The Official Panasonic DMP-BD30 Owner's Thread - Page 8

The HDMAN is right. With Black Friday coming it is a shoe-in to be on sale before 30 days is up! Go get one!

I've been wanting to go purple for so long, this player looks closer to me getting there.

I need a new receiver anyway (I like what I'm reading about the Onkyo 805 and 875 lately) but I am kind of bummed out that this player doesn't internally decode the newer audio formats. <----(purple-envy-sadness)

The lack of an ethernet port isn't that big of a deal for me, again, just a slight disappointment 'cause like internal decoding of newer formats, my trustee old A1 has always had it.

I'm not sure how to feel about the lack of a "forced" 1080p24(23.97). My Pioneer Pro-FHD1 plasma will take and display 1080p24, I'm just not sure if the handshake alone between the player and display will ensure this. (Anyone here who's bought this machine have an FHD1?) I've been looking for 1080p24 for quite some time, as judder drives me crazy, and it looks like the HD-A35 and this machine may finally give it to me, however, both lack an ability to kick the display in the pants and say "you'll get 1080p24, AND LIKE IT, MISTER!!"

That said, the fact that it isn't colicy with the new discs and will at least bitstream the newer formats out, and will be able to do PiP now is a very good thing. Especially as the prices on these things are (finally) coming down.

If two "proven" and dedicated stand-alones can make me "reliably purple" for less than a "non-proven" player (like the perpetually delayed Sammy BD-UP5000) then this may be the way I finally get to that purple nirvana.

If you do not need the upconcversion then get the Onkyo 805. This Panny and that receiver will be one heck of a combo!

Thanx for the recommendation, Joe!

I care. I really like movies (on HD DVD) in Dolby TrueHD. Then I use my Onkyo receiver to put it in Ultra2 cinema mode. That is the sweet spot! Conversely for Blu ray, I really like DTS-HD... Of course who doesn't!

Your right. I'm going to run out and buy one today or tomorrow. The thought of going near the smithhaven mall today gives me chills. So much traffic.

The Panasonic BD30 made me Blu! I picked mine up yesterday at CC with the 10% off coupon. I also found a local authorized Pioneer dealer (home theater installer) with a Pioneer VSX-94TXH in stock and got that for $1250. A buddy came over last night and we spent a few hours integrating the new gear into my TV stand (Salamander Designs Synergy Triple 20). Since the 94TXH has 4 HDMI inputs, I decided to keep my Oppo 970 in the rack (mainly for playing back non-anamorphic SD DVDs). Then the BD30 got one HDMI input, the Toshiba XA2 got the third, and my Mac Mini home theater PC got the fourth. It is nice to have all of them switchable from the Pioneer! (The outgoing Pio 72TXV only had 2 HDMI inputs.)

TV atop the Salamander is a JVC 70" LCOS 1080p. But it's the older model with only 1080i inputs. So, all media is being upconverted to 1080p in the JVC.

After a quick Auto MCACC audio set up on the 94TXH (which has a couple of additional MCACC tests vs. the 72TXV), the first (and so far, only) disc into the BD30 was Ratatouille. Loading time was fine but, overall, there is a bit more waiting time with these Java-based discs vs. HD DVD (this is my first Blu-ray player) as it accesses menus and such. Nothing to get my shorts in a wad about but definitely slower than I am used to. Then the Disney title hit with the fireworks. Fantastic subwoofer action!! Made everyone in the room jump!!!!

But the real joy was the incredibly gorgeous picture!!! The colors are fantastic!! And the soundtrack was equally awesome (set it for uncompressed PCM)! To say I was impressed is an understatement!! We watched the entire movie and enjoyed it even more than we did when we watched it on standard def (rental) on Tuesday!

I'll be spinning up Cars later today (got the two together with the $10 off deal). Plus, I'm visiting Fry's to take advantage of the Disney/Buena Vista BOGO sale (got four or five titles I'm interested in).

But, to be quite frank, after the 5 free movies, there are less than 10 currently released Blu movies that I'm interested in owning. Sure, there's more stuff coming down the road (Celine Dion's Vegas concert being one). But, the reality for me is, I was being honest with myself when I went with HD DVD first. Just more titles on that side that interest me (many of which were available for BOTH, but I already got them on HD DVD).

So, I spent $1800 to watch a dozen movies in high def! Ouch!

Mark

P.S. Now I can't wait for Toshiba to release the bitstream advanced audio firmware update for the XA2!

CC will not match the 12% coupon at least the one I went to. I have the 1400 and will be taking it back for the BD30. Not that the 1400 has given me any problems as of yet, I feel the Panasonic will be the better player for me.

Bill

I also took advantage of the CC deal last night. Called a local CC and they had just got 2 in off the truck. Had them hold 1 till I got off work and went in and purchased it online right in the store to take advantage of the 10% off. Great deal. I have not hooked up yet, but will report when I do. I have been using a PS3 till this point, but wanted bitstream audio for my Onkyo 885.

My question is this...Does this Panny qualify for the 5 free BR's by mail? I did not get any rebate info from CC (forgot to ask about this when I was there). If this does apply, where do I get the rebate form to choose movies, details on how to do this deal, and do I send in a copy of my email receipt that I got?

I ordered this Panny from BB yesterday. I went to the store and used my 12% off reward zone coupon. They said it should be in the store on 11/15 for me to pick up so that seemed reasonable. Can't wait! I'm so confident that I'll love it that I already have my PS3 ready to sell on eBay starting tonight.

Good question. Do you think this link qualifies? I'm not sure, the main "blu-ray saving site didn't list the 30 right off but the PDF looks like it may work.

http://www.bluraysavings.com/bluraysavings_usa.pdf

If you google Blu ray rebate form it shows up as an eligble player. I think it said Holiday Blu ray offer... Expires 1/31/08... Pretty good movie selection...

Questions to the owners:

1. Does this player display JPEGs well as compared to PC through HDMI? Will it show JPEGS burnt on a CD?
There is a comment on DMP-BD10 on vsdhelp.com :"- Plays HD-JPGs on CD-R but reduces the resulution first to PAL and scales up to outputresulution 720P, 1080i ...=> very bad Quality"

2. Does it upconvert PAL DVDs?

3. Is there a hack to suppress DVD region restrictions?

Thanks, Z.

The above link doesn't work...try this one...

http://www.bluraysavings.com/bluraysavings_usa.pdf

Nevermind, it's the same and appears to be working now.

Good deal. Thanks!

I assume I can just print a copy of my CC receipt that was sent to my email (as that is all I got from doing it online)?

Yep...that would work.

This questions was asked twice and nobody answered. Can somebody please answer this. Also, can somebody post a picture of the tray open and the back of the unit for us to see what it looks like. From my understanding this uses a laptop drive? Thanks.

hey guys,

can someone please post some hi-res pictures of the dmp-bd30?? some of the front and back and even the box would be nice...

thanks much in advance!

s

I've owned the HD-A1 for over a year, but I have a FP coming in a week and with a reasonably priced 1.1 profile available, decided to go purple. For now, I'm watching on a 2001 Toshiba 65H80 through the remarkably good Nordost component cable. My initial impressions of the BD30:

The player is only 2 1/2" tall (compared to the 4" tall A1). This is a nice plus, since most people will store them in cabinets where heat could be an issue.

It starts up and loads in a flash compared to the A1. (Of course, the A1 is the champion of long start times.) Generally, the remote and menus are intuitive (except the menu button, instead of being at 2:00 from the OK button, as I expected, is at 9:00), and the player is easy to use. The disc menus aren't as good as the HD DVD menus, but that's a small point.

This is likely with component output only: Something seems amiss in the interlacing. I don't have a BD test disc, but in the interminable HD previews in Ratatouille, I noted some jaggies and shimmering in scenes with motion. (Yes, I did set the resolution to 1080i.) Not a lot, and they might pass unnoticed to the untrained eye, but they might be a distraction to HDM obsessives. Small letters in the credits of Casino Royale looked as though they had edge enhancement. In the latter case, I normally might suspect the monitor, but my contrast and sharpness levels are set correctly. With my new TV, I'll be using the 1080p/24 output, so interlacing won't be an issue for me, and I suspect that few people will use this player through the component outs. Interlacing performance probably will not be an issue through hdmi. People who will use component, though, should audition the player to confirm my observation and decide if it's a problem for them.

Again, through component outs, there seems to be no way to view a 4X3 image in progressive mode without stretching the picture to fill the screen (unless there's a trick I haven't figured out). The A1 is the same way. Some people complained that the A1 didn't do this through hdmi, but if I watch an old movie or TV show, I don't want to see the image stretched. And yes, my monitor will display such an image unstretched; it does with my old Yamaha DVD-S1200. With the BD30, I can watch a 4X3 image unstretched in 480i, but on my monitor the image quality of 480i suffers in comparison to 480p.

Viewing through component, I feel slightly deflated, but I expect to keep the player and get a lot of enjoyment from it viewing it through hdmi. Other people have had very positive experience with the player, and I'm not trying to detract from that, but I add my initial impressions for whatever they're worth.

My Take

Always looking for a better image I picked up one today at Circuit City as they were more than happy to give me Best Buy's Reward Zone 12% discount.

Installation was a breeze however it wouldn't let me force 24fps so I couldn't use 24fps for my comparisons. I also tried both the Normal and Cinema settings during my viewing.

My projector is a 1080p Optoma HD80 with a 110 diagonal screen and I compared its image to the PS3's both at 60fps and 24fps (A/Bed each a total of three times). For testing purposes I typically use Crank's Sleeping Beauty chapter. I must have seen it well over one hundred times with dozens of projectors, players, etc.

The short story is their images are about 99% identical. If anything I would give the PS3 the edge as the people in the background along with Amy Smart's moles appears just the slightest bit sharper in both 24fps and 60fps.

The player reacted fairly quickly and overall appears to be a nice unit. For me I like to use 24fps as my projector's color wheel slows down and produces less noise. However if it had a better image I would have went with it. I wasn't looking to compare audio and generally I feel the reduced projector's noise will make more of a different than any audio differences between the two players.

If you are looking for a standalone it appears to be a great unit. However if you are looking for a better image I'm not so sure you'll find it. If I could get it to force 24fps I'd probably keep up but tomorrow it goes back.

Well got a buyer for my PS3 and will be selling it tomorrow, and i will be moving on to the Panny BD30K! If no one gets the pics up of it, i will post some soon as i get mine! I'm very excited about this player, i can't wait to see in action!

So if the Panny could have done 1080p/24 for you maybe Amy's moles would have been sharper?

No, just less juddery...No one wants juddery moles!

Since I see virtually no difference with 24fps and 60fps with the PS3 I doubt I would see any difference. A long time ago I posted screen images of both from the same scene (here - check out the watch) and if you stared at them long enough 24fps almost looked a little smoother (more detailed). In actual viewing (not images) the difference is even harder to spot.

Just picked one up myself. I'm blown away by the quick load time and response time to commands. I currentlty have a Sony BDPS301 but I'm going to return it back to Costco.

This is one sweet piece!

Paul

I whish Amazon have in stock

CharlesR,

Before you give up on the 30k. Compare black levels of the PS3 and the Panny.

I would be interested in your findings....

Could someone explain to me what this forcing of 24fps is all about?...I have the Panny PT-AE2000U and the Panny player outputs 24P perfectly through my Pioneer Elite 94 receiver to the projector. It is a beautiful image...

Well I was so satisfied with the Panny DMP-BD30 that I bought at CC on Friday that I went out and bought another one for my Master Bedroom! I found one at a different CC today so I picked it up. Now I have 2 HD-A35 HD DVD players & 2 DMP-BD30 Blu-ray Players.

I moved my PS3 into my home office alongside my XBOX 360 Elite w/ HD-DVD add on.

I was holding out on the Sony, then looked at the Samsung 1400, but the Panasonic sure is a helluva good player at a good price with all the bangs and whistles I need! No problems whatsoever playing anything so far.

I Don't have Spiderman 2 so I was wondering if anyone has tried this Disc yet since so many were having probs with it.

I ordered with them, they will probably start shipping this week.
They will also adjust the price if it gets cheaper later...