Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray Disc Player

[MrBoylan]

i notice that when i switch from analogue out to digital out on the bd80 (by simply pressing a button on my old yahama 5.1 receiver, which has analogue inputs), with everything else being the same, i always have to lower the volume on the receiver as digital seems to give much higher output, this is true whether it's dolby truehd or dts hd ma. in other words, lossless sound, although clearer and better, is weaker (if you like) than lossy digital sound (via optical), is this normal??

Not "weaker" per se, just a lower voltage level. It's not unusual for the input sensitivity of analog and digital inputs on a receiver to be different. As long as your receiver has enough power and headroom, it shouldn't make a difference that you have to have the volume at one level for digital inputs and at another level for the analog inputs.

BTW, if you are using both the analog and the S/PDIF coax or fiber optic digital outputs on the BD80, then make sure you have the DTS and Dolby settings set to "bitstream" not PCM in order to get multi-channel sound.

also, analogue doesn't seem to produce enough bass, i have already followed peter's suggestion to max the LFE on the receiver, and in fact have also left LFE unchanged in the bd80 which is max 0db.

fyi, there is nothing much to tweak in my yamaha receiver when it is selected with "external decoder", only center, rear speaker levels and LFE output can be adjusted, which are left unchanged anyway between analogue and digital.

Not sure what you mean by "left unchanged between analog and digital" - does your receiver have a subwoofer channel boost for the analog inputs or no? Does the subwoofer channel boost on the receiver affect both the analog and digital inputs? If so, then I can't think of any way to adjust them differently except by physically changing the volume on your subwoofer's level knob.

You can also try using the "Re-master" feature on the BD80 which some people report adds a pretty fair low bass boost to the signal. Try experimenting with this and see if you like the effect.

Good luck!

-Chris

[ray]

thanks a lot chris for your reply!

my receiver is yamaha rx-v795 (had it for 10 years now!).

sorry i wasn't clear on "left unchanged between analog and digital". what i really meant was, nothing was changed on the receiver when i switched between analogue audio out and fiber optic digital output on the bd80, so that i can compare them under the same condition (i.e. same speaker levels).

there are actually 2 separate LFE settings on the receiver, one "general", which affects both analogue and digital inputs, the other one for "digital" only (in fact, there are 2 for digital because there are separate ones for DD and DTS). i have already made the "general" LFE booster to maximum (which is default), so do you think i should make the "digital" LFE booster lower so that i have "similar" bass when switching between analogue and digital without "adjusting them differently by physically changing the volume on the subwoofer's level knob"? does that sound like a normal thing people would do?

you mentioned "re-master", sounds interesting, i never thought of that, does that affect analogue? or both analogue and digital? i will give that a go tonight, thanks again chris!

cheers
ray

[ray]

chris, i just tried the "re-master", but did not seem to make any noticable difference, reading the manual seems to tell me that "re-master" only adds "higher frequency signals" instead of bass...

i have already tried to turn the subwoofer's level knob (as well as LFE level in the receiver and LFE level in the player) to maximum but that still did not seem to give me the same bass level as digital optical out (i think it's missing around 5dB to sound "normal"), so i am now really puzzled. any other suggestion chris?

thanks
ray

[ray]

hi chris,

i read some of your replies in other threads that is relevant to my questions about bd80 bass, e.g. this:

" The only hitch here is that your receiver's user manual is not clear on how it supports multi-channel analog devices. It does not seem to have a subwoofer gain setting specific to the multi-channel analog inputs and the manual doesn't specifically say whether the digital speaker level settings also apply to the analog inputs. This is a factor because most of the Blu-ray players with multi-channel analog outputs actually output the subwoofer channel 10 dB lower than the other channels (this is actually "correct" behavior). Most receivers can adjust for this in the set-up menu via a 10 dB or 15 dB gain for the subwoofer which is specific to the multi-channel analog input. But your receiver may not have this.

Your best bet would be to get the BD80 player (or the LG BD390, Samsung BD-P3600 or Pioneer BDP-320), use the multi-channel analog outputs from the player plugged into the EXT IN jacks on your receiver and see how it sounds. If the bass seems low then try adjusting this on the receievr and/or on the volume control on your subwoofer. If you can't get great sound this way, then you can always fall back to the fiber optic or coax outputs and the sound will at least as good as (in many cases better than) standard DVD. "

it looks like i have also hit a brick wall, as my yamaha rx-v795 doesn't seem to have specific tunings for LFE when using multi channel analogue input, the only LFE booster, which is a general setting that affects both analogue and digital, has already been set to maximum, and as i mentioned in previous posts i have also turned the volume level at the sub to maximum, and the LFE level in the bd80 player itself is also set at maximum (0dB), so, with everything already set at maximum, and i am still not getting the "right" bass, looks like i have no choice left, right? will adding a 2nd sub help? or maybe upgrade interconnect rca cables to more expensive ones like monster M1000i?

thanks
ray

[ray]

hi chris,

it's me again! sorry to be a nuisance!

in case you want to know, my connections are as follows:

panasonic bd80 analogue out (5.1) ===> yamaha rx-v795 external decoder in (5.1)
yamaha rx-v795 speaker outs (main left & right, center, rear left & right) ===> jamo speakers
yamaha rx-v795 preamp subwoofer out ===> jbl psw1000 (using Y subwoofer cable)

will connecting bd80 analogue subwoofer out directly to the subwoofer jbl psw1000 help (ie. bypassing the yamaha receiver)? i know this is a stupid question, but you see, i ran out of options

also, i set speaker size on both the bd80 and the receiver exactly the same way, which is:

front speakers=large
centre, rear speakers=small

thanks
ray

[ray]

hi chris,

i found lots of relevant information and suggestions from your replies to other questions in other threads by other members who have very similar (if not the same) issues as mine (namely not enough or no bass in a multi-channel analogue setup), i must say i was "wowed" by the amount of info and help in this forum, and in particular yourself! thanks a lot and keep up the good work!

i now have something "new" to try based on some of your suggestions in other threads:

(1) will try setting all speakers to large, in the player and maybe the receiver too
(2) if that still doesn't make a noticeable difference i will try "speaker level inputs" instead of "line level inputs" in my sub and set the sub to "none" in both the player and receiver

i have a feeling one of those should work (fingers crossed!), if not, i will live with it and wait till the receiver has done its time and upgrade to hdmi version (sometimes i "wish" a lightning will kill it or something, that way i will "happily" spend the upgrade/replace money, lol...)

will report back.

thanks
ray

[MrBoylan]

hi chris,

it looks like i have also hit a brick wall, as my yamaha rx-v795 doesn't seem to have specific tunings for LFE when using multi channel analogue input, the only LFE booster, which is a general setting that affects both analogue and digital, has already been set to maximum, and as i mentioned in previous posts i have also turned the volume level at the sub to maximum, and the LFE level in the bd80 player itself is also set at maximum (0dB), so, with everything already set at maximum, and i am still not getting the "right" bass, looks like i have no choice left, right? will adding a 2nd sub help? or maybe upgrade interconnect rca cables to more expensive ones like monster M1000i?

thanks
ray

Hi, Ray,

Sorry for the delay. I think I might have been answering "your" question over in another thread and got confused about which thread was which! A different subwoofer cable isn't really going to make a difference (or at least it shouldn't, unless the cable is defective). I will answer your next question separately.

-CB

[MrBoylan]

will connecting bd80 analogue subwoofer out directly to the subwoofer jbl psw1000 help (ie. bypassing the yamaha receiver)? i know this is a stupid question, but you see, i ran out of options

No this won't help as you will not have any volume control over the sub anymore. Have to keep the receiver in the loop.

also, i set speaker size on both the bd80 and the receiver exactly the same way, which is:

front speakers=large
centre, rear speakers=small

thanks
ray

If you set ANY of the speakers to small on the BD80, then the subwoofer level drops from -10dB to -15db. If you make all speakers "large" in the BD80, then the subwoofer channel will be 10 dB below where is "should" be (instead of 15 dB down), so yes, if you change ALL the speakers all to LARGE in the player (not the receiver), then you will get a higher level of bass output via the player's subwoofer output. The drawback is that the center and rear channels will also get low bass information which they might not be able to reproduce, but this shouldn't damage the speakers in any way.

Try it out and let us know if it helps.

-CB

[MrBoylan]

i now have something "new" to try based on some of your suggestions in other threads:

(1) will try setting all speakers to large, in the player and maybe the receiver too

Just the player. The receiver should still have the speakers set as they really are.

(2) if that still doesn't make a noticeable difference i will try "speaker level inputs" instead of "line level inputs" in my sub and set the sub to "none" in both the player and receiver

A valid approach as it bypasses the whole issue with the analog subwoofer channel being down 10 dB. You still might need some tweaking in order to get a good balance of sound between the digital and analog inputs, but I expect this will give you a closer match in bass levels than you have now.

i have a feeling one of those should work (fingers crossed!), if not, i will live with it and wait till the receiver has done its time and upgrade to hdmi version (sometimes i "wish" a lightning will kill it or something, that way i will "happily" spend the upgrade/replace money, lol...)

will report back.

thanks
ray

You could try "accidentally" spilling a drink on your receiver. Just kidding! Some of this stuff is fun and some of it is frustrating but the above settings should help. And if you haven't read Peter O'Connell's article already (he goes by "BIslander" on the forums), then definitely give that a read as it explains the details of this pretty succintly.

How To Set up a Blu-ray Player Using Multi-Channel Analog Outputs... And Why: BigPictureBigSound

Regards,

-Chris

[adamhodge]

I have this unit connected to a new Pioneer Elite 23txh. I'm not getting a TrueHD light on my receiver. I've verified the soundtrack on the TrueHD bluray disc I'm using. I've confirmed I have a new HDMI cable (1.3b cat2). I've emailed Pioneer support and confirmed the light will be on if the signal is sent. I've confirmed my settings on the player (bitstream, no secondary audio). I get a Dolby Digital light on my receiver. The on screen display showing audio information shows a TrueHD soundtrack. However the HDMI line (bottom line) shows the Dolby Digital. What am I doing wrong? I've tried 3 different discs. Same thing happens for DTS.