Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray Disc Player

[Daylightdon]

I would use the HDMI output from the BD80 to the HDMI input on your Sony Receiver.
My BD80 is due this afternoon, so after that I'll be able to speak first hand from experience.

[MrBoylan]

Hi

I have to say that there is some great and really useful information in this thread especially from you MrBoylan.

Thank you.

With that in mind I need some help. I have just bought the Panasonic DMP-BD80 and want to set in up right.

I have the Sony DA1200ES Receiver and could someone tell me the best way to interface between that and the Panasonic especially for audio? Obviously the Blu-ray has the 7.1ch output but also HDMI AV out. Which would be the best (or even only) audio solution?

From what I understand (from looking at your receiver's manual), your receiver cannot decode any audio over HDMI, not even multi-channel PCM. This means your only options will be multi-channel analog out from the BD80 into the multi-channel analog input on your receiver and/or optical or coaxial digital output (S/PDIF).

The benefit to multi-channel analog output is you will get all the sonic benefit of DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD and multi-channel PCM soundtracks. The drawback is the multi-channel analog inputs will not get the benefits of the receiver's auto-calibration software and bass management. Getting multi-channel analog outputs configured properly requires setting all the speaker settings manually in the player. Check out this article for details on how to do this:

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

The benefits of using the fiberoptic or coax connection are that you WILL get to use the auto-calibration and bass management in the receiver, but of course that S/PDIF connection cannot carry the full resolution of Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD and multi-channel PCM. DTS-HD soundtracks will be transmitted as regular DTS, Dolby TrueHD and DD+ will be Dolby Digital. Multi-channel PCM soundtracks are actually sent over as 2.0 (2-channel) PCM. To me, the only real drawback is that 2-channel PCM part, because the higher bandwidth versions of DTS and Dolby Digital that are output by the BD80 from Blu-ray Discs sound pretty darn good.

What many people do in your situation is connect the player both ways (multi-channel analog and S/PDIF digital) and select whichever one works best for the specific content. Maybe S/PDIF digital for DVDs and Blu-rays that use regular Dolby Digital or DTS, and the multi-channel analog inputs for Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and multi-channel PCM soundtracks.

Oh, and be sure to set DTS and Dolby output to "bitstream" and set BD-Secondary Audio to OFF if you want to be sure you're getting high quality lossless audio decoding over analog. These settings are both in the digital audio settings on the BD80.

Good luck!

-Chris

[VanDarak]

Hi guys

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. Are there multi-channel analog out cables you would recommend that would be a reasonable cost but quality output? Should I be looking at individual cables or a connected set (all attached in one tree) do you think?

Thanks

[MrBoylan]

Hi guys

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. Are there multi-channel analog out cables you would recommend that would be a reasonable cost but quality output? Should I be looking at individual cables or a connected set (all attached in one tree) do you think?

Thanks

Anything good for audio will work. I have a couple of spools of Planet Waves raw RG6 cables and connectors that I slice to the right length and make my own custom cables but these are not cost effective if you only need a single set of cables. A multi-connector cable is nice if only because it helps keep everything straight (by color). The HOSA cables (below) are better known in the musician and studio circles, but they will work fine for these purposes as well, and a 2-meter 8-conductor cable is around $20 delivered. Of course, these are all on amazon.com and Parts Express (both in the US) and based on your receiver model number I think you're outside North America, but maybe others will find these helpful.

• Amazon.com: HOSA RCA - RCA, 2m (6.6 ft.) x 8 MULTI-TRACK SNAKE CABLES: Musical Instruments
• Amazon.com: HOSA RCA - RCA, 5m (16.5 ft.) x 8 MULTI-TRACK SNAKE CABLES: Musical Instruments

If you want to get something a little thicker/better shielded, then you can get these Belkin PureAV cables on closeout from Parts Express. Buy 3 pairs for 5.1 channel or 4 pairs for 7.1 channel. Only $4.50 per pair (6 foot length):

• Parts Express:Belkin PureAV Blue Series Stereo RCA Patch Cable 6 ft.

While you're at it, you can pick up an HDMI cable or two for the video:

• 1 meter HDMI 1.3 cable (currently $5.74)
• 2 meter HDMI 1.3 cable (currently $7.67)

And you may need an SPL meter (to measure audio levels of the various speaker channels) - here's one for $25!

• Parts Express:Mini Digital Sound Level Meter

Hope that helps.

-CB

[Mazinger]

Mr. Boylan...you mention set up the blu ray player to bitstream, I thought it was PCM since my receiver cannot decode HD audio, please confirm, also can you elaborate on an recent post when someone said the panasonic dmp-bd 80 would not play real HD audio?? I have read everywhere on the web that it is exactelly the same audio one would get with a HDMI connection....thanks !!!!

receiver : Pioneer vsx-811
potential Blu Ray: Panasonic dmp-bd80

Thank you.


From what I understand (from looking at your receiver's manual), your receiver cannot decode any audio over HDMI, not even multi-channel PCM. This means your only options will be multi-channel analog out from the BD80 into the multi-channel analog input on your receiver and/or optical or coaxial digital output (S/PDIF).

The benefit to multi-channel analog output is you will get all the sonic benefit of DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD and multi-channel PCM soundtracks. The drawback is the multi-channel analog inputs will not get the benefits of the receiver's auto-calibration software and bass management. Getting multi-channel analog outputs configured properly requires setting all the speaker settings manually in the player. Check out this article for details on how to do this:

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

The benefits of using the fiberoptic or coax connection are that you WILL get to use the auto-calibration and bass management in the receiver, but of course that S/PDIF connection cannot carry the full resolution of Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD and multi-channel PCM. DTS-HD soundtracks will be transmitted as regular DTS, Dolby TrueHD and DD+ will be Dolby Digital. Multi-channel PCM soundtracks are actually sent over as 2.0 (2-channel) PCM. To me, the only real drawback is that 2-channel PCM part, because the higher bandwidth versions of DTS and Dolby Digital that are output by the BD80 from Blu-ray Discs sound pretty darn good.

What many people do in your situation is connect the player both ways (multi-channel analog and S/PDIF digital) and select whichever one works best for the specific content. Maybe S/PDIF digital for DVDs and Blu-rays that use regular Dolby Digital or DTS, and the multi-channel analog inputs for Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and multi-channel PCM soundtracks.

Oh, and be sure to set DTS and Dolby output to "bitstream" and set BD-Secondary Audio to OFF if you want to be sure you're getting high quality lossless audio decoding over analog. These settings are both in the digital audio settings on the BD80.

Good luck!

-Chris

[martin01]

Hi Chris,

I have just picked up a BD-80. I had a BD-55 before. I feel that the picture with BD-80 is more dark than with the BD-55. I use "normal"-setting for the picture. Have you experienced this?

Regards
Martin

[MrBoylan]

Mr. Boylan...you mention set up the blu ray player to bitstream, I thought it was PCM since my receiver cannot decode HD audio, please confirm

Hi,

The ideal digital audio settings on the BD80 are different for different receivers, depending on what capabilities they have. The person who asked this specific question has a receiver that only handles VIDEO over HDMI - no audio processing at all. So for him, since he is not using HDMI for audio, his settings should be BITSTREAM so that player will pass standard Dolby Digital and DTS audio over the fiberoptic or coax digital outputs. If your receiver doesn't even have HDMI inputs, then you should also set your digital audio outputs to BITSTREAM if you want to use the fiber optic or coax digital outputs. This way DTS-HD tracks will be sent over the S/PDIF digital outputs as standard "core" DTS and Dolby TrueHD will be sent out over S/PDIF digital as standard Dolby Digital.

For his (or your) multi-channel analog outputs to work, it makes no difference what the "Digital Audio Output" is set to (could be set to bitstream or PCM), except it is important to turn off "BD-Secondary Audio" so that the player does not revert to the lossy codecs when doing the decoding.

...also can you elaborate on an recent post when someone said the panasonic dmp-bd 80 would not play real HD audio?? I have read everywhere on the web that it is exactelly the same audio one would get with a HDMI connection....thanks !!!!

Not really sure what you're referring to here. If you mean where the Panasonic support person said analog outputs don't support TrueHD that's just semantics and not particularly relevant.

The BD80 fully supports the new lossless and high bitrate audio formats in three ways:

1. HDMI Bitstream output - for HDMI 1.3 receivers that decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD
2. HDMI PCM output - for HDMI 1.1 and 1.2 receivers that support audio over HDMI, but do not include their own on-board DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD decoders. In this case, the player decodes DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD to multi-channel PCM and send this over HDMI to a compatible receiver
3. Multi-channel analog outputs - if your receiver does not support HDMI audio decoding at all, then your only option (if you want to take advantage of the higher sound quality of the new lossless formats) is to decode to multi-channel analog in the player and send this to the receiver via the receiver's multi-channel analog input.

Option 3 still uses the lossless Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and multi-channel PCM soundtracks for decoding and can still sound excellent. But it is a little trickier to set up properly because the player is fairly limited in its level settings, distance adjustments and crossover (fixed at 100 Hz). Using HDMI for the audio (PCM or bitstream) is generally going to give you superior results because you can tap into the bass management and speaker configuration options of your receiver, which are generally more robust and more flexible than the speaker adjustments built into the player.

receiver : Pioneer vsx-811
potential Blu Ray: Panasonic dmp-bd80

Is that the VSX-D811S? If so, your receiver has no HDMI capabilities at all, so you should use the analog multi-channel outputs for best sound quality on Blu-ray Discs. Many people who do this also use the fiberoptic or coax digital outputs for their DVD listening.

Be sure to read our multi-channel analog set-up tutorial if you need guidance on setting up the analog outputs:

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

Good luck!

-Chris

[MrBoylan]

Hi Chris,

I have just picked up a BD-80. I had a BD-55 before. I feel that the picture with BD-80 is more dark than with the BD-55. I use "normal"-setting for the picture. Have you experienced this?

Regards
Martin

Nope. Haven't noticed anything like this. If you have them both connected to the same TV then keep in mind that the video settings of different HDMI inputs on your TV may be set differently. Most TVs store picture settings separately per input.

-CB

[wessew]

I just purchased a BD80 and will be shortly installing it into my system with a Lumagen HDQ. The Lumagen does primary upscaling duties to 1080p for all sources in my system. It will pass a 1080p/24 signal from the Panasonic as it does now from my Samsung BDP 5000. However, it will not react well with a 1080p/60 signal. With the Samsung we have the unit set to 1080i with 24p turned on. The result has been that when a Blu-ray film at 24p is detected by the Samsung it passes it through the Lumagen. However, when a video source is detected which is interlaced, the Samsung with pass this at 1080i/60. This is exactly the behavior we need from the BD80. Should I set HDMI to 1080i with 24p turned on for the BD80 or should I set HDMI to auto with 24p turned on to produce the desired behavior? The manual is not clear. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

[MrBoylan]

I just purchased a BD80 and will be shortly installing it into my system with a Lumagen HDQ. The Lumagen does primary upscaling duties to 1080p for all sources in my system. It will pass a 1080p/24 signal from the Panasonic as it does now from my Samsung BDP 5000. However, it will not react well with a 1080p/60 signal. With the Samsung we have the unit set to 1080i with 24p turned on. The result has been that when a Blu-ray film at 24p is detected by the Samsung it passes it through the Lumagen. However, when a video source is detected which is interlaced, the Samsung with pass this at 1080i/60. This is exactly the behavior we need from the BD80. Should I set HDMI to 1080i with 24p turned on for the BD80 or should I set HDMI to auto with 24p turned on to produce the desired behavior? The manual is not clear. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Very interesting question. But I'm not sure the BD80 is going to do what you want. I believe you can only turn on 24p mode if the Panasonic is set to auto or to 1080p output (I don't think it will work in 1080i output mode [edit: actually it does work at 1080i in which case 1080i/60 content is passed at 1080i/60 and 1080p/24 content is passed at 1080p/24]).

But "Auto" resolution mode on the BD80 does *NOT* change the output resolution based on source content - it is not a "source direct" feature. Auto mode is used simply to detect the maximum allowed resolution of the display device and sets the Panasonic player's output accordingly (but it's a one-time handshake thing, not content-dependent).

If you set the BD80 to 1080p output with 24p mode enabled, and the player detects a 1080i/60 source, then the player will revert to 1080p/60, which you say your processor doesn't support so that's not good.

Also how are you planning to handle DVDs? Are you going to use the component output at 480i for those? Because if you use 1080p HDMI output for DVDs then you will be using the BD80's scaling/de-interlacing, not the Lumagen's.

Honestly I think you may be better off with a player that supports a "source direct" feature if you want the Lumagen to do all the processing (on 480i DVDs and 1080i Blu-rays). Since the Blu-ray format doesn't support native content at 1080p/60, "source direct" would allow you to pass 1080p/24 discs at 1080p/24, 1080i/60 at 1080i/60 and DVDs at 480i.

If you already own the player, then certainly play around with it to see what happens when you try to set it to 1080i and enable the 24p option, or set to auto and enable 24p. The BD80 has a nice "Playback Information Window" available from the "Display" menu which shows you the resolution of the DISC vs. the resolution output by the PLAYER (among other things). I don't think the BD55 actually had this window. I'd be curious to hear your results.

Regards,

-Chris