panasonic dmp bd55 selecting 5.1 or 7.1 analog matter?

[mike e]

1. Hi sorry if this has been answered,but does it matter if I chose 7.1 if I am only using 5.1 analog. I have read alot of posts on this and other forums some say no others say this is the best way.
2. I have it hooked up to a Harmon Kardon avr7200 which has 6 channel and 8 channel. both support direct input which lets the player do all the set up options, and a audio option which lets the receiver do bass management and the speaker settings and distances which I think is the better way to go,any help or suggestions on that would be great thanks

[MrBoylan]

1. Hi sorry if this has been answered,but does it matter if I chose 7.1 if I am only using 5.1 analog. I have read alot of posts on this and other forums some say no others say this is the best way.
2. I have it hooked up to a Harmon Kardon avr7200 which has 6 channel and 8 channel. both support direct input which lets the player do all the set up options, and a audio option which lets the receiver do bass management and the speaker settings and distances which I think is the better way to go,any help or suggestions on that would be great thanks

For a 5.1-channel speaker configuration, using the 2-ch+5.1-ch configuration (using the 5.1-channel output) or using the 7.1-channel output and turning off the rear channels in the BD55 are *identical* - this is per the Panasonic engineering and product development team in Japan.

I know that isn't precisely your question, but I wanted to make sure that was clear first. The director of BD development tells me they are planning to revise the owner's manual in the future to make sure that this is clearer than it currently is. Also, make sure BD Secondary Audio is set to OFF to prevent the player from ever reverting to the lossy soundtracks.

Choosing whether to use 5.1 or 7.1 channel outputs in your specific case is a choice between whether you think the player or the receiver can do a better job "re-mapping" (down-mixing) the signal from 7.1 channels to 5.1 channels and this is probably best left to the player to do for a number of reasons.

The reason *I* would use the player's 5.1-channel outputs is that the player has access to the metadata in the digital audio stream (in the case of DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD) that tells it precisely what to do with a 5.1-channel configuration - in many cases the lossless audio soundtrack actually includes *two* discrete mixes embedded in the stream - one for 5.1, and one for 7.1. If you simply output this soundtrack as 7.1-channel analog, then the receiver no longer has access to this metadata and has to "guess" what to do with the rear and side channels. Also, the BD55 automatically takes DTS-HD 5.1 material and "amplifies" it to 7.1-channels over analog and PCM outputs. If you use the 7.1-channel outputs, then your receiver is going to have to reverse this process (again without any instructions on how to do so).

So if you are using 5.1-channel speaker configuration, then I would recommend using the 5.1-channel outputs on the BD55 (again, either via the "2-ch+5.1-ch" setting or using the 7.1-ch setting with the rear channel speakers turned OFF in the BD55).

You're lucky to have a receiver that handles bass management and delays, etc. from the analog inputs. In this case, make sure to set all the levels to 0, all the speakers to large, and delays to 0 and let the receiver take care of the speakers configuration and bass management.

Regards,

-Chris

[mike e]

Thanks Chris for your help,it really cleared up alot

[BIslander]

Mike - One more note re: secondary audio. A BD35 owner has done some testing on secondary audio and posted results at the AVS forum. He determined that you get lossless when secondary audio is turned on, provided there is no secondary audio anywhere on the disc. If the disc contains PIP commentary or menu clicks, even if you aren't playing a track that uses such audio, then the player switches to a lossy track for playback. So, it's probably best to leave secondary audio off until you need it.

[MrBoylan]

Mike - One more note re: secondary audio. A BD35 owner has done some testing on secondary audio and posted results at the AVS forum. He determined that you get lossless when secondary audio is turned on, provided there is no secondary audio anywhere on the disc. If the disc contains PIP commentary or menu clicks, even if you aren't playing a track that uses such audio, then the player switches to a lossy track for playback. So, it's probably best to leave secondary audio off until you need it.

I knew someone on avs would eventually get that right.

Thanks for the post, Peter and welcome to the forum...

-CB

[BIslander]

For a 5.1-channel speaker configuration, using the 2-ch+5.1-ch configuration (using the 5.1-channel output) or using the 7.1-channel output and turning off the rear channels in the BD55 are *identical* - this is per the Panasonic engineering and product development team in Japan.

The director of BD development tells me they are planning to revise the owner's manual in the future to make sure that this is clearer than it currently is.

Hi Chris,

This is good news about the manual.

Peter

[MrBoylan]

Hi Chris,

This is good news about the manual.

Peter

Yeah, I offered to proofread it for them. But this will probably be in a future product manual, not the BD55. Speaking of which, keep your eyes peeled to BPBS this Wednesday afternoon/evening for some interesting news from Panasonic related to new players (it is CES after all).

-CB

[Just Ask]

Speaking of which, keep your eyes peeled to BPBS this Wednesday afternoon/evening for some interesting news from Panasonic related to new players (it is CES after all).

-CB

Just saw your coverage of the announcement. After conducting a google search of the BD60/80's and reviewing the first page of the results (Saw BPBS in the first page ), there does not seem to be the same buzz about the BD60/80's that came along with the BD35/55's. Are you seeing the same thing? Or, have I just missed it? Should still be solid players though.....I really like my 55K.

[MrBoylan]

Just saw your coverage of the announcement. After conducting a google search of the BD60/80's and reviewing the first page of the results (Saw BPBS in the first page ), there does not seem to be the same buzz about the BD60/80's that came along with the BD35/55's. Are you seeing the same thing? Or, have I just missed it? Should still be solid players though.....I really like my 55K.

If you're not interested in the VIERA Cast feature (IPTV), then I don't think there will be a compelling reason to upgrade to the BD60/80 from the BD35/55unless they make the transport/loading much quicker.

At this point, improvements in Blu-ray players are going to be evolutionary, not revolutionary, except perhaps in the design department and in the area of networked content as with the new Samsung Blu-ray players.

I'll try to get some hands-on time with the new players at the Panasonic booth tomorrow to check things like disc loading times but these could easily change as the players get closer to production.

Later,

-CB

[chip1]

hello, mr boylan

i'm new to this forum but not new to the hobby of home theater.

i just purchased the panny bdk-55 so that i can use the analogue outputs of the player to see what all the fuss is about with dolby true-hd and dts hd master audio since this player has the codecs to output the audio. my bryston sp2 pre/pro does not have hdmi inputs.

i went into the 55 setup menu as you described in this forum and did everything you said. i started by turning of the hdmi audio in the setup menu so that i do not get any audio out of plasma in 2 channel.

then i went and setup the 2ch.+ 5.1 analogue output in the player. my dilema is that my pre/pro has a 5.1 by pass mode for analogue inputs. i can't calibrate my speaker setup the correct way with my spl meter the players test tone output is so weak i don't even get a reading on the meter.

i also hit the complete button after setup and exited out of the menu like you said and then returned back to it see if i would hear the difference and it sounded very enimic with no bass i had to raise my volume control on my pre/pro to -4 just to hear something, but it did not sound nothing like dolby digital in bitstream.

i did setup the audio in pcm for the analogue outputs i'm i doing this correct or is there something that i'm doing wrong.

i would like to ask is there's a possibility that the players test tone outputs are bad because i get no reading from the spl meter and setting up the distance and db is not doing anything for me. the movie ironman in blu-ray has plenty of LFE but with the 5.1 analogue it's like i'm listening to transistor radio and i'm not happy with this at all.

is there any advise you can give me to guide me in the right direction i would really appreciate it.

thank you, chip1