Panasonic DMP-BD80 to Sony hookup

[dawolfie]

Folks,

I have a Sony STR-DE697 (5.1/7.1) Amp/Rec, Panasonic TH-50Z85U (50in.HD) and just bought a BD-80 Blu-ray. I have set up a 7.1 system and it seems to work - at least the test tones from the receiver do...
When I try to do the same tone test from the BD-80, I do not get the Surround back speakers. I have the BD-80 into the multi-channel input in the Sony. It does not have an HDMI or I would use that. Any ideas what I am doing wrong? I need a solution before I pull more hair out! Also, saying I got this to work, does a 5.1 source work correctly through a working 7.1 system? More hair on the floor...

dawolfie

[MrBoylan]

Folks,

I have a Sony STR-DE697 (5.1/7.1) Amp/Rec, Panasonic TH-50Z85U (50in.HD) and just bought a BD-80 Blu-ray. I have set up a 7.1 system and it seems to work - at least the test tones from the receiver do...
When I try to do the same tone test from the BD-80, I do not get the Surround back speakers. I have the BD-80 into the multi-channel input in the Sony. It does not have an HDMI or I would use that. Any ideas what I am doing wrong? I need a solution before I pull more hair out!

Hair is a terrible thing to waste! OK, here are a few things to check/verify:

1. Player is set to 7.1-ch output in the set-up menu, right? Not 2-ch+5.1-ch?
2. QUICK START mode is OFF in the set-up menu (this one is to work around an odd player bug that may have actually been fixed in the new 1.7 firmware)?
3. You have set BD Secondary Audio Output to OFF under Digital Audio Output?
4. HDMI Audio is set to OFF?
5. When you get into the BD80's speaker set-up screen, you can see all 8 speakers, right?

Verify all of the above and test again (after a fresh power cycle).

Also, saying I got this to work, does a 5.1 source work correctly through a working 7.1 system? More hair on the floor...

dawolfie

Does a 5.1 source work correctly through a 7.1 set-up? I'm not sure what you mean. The BD80 is a 7.1 source, though not all Blu-ray material is 7.1. For 5.1-channel DVDs, 5.1-ch PCM Blu-rays and 5.1-ch Dolby Blu-ray discs, the player will output 5.1 channels via the front, center, sub and surround outputs. For DTS-HD 5.1, 6.1 and *any* 7.1 channel soundtracks (Dolby TrueHD, PCM or DTS), the player will output sound from all 7.1 channels from its multi-channel analog outputs (assuming everything is set up properly).

Whether your receiver can then apply DPLII-X processing or something similar to generate output from the rear channels from a 5.1-ch analog source is not something I can answer. Some do and some don't. You'd have to play around with it and see what options are available for the multi-channel inputs. So if you're watching 5.1-ch movies in any format (DVD or Blu-ray), it is possible that all you will get is 5.1 channels. But the DTS-HD stuff is all "amplified" to 7.1 channel output over the multi-channel analog outputs, and native 7.1-channel material should all come through in 7.1 as well.

Good luck and let me know if this helps.

-CB

[Steve Tannehill]

I am seeing the exact same problem with my Denon 5803 analog 7.1-capable receiver. It is properly set up for 7.1 (and plays back find with the internal test tones), but when I attempt to use the test tones from the blu-ray player, there is nothing played for the Surround Back speakers. And yet I can detect sound when I play a blu-ray disc encoded in 7.1. It appears that the Surround Back test tones are not working. I have the latest firmware and attempted everything suggested here. What gives?

- Steve

[MrBoylan]

I am seeing the exact same problem with my Denon 5803 analog 7.1-capable receiver. It is properly set up for 7.1 (and plays back find with the internal test tones), but when I attempt to use the test tones from the blu-ray player, there is nothing played for the Surround Back speakers. And yet I can detect sound when I play a blu-ray disc encoded in 7.1. It appears that the Surround Back test tones are not working. I have the latest firmware and attempted everything suggested here. What gives?

- Steve

Hi, Steve,

So you are saying you can answer yes to every one of these questions?

1. Player is set to 7.1-ch output in the set-up menu, right? Not 2-ch+5.1-ch?
2. QUICK START mode is OFF in the set-up menu (not necessary in firmware 1.7 and above, but worth checking)?
3. You have set BD Secondary Audio Output to OFF under Digital Audio Output?
4. HDMI Audio is set to OFF in the BD80 menu?
5. When you get into the BD80's speaker set-up screen, you can see all 8 speakers, right? All are visible on the screen?

What BD80 firmware version are you running?

To verify your firmware release on the BD80, do this:

Hit SETUP button on remote and then select "DISPLAY" tab. Press and hold the STATUS button on the remote - the firmware release will be displayed in the bottom right (e.g., 2.1 - which was released on 10/5/09 and is stil the current release).

Check out the above and report back for further instructions.

-CB

[Steve Tannehill]

Everything is yes, except for HDMI Audio output set to OFF. It is set to ON but grayed out to where I can not change it. That is probably because my HDMI Video Mode is set to off--I am using the component video outputs of the player instead.

Firmware level is 2.1--just installed it last night.

I have played a 7.1-encoded disc and I do get some (but not much) sound from the surround back speakers. I believe the player is decoding the 7.1 signal and passing it to the analog outputs, as it should.

It's just the test tone that does not work.

Thanks for your help!

- Steve

[MrBoylan]

Everything is yes, except for HDMI Audio output set to OFF. It is set to ON but grayed out to where I can not change it. That is probably because my HDMI Video Mode is set to off--I am using the component video outputs of the player instead.

Firmware level is 2.1--just installed it last night.

I have played a 7.1-encoded disc and I do get some (but not much) sound from the surround back speakers. I believe the player is decoding the 7.1 signal and passing it to the analog outputs, as it should.

It's just the test tone that does not work.

Thanks for your help!

- Steve

OK, very odd. Try a reset of the player by holding in the power button for 5 seconds, double-check to make sure you are set to the 7.1 analog output in the set-up menu and run the test tones one more time. If it still fails, let me know and I will make some enquiries. Unfortunately we have sent our unit back to Panasonic some months ago so I can't do my own test.


Regards,

-Chris

[Steve Tannehill]

I reset the player--no change.

Looks like this is some kind of player glitch. Do you think I should report this to Panasonic?

During 7.1 playback, I can feel sound coming from the speakers, but it is not much. Then again, the 7.1 content I've got may not have much in the surround back channels (Hairspray and The Nightmare Before Christmas).

Thanks,
Steve

[MrBoylan]

I reset the player--no change.

Looks like this is some kind of player glitch. Do you think I should report this to Panasonic?

Yup. Seems like something more people should be noticing but I guess it may have been introduced with a later firmware upgrade. I also forwarded it to one of my Panasonic contacts but I don't have any word back from them as to whether they've been able to reproduce it.

During 7.1 playback, I can feel sound coming from the speakers, but it is not much. Then again, the 7.1 content I've got may not have much in the surround back channels (Hairspray and The Nightmare Before Christmas).

Thanks,
Steve

It would be good if you had a 7.1 channel test disc but I can't think of any for sale that have pink noise or white noise tests on all 7.1 channels in something like DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD.

Likely that this is a weird glitch only in the test tones but content itself is handled properly. I will let you know if I hear anything more about it and let me know if Panasonic opens a ticket for you or anything.

Regards,

-Chris

[Steve Tannehill]

Great! Many thanks!

- Steve

[MrBoylan]

Great! Many thanks!

- Steve

Hi, Steve,

FYI, the guys in Japan were not able to reproduce your problem, so your best bet is probably to work with the US Panasonic support people to go through some debugging and figure out what it is specific to your settings that might be causing the problem. They could only get the missing rear channels by setting the mode to 2+5.1 channel or by actually turning off the rear speakers in the speaker configuration panel on the BD80.

It could be some other setting in your player is causing this. Are you using any of the Re-Master or surround enhancement features? And have you tried a player reset in the actual set-up menus? This will wipe out any customization you've done in the video and audio settings. It may also require you to re-do your network settings. But it's worth a shot. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

BTW, not sure if you saw, or if you've ever noticed a random freeze issue on your BD80 when playing back Blu-ray Discs, but Panasonic says they have just fixed this with the 2.2 firmware. More details here:

http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/fo...om-freeze.html

Regards,

-Chris