Panasonic DMP 35K audio problem

[MLE]

Hello, i must say i am very happy i stumbled across this site and i am hoping someone can help with my question.

I purchased the Panasonic DMP 35K blu ray player and hooked it up to my father's system but somehow the sound is going in and out.

I've connected the Panny via HDMI cable to his Pioneer Elite TV for Video.
I used an optical cable for audio and ran it to his B&K Reference 20 Preamp.
I turned off the HDMI audio per the manual.
I set it to Dolby and DTS to bitstream.
I can't quite remember the other settings since i'm not at his house but going back tomorrow.
Any suggestions to this problem?

Please help.

Much appreciated!

[MrBoylan]

Hello, i must say i am very happy i stumbled across this site and i am hoping someone can help with my question.

I purchased the Panasonic DMP 35K blu ray player and hooked it up to my father's system but somehow the sound is going in and out.

I've connected the Panny via HDMI cable to his Pioneer Elite TV for Video.
I used an optical cable for audio and ran it to his B&K Reference 20 Preamp.
I turned off the HDMI audio per the manual.
I set it to Dolby and DTS to bitstream.
I can't quite remember the other settings since i'm not at his house but going back tomorrow.
Any suggestions to this problem?

Please help.

Much appreciated!

Unfortunately no sound at all is better than intermittent sound. If you had no sound at all, we could suspect a setting or bad connections. But intermittent sound makes it likely that something is faulty - either the player, the preamp/processor or the optical cable. It's hard for an optical cable to go bad and it's unlikely to be the pre/pro at this point, assuming you've never had trouble with it before, and that leaves the player. But if you do have another cable you can swap in, that would be the first test, then try another input on the pre/pro if that doesn't help. If neither of those helps, then you can try a master reset of the player.

You can do this by holding the POWER button on the unit itself for at least 3 seconds. There's also a way to restore the default settings on the player, in the set-up menu select "Others", then "Restore Default Settings." This will probably revert the digital audio settings from "bitstream" to "PCM" so you will need to change these back.

So:

1. Try a different optical cable
2. Try a different input on the B&K
3. Try a "master reset" (reboot by holding power button)
4. Try re-setting to factory defaults

I think that's everything you can try. One other thing, though. That B&K is a nice pre/pro, but since it doesn't have HDMI audio support, the only way that you can properly support the new lossless audio formats is with a player that includes multi-channel *ANALOG* outputs. You can't get this on the BD35, but the BD55 does have it. If you can trade up the BD35 to the BD55 wherever it is you bought this, then you might not only resolve the whole audio problem, but make the audio a whole lot *better* by supporting multi-channel DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD, and multi-channel PCM.

With the BD35, you're getting a lossy legacy DTS or Dolby Digital feed over the fiber optic output when you listen to DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD - it's a bit better than regular DVD, but it's a pale shadow of the lossless track. Also, if you watch/listen to multi-channel PCM soundtracks, you actually get TWO-CHANNEL PCM sound over fiber-optic (stereo). With the BD55, you can decode all of these *IN THE PLAYER* and send the multi-channel outputs to the pre-pro. It's a little more complicated to set up the player/speakers for this, but it will give you the best sound quality possible for your dad.

And (once more with the plug), the BD55 is part of the hidden-but-still-valid Amazon $100 off sale. Buy the BD55 (currently $359) on Amazon, add 4 Warner movies to your cart (from a select list), put in the promo code BLUWA100 into the promo code during check-out and you get an instant $100 discount, bringing the total price for player and 4 movies to about $330. It has been a bit lower in the past (as low as $300, when the Amazon price on the player was $330 pre-discount), but it's still a great deal.

If you already bought the BD35 on Amazon, you should be able to return it as defective (if it is defective) at no cost to you.

Details on the super-secret $100 off deal can be found here:

Buy a BD Player and 4 Warner Movies: Save $100 (still alive!)

The code still works as of this morning.

Hope that helps.

-Chris

[MLE]

i just took a look at the back of my dad's b&k preamp. i don't think he has multichannel inputs (for sub, center, surround, etc.) does that sound correct? I can't believe how fast equipment can be outdated.

link to b&k reference manual
http://www.bkcomp.com/fileadmin/cont...iver/REF20.pdf

I will try the other techniques.

much appreciated chris.

[tundraSQ]

what if you swap the optical cable out for a coax s/pdif and see if it helps?

[MLE]

Hi Chris, i actually already returned the 35K, hoping the 55K would work, i just tried the digital coax, but am having the same problem. audio is still going in and out. I'm guessing it has something to do with the preamp but what's weird is that the dvd player (dad's pioneer) has no problems playing dolby digital dvd's with the optical cable. Hooking up the player upstairs to his Sony 46inch XBR has no problems playing it through the TV speakers via standard HDMI. Any other suggestions?

thanks!

[MrBoylan]

i just took a look at the back of my dad's b&k preamp. i don't think he has multichannel inputs (for sub, center, surround, etc.) does that sound correct? I can't believe how fast equipment can be outdated.

link to b&k reference manual
http://www.bkcomp.com/fileadmin/cont...iver/REF20.pdf

I will try the other techniques.

much appreciated chris.

You're right. Sorry! This one time I assumed (without checking the manual) that it would have multi-channel analog inputs since it's a high-end surround preamp, but your dad's doesn't have this. Well. How much do you love your dad? Maybe it's time for a new preamp/processor that supports HDMI audio decoding?

But seriously, though, try out the suggestions and if they do not help, then see if you can swap out the player for a new one and see if that helps.

Regards,

-Chris

[MrBoylan]

Hi Chris, i actually already returned the 35K, hoping the 55K would work, i just tried the digital coax, but am having the same problem. audio is still going in and out. I'm guessing it has something to do with the preamp but what's weird is that the dvd player (dad's pioneer) has no problems playing dolby digital dvd's with the optical cable. Hooking up the player upstairs to his Sony 46inch XBR has no problems playing it through the TV speakers via standard HDMI. Any other suggestions?

thanks!

Ugh. Then the problem is definitely pointing to the pre/pro since two different players are causing problems. I assume you've tried this with multiple titles? Blu-ray and DVD? If it only happens with one discs, then maybe the discs is dirty or defective. But if it happens with multiple discs, then at this point it's most likely a problem with the preamp/processor.

Blu-ray Discs can send out a higher bandwidth Dolby Digital signal than what you get on a standard DVD. For Dolby Digital, you can get up to 640 KBPS from a Blu-ray Disc (448 KBPS on DVD) though DTS max bitrates are about the same on both formats, so it's possible that a higher bandwidth signal could be causing the problem (even though it is squarely within the Dolby Digital specs), but then you should not have any problems playing a standard DVD on the BD55.

Let me know which titles are causing the problem (and which format - Blu-ray vs. DVD) and maybe we can figure out a common thread among them.

-CB

[MLE]

Well, i have tried all the above mentioned options with no luck

I believe the problem is what Chris mentioned about the Bandwidth being too large in Blu Ray Discs. We tested Casino Royale in SD DVD with the audio set to bitrate and no problems.

The Blu-Ray Disc we have tried are: Batman Dark Knight, Celine Dion live from Vegas, Wanted, and Hancock. All disc have caused the in and out audio problems.

In order for us to watch Dark Knight this afternoon without any audio intermittence we had to change the Bitrate to PCM and watch the movie in Dolby Pro Logic (ugh).

So in order for us to get the best out of Dolby Pro Logic (until my dad gets a new preamp) what are my best setup options? I did change the downmix to surround encoded but not sure if this helped with Dolby Pro Logic.

Dynamic Range: Off or On?
PCM Down Conversion: Off or On?
Downmix: Stereo or Surround Encoded?
BD-Video Secondary Audio, Off or On?

thanks to everyone who contributed!

I will return to this website in the future before buying future equipment to help support.

[MrBoylan]

Well, i have tried all the above mentioned options with no luck

I believe the problem is what Chris mentioned about the Bandwidth being too large in Blu Ray Discs. We tested Casino Royale in SD DVD with the audio set to bitrate and no problems.

The Blu-Ray Disc we have tried are: Batman Dark Knight, Celine Dion live from Vegas, Wanted, and Hancock. All disc have caused the in and out audio problems.

In order for us to watch Dark Knight this afternoon without any audio intermittence we had to change the Bitrate to PCM and watch the movie in Dolby Pro Logic (ugh).

So in order for us to get the best out of Dolby Pro Logic (until my dad gets a new preamp) what are my best setup options? I did change the downmix to surround encoded but not sure if this helped with Dolby Pro Logic.

Dynamic Range: Off or On?
PCM Down Conversion: Off or On?
Downmix: Stereo or Surround Encoded?
BD-Video Secondary Audio, Off or On?

thanks to everyone who contributed!

I will return to this website in the future before buying future equipment to help support.

Bummer about the pre/pro. Technically, it is malfunctioning, but that doesn't do you much good since it is probably well out of warranty. However, I just did some Googling and found that you're not the first to report this problem with the B&K Reference series. See this post on HighDefForum for more details. Similar problem with Dolby Digital tracks on Blu-ray on a B&K Reference 30, and it was a different player (one person with an earlier Panasonic model, one with a Sony). Seems like there was also a Sony receiver from the 2003 era that has the same problem as the B&K gear (wonder if they used the same Dolby decoder?).

One solution would be to buy nothing but DTS Blu-ray titles, but that's not particularly helpful since that limits the amount of movies you can watch (but it would be a good idea to try some Blu-rays with DTS or DTS-HD, to see if these work better). The DTS bitstream you should get over coax or fiberoptic will be potentially as high as 1,536 KBPS (more than twice the DD bitrate), but it seems that the B&K may not have a problem with these, as DVD had the same max specs on DTS.

It's worth contacting B&K as they may have had others reporting the problem by now. And if not then they certainly will as Blu-ray player sales have been skyrocketing this holiday season.

In terms of settings you mentioned, none of these will make a real difference for you except "2-ch downmix" which you should set to "surround-encoded" so it will encode the surround information into the 2-channel track. If you do set "Dolby" to "PCM" in the digital audio settings, you should leave DTS set to "bitstream" so you can at least enjoy discrete multi-channel surround from DTS titles. For a list of DTS titles on Blu-ray, go to blu-raystats.com and filter the results for Audio of DTS, DTS-HD or DTS-MA (and hit "Filter" for each choice) - this will give you lists of all the Blu-ray titles with DTS soundtracks. I think there are over 230 titles with DTS on Blu-ray currently. There are far more with Dolby Digital.

But definitely call B&K and report the problem. Who knows? If enough people complain perhaps they will issue a service bulletin to fix it?

Regards,

-Chris

[MLE]

Chris, you are correct. I tried the movie Wanted and turned off bitrate dolby but left on the bitrate for DTS and no problems.

thanks again for all your help.

-M