BD-P3600, BDP-S550 or DMP-BD80: which is best for multichannel analog?

[swynjones]

Hi there

I have an Arcam AVR250 amp. And so from what I can understand from reading through the many helpful threads on this forum this means that because this is a non-HDMI amp I will need to purchase a blu ray player with 7.1 multichannel anolog outputs in order to get the benefit of HD audio. In addition I understand that this means I will need to get the player (rather than my amp) to do the necessay amnagement of speaker size/bass/delay etc.

Because of my budget I am therefore looking at either the Samsung P3600, Sony S550 or the Panasonic BD80.

But what I wasnt sure about was how these players compared to each other with regards to the management of the multichannel audio, and which if any might therefore be a better fit for me with my arcam amp?? I think the avr250 has the option to boost the LFE from analog source by +10db.

Was initially tempted to go with the Samsung because it is on amazon for around 200 pounds, whilst the S550 is at 250 pounds and the BD80 the msot expensive at 300 pounds.

But if there are clear benefits of the BD80 with regards multichannel analog options then I happy to be swayed. And regarding the Samsung I did read a number of concerning reviews regarding lip-synch issues using the 7.1 analog with the audio being behind the picture, I presume this was cos there wasnt the option with this player to set delays etc? So I want to be sure I dont have this issue when hooking it up to my avr250.

any help on this would be much appreaciated.
many thanks

[MrBoylan]

Hi there

I have an Arcam AVR250 amp. And so from what I can understand from reading through the many helpful threads on this forum this means that because this is a non-HDMI amp I will need to purchase a blu ray player with 7.1 multichannel anolog outputs in order to get the benefit of HD audio. In addition I understand that this means I will need to get the player (rather than my amp) to do the necessay amnagement of speaker size/bass/delay etc.

Because of my budget I am therefore looking at either the Samsung P3600, Sony S550 or the Panasonic BD80.

But what I wasnt sure about was how these players compared to each other with regards to the management of the multichannel audio, and which if any might therefore be a better fit for me with my arcam amp?? I think the avr250 has the option to boost the LFE from analog source by +10db.

Was initially tempted to go with the Samsung because it is on amazon for around 200 pounds, whilst the S550 is at 250 pounds and the BD80 the msot expensive at 300 pounds.

But if there are clear benefits of the BD80 with regards multichannel analog options then I happy to be swayed. And regarding the Samsung I did read a number of concerning reviews regarding lip-synch issues using the 7.1 analog with the audio being behind the picture, I presume this was cos there wasnt the option with this player to set delays etc? So I want to be sure I dont have this issue when hooking it up to my avr250.

any help on this would be much appreaciated.
many thanks

I personally haven't experienced any synch issues with the BD-P3600 but my testing of the analog outputs on that was not extensive. I have not reviewed the BDP-S550 so I can't comment on its audio quality but I believe it is a little sluggish in its response times compared to the current generation players and it offers no online streaming features (though this may be moot in the UK, as I'm not sure what if any online streaming features are available to you there).

From an audio standpoint, the Panasonic DMP-BD80 is really an excellent choice as it does offer speaker level adjustments (attenuation), individual delays (which are for setting the speaker distances, by the way, not for compensating for lip synch issues) and the small/large/none speaker settings. The Samsung player does not allow you to set individual speaker levels or delays, only speaker size. I believe most if not all players have a fixed crossover at 100 Hz, which is not ideal if you have large tower speakers, but if you have large tower speakers then you can set the front speakers to large which will send the speakers a full range signal. The BD80 also includes a "High Clarity Audio" feature which allows you to disable the player's analog video processor and outputs if you are using the HDMI output for video, thereby minimizing potential distortion in the analog audio signal and improving overall sound quality.

There are a couple of drawbacks with the BD80, however, from a sound processing perspective, but they're manageable and easy to work around. First, its DTS-HD decoder is "DTS-HD Master Audio Essential" - this means it handles all flavors of DTS-HD properly (DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio) but it does not recognize the legacy extensions of DTS (DTS-ES, DTS 24/96), which you may find on some of your DVDs or DTS CDs. The BD80 decodes the core DTS track from these instead. Also, if your front speakers are set to SMALL, and you listen to stereo CDs, the BD80 does not reroute the bass information (below 100 Hz) to the subwoofer channel as it should.

I've talked to the Panasonic engineers about this bass redirection issue, and they say they are going to change this in next year's model. But the simple workaround to both of the above issues is to *ALSO* connect the player's coax or fiberoptic digital output to your Arcam receiver and use the Arcam's own DAC for listening to CDs and DVDs. This also allows you to use the Arcam's bass management and speaker calibration options which may be more robust than the BD80's. Also, Arcam is pretty well known for the quality of their DACs, so this will allow you to still take advantage of those when listening to CDs and DVDs.

If online streaming is not an issue, then my choice would be the BD80. I do like the Pandora and Netflix streaming features of the BD-P3600 but again, these most likely do not apply in the UK.

Good luck!

-Chris

[swynjones]

thanks Chris that's very helpful

certainly sounds like the BD80 is an excellent choice. I think in the Uk the panasonic viera cast system seems to offer quite a bit so that is certainly very tempting, particularly the amazon stuff. So great to hear your positive thoughts on its options for bass management.

just one question, you mentioned about setting my speakers to large if they are floor-standing speakers. Am I right in thinking this will reduce the LF by a further 5db, meaning I will need to get my amp to add in 15db. Not sure if my amp will add more than 10db to analog sources. So I was planning on setting up my speakers as small. Is this likely to create problems?

[MrBoylan]

thanks Chris that's very helpful

certainly sounds like the BD80 is an excellent choice. I think in the Uk the panasonic viera cast system seems to offer quite a bit so that is certainly very tempting, particularly the amazon stuff. So great to hear your positive thoughts on its options for bass management.

just one question, you mentioned about setting my speakers to large if they are floor-standing speakers. Am I right in thinking this will reduce the LF by a further 5db, meaning I will need to get my amp to add in 15db. Not sure if my amp will add more than 10db to analog sources. So I was planning on setting up my speakers as small. Is this likely to create problems?

No, actually the reverse is true (as strange as that may seem). If you set any of your speakers to SMALL on the BD80, then the player re-routes that channel's bass information to the subwoofer channel *AND* it reduces the subwoofer output by an additional 5 dB in order to prevent the subwoofer channel from overloading the receiver's analog subwoofer input with all that additional bass information.

Setting all speakers to LARGE will send full frequency sound to all 5 or 7 speakers and will send only the LFE channel (the ".1" in the movie's soundtrack) to the subwoofer channel. So if your ARCAM only includes a +10 dB bump in the subwoofer channel (for the multi-channel analog inputs), *AND* some of your speakers are set to SMALL on the BD80, then you will need to either manually boost the level knob on the subwoofer itself to compensate for that additional 5 dB loss, *OR* reduce the levels of all channels by 5 dB to compensate (this in the BD80's speaker configuration panel). This is not unique to the BD80. All of the players we have tested so far with multi-channel analog outputs worh this way.

Also, while setting up the speaker parameters in the BD80, be sure to click the "Complete" button to save your settings, otherwise they will be lost. I recommended that Panasonic change this to "Save" but they opted not to make that change.

For more details on analog multi-channel set-up issues, I'd recommend Peter O'Connell's excellent article on the subject:

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

Regards,

-Chris