Samsung BDP1400 Disussion Thread - Page 180

there was a post in here the last week or two about the calibration section here on AVS having an ISO image of a HD test disc you could burn, and calibrate your display with etc

Some people were saying it wasnt working on their 1400 and others said theirs was playing it OK. Well i downloaded the AVCHD version and burned it to a DVD-R but my player just says "LOAD" for ages and never seems to load the disc.

I am still on FW 1.5 as the 1.6 hasnt been reeleased for Australia yet. I am wondering whether it could be the media im using... TDK 16x DVD-R's

So did anyone get the AVCHD file on DVD+/-R to work with the 1400? Please list the media you used etc

Apart from this, my player has been flawless so far... played everything ive thrown at it, no skips or dropouts, no settings reverting to 1080i or 24p being turned off... everytime i fire it up, the output is correctly at 1080p/24 and the sound tracks are bitstreaming to my 705 as they are supposed to be. Its funny although i was a HD-DVD supporter, my Toshiba XE1 had some handshake issues, and bitstreaming sometimes didnt work properly... this BluRay player has actually had no issues like that, which is great

This is why I hate listening to music cd's in the 1400. It's an absolute joke that it takes that long to skip to the next song.

scarecrow420, I got one of my relatives' AVCHD DVD (no menu) played no problem with FW 1.4 I don't know about the AVS AVCHD disc (with menu) though.

goodeye1835, that's one of my beefs with the player. I wanted to retire my A1 and PDR-05 but due to it's bad upscaling and annoying CD playback capability I still have to use both of them for my set up.

I did get the AVCHD disc to work on my 1400 eventually. It was a burning problem, it did not like the copy burned in disk utility on my intel Imac. I used boot camp and XP to download image burn and that copy worked great. I have FW 1.6 on my 1400 and it has played every disc I have put in it with no hiccups. I used an Office Depot brand DVD-R and it worked fine, the first version of the disc I burned that worked was on a Memorex brand DVD-R.

The only discs I use my 1400 for are blu-ray, I didn't like its upconversion on sd-dvd so I use my denon 2900 for those. I have a nice sony ES cd player that I use for cd's so I have not even put one in my 1400. I don't have a problem using separate players for different discs, I have not found a universal player(that I can afford) that does everything great.

So magenta, almost makes you want to go Purple.

There are a lot of factors that comes into play. Number one on the list is how good the signal is. With the digital age of thinking "It either works or not because it's just ones and zeroes", I kinda approach it from a different direction. I would question the quality of the signal also. So it is my opinion that a poorly design and constructed HDMI cable can effect how the audio/video signal is processed. The cables themselves are still made out of copper and carries an electrical charge. This has not changed.

Plus HDTV pixel response time, motion control features, deinterlacing/progresive scanning adjustments, all comes into play. And how well was the passing of the baton from the 1400 to the TV through the receiver are also considered. So not to say just the HDMI cable is the problem, but to consider each and every aspect of your overall system.

Good example is when my A35 audio sometimes skips or clicks, but the picture remains perfect and keeps playing. Power down the player and reload the disc. Works fine. All connected with HDMI. Getting digital signals? heck yea.. Was it processed correctly? heck no. This case it was the A35 that was the problem. Same can be said if a bad HDMI cable did not carried an unaltered (intereference) signal.

Hi scarecrow420,

I used a DVD-RW (1-2x) that came with my LG VHS/DVD recorder in case it didn't work. The AVCHD worked great on the 1400 (FW 1.0). I used Active ISO Image File Burning Software on my Dell installed with XP to burn the image. Hope that helps!

Larry

The 1400 tone test GUI is just a confirmation that you have correctly connected the 1400 audio output to the receiver audio input.

The audio calibration is the procedure you take to make sure the outputs are trimmed. I don't have a fancy way to calibrate the audio of my system cause I believe my ears are adequate. The same can be said about the PQ with my eyes. Not to say those with AVE and AVIA discs are foolish, but to each his own. I adjust, mutilated, my surround sound levels so much that it would be considered an abomination to most professional HT calibrators. Sounds great to me tho, so who cares?

Plus A/V calibration is synonymous with seeing the Shrink. Do you really need someone to tell you that you are Karazzy?

Ole' boy, here comes the I Hate You Barney replies now.

BTW, the 1400 does not have a LFE issue (Analog nor Digital PCM). Just was the sticking of the small speaker audio setup issue that got fixed with FW 1.5... I think.

Does any one else hear a grinding noise during the power on cycle. Is this normal or could the grinding noise be a problem later down the road?

If it is a problem you better send it in now so that you will have it back by Christmas, maybe.

They all make that noise, I wouldn't worry about it.

I know everyone has blasted this player for upconversion on the past 3 pages or so (which is hilarious...go to the first few pages and everyone loved it )

The only problem I have is that on SD DVDs it seems to crank up the sharpness. MAJOR haloing and edge enhancement present. I fix it by lowering my sharpness on the projector (which also makes BD look more "film-like" in my opinion).

Anyone else notice this? Maybe just those of us with screens big enough to draw attention to it (84" from 10 feet away)?

Barney,
This is for those with AudysseyMultiEQ, or similar. If you do have it and haven't taken that ride, you may be missing a BUNCH. I was like you--the EARS have it. Don't need no fancy shmancey EQ. OH, WAS I MISTAKEN. What a difference. Especially if you have 6.1 or 7.1. Just a suggestion.
If you don't like it you can go back. But here's the idea-- You will be experiencing your movie library over again, for the FIRST time. And your 1400 will sound like a NEW beast.

Classico

Thanks buddy, Classico. Imma just pickin. I used the Audessy on my 805.

However, Auddy does not have the last word. I ended up corrected him. Use him as a guide and a starter. This is always a good advice. Since I am not a naturalist and preferred balanced equations, I would make the Rb/Lb speakers 5.0 feet/5.0 feet, instead of his recommendation of 4.5 feet/5.0 feet. Sometimes I turn off Auddy and manually shape the mids and highs since they sound tiny and tinny according to him.

My only take on calibration of audio is there is no one setting for all your listening modes. Listen to CD, action movies, chick flicks, porn (no, Barney don't do this! ), all require their own set of rules and optimal settings. So here I go again, monkeying around with the audio and video settings and so call calibratin' while watching a movie and family got me down for a "soap party" tonight while I'm asleep.

Barney,

This is NOT your 805's Audyssey. This is a different animal. Here you can measure your room from 8 different locations (the MultiEQ). And THEN take and make adjustments and refinements from there. But I will stop here since there is another place for that discussion and I have gotten OT enough.

Classico

It's the same animal. Automatic Speaker Setup (Audyssey MultEQ XT) is where you go around with the microphone up to your forehead and walk around like an egyptian to the various 7 sittin' positions.

It calibrate the speaker distances and boost or cut the different bands. Also boost or reduce the output volume of each channel. Is this not the Auddy Animal we are talking about?

Barney - wanna run for office?

Strange mine gives excellent results, is it your display or cabling?.

well, I could never get it to output PCM as 5.1, it only gives me stereo on hdmi, so I am takiking it back. :

Just because it doesn't have THE LFE issue (assuming you mean the panny/denon one), doesn't mean it can't have AN LFE issue. In this case, as with all BD players I'm aware of, the LFE channel is -10dB from the other channels when using internal decoding and analog 5.1 out. I've posted links to long articles explaining why this is, feel free to search this forum if you want to know "why". Some BD players offer internal channel trim (I know the sharp does), the 1400 does not. If you have an AVR that allows individual channel trim for 5.1 analog in, you'll need to boost the LFE channel (some have boosted a full 10dB, others 3-5dB). Otherwise, you'll need to boost the sub output. Be aware, however, that if you have "small" speakers, you may end up boosting the low frequency signals from your mains ABOVE flat, since only the original LFE signal is -10dB.

If anyone is aware of a BD player that DOESN'T have this issue, please correct me, but my understanding is that this is a problem with all BD players when decoding internally and outputting as multichannel analog.

I finally bit the bullet and went analog for sound. Couple quick questions...

1) In the main system menu does leaving digital out to bitstream hurt the analog out (I MUST use the 1400 decoder due to older receiver)? Can I still get PCM from analog? I do have the optical cable still hooked up too.

2) My Denon receiver is (I THINK) the 1705 model, about 2 and a half years old. With the 5.1 analog the screen just read Ext. Input. NOTHING ELSE!! How do I know if I'm getting the high def surround? It sounded louder than hell (as opposed to before).

3) MY sub was waaaay powerful. No need to adjust.

Thanks in advance!

Also, my denon DOES have separate level adjustments for the analogs versus all other inputs/modes. Could be why it was louder. Any help?

You can leave the optical connected for DD and plain DTS soundtracks so you can use your receivers post processing. Analog out shouldn't (in theory) be affected by bitstream setting.

You can't tell from the receiver. You are sending it analog waveforms, so it can't distinguish what those waveforms used to be in digital form. You'll need to choose TrueHD or whatever from the BD setup menu or using the audio button on the remote.

I'm glad you are happy, though I'd bet that if you ran some test tones with an spl meter and speakers set to large, you'd find the LFE low. If watching movies puts a smile on your face, you're golden. If it doesn't, try the audio tones on ratatouille and a radio shack meter.

I understand that I can choose from the BD movie menu, but how do I know I'm not getting a down-sampled soundtrack (doesn't it sometimes just revert to reg. DD or DTS?)?

If my screen just shows EXT. In how can I tell what it's deciphering? I put Hellboy at 5.1 PCM instead of the alternative (DD) and it played fine...so is PCM ONLY hi-def, and since I heard something it WAS hi def. sound?

PCM is the uncompressed digital format. All the various protocols (DD, DTS, DD+, trueHD etc) are compressed versions of the PCM. The player first decodes the protocol to PCM. If you are using the 5.1 PCM track on the disk, it doesn't need to decode it, because it is not encoded. When you use the analog out, that is no longer digital, so the PCM is converted to analog via the DACs in the player. That's why they calll it analog out.

The conversion to analog has to happen before the speakers, usually before the amplifier. If you use HDMI, the conversion to analog happens in your receiver. Even when you use the legacy digital connection (optical, digital coax) it still converts to analog in the receiver, but you can't send the hi-res formats over the legacy connections.

In short, the answer to your last question is yes. Had you chosen the DD track, it would first be decoded to PCM, and then converted to analog in the player, then sent through the analog out to the receiver. The same is true if you choose DD+, or true HD.

I have the strangest problem with my 1400's picture output. I have the player connected to my Samsung HLT-5675S DLP via HDMI and experience the picture becoming wavy always one time during every movie I watch and lasts for about 5 seconds. It is not like the picture gets digitally scrambled as we have all experienced on a badly scratched DVD, but instead has vertical squigly lines across the screen for several seconds. The best way I can describe it is that the picture gets all wavy like an old old TV would while tuning the picture by moving the TVs antennae all around to get it so the picture looks best.

When ever this occurs I always look at the time on the unit's display and try to recreate the problem again at the same point in the movie, but never am able to. It ALWAYS happens once and only once for about 5 seconds during every movie I have watched on the player since getting it about 3 weeks ago.

I have swapped out the HDMI cable and moved any other close components away from it that I thought could possibly cause interference to the player, but I am still baffled to find that it is still occurring.

My unit was a refurb from refurbdepot.com and am considering sending it back if this continues. I am probably going to try firmware v1.5 instead of v1.6 which I am currently using, but really don't believe this would help solve the problem. Aside from this I have had zero problems with the player and really like it. The player has not once skipped or digitally scrambled the picture since I have had it.

Any other suggestions?

You CANNOT tell what type of audio track is playing by looking at your receiver when using analog connections. I'm sorry, you just can't. The only way to tell what audio track is playing is through the 1400's menus or on-screen display info. Then you need to know what the 1400 does with each type of audio track.

Uncompressed PCM, TrueHD, DTS HD HR, DD+ and DTS MA are all "hi def". PCM, TrueHD and DTS MA are "lossless". If you (using analog connections) choose DTS MA, you will get a 1.5mbps DTS "core" track (since the player cannot decode DTS MA internally). However, this "core" is still superior to any DVD soundtrack and aught to be enough to immerse you in the movie.

Just received my 5 free BD's from the xmas promo. Had to wait about 9 weeks. POTC-1 is one of them. I've watched about 30 minutes of it, so far, with no hiccups. I will say, however, that this title takes the longest to load of any BD I've played so far (about 70 seconds.)

firmware v1.6

ONE more stupid question about analog (and yes, unlike others, I HAVE read all 180 pgs...just too lazy to re-read them!)

Is it okay to use component video cables for analog audio? I think I remember reading somewhere that they work really well for this. That's what I used last night and they transfer the sound pretty good.

Also, a few pages back someone said FW 1.6 made the picture quality better? Anyone agree with him? How so? Someone else also said it opened up more features on discs. Again, is this true? Is it CLOSER to 1.1 compliant now (I know it never will be 1.1).

Thanks again!

I am sure this has been answered a million times before but I don't have time to go thru 180 pages so I am sorry if this upsets someone. My friend just bought a 1400 yesterday and I was wondering what codecs the player decodes internally. He will be using the analogs for the newer codecs since he does not have an HDMI reciever.

Thanks!

Does the player have to be connected to a display before the FW can up updated or is the display on the front panel sufficient? I won't have it connected until next week but thought if I could upgrade the FW prior to connecting I could save some setup time.