Panasonic DMP-55K and 35k tech question

[k2208]

I am new to this site and I am glad I came across it! I have read alot of good stuff already.

I have a Pioneer Elite VSX-80TXV receiver and a Samsung 40 1080p LCD tv. I want to add one of the Panasonic Blu-ray players to my home theater, unless of course someone has ideas of better players in the $300-400 price range.

My 1st question is that my Pioneer receiver has HDMI but it is pass through only. I want to run an HDMI cable from the blu-ray player to my TV, and the optical(35) or analog(55) out of the blu-ray to my receiver. Will sound transmit properly through both outputs simultaneously? I have tried it with a friends PS3 and it would only transmit through one or the other. I dont want to have to have the receiver on all the time while watching the movies. I have kids and they will use it also.

Also my receiver has the 7.1 multi-channel inputs which would support the 55's on board decoding of Dolby True HD and DTS HD. I have a 5.1 setup in my home. Will I notice a difference in the sound quality that would equal the $100 increase in price between the 2?

Also I have some gift certificates to use at Circuit City so I will probably buy it there, has anyone heard of any upcoming sales on these units?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[MrBoylan]

I am new to this site and I am glad I came across it! I have read alot of good stuff already.

I have a Pioneer Elite VSX-80TXV receiver and a Samsung 40 1080p LCD tv. I want to add one of the Panasonic Blu-ray players to my home theater, unless of course someone has ideas of better players in the $300-400 price range.

My 1st question is that my Pioneer receiver has HDMI but it is pass through only. I want to run an HDMI cable from the blu-ray player to my TV, and the optical(35) or analog(55) out of the blu-ray to my receiver. Will sound transmit properly through both outputs simultaneously? I have tried it with a friends PS3 and it would only transmit through one or the other. I dont want to have to have the receiver on all the time while watching the movies. I have kids and they will use it also.

Also my receiver has the 7.1 multi-channel inputs which would support the 55's on board decoding of Dolby True HD and DTS HD. I have a 5.1 setup in my home. Will I notice a difference in the sound quality that would equal the $100 increase in price between the 2?

Also I have some gift certificates to use at Circuit City so I will probably buy it there, has anyone heard of any upcoming sales on these units?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Welcome to the forum!

Yes the HDMI and S/PDIF (Toslink/coax) outputs are active at the same time on both players.

As to whether you should go with the analog outputs of the BD55 into your receiver's multi-channel analog input, instead of using the Toslink fiberoptic output of the BD35 (or BD55), and whether this is worth the difference in price, that depends how much audio matters to you and how good your system is.

On a basic system, you'd be hard-pressed to hear a difference between the analog multi-channel outputs and the lossy Dolby Digital and DTS outputs that you get over the S/PDIF digital outputs. But if you have a high resolution audio system and are sensitive to digital artifacts, then the lossless Dolby TrueHD, PCM and DTS-HD Master audio soundtracks decoded by the player into analog can really make your system sing.

If you get the BD55, you can experiment with it set both ways and choose whichever hook-up you prefer. But if you get the BD35 then you will be locked into using the lossy digital outputs (or upgrading your receiver to one that handles HDMI audio).

Hope that helps.

-Chris

[k2208]

Than you for your reply, I really appreciate it.

I would say I have a decent setup. I have a Pioneer Elite receiver, Ascend Acoustics main speakers and a M&K sub. The rest is subpar in my opinion, a Bose VCS-10 center(which is a very weak imo) and small KLH rear speakers. I am in the process of finding a center and rears that I like, I am kind of picky.

I love sound though, but I just dont know if my current setup will do justice to the analog inputs.

Correct me if I am wrong but the only thing I will miss out on though is the Dolby True HD and DTS HD, along with some sound quality that my system might not be able to accurately reproduce.

Sorry for all of the questions, I am really trying to wrap my arms around all of this and get a better understanding of it all.

thanks again,
Kirk

[MrBoylan]

Than you for your reply, I really appreciate it.

I would say I have a decent setup. I have a Pioneer Elite receiver, Ascend Acoustics main speakers and a M&K sub. The rest is subpar in my opinion, a Bose VCS-10 center(which is a very weak imo) and small KLH rear speakers. I am in the process of finding a center and rears that I like, I am kind of picky.

I love sound though, but I just dont know if my current setup will do justice to the analog inputs.

Correct me if I am wrong but the only thing I will miss out on though is the Dolby True HD and DTS HD, along with some sound quality that my system might not be able to accurately reproduce.

Sorry for all of the questions, I am really trying to wrap my arms around all of this and get a better understanding of it all.

thanks again,
Kirk

Well at this point, the biggest improvement you could make in your system would be to get a matching center channel and rears. Preferably the same brand as the front speakers using similar driver technology in order to get the best tonal match all around. This will make a bigger difference than Dolby TrueHD vs. Dolby Digital on your current system, IMHO.

But if you you use optical digital for sound instead of analog (or HDMI), then Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, which are lossless surround sound formats of exceptionally high quality, will be effectively "down-converted" to lossy compresion. It's no worse than DVD. In fact, it's better - the Dolby Digital companion track of Dolby TrueHD tracks is usually 640 KBPS, as opposed to 448 KBPS on DVD (higher rate means less compression artifacts), and DTS-HD Master Audio normally has a core track which is 1500 KBPS as opposed to DTS on DVD which is limited to 768 KBPS.

The problem comes in with multi-channel PCM soundtracks, of which there are many on Blu-ray Disc. Regular fiberoptic and coax digital connections (S/PDIF) cannot handle multi-channel PCM so you'll end up with "surround-encoded" stereo. Gone is the discrete multi-channel sound that we know and love so well. To get discrete multi-channel sound from PCM soundtracks on Blu-ray, you need to use HDMI or multi-channel analog.

Regards,

-Chris

[k2208]

I think I will go with the BD55 and hook it up analog so I get the most out of the blu-rays. I will upgrade my speakers when I can.

My final question is audio setup in the Panasonic. Is it easy to do through the player? My Pioneer receiver has a small microphone that I use to calibrate the system. I do not have an SP-level meter. Also I read where I might have to adjust my receiver also as the Panasonic sells short the sub channel.

Thanks again,
Kirk

[MrBoylan]

I think I will go with the BD55 and hook it up analog so I get the most out of the blu-rays. I will upgrade my speakers when I can.

My final question is audio setup in the Panasonic. Is it easy to do through the player? My Pioneer receiver has a small microphone that I use to calibrate the system. I do not have an SP-level meter. Also I read where I might have to adjust my receiver also as the Panasonic sells short the sub channel.

Thanks again,
Kirk

The LFE channel is lowered 10 dB over analog. That's not unique to the BD55. All DVD and Blu-ray players do that so that the LFE level does not distort over the analog transmission line.

Your receiver should have a set-up menu option to boost the LFE channel from the multi-channel analog input 10 dB. You should enable this option in order to get adequate levels out of the subwoofer channel.

The MCAC set-up software in the Pioneer receiver is great but I'm pretty sure it does not apply to the multi-channel analog inputs. For the analog inputs, you'll need to configure your speaker set-up in the BD55's multi-channel analog set-up screen. That's where you specify which channels you have (if 5.1, then turn off the rear surrounds) and whether they're small or large as well as adjusting levels and delay if the rear speakers are much further away from you than the fronts.

It's not rocket science, but actually it would help to have an SPL meter if you want to set them accurately.


Amazon has a pretty good price on the BD55 and BD35 (certainly better than Circuit City). Here's a link to the BD55 with our affiliate code in it so BPBS gets credit for the sale:

Panasonic DMP-BD55 on Amazon.com

Good luck.

-Chris

[k2208]

Chris,

Thank you again, you have been a great resource. The salesmen in the stores know some stuff but not enough to make me feel comfortable with a purchase.

I have a question about the multi-channel PCM soundtracks. I searched on the blu-ray stats page and like you said there are quite a few. Pirates of the Caribbean for instance which is a great movie. It lists PCM 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 in the audio section. So through an optical setup there would not be true surround sound even if it was the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1?

Thanks again,
Kirk

[MrBoylan]

Chris,

Thank you again, you have been a great resource. The salesmen in the stores know some stuff but not enough to make me feel comfortable with a purchase.

I have a question about the multi-channel PCM soundtracks. I searched on the blu-ray stats page and like you said there are quite a few. Pirates of the Caribbean for instance which is a great movie. It lists PCM 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 in the audio section. So through an optical setup there would not be true surround sound even if it was the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1?

Thanks again,
Kirk

If a title has both PCM 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, then you can select the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack in the disc menu and that will work fine over an optical output.

Be careful when you read the specs though, as some titles only include one English soundtrack. The Dolby Digital tracks may be for foreign language audio tracks for dubbed versions of the film. But the Pirates movies do have 2 English language tracks: one PCM and one Dolby Digital so you'd be fine with those over optical.

-CB

[k2208]

I do not have surround back speakers hooked up on my system. Should I still connect the surround back analog channels from the BD55 to my receiver?

Thanks,
Kirk

[MrBoylan]

I do not have surround back speakers hooked up on my system. Should I still connect the surround back analog channels from the BD55 to my receiver?

Thanks,
Kirk

Nope. Turn off the rear speakers in the BD55's speaker configuration screen, or just use the 2-ch + 5.1-ch option and the 5.1 outputs. There is no need to hook up the full 7.1 channels if you have only a 5.1-channel system. The player will mix any 7.1 channel soundtracks down to 5.1 channels.

-CB