Panasonic DMP-BD55 (DMP-BD55K) Blu-ray Player

[rgh43]

I'm confused. I have a Panasonic DMR-E80H DVD with a Yamaha HTR-5650 and I just purchased the Panasonic BD35 from Amazon. I plan on hooking the audio up with an Optical cable into the Yamaha, it doesn’t have HDMI. The picture will be input to a Panasonic TH50PX6U via HDMI cable. I have great sound with the older E80 DVD into the Yamaha with optical cable so will I have audio that is just as good or maybe better with the new BluRay BD35 or do I need to send it back to Amazon & get the BD55? I was into a local Audio/Video store tonight and the person helping me tells me the BD55’s audio is not any better than the BD35 since I would be using Optical cable with both of them with my Yamaha. The outputs (RCA Type) from the BD55 are just analog and not better than the optical so therefore I wouldn’t be better off buying the BD55 other than spending more money? Would you wire the BD55 using optical or was she not as informed as she should be? What’s the truth of the situation & will I be as happy with the BD35 or should I get the BD55 or how about the Sony BD350, is it as good as the Panasonics?

[tundraSQ]

First Post....LOVE the website, can't wait to contribute

Heres my problem..i just bought the dmp-bd55 and I am going to prep today for its arrival on monday. I have 3 HD sources and only 2 hdmi inputs at my samsung 56" DLP for video. So i must come up with the best workaround.

My AVR is the Marantz SR7500 which is non HDMI but it does have 7.1 analog for audio so i think that will be where my BD goes for audio and i will use one input of the TV for the HDMI video...so is there any settings in the BD player i need to be aware of for this?

Question 2 The most used source on my TV is the HD STB...so i think that sould get the second HDMI slot no? It just seems sad to not use it for my HD-XA2.

Maybe the answer is upgrade my AVR finally....in the mean time, can you offer some input for my inputs?

[MrBoylan]

I'm confused. I have a Panasonic DMR-E80H DVD with a Yamaha HTR-5650 and I just purchased the Panasonic BD35 from Amazon.

Cool. I have a DMR-E100H. One thing to be aware of - Panasonic's DVD players, DVD recorders and Blu-ray players all respond to the same remote codes. There's an easy procedure you can follow to change over the device and remote to an alternate frequency (Code 1, Code 2 or Code 3):

1. In the "Setup... Others... Remote Control" menu, select the code (1, 2 or 3)
2. Change the remote to match by holding the OK button then pressing and holding the corresponding numeric key (1, 2 or 3) for more than 5 seconds.

I plan on hooking the audio up with an Optical cable into the Yamaha, it doesn’t have HDMI. The picture will be input to a Panasonic TH50PX6U via HDMI cable. I have great sound with the older E80 DVD into the Yamaha with optical cable so will I have audio that is just as good or maybe better with the new BluRay BD35 or do I need to send it back to Amazon & get the BD55?

The sound will be fine this way. Actually on DVD, it will be identical to the E80, and on Blu-ray it can be a bit better because Blu-ray has higher bandwidth limits on DTS and Dolby Digital. The only thing tricky about using the regular fiberoptic digital output of a Blu-ray player (as opposed to HDMI or multi-channel analog output), is that those Blu-ray Discs that have a multi-channel uncompressed PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) soundtrack will be converted to stereo (2-channel) over the fiberoptic output. The fiber optic (S/PDIF) digital transmission format does not support PCM soundtracks with more than 2 channels. Fortunately most Blu-ray Discs with multi-channel PCM soundtracks also include a standard Dolby Digital or DTS track which you can select in order to get discrete multi-channel sound.

Now if you want the sound to be even BETTER than that, then you could consider getting the BD55 instead and using its multi-channel analog output. This way you could allow the player to decode the highest quality high bandwidth soundtracks (multi-channel PCM, DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD) directly into 5.1-ch or 7.1-ch analog sound, which you can then plug into your receiver's multi-channel analog inputs. This is really the only way to take full advantage of the new lossless audio soundtracks with your particular receiver.

I was into a local Audio/Video store tonight and the person helping me tells me the BD55’s audio is not any better than the BD35 since I would be using Optical cable with both of them with my Yamaha.

True if you use optical, but what she missed was the option to use multi-channel analog connected to your receiver, only available on the BD55.

The outputs (RCA Type) from the BD55 are just analog and not better than the optical so therefore I wouldn’t be better off buying the BD55 other than spending more money?

Analog is not necessarily any better or worse than fiberoptic digital or even HDMI. It's all in the quality of the D/A converters and these are pretty good on the BD55. Eventually all digital neds to be converted to analog for playback on your speakers. You can do that in the player or in the receiver. On the BD35, you can only do that in the receiver since it lacks multi-channel analog outputs.

Would you wire the BD55 using optical or was she not as informed as she should be? What’s the truth of the situation & will I be as happy with the BD35 or should I get the BD55 or how about the Sony BD350, is it as good as the Panasonics?

I'd say you'd be happy with the BD35 connected via optical to your receiver and you can save yourself a few bucks by keeping it instead of returning it for the BD55. But if you want to explore the new lossless formats, then try out the BD55. Hooking up analog is a little trickier though, as it bypasses all the other set-up and configuration option on your receiver. some people actually hook up multi-channel analog for Blu-ray, but keep the fiber or coax connection hooked up to their receivers as well so they can take advantage of their receivers' bass management, eq, and level adjustments for regular DVDs. As far as BD35 vs. Sony S350, the Panasonic player is a bit better with its upconversion of DVDs to high definition resolution. Also, you've already got a Panasonic TV so staying within the same brand will make things a bit simpler for operation.

Good luck!

-Chris

[MrBoylan]

First Post....LOVE the website, can't wait to contribute

Heres my problem..i just bought the dmp-bd55 and I am going to prep today for its arrival on monday. I have 3 HD sources and only 2 hdmi inputs at my samsung 56" DLP for video. So i must come up with the best workaround.

My AVR is the Marantz SR7500 which is non HDMI but it does have 7.1 analog for audio so i think that will be where my BD goes for audio and i will use one input of the TV for the HDMI video...so is there any settings in the BD player i need to be aware of for this?

Yes, set the BD55 up for 7.1-ch analog output (I think the default is 2-ch+5.1-ch), get yourself 8 RCA cables (or one 8-channel cable bundle), and be sure to set up the levels, speaker sizes and delays in the BD55's multi-channel speaker configuration screen. Don't forget that the BD55's test tone does NOT send a signal to the subwoofer channel, so you'll have to set this by ear (or with an SPL meter) with a test disc or with your favorite movie or music disc.

And, like all DVD and BD players with multi-channel analog outputs, the subwoofer channel over the analog outputs will be 10 dB lower than it should be (15 dB lower if you set your speakers to "small"). Most receivers have a subwoofer channel boost on the analog inputs specifically to compensate for this (check your manual), but if yours does not, then there are other options available, if need be.

Some people have reported not getting multi-channel analog to work when HDMI audio is also on (seems to be receiver/system dependent), so if you don't think you'll want to watch Blu-rays or DVDs with sound coming through the TV speakers (i.e., with the surround sound system OFF), then you can set HDMI Audio to OFF on the BD55.

Question 2 - The most used source on my TV is the HD STB...so i think that sould get the second HDMI slot no? It just seems sad to not use it for my HD-XA2.

Well if your High Def Set-top Box is cable or over-the-air (not DISH Network or DirecTV), then you'd actually be OK using a component video input for that (with fiberoptic or coax connections to the receiver for surround) instead of HDMI. Broadcast TV is currently limited to a max of 1080i output which you can easily send over component video cables. And for sound, broadcast TV is limited to standard Dolby Digital which is perfectly happy being sent over fiber or coax S/PDIF connections.

DISH Network, and more recently DirecTV, have begun experimenting with 1080p broadcasts and VOD. For those, you would want to use HDMI because most receivers, sources and displays limit component video support to a max of 1080i. The other reason why the BD55 and HD-XA2 need HDMI is that this is the only way they'll do DVD upconversion (component connections limit DVD output to 480p on both players). Of course, your TV can upconvert 480p to high def resolution, but it probably will not do as good a job as these Panny and Toshiba players.

Maybe the answer is upgrade my AVR finally....in the mean time, can you offer some input for my inputs?

Yes! Stimulate that sluggish economy! Marantz receivers are excellent, but having HDMI for the audio and video signals of these devices will make your life *much* simpler. Hooking up the BD55 via the analog connections will give you great sound, but it will bypass all the digital level, bass management and EQ settings on your receiver. And frankly the bass management on the BD55 is pretty limited (fixed crossover at 100 Hz).

You can get a solid HDMI-switching receiver these days for only around $325-$350, like the Onkyo TX-SR606 on Amazon - 4 HDMI inputs, support for Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and multi-channel PCM over HDMI, HDMI upconversion of SD sources, etc. Of course, you can spend more and get higher quality video upconversion, but since you'll be doing the upconversion in your players (BD55 and HD-XA2), this may not be necessary. Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, Integra, Sony - pretty much all the major players - now make HDMI-capable receivers, at various price points.

Also, if you just want to increase the number of HDMI inputs on your TV, you could simply add an HDMI switch. We've had good luck with the Oppo HM-31 3-port HDMI switch. Monoprice also has an HDMI 1.3b-certified 4-port switch for around $30 which some people have reported good luck with (though their 1.3a switch is apparently not a good match for the BD55 and some other new gear). Adding an HDMI switch won't simplify or improve your audio configuration, but it will allow you to squeeze more HDMI inputs into your current TV without the expense of a receiver upgrade.

Hope that helps.

-Chris

[tundraSQ]

that helped alot!!! thanks!! I already have the RCA cables from my HDXA2 set up so i will do the cable work today and report back on any issues...thanks again!!

Tim

[MrBoylan]

that helped alot!!! thanks!! I already have the RCA cables from my HDXA2 set up so i will do the cable work today and report back on any issues...thanks again!!

Tim

Cool. If you've already got good sound coming from the XA2's outputs and you're just swapping that over to the BD55, you shouldn't have any problems. I think the XA2 is limited to 5.1-ch analog output, right? (Actually, I just looked at the back of mine, so I know it is ).

With the BD55 you can choose 5.1 or 7.1, depending on your speaker configuration. For 5.1, you can either just use the Panny's 2-ch+5.1-ch option, or set it to 7.1 and turn off the rear surround speakers. Either will have the same net effect.

Good luck!

-Chris

[tundraSQ]

Cool. If you've already got good sound coming from the XA2's outputs and you're just swapping that over to the BD55, you shouldn't have any problems. I think the XA2 is limited to 5.1-ch analog output, right? (Actually, I just looked at the back of mine, so I know it is ).

With the BD55 you can choose 5.1 or 7.1, depending on your speaker configuration. For 5.1, you can either just use the Panny's 2-ch+5.1-ch option, or set it to 7.1 and turn off the rear surround speakers. Either will have the same net effect.

Good luck!

-Chris

i have "ok" sound...not great because of the whole -10db LFE stuff that i WISH was more user friendly...i have read your theories and also over at AVS there is an entire thread dedicated to just this issue...that would be the main reason for me to invest in an hdmi AVR.

I think i am going to go to 7.1 even if it means just sticking a couple of old speakers back there for now. Then aftr christmas i will shop for an avr.

thanks again you rock!!!!

[tundraSQ]

i have "ok" sound...not great because of the whole -10db LFE stuff that i WISH was more user friendly...i have read your theories and also over at AVS there is an entire thread dedicated to just this issue...that would be the main reason for me to invest in an hdmi AVR.

I think i am going to go to 7.1 even if it means just sticking a couple of old speakers back there for now. Then aftr christmas i will shop for an avr.

thanks again you rock!!!!

But on an OT note...seeing plexico hold onto that ball above his head as he crashed to the ground virtually ending the patriots 18-0 season was the single worst moment of my life....how they didn't sack eli and end the game i will never know

[MrBoylan]

But on an OT note...seeing plexico hold onto that ball above his head as he crashed to the ground virtually ending the patriots 18-0 season was the single worst moment of my life....how they didn't sack eli and end the game i will never know

Dude, did I mention I'm from New York? Well, except for the fact that I grew up in Mass and NH. Which makes me very conflicted when watching say, Sox vs. Yankees and Patriots vs. Giants. OK, maybe not that conflicted, GO SOX and GO GIANTS!!!

But a Sox vs. Mets World Series would be win-win for me.

-CB

[tundraSQ]

Also, if you just want to increase the number of HDMI inputs on your TV, you could simply add an HDMI switch. We've had good luck with the Oppo HM-31 3-port HDMI switch. Monoprice also has an HDMI 1.3b-certified 4-port switch for around $30 which some people have reported good luck with (though their 1.3a switch is apparently not a good match for the BD55 and some other new gear). Adding an HDMI switch won't simplify or improve your audio configuration, but it will allow you to squeeze more HDMI inputs into your current TV without the expense of a receiver upgrade.
Hope that helps.

-Chris

Thats the direction i decided to go...i am living the SQ from my marantz receiver...so ading another hdmi port seemed o make the most since today.