BD85 Review

[johndenver]

Heay Chris, hope all is well, just read your review of the Bd85 and all sounds great! except for the fact of the LFE on the multichannel selection that still cuts 10db out, I have the Bd80 and love it but my rcvr(Yamaha RX-V2500) don't ahve a feature to boost the subwoofer output/input in the multichannel mode, and the same holds true for the Bd80 and now the Bd85, sure wish Panasonic could have done something with that part of the player like the oppo-83, would have place and order asap, ohh well I guess I will have to decide if I am going to get a new rcvr in the future or not since my old one don't have the hdmi inputs, wish somehow we could use some kind of signal processor to link rcvr's with component inputs to hdmi inputs/outputs, who knows maybe such an item exists, guess I just haven't found it at the present time.. Tks for the great review..

[MrBoylan]

Heay Chris, hope all is well, just read your review of the Bd85 and all sounds great! except for the fact of the LFE on the multichannel selection that still cuts 10db out, I have the Bd80 and love it but my rcvr(Yamaha RX-V2500) don't ahve a feature to boost the subwoofer output/input in the multichannel mode, and the same holds true for the Bd80 and now the Bd85, sure wish Panasonic could have done something with that part of the player like the oppo-83, would have place and order asap, ohh well I guess I will have to decide if I am going to get a new rcvr in the future or not since my old one don't have the hdmi inputs, wish somehow we could use some kind of signal processor to link rcvr's with component inputs to hdmi inputs/outputs, who knows maybe such an item exists, guess I just haven't found it at the present time.. Tks for the great review..

Hey, there,

Let's be clear here - the Panasonic players are not "cutting" anything out of the subwoofer channel. they simply pass along the bass signal as it is stored on the discs. This is *correct* behavior and consistent with other players from Denon, Samsung, Sony, LG, etc.. I've seen a Pioneer with a slight amount of gain available on the sub channel (I think it was 5 dB) and the OPPO player also offers an option to boost bass output in the player, but these are not ideal solutions. It's really a limitation in your Yamaha receiver that it doesn't provide the option to boost the analog subwoofer channel by 10 dB. The gain should be done on the receiver side, as it is done already (automatically) for digital sources.

Most subwoofers or sub/amp combos provide a gain control and, in many cases, cranking this to the maximum and potentially reducing the other channels slightly in the player (- 3 or 4 dB) is enough to get a good blend of sound. When you do this, you then need to make adjustments to the receiver for digital inputs to compensate for the high gain on the sub, but again, this is usually do-able. I would suggest trying the BD80's analog outputs, crank the subwoofer gain knob to the max and then running through some test tones on AVIA Guide to Home Theater or a similar DVD and see how it sounds. Then calibrate the receiver's digital inputs with the subwoofer gain in the same position (it will probably need to reduce the bass level a bit for digital sources). The only issue here is that the overall volume level of the multi-channel analog input may end up being a bit lower than other sources, so you might need to adjust the volume when switching between sources, but this is frequently an issue even when not using multi-channel analog inputs.

If you're able to get good sound this way, then you've saved yourself a receiver upgrade. Also, keep in mind that the "lossy" versions of Dolby Digital and DTS that you get from Blu-rays are generally higher quality (higher bandwidth) than you get on standard DVDs, so you might find that you are satisfied with using the standard coax ot fiber optic output from the player instead, or doing what many people do in your situation which is use the multi-channel analog outputs for Blu-ray and the coax or fiber outputs for CD and DVD. Your other option would be to get the OPPO BDP-83 -- an excellent player, to be sure, but lacking in any IPTV or network streaming features, and over twice the price of the Panasonic BD85.

Have you done much experimentation with the BD80's analog outputs or are you just using the fiberoptic or coax outputs for now?

Regards,

-Chris

[johndenver]

Yes I have done some experimentation with the various cables and have followed your advice from the previous post that we had when I first acquired the BD80, running all channels in LRG with the subs gain turned up and it's pretty ok, just a little annoying when I try to use the rcvr to play other sources, have to adjust the subs gain back down and that's ok if the sub was on the floor but my subs sit on a ledge in my ceiling. I am still looking at the OPPO-83, but like you said it cost quite a bit more, might just bite the bullet and buy a new rcvr and the BD85 for my xmas present(laughing).. Tks for the reply..