Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray Disc Player

[MrBoylan]

Thanks to user JJHXBR over on avsforum, we just found a weird issue with the BD80 that will affect anyone who uses the 7.1 channel analog output (Don, this may mean you!). If you have Quick Start mode enabled, then when you turn the player on and off, the player loses its damn mind... not really, but it does lose its 7.1-channel output and reverts to the 2+5.1-ch output instead.

What this means is that the 2 rear channel speakers of the 7.1-channel analog output have a full stereo mix-down version of the soundtrack instead of the information that *should* be in the two rear channels. This only occurs when Quick Start mode is ON, and when you are using the full 7.1-channel analog outputs. The set-up menu still shows that you have the 7.1-channel output selected, but in reality, what you have is the 2-ch+5.1-ch output.

You can easily test/reproduce this with any 5.1-channel soundtrack. It's best to use a PCM or Dolby TrueHD 5.1 channel soundtrack because, when everything is working correctly you should have *nothing* out of the rear two channels. But after you power the machine off and on, you will start hearing a full 2-channel mix coming out of the rear channel speakers.

I tested with the Celine Dion New Day Blu-ray (hey, I only opened it for this specific test, ok?). Before powering off, the rear channels are silent. After powering off and back on, you can hear Celine, and everyone else for that matter, coming out of the rear channels.

I am going to report this to Panasonic and hopefully they will be able to fix it with firmware. But the workaround is pretty simple - turn off Quick Start mode.

-CB

[Daylightdon]

Verrry interesting My dear Mr. Holmes!!!

[bweeks]

I have the Panasonic DMP-BD 80 and have run into a strange problem. I have connected the audio through the multi-channel analog in my Sony receiver. On certain Blu-Ray films the subwoofer does not have any sound coming through it (notably Transformers) but on other Blu-Rays the subwoofer activity is there. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[MrBoylan]

I have the Panasonic DMP-BD 80 and have run into a strange problem. I have connected the audio through the multi-channel analog in my Sony receiver. On certain Blu-Ray films the subwoofer does not have any sound coming through it (notably Transformers) but on other Blu-Rays the subwoofer activity is there. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Well first of all, make sure that Quick Start mode is off just to rule out that wacky issue described earlier in the thread. Next make sure you have all of the speakers turned on in the speaker set-up menu on the BD80 - click through on either 2+5.1-ch or 7.1-ch in the analog audio set-up menu, (depending on your speaker configuration), and make sure you can visually see all speaker channels on the screen.

Then do a test tone cycle across all 5 or 7 channels to make sure everything is hunky dory there - that all speakers are getting the player's output and that you have set the levels and delays correctly.

Once you've confirmed everything is OK on the player, then make sure the connections are all secure between player and receiver (no loose wires or old frayed cables), and make sure the receiver is set up properly for multi-channel inputs. One thing that many people don't realize is that the LFE channel on a multi-channel analog output is dropped by 10 dB to prevent signal overload during transmission. It's up to the receiver to boost the LFE channel on a multi-channel input to compensate for this. Some receivers apply this boost by default but most do not. There's usually an option in the receiver's set-up menu to boost the LFE channel from the multi-channel analog input.

For more tips on multi-channel analog set-up issues, see Peter O'Connell's excellent tutorial on the subject here (if you have not already):

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

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

-Chris

[wessew]

Is the quick start "bug" limited to analog audio out or does it manifest itself with hi-resolution audio decoded through HDMI? My signal path will be HDMI with audio sent out as LPCM. I was interested in utilizing quick start. Should I rethink this?

Thanks

[MrBoylan]

Is the quick start "bug" limited to analog audio out or does it manifest itself with hi-resolution audio decoded through HDMI? My signal path will be HDMI with audio sent out as LPCM. I was interested in utilizing quick start. Should I rethink this?

Thanks

From my testing, it seems to only affect the 7.1-channel analog outputs. It basically seems like it's resetting itself to the default analog output setting which is 2+5.1-ch even though you've set it specifically to 7.1-ch analog out. With the 2+5.1-ch setting, the "rear speaker" terminals on the BD80 are used instead for a mixed down stereo output. This is handy if you want to hook the player up to TV speakers or to a DVD recorder or VCR or other device that needs 2-channels, while using the 5.1-channel outputs for a receiver hook-up. But if you're using it in 7.1-channel analog mode, then it's kinda nice if the player puts out an accurate 7.1-ch mix.

My Panasonic contact said they'll look into this right away. I imagine they will be able to reproduce the problem pretty easily but I don't know whether this is somethign they can correct in firmware.

I'd be extremely surprised if it affected the HDMI outputs at all. I certainly never heard anything like this during my testing of the BD80 and I was going back and forth with Quick Start mode on and off.

What you do get in PCM mode (over HDMI) is that any DTS-HD (HR or MA) 5.1-ch or 6.1-ch soundtracks are "amplified" to 7.1-channel output. Panasonic says they do this in compliance with DTS speaker re-mapping recommendations, and the Panasonic players are not the only ones that do this. Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and L-PCM 5.1 soundtracks remain 5.1-channels when output over HDMI as PCM, but DTS-HD is always output by the player in 7.1 channel mode (assuming your receiver is configured for 7.1-channel output, of course). If your receiver is only set up for 5.1 channels then you'll get 5.1 from any Dolby, DTS or PCM mix that is 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 on the disc.

Of course, in bitstream output mode, DTS-HD soundtracks are output by the player exactly as they appear on the disc.

-CB

[Mazinger]

Mr Boylan.....I was considering getting the panasonic bd80 but wanted the price to go down, today (my birthday) I saw the pioneer bdp-51fd for 299 at best buy, total would be 269 plus tax since I have a 10% coupon.
Have you had any experience with the pioneer?? I know it lacks the internet capability but I dont really care, all I need is a very good picture and lossless audio thgough multichannel inputs. this sounds like a good deal to me but your opinion counts a lot to me..
Also, at page 50 of the pioneer bdp-51 manual it says the pioneer plays DTS-HD only as 5.1 when using the multichannel inputs, is this standard?? so it would not play DTS -HD 7.1 when using analog inputs?? appreciate if you take a look and explain...

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/St...ctions0708.pdf


Thanks a lot, hope to hear from you today so I can get my birthday present......

Mazinger

[MrBoylan]

Mr Boylan.....I was considering getting the panasonic bd80 but wanted the price to go down, today (my birthday) I saw the pioneer bdp-51fd for 299 at best buy, total would be 269 plus tax since I have a 10% coupon.
Have you had any experience with the pioneer?? I know it lacks the internet capability but I dont really care, all I need is a very good picture and lossless audio thgough multichannel inputs. this sounds like a good deal to me but your opinion counts a lot to me..
Also, at page 50 of the pioneer bdp-51 manual it says the pioneer plays DTS-HD only as 5.1 when using the multichannel inputs, is this standard?? so it would not play DTS -HD 7.1 when using analog inputs?? appreciate if you take a look and explain...

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/St...ctions0708.pdf


Thanks a lot, hope to hear from you today so I can get my birthday present......

Mazinger

There is a reason the older players are cheap. They didn't sell well due to sluggish response times, high price and lack of interactive features. The 51FD is a fine second generation player with decent DVD upconversion, excellent Blu-ray performance and a nice "source direct" feature in case you want to bypass the player's internal upconversion and send DVDs at 480i to an external processor. But 4th gen players like the Samsung BD-P2600 and Panasonic BD80 leave it behind, not only in features like YouTube, Pandora or Netflix, but also in response times. And the performance on these newer players easily matches the 51FD.

And though you might not think Internet access is important, it certainly makes life a LOT easier when you need a firmware upgrade to fix compatibility issues or bugs that weren't found before the player was released. Case in point, DTS-HD MA decoding was not in the player when it was first shipped. Pioneer promised a firmware upgrade to add DTS-HD MA decoding (hence the note in the manual that DTS-HD output is limited to 5.1, because it is actually decoding the core DTS track, not DTS-HD). I'm not 100% sure whether this firmware upgrade is available yet as I haven't been following any comments or reviews of the player since about February. When it is available, you will need to download a file from the internet and burn your own firmware upgrade discs in order to apply the firmware upgrade.

But really, I think what's going to annoy you are the sluggish response times. I was patient enough to wait a minute or two to load a disc in first and second generation BD and HD DVD players (or even up to 2 minutes for a BD-Java), but when you see the difference with 3rd and 4th generation players, it's hard to go back.

Good luck!

-Chris

[Daylightdon]

Happy Birthday, Mazinger!!!

[Mazinger]

Thanks a lot Don...!!!!!