Official Panasonic S52S thread - Page 11

Thanks for the confirmation. I was wondering if anyone had actually tried the audio delay option. Looks like this is the DVD player for me. I will be hooking it up via HDMI probably at 720p with coaxial going to the receiver for surround.
Another question I have is can you also get surround from the tv back to the receiver? What I mean is that my tv has an optical out that carries the 5.1 surround for regular HD shows. Looks like to me if the HDMI is feeding in the digital signal then my tv should be able to send it back to the receiver and just not use my coaxial cable for surround. Would this work?

N'Yeti, I just downloaded the manual and I see what you are talking about when it says Plasma TV in the time delay menu. Does this mean if select LCD I won't be able to use the time delay option. If that is the case then can I just select the Plasma option to use the time delay? I don't see how it would matter which you selected unless it somehow effects picture quality.

My Denon 1910 DVI player was been acting flaky lately and will shutdown at random, so I went looking for a new player to tide me over between now and when I go HD. I just did a head to head with a S52, V Bravo D1, Denon 1910 (when it worked) and HTPC w/TheaterTek on my Infocus 4805 over DVI (HDMI to DVI for the S52).

I must say I was very unimpressed with the Panny S52 when compared directly with the others. Out of the box the 480p HDMI picture on the Panasonic was just terrible, exhibiting over sharp edges and mosquito noise in the backgrounds. After setting the picture mode to User and turning on the "Depth Enhancer" to +1, turning down sharpness by -4 and turning on MPEG noise reduction to +1 I got a halfway decent picture, but it still lacked real detail and had serious "clay face" on the skin tones and some over saturation. It seems like you could endlessly fiddle with the settings trying to get a better picture, but never quite get it.

Next I switched to the Bravo D1 and setting it to 854x480 resolution and native on the projector. The picture was truly stunning picture with fine texture detail I had never seen before with minimal noise and excellent color balance. The best DVD picture I've ever seen. Video based material was another story with a good overall picture, but poor deinterlacing that showed combing and stair stepping for time to time.

Then I went back to my Denon which worked for about 5 minutes before it shut down. The picture was good, very smooth and clean, but a little soft (the projector is scaling from 480p to it's native 16:9 854x480). The DCDi really helps video sourced material and can make even poor quality MiniDV sports videos look film like. However on film material it doesn't come close to the Bravo D1 due to the softness.

I also tried out my Laptop with TheaterTek connected via DVI. The picture was nearly identical to the Bravo with maybe a slight edge in detail going to the Bravo. Using my laptop isn't a long term solution however.

So it looks like for me anyway the winner is the Bravo D1 due to the fantastic film picture (and due to a bargain price even after the capacitor fix). I found the Panny S52 really disappointing and not up to their usual standards. It obviously had a picture designed to appeal in the store that didn't stand up to extended viewing.

Sorry to hear the Panny didn't work out for you but it seems to really please alot of people on here. Same went for the Sony and Denon I have been looking at, some say their the greatest since sliced bread while others had nothing good to say. Same went for the LCD I bought a few weeks ago but I am happy with it. I'm going for the Panny and if it don't work out then I'll go with another.

I picked up the S52 the other day. So far I am pleased with the PQ.

Just bought the S52 today, can't wait to get it home.

Hey guys

because of differences about site updating policies with the admin of dcevolution.net I have moved to a new forum to discuss issues and exchange knowledge about my existing enhanced firmware releases for Panasonic devices.

You can find the new forum at:

www.xperience.podzone.net/panasonic/forum

Registration is required to access the forum content.

Please note that this is only about support for existing firmware releases !

Have fun

Tom

If you still have the S52 floating around, you might give the following settings a try.


AV ENHANCER: OFF (*very important)

SETUP/VIDEO

• TV ASPECT: 16:9
• TV TYPE: Standard (Direct View). This seems to add the least enhancement so I recommend trying this setting regardless of the display type. Though you may also want to try the mode for your particular kind of display as well.

SETUP/HDMI

• RGB RANGE: Use STANDARD to pass BTB/PLUGE. ENHANCED can be used to expand the video to "PC Levels" (0-255) for DVI displays though, if desired. (The ENHANCED setting has no effect w/HDMI.)

FUNCTIONS/PICTURE MENU

• PICTURE MODE: USER
• VIDEO OUTPUT MODE: Try all three settings (480p, 720p, 1080i) and see which works best for your particular display. Color decoding will probably be incorrect for 720p/1080i, but detail will probably be much better than 480p, due to the HD Picture Enhancer.
• TRANSFER MODE: Auto 1. Auto 2 may be useful for some TV shows filmed at 30 fps.
• HD PICTURE ENHANCER: 1 to 3, depending on the content and display. Use this to enhance the detail of 720p/1080i rather than the Sharpness control which has a much coarser effect.
• HDMI COLOR SPACE: This should default to RGB for DVI displays. For HDMI displays, one of the YCbCr settings is probably best.

FUNCTIONS/PICTURE MODE/USER/PICTURE ADJUSTMENTS

• CONTRAST: 0 (default)
• BRIGHTNESS: 0 (default)
• COLOR: 0 (default)
• GAMMA: 0 (default)
• DEPTH ENHANCER: 0 (default). If the picture looks too grainy or noisy on your display, then you might want to try increasing this to smooth things over. This may enhance the appearance of mosquito noise/artifacts on edges though (especially if the HD Picture Enhancer is set rather high).
• MPEG DNR: 0 (default)

FUNCTIONS/DISPLAY MODE

• 4:3 ASPECT: NORMAL or SHRINK. NORMAL stretches 4:3 content to fill the whole frame. SHRINK pillarboxes it. Use whichever works best with the AR options on your display.
• JUST FIT ZOOM: 16:9 STANDARD for anamorphic widescreen DVDs, and 4:3 STANDARD for Fullscreen 4:3 DVDs
• MANUAL ZOOM: x1.00.
  
  The Auto-zoom options degrade PQ badly, so I don't recommend using them.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 looked fantastic last night on my new S52. Still have some tweaking to do.

Hello,

I purchased an S52 about 5 months old and have not had any issues with it up until now.
I was playing a CD-RW with a DIVX file and it worked fine. I left the disc in and turned it on later and got an error saying "F893". Nothing else. No control menu or anything. I can't even eject the disc or turn off the power (the power turns off eventually after some time). I've tried unplugging it for a period of time, but as soon as I try to power it on, "F893" comes up again.

Anyone know what this "F893" code is and what's causing it? Is there a firmware upgrade required or anything? If so, is there any way to reset the player?

Any answers anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,

F893 means that the communication between the main processor and the flash-rom doesn't work correctly.

This is a service issue and requires physical repair or replacement.

Regards,

Tom

This player has bugs with saving user adjustments. In fact, when you save your settings, and turn off the player, and turn it back on, the "user1" or "user2" profiles get messed up. Contrast is set to a negative number and several other settings messed up. This makes the picture look washed out. "User3" profile is the only one that remembers the settings when you save it.

I've had no problems with the User 1, 2, or 3 profiles. The thing is, you have to read the manual first:

Fry's has the s52s for $57 this weekend

i just picked up 2 of them for gifts.

I need some help with the s52 I recently purchased. I am connecting to a Hitachi 50HDA39 Plasma utilizing HDMI cable. When playing DVD's I get a slightly distorted picture every 30-60 seconds along with a slight buzz sound as well. It is not bad but never the less it is not right. I have gone through the manual but with no success. Can anyone offer any insight as I am not technical savy when it comes to tv/dvd set up.

What picture quality should I set DVD to?
480p
720p
1080i

HDMI Color Space
RGB
YCbCR (4:4:4)
YCbCr (4:2:2)

Do I need to adjust play speed or any additional settings?

I appreciate any help anyone can offer

Does anybody know if there is a code to modify the region? I watch a lot of brazilian movies and need to support region 4.

Please let me know.

Thanks

Buy.com is currently selling this model for $69.99 with free shipping, $49.99 if you use Google Checkout.

http://www.buy.com/retail/Product.as...lec&adid=17662

Hi folks. I just purchased this dvd player as a temporary dvd player until I'm ready for full HDTV.

I currently own a panasonic 42" EDTV. It has a DVI input. I would like to use the HDMI output on this dvd player and plug it into the DVI input on my Plasma. Is this going to be a problem?

What do I need to purchase to do this?

Also, as my tv is an EDTV is there any benefit to upscaling dvds? Will it do anything bad to the picture if I upscale?

Lastly, can anyone make recommendations on settings to get the best picture for an EDTV?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Maynerd

Does this player now play Divx DVDs? Need an answer before i buy.

A new enhanced firmware release (V410B) has been made available for this player:

For more information about the new release check

http://www.xperience.podzone.net

Have fun

Tom

I have a friend with an older Panasonic 300u projector. It has a DVI input but no HDMI/HDCP. Will this dvd player upscale properly through the HDMI-DYI connection? Any help is appreciated..

Scott

As far as I can tell this is not FREE (at least I could not download it free), kind of odd given what Mr. Wizard did for Liteon users. I would even pay but it seems to have few pay options and is in euros

Tom9999, are you the one who made this?

any chance for DivX play for USA models?

I've been a registered user for over a year now and never felt compelled to post anything but I felt the need to do so today.

I don't know who you are but in reading several of your posts, YOU come off as a raging a-hole.

Be gone beggared.

Yes, Tom is the one who did this and is using AVS Forum to "advertise" his offerings while at the same time being rude and rejecting members from his forum that he doesn't like the look of!

To get it you have to join Tom's new restricted web site using a name that he doesn't object to, provide all of your DVD player's firmware info, and then wait for him to manually approve your membership (its not automatic like AVS). Then, you can access the section of the forum that lists the available firmware versions, provides links to the downloads, and also provides the new password (he changes it regularly). But, you'll probably need to act quickly before he closes your account for whatever reason. Good luck!

P.S. Check your PM.

thanks a lot. I just used ur settings and pq is great.

Guys, has anyone noticed ghosting/ringing/EE added to DVDs played on the S52S?

I've used test patterns to adjust the players internal sharpness (which does help) and I've played around with other user controls in both my projector and this DVD player, but the annoying double outlines remain. They are especially obvious on subtitles -- for example, whenever they are speaking elvish in LOTR. But the ringing shows up just about everywhere else too.

This may be a problem that is created by the interaction of my projector and the player. I'm just not sure.

Has anyone else seen this double outlining effect around objects? It looks like edge enhancement gone wrong.

Moderator:

While trying to post my brief review on this product, I kept getting this error message:

Your Post contains one or more URLs or image calls, please remove them before submitting your message again. To prevent the abuse of spam, we have set this restriction in place until after you make 5 posts.

I do not know what that means but I removed what I felt were all of the symbols and $ signs not knowing what was causing the hang up and the system still won't let my post through.

Please advise.

Hi Guys,
I have posted last week, but I am still trying to find how to hack the S52S to play ALL Regions. Anybody knows?

I would also appreciate if you could point where to find the hack so it plays 720p on component connection.

Thanks so much

I got this player for an early christmas present and I have to say I am happy with it. I've got it hooked up to my LCD throgh HDMI. I bought the Panny mainly because of the audio time delay option as well as the auto-zoom. The auto-zoom is a great idea but it does effect picture quality. Funny thing is that it effects different scenes differently! My TV does a much better job at zooming in on the picture to fill the screen but my lowest setting is 2x which is too much. I know some of you say that you are ruining the movie by blowing up the anamorphic to fill the screen but my tv is a 37inch and I sit 15 feet away. At that distance the picture is too small unless I blow it up.
I think anyone looking for a dvd player that provides a great picture, ease of use, and plays about any type of disc will be happy with this one.