5930.

At 1080p, most well rendered sd DVDs like Kill Bill 1 & 2, 5th Element, and others will look almost HBO-HD like.

Paul

That may be...But this is the S52 discussion...besides, the Oppo 971 beat the Denon 5910 ($3500) with the S77 coming in third and beating out the Denon 3910 ($1500).

Anyway...try to keep your Denon sales advice in the appropriate discussion area.

I have a Monoprice 5x1 HDMI Switch and am having the following issue with my s52 (or the switch!):

I run a Panasonic AE-900U for display, a Dish VIP622 and just purchased the Panasonic DVDS52 last night. The VIP622 has no issues with the switch, the Panny DVD player does - it won't play through it period, regardless of cables or switch ports used (though it will work directly).

I tried connecting the s52 through all switch ports, to no avail. The VIP622 works through all ports with either of my short cables (used from port to video components). The S52 works fine when directly connected to the AE-900 via HDMI (and looks great!), just does not work via the switch...

Thoughts? Experiences?

Turn off the tv and the dvd player (I'm assuming that the switch isn't powered -if it is, turn it off). Turn on the switch (if it's powered). Turn on the tv. Turn on the S52. Anything?

As a second thought, try running it in 480p via the switch...

No luck. Also, can't configure HDMI at all, just shows Error 1 in the menu, so can't get to the point of defining resolution....

Thanks for the help. Have emailed Monoprice, perhaps they'll tell me something.

I emailed them, they asked for my original invoice number within a few minutes and once supplied sent me the following message moments later:

"Okay. It looks like you have Ver.1.0 HDMI switcher... Rev.2.0 the same HDMI switcher will resolve the problem you're having now. I'll send you a replacement along with UPS Return Label. Truly sorry for any inconvenience it may cause you."

A few minutes later I got an automated email from their support system with the tracking number for the new switch.

That's service my freinds! Oh, and I really like their cables - both the prices and the quality...

Can anyone tell me why my S52 cannot remember my User settings for Picture Mode (under Functions/Picture Menu)? Whenever I turn the unit off, it defaults to Picture Mode - Cinema. I like having it on User where I can leave the Depth Enhancer at 1. What's worse is when it reverts back to Cinema, the previous User settings are lost. The default User settings then has brightness ramped to -7 or some ridiculous number like that. Truly one of the only frustrating features of this unit I've found so far...

It sounds like you may be gettin the User modes in the AV Enhancer confused with the User setting in the Functions/Other Settings/Picture Menu. My recommendation would be to leave the AV Enhancer OFF (at least until someone sheds more light on how this feature is supposed to work). I haven't had any problems with the player remembering my custom Picture Menu/User/Picture Adjustments with it set that way.

I think the AV Enhancer is supposed to be able to store three different custom "User" configs of audio/video settings. But the feature seems to be a little buggy, and can't seem to remember all the Picture Menu adjustments after the player's been turned off.

I tried assigning the same Picture Menu/User/Picture Adjustments to all three AV Enhancer/User modes (User1, User2 & User3) with the Functions/Other Settings/Other Menu/AV Enhancer/SAVE SETTINGS command, per the manual's instructions. And none of the User modes remembered all the settings correctly after the player was turned off. So for the time being, I've just left the AV Enhancer set to OFF.

It looks like the AV Enhancer/User modes may be configured/optimized for certain types of discs OOTB (DVD-Video, Music and DVD-Video Recordables respectively). And the AV Enhancer/AUTO option probably uses whatever the mfr. feels are optimal settings for different disc types. That's about all I can tell so far from reading the manual. Guess I'll have to experiment a little more to see if there's some benefit to these other AV Enhancer modes.

The DVI input on the CRT only supports the RGB color setting. But I tried the other color modes on the Hitachi plasma and got the same 720p/1080i color decoding errors in DVE with all three (RGB, YcbCr 4:4:4 & YCbCr 4:2:2).
Those late model Panasonic tubes are beautiful, and have probably the deepest blacks I've seen on an HD display (haven't seen SEDs yet). I like the phosphor response on them better as well, and probably should have gotten one to replace my 4-year old Sony. But I'm afraid the weight issue (and the fact that I had not tried plasma) deterred me from getting another tube. The Sony don't look too terrible with 1080i and a little help in the gamma dept though.
Agreed. Detail seems to be one of the S52's fortes. The HD Picture Enhancer seems to work well at sharpening fine detail without adding the ugly ringing/EE you'd get on some other players (though it enhances mosquito noise a bit as well). I haven't tried the Depth Enhancer yet, and am not sure exactly what that does, but it sounds like some folks like the effect that has as well.

The color decoding will probably be a deal-breaker though, unless there's a feature hidden somewhere that I've missed to correct that. I wish the Gamma control went darker, as well as lighter too. The Gamma on my Sony tube is already light enough, and maxes out at around 2.25. So a control that goes darker would be more useful to me, on that and possibly on an LCD monitor I'm considering.

There are a couple other subtler PQ issues (some possible scaling artifacts that sometimes appear as subtle vertical stripes in darker backgrounds, and some possible motion blur at 1080i) that I'm still looking into as well.
Perhaps a little different, due to the phosphors on the TV probably only being correct for one color space (NTSC/SD or ATSC/HD). I question whether the difference should be as noticeable as what I'm seeing though. My suspiscion is that the difference in color between 480p and 720p/1080i may be more the result of incorrect 720p/1080i decoding on the S52 than to differences in SD/HD color space. The color doesn't look especially bad at 720p/1080i on my otherwise well-calibrated TV. But it doesn't really look correct, and as you mentioned, appears tipped more towards blue and red.