Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray Disc Player

[wessew]

Thank you for your quick response. All sources are now sent to the Lumagen at native rate. The Lumagen processes all native rate sources (480i, 720p, 1080i) and upscales to 1080p. It passes along the 1080p/24 rate to the projector without alteration. For example, DVD's are transmitted at 480i and the Lumagen upscales that to 1080p. It sounds like I need a source direct player which the Samsung 5000 is. However, the Samsung 5000 is not profile 2, and I am making the change in order to be able to access the high resolution audio tracks available in the newer players. Without making a recommendation, can you provide a short list of profile 2 players which decode the higher resolution audio tracks and are source direct? I will, of course, take responsibility for the selection. Thanks!

[MrBoylan]

Thank you for your quick response. All sources are now sent to the Lumagen at native rate. The Lumagen processes all native rate sources (480i, 720p, 1080i) and upscales to 1080p. It passes along the 1080p/24 rate to the projector without alteration. For example, DVD's are transmitted at 480i and the Lumagen upscales that to 1080p. It sounds like I need a source direct player which the Samsung 5000 is. However, the Samsung 5000 is not profile 2, and I am making the change in order to be able to access the high resolution audio tracks available in the newer players. Without making a recommendation, can you provide a short list of profile 2 players which decode the higher resolution audio tracks and are source direct? I will, of course, take responsibility for the selection. Thanks!

Well BD-ROM Profile 2.0 is for BD-Live support, not next gen audio codecs. Next gen audio codecs are supported in some BD-ROM Profile 1.0 and 1.1 players.

I actually don't know of any Profile 2.0 players with Source Direct currently available short of the super-expensive Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD ($2200). In terms of upcoming players, the Pioneer Elite BDP-23FD will be much more affordable and should be coming out next month but I'm not 100% sure yet if it will have Source Direct. The OPPO BDP-83 should also have Source Direct and it should be generally available soon as well.

There may be others but these are the only ones of which I'm aware.

Good luck,

-Chris

[wessew]

I had just one more question. Are there any blu-ray players which are not source direct but which would take a 1080i/60 blu-ray video signal and scale it to 1080p/24 instead of 1080p/60 when 1080p and 24fs are enabled as the output for film based sources. The Lumagen would accept and pass such an output. Is the behavior of the Panasonic BD80 typical under these circumstances. I have researched the manuals for other players but they are not clear on this. Thanks!

[MrBoylan]

I had just one more question. Are there any blu-ray players which are not source direct but which would take a 1080i/60 blu-ray video signal and scale it to 1080p/24 instead of 1080p/60 when 1080p and 24fs are enabled as the output for film based sources. The Lumagen would accept and pass such an output. Is the behavior of the Panasonic BD80 typical under these circumstances. I have researched the manuals for other players but they are not clear on this. Thanks!

Not that I know of and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to do so anyway [note: see next post for more information on how you can use the BD80 in a pseudo "Source Direct" mode].

If a Blu-ray is from a film-based 24p source then there really isn't any reason to put it on a Blu-ray disc at 1080i. 1080i/60 is usually used for material that was originally shot at 1080p 30 Frames per second or natively at 1080i/60 on an interlaced camera running at 60 fields per second. In either case, converting such a source to 1080p/24 would be a bad idea as it would lose a significant amount of information. Converting these to 1080p/60 is really the player's best (and only) option if the player does not support a source direct mode.

Putting a 1080p/24 film on a Blu-ray Disc at 1080i/60 would accomplish nothing other than wasting about 20% of the video bandwidth.

-CB

[MrBoylan]

I had just one more question. Are there any blu-ray players which are not source direct but which would take a 1080i/60 blu-ray video signal and scale it to 1080p/24 instead of 1080p/60 when 1080p and 24fs are enabled as the output for film based sources.

Actually, I misspoke. I just tested the BD80 and it does behave the way you want, for 1080i/60 and 1080p/24.

Like the Samsung player, if you set the BD80 to 1080i output, but you enable 24p mode (which the Panasonic player *does* accept), then 1080i/60 material is passed to the output at 1080i/60, but 1080p/24 material *IS* output at 1080p/24.

So setting the player this way is basically like a "Source Direct" feature *except* for DVDs, which are also output at either 1080i/60 or 1080p/24, depending on whether you turn on 24p mode in the display menu at playback time.

If you want to send DVDs to the processor at 480i, then you could use the component video outputs for that.

You learn something new every day...

-CB

[wessew]

Mr Boylan, thank you for following through on this and doing the additional research! The result is exactly what I am interested in having. My intended use is to employ the Panasonic for Blu-ray viewing primarily. I use a Kaleidescape for standard DVD. So this is a perfect outcome for me.

[MrBoylan]

Mr Boylan, thank you for following through on this and doing the additional research! The result is exactly what I am interested in having. My intended use is to employ the Panasonic for Blu-ray viewing primarily. I use a Kaleidescape for standard DVD. So this is a perfect outcome for me.

No problem and thanks for asking. I added a short note to my review with this info in case others are interested in this undocumented feature of the BD80.

-CB

[ramgeio]

Hi. I've been testing a bit around with the bd80 now, the sound part. Im running it on analog channels on my old yamaha 640 receiver.

Thing is, I am able to controll my receivers manuell setup while having the multi channel input switched on. Large, small speakers. Speaker levels and so on. This, while Im watching my blu-ray movies. i did not think this was possible. But this is in fact a problem, because I'm running my sd dvd on coax and my blu rays over analog. So speaker setup on my receiver will affect both multi channel and dolby digital. And they need to be different.

Another thing is that when watching a blu ray movie, and switching back and forth between coax(dd) and Multi channel(dd-True hd) I hear the difference, sort of, one is, that its very little, infact no bass at all on true hd through analog, because I have no sub. (Why isn't the bd80 directing all the low bass elements to the front speakers?)
But on dispaly menu it shows exactly the same variable bitrate. Around 2 mbps. I have switched digital audio out to bitstream.
(I hope my writing is not to difficult to understand, I'm Norwegian)

So I'm having a bit of a hard time setting up my system now the right way, but I'm sure It will be worth it in the end.

The picture is excellent though....

One more: Why can't I choose 24p mode for sd dvds in display? I have a px80 plasma.

[MrBoylan]

Hi. I've been testing a bit around with the bd80 now, the sound part. Im running it on analog channels on my old yamaha 640 receiver.

Thing is, I am able to controll my receivers manuell setup while having the multi channel input switched on. Large, small speakers. Speaker levels and so on. This, while Im watching my blu-ray movies. i did not think this was possible. But this is in fact a problem, because I'm running my sd dvd on coax and my blu rays over analog. So speaker setup on my receiver will affect both multi channel and dolby digital. And they need to be different.

Another thing is that when watching a blu ray movie, and switching back and forth between coax(dd) and Multi channel(dd-True hd) I hear the difference, sort of, one is, that its very little, infact no bass at all on true hd through analog, because I have no sub. (Why isn't the bd80 directing all the low bass elements to the front speakers?)
But on dispaly menu it shows exactly the same variable bitrate. Around 2 mbps. I have switched digital audio out to bitstream.
(I hope my writing is not to difficult to understand, I'm Norwegian)

So I'm having a bit of a hard time setting up my system now the right way, but I'm sure It will be worth it in the end.

According to Panasonic, the LFE channel is "optional" so if you have no subwoofer, the LFE channel is discarded when using the multi-channel analog output. In fact, they say it's necessary to do this in order to prevent potential overload over the analog outputs. They believe that the main L/R channels should have the sufficient low bass in them already assuming you have set these to LARGE in the BD80 menu. I don't necessarily agree with this, and I have tried asking a friend at Dolby about what they think of this but so far he hasn't replied to my question.

In terms of speaker level set-up and delay for the multi-channel analog outputs, you should do all of this in the player, not the receiver. First set the receiver up so that it's set properly for your digital inputs, then adjust the levels for the BD80 analog outputs in the BD80 itself - levels, delay and speaker sizes. Hopefully you can find settings that work with both sets of inputs.

If you can't find settings that work for both input types, then you may need to just use the coax output on the BD80 for Blu-ray Discs also. Just make sure you set DTS and Dolby to "bitstream" if you do use the digital output. This may not sound quite as good as the lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD tracks, but it will still sound better than most DVDs (higher bandwidth) and it will address your bass and speaker level set-up problems. Otherwise you'll either need to buy a subwoofer or upgrade to a receiver that supports HDMI audio.

If you are only using the analog outputs of the BD80, then it doesn't matter whether you select "PCM" or "bitstream" for the digital outputs.

The picture is excellent though....

One more: Why can't I choose 24p mode for sd dvds in display? I have a px80 plasma.

Not sure why you're having trouble with this. If the main HDMI setting for 24p is on and was accepted, then you should be able to select 24p mode in the display menu for standard DVDs. Does the option appear at all in the menu? Is it greyed out?

Regards,

-Chris

[ramgeio]

In terms of speaker level set-up and delay for the multi-channel analog outputs, you should do all of this in the player, not the receiver. First set the receiver up so that it's set properly for your digital inputs, then adjust the levels for the BD80 analog outputs in the BD80 itself - levels, delay and speaker sizes. Hopefully you can find settings that work with both sets of inputs.

Now i figured it out. I can adjust speaker levels for both analog an coax input in the receiver separetly But besides that: speaker size and delay is the same setup for both it seems. So when I switch center of or set i t to large in the receiver I do it both for analog and coax. So if I choose to just use analog input and do all set up in the player, what should I set size and delay for on the receiver, just defaults? I wonder about this because maybe I can have more controll over the bass if I set the front to large on the receiver. Its str

Not sure why you're having trouble with this. If the main HDMI setting for 24p is on and was accepted, then you should be able to select 24p mode in the display menu for standard DVDs. Does the option appear at all in the menu? Is it greyed out?

It does not appear at all. It's enabled in the setup menu.

thanks againg for the quick replies. I learn new things every day...