Panasonic BD65/BD85 Blu-ray and Amazon VOD - no HD? Yes HD! (Maybe HD)

[latitude94941]

Are owners of the BD85 able to stream Amazon VOD in HD?

I own a BD65 and am unable to stream Amazon VOD in HD (it will stream in standard definition). Have ruled out bandwidth and network issues and can stream Amazon VOD in HD from my laptop on same network. Other BD65 owners are reporting the same problem. Panasonic & Amazon support have not been helpful in resolving.

I'm trying to figure out if this problem is limited to BD65. An easy way to test whether you are getting Amazon VOD in HD is as quoted below:

"Find "Yellowstone" in HD on Amazon VOD and try to play it on your BD85. It's a free HD episode that Amazon VOD offers. See what happens when you try to play it - are you able to get 4/4 blue bars and an "HD" symbol?" (When you pause you will see your connection quality in lower right of screen.)

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

[MrBoylan]

We still have our review sample of the BD85 so I can check this out over the weekend.

-CB

[latitude94941]

We still have our review sample of the BD85 so I can check this out over the weekend.

-CB

Thanks, Chris. BD85 users on another forum are reporting mixed results, so it'll be interesting to see what you come up with. To check whether you're getting the HD stream, you can pause the stream and the connection monitor will be in the lower right of the screen. If you're getting HD the bars will be blue and the "HD" symbol will appear.

[MrBoylan]

Thanks, Chris. BD85 users on another forum are reporting mixed results, so it'll be interesting to see what you come up with. To check whether you're getting the HD stream, you can pause the stream and the connection monitor will be in the lower right of the screen. If you're getting HD the bars will be blue and the "HD" symbol will appear.

Yeah, I can't say I did very extensive testing of the BD85 with Amazon VOD as it's just not that compelling a service to me. Netflix is great for the cost, and VUDU (not on the Panny, but on the LG players) wins for the overall quality of audio and video, so I don't find myself using Amazon VOD that much. I did test the BD80 with amazon VOD and confirmed that it could do HD on the "Ctrl" HD shorts which are still in my VOD library. I can test it using WiFi to my laptop and to the BD85 so that should minimize some of the external factors.

-CB

[latitude94941]

Yeah, I can't say I did very extensive testing of the BD85 with Amazon VOD as it's just not that compelling a service to me. Netflix is great for the cost, and VUDU (not on the Panny, but on the LG players) wins for the overall quality of audio and video, so I don't find myself using Amazon VOD that much. I did test the BD80 with amazon VOD and confirmed that it could do HD on the "Ctrl" HD shorts which are still in my VOD library. I can test it using WiFi to my laptop and to the BD85 so that should minimize some of the external factors.

-CB

What's driving me to Amazon VOD is this: just switched to DirecTV, which doesn't carry AMC in HD. So only way for me to watch MAD MEN in HD is thru Amazon. My BD65 connects to the Netflix HD stream just fine. In terms of external factors, if it turns out that you are indeed able to stream Amazon VOD in HD on the BD85 via wireless, it would be appreciated if you can also try it hardwired. Seems strange, but I'm beginning to wonder if the connection method explains why some BD85 owners can connect to Amazon in HD and some can't.

[MrBoylan]

What's driving me to Amazon VOD is this: just switched to DirecTV, which doesn't carry AMC in HD. So only way for me to watch MAD MEN in HD is thru Amazon. My BD65 connects to the Netflix HD stream just fine.

Or you could put the Mad Men Blu-rays in your Netflix queue...

In terms of external factors, if it turns out that you are indeed able to stream Amazon VOD in HD on the BD85 via wireless, it would be appreciated if you can also try it hardwired. Seems strange, but I'm beginning to wonder if the connection method explains why some BD85 owners can connect to Amazon in HD and some can't.

No way to get a wire down from my router to the basement where the BD85 currently lives. I do have a powerline networking connection set up but I'm not sure this is going to be a valid test as it usually doesn't approach the speed of a true hard-wired connection. I'll try it anyway in case I see different behavior.

I did just get the DMP-BDT100 in for testing though, so I might be busy with that this weekend.

-CB

[latitude94941]

Thanks again, Chris. Anything you can do to shed some light on this mystery would be appreciated...

[latitude94941]

Or you could put the Mad Men Blu-rays in your Netflix queue...

-CB

Problem is I'm trying to watch the current season of Mad Men in HD...

[MrBoylan]

Thanks again, Chris. Anything you can do to shed some light on this mystery would be appreciated...

OK, I tested on a couple of players, saw the problem and might have a workaround (worked for me anyway). Tested Amazon VOD using "Yellowstone" episode 1 (Winter).

DMP-BDT350: WiFi: 2 bars (no HD); hard-wired internet connection: 4 bars (HD)
DMP-BD85 with default network settings: WiFi: 2 Bars (no HD); wired: 2 Bars (no HD)

So then I got to thinking that maybe the player's not properly detecting available network bandwidth, so I went into the IP Address/DNS settings and I turned OFF "Auto Detect Connection Speed" and played around with Connection Speed Settings. Neither of the 100Base settings worked (said "check network cable") but when I set it manually to 10BASE Full Duplex (still testing wired), I got the 4 Bars and HD symbol. Then for giggles I switched over to WiFi and got the same 4 bars (HD).

Editing to add a couple of screen shots - one showing Yellowstone in HD and the other showing the network settings used for the workaround. Click either to enlarge:

bd85-network-settings-amazo.jpg yellowstone-winter-vod-hd.jpg

Try it out and let us know if it works for you.

BTW, please don't re-post this in other forums, but do feel free to post a link to this thread in this forum for the workaround.

Thanks and I hope this helps,

-Chris

[latitude94941]

OK, I tested on a couple of players, saw the problem and might have a workaround (worked for me anyway). Tested Amazon VOD using "Yellowstone" episode 1 (Winter).

DMP-BDT350: WiFi: 2 bars (no HD); hard-wired internet connection: 4 bars (HD)
DMP-BD85 with default network settings: WiFi: 2 Bars (no HD); wired: 2 Bars (no HD)

So then I got to thinking that maybe the player's not properly detecting available network bandwidth, so I went into the IP Address/DNS settings and I turned OFF "Auto Detect Connection Speed" and played around with Connection Speed Settings. Neither of the 100Base settings worked (said "check network cable") but when I set it manually to 10BASE Full Duplex (still testing wired), I got the 4 Bars and HD symbol. Then for giggles I switched over to WiFi and got the same 4 bars (HD).

Try it out and let us know if it works for you.

BTW, please don't re-port this in other forums, but do feel free to post a link to this thread in this forum for the workaround.

Thanks and I hope this helps,

-Chris

Thanks for doing this, Chris. Tried the 10Base full Duplex, but alas it didn't solve the problem for me. (I also tried 10Base half for the hell of it, but no dice.) I will indeed post a link to this thread so that others can give your workaround a go and see if it works for them.

Thanks again for your efforts...