Impressions of my first Blu-ray unit

[Mr Peabody]

My Samsung BD-P1200 arrived today. I couldn't wait to hook it up. I did read some of the manual to see if anything important jumped out. I'm running the video into my Toshiba 62" DLP via Tributaries HDMI cable. For audio I just plugged my existing digital Toslink in. I've got one BR movie so far, Fantastic Four. I popped it in and I was amazed, smiling from ear to ear. Well.... this was after I couldn't get a picture and went checking connections and such only to find out my HDMI is input #6, not #1. I'll blame it on the excitement. So even some what experienced hobbyists can have a brain fart:)

The picture was incredible. My wife was even stunned. She was like "yeah, just another one of his gizmos", but this got her attention. There have been statements made as to the fact that people don't think the difference is large enough for consumers to notice, well I beg to differ with that. After viewing some of my BR movie, I put a SD in to see how it looked. The Samsung is supposed to be a great upscaler, even with that, the SD did not come close to the BR picture. The demo discs they have at some of the stores with the split screen showing BR vs SD is not a slanted exaggeration. I had my output resolution set to 1080i, that's the highest my display will go.

The audio was just as stunning. I wondered how much difference there would actually be using digital in/out. It was plenty noticeable. It wasn't so much sound quality as it was the presentation of it. It seemed like there were more sound effects, the steering of the effects around the room and the sound being more enveloping. I am happy with what I've experienced and it really takes the HT experience up a notch.

My first impression of Blu-ray is that there is more of an improvement in both audio and video over standard DVD than I thought there would be. Some one here stated in a thread that they had trouble watching SD since they had gotten their HD disc player. I was skeptical, but now I could see how that could be.

[pixelthis]

Beleive me, watch enough HD and SD is downright pedestrian.
An episode of stargate atlantis tonight was simply stunning.
BTY I might be mistaken but it seems that DLP is a progressive display, with most
having a display of 720p, as good as your new toy looks it might look even better
with an output set to a progressive format:1:

[Mr Peabody]

My DLP's manual says it is capable of 1080i but they never say what the "native" resolution is. I understand from some of the articles I've read that 1080i is a better picture than 720p, dispite my logic. I'll have to play with it to see if there is any difference.

[L.J.]

Congrats on the new toy. Give Pirates 1&2 a try. I was very impressed with the PQ & SQ. Easy demo matl. Take a look at Planet Earth as well. PQ on some scenes is amazing.

[Blue Meanie]

Beleive me, watch enough HD and SD is downright pedestrian.
An episode of stargate atlantis tonight was simply stunning.
BTY I might be mistaken but it seems that DLP is a progressive display, with most
having a display of 720p, as good as your new toy looks it might look even better
with an output set to a progressive format:1:

What is 'BTY'?

Jeff

[musicman1999]

Mr.P
Why don't you hook up your 5.1 outputs and get some of that uncompressed pcm sound.Glad you like your new purchase.

bill

[Mr Peabody]

Using my existing hook up was faster. I may try the analog outs later. Primare tells me my processor has true analog pass through, the signal will bypass any processing. This makes me wonder if my settings will still be in effect or if I will have to set up all my speaker settings using the Blu-ray player, this was a big hesitation too, to be truthful. Also, I've been reading something about certain HD audio formats when converted to the analog, the sub, or LFE, being 10 db down. I'm not sure why this happens. I guess with each channel having it's own volume that this really wouldn't be a problem though.

I don't know if soundtracks are remixed for HD discs or less compression makes that big a difference but the few movies I've watched via the digital connection have been very impressive. Like I just watched The Messengers earlier today and one part sounded like walking was on the ceiling. As I mentioned before the sound effects are a new level from DVD. I previously, except for a hand full of movies, thought my rear speakers were wasted on DVD. But on Blu-ray they get a pretty good workout.

[musicman1999]

What you are getting is full bitrate DTS so it should sound a bit better than the more common half bitrate Dts or DD.I would think that you would need to set your levels in player,post your results as you go.I will be in the same boat if and when i go Bluray,i will be using the analog connection as my Anthem is not going anywhere.

bill

[Mr Peabody]

I watched some scenes on a couple DVD's tonight and I do think it's more the less compression because the sound effects seem to be better than what I remembered.

[musicman1999]

If you mean sd dvd,i don't think the sound should be that much different,because as i understand it the full bitrate dts comes from downconverting the high def audio formats on blurays and the sound from sd dvd's should be pretty much the same allowing for different transports as you are connected by coax digital and your processor is decoding.

bill

[Mr Peabody]

Nope, if you watch standard DVD through a Blu-ray player you will get better DD and DTS sound. Dolby Labs has an explanation for this on their website. If I have it straight, the HD versions still contain the core DD or DTS signal in an uncompressed or less compressed form which in turn allows for better sound using our existing decoders. The HD versions are extensions of the core. I was pretty excited to find this out and I know it's true. It's not just a subtle difference.

[pixelthis]

What is 'BTY'?

Jeff
BTW= BY THE WAY

IMHO=IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

DLP= DEAD LAMP PISS!

PLASMA= NEED SOME "PLASMA" WHEN MY "PLASMA" FELL OFF THE WALL

DA= DUMB ASS

DAAQ= DUMB ASS ASKING QUESTIONS (just kidding):ihih:

[Blue Meanie]

BTW= BY THE WAY

IMHO=IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

DLP= DEAD LAMP PISS!

PLASMA= NEED SOME "PLASMA" WHEN MY "PLASMA" FELL OFF THE WALL

DA= DUMB ASS

DAAQ= DUMB ASS ASKING QUESTIONS (just kidding):ihih:

That STILL doesn't explain what 'BTY' is, which you've used on more than one occasion. Sorry if you find this to be a DA question.

Jeff

[pixelthis]

That STILL doesn't explain what 'BTY' is, which you've used on more than one occasion. Sorry if you find this to be a DA question.

Jeff
BTY= LOUSY TYPIST
And the ONLY "DA" question is the one you dont ask.
How else are you gonna find anything out?:ihih:

[mdalcant]

My son has had the Play Station 3 as a blue ray HD DVD and it is stunning. That is why I got one myself and for free. I found an easy way to have the PS3 for free. It is one of the few offers that only asks for trying one service and I chose stamps.com, first because it could actually be useful, second because you can cancel in four weeks without being charged, and you keep the free PS3. The sign in for getting the free offer is very easy and clearly explained in the following link: http://www.YourPS34free.com/index.php?ref=4024541

[bobsticks]

It's getting cold in here... a bit shilly...

[PeruvianSkies]

BTY= LOUSY TYPIST
And the ONLY "DA" question is the one you dont ask.
How else are you gonna find anything out?:ihih:

Well, at least you admit you can't type very well....and here all along I just thought that you were as ignorant as you came across, now I know that you are still ignorant, but also that you can't type well either and that the two are not as closely related as I initially perceived.

[Mr Peabody]

PS3 for free, that's the way to go.

[pixelthis]

Well, at least you admit you can't type very well....and here all along I just thought that you were as ignorant as you came across, now I know that you are still ignorant, but also that you can't type well either and that the two are not as closely related as I initially perceived.
You're hostility is matched only by your stupidity.
You probably dont know the difference between a rectifier and a rectum
(which probably pisses off your boyfriend to a great degree)
Peruvian skies is a great name for you, as your grey matter is probably as thin as the
air in Peru, and probably composed of oxygen:ciappa:

[fudgemik]

My DLP's manual says it is capable of 1080i but they never say what the "native" resolution is. I understand from some of the articles I've read that 1080i is a better picture than 720p, dispite my logic. I'll have to play with it to see if there is any difference.


720p is higher resolution than 1080i, so u know, its not just scan lines, its a pixel rating and 720p is actually higher 1080i, dont know the numbers off top of my head but check into it.................might be worth it...........now 1080p thats a diff story..........

[E-Stat]

And I've been part of it too...

Let's get back to discussing the real topics, k?

rw

[pixelthis]

And I've been part of it too...

Let's get back to discussing the real topics, k?

rw
Sounds good to me.
Mr Peabodies set has a native res of 720p, when they say it can display 1080i they are just being simplistic, trying not to confuse people.
What they mean is that it can convert 1080i into 720p:1:

[Smokey]

720p is higher resolution than 1080i, so u know, its not just scan lines, its a pixel rating and 720p is actually higher 1080i, dont know the numbers off top of my head but check into it.

How could that be?

Going by number of pixel rating, 1080i set have twice as much pixels (2 milion pixels...1920 × 1080 = about 2.07 million) as compare with 720p sets (1 million pixels...1280 x 720= 0.92 million pixels).

The only difference between 720p and 1080i format is that pixels in 720p sets get refreshed twice as much as 1080i sets in a given time frame :)

[StoneMountain]

Getting back to the OP. I agree the Blu-ray PQ on my PS3 is amazing on the Panasonic 58 PZ700u. Another nice thing is the upconversion of SD DVD's with animated movies (Cars, Ice Age) phenomenal. It is so good, we are probably not going to buy the blu-ray versions of what we have. However, I am holding off on buying any SD DVD's if it may come on blu-ray later on.

[Mr Peabody]

I hate to make broad generalizations but I have also noticed that animated movies seem to have the least difference between SD & HD. I bought The Ant Bully on BR after having rented it on DVD. Going just from memory the BR didn't seem to show much difference. I have Chicken Little on BR that I haven't watched yet and my kids have the DVD so I plan to do some more comparisons. The Transporter 2 I have on both formats and there is a pretty noticeable difference when going A/B. The upsampled SD looks very good though, I'm wondering if people don't A/B if they will think HD discs are worth the money. The SD looks good but then go to BR and watch a few minutes and go back to SD, you will tell a difference, it's like the SD is almost hazy in comparison. After owning mine, I think HD is worth it.

I just hope people don't think their cable HD is the same. In my area BR is significantly better picture quality over cable HD.

Stone Mountain, welcome to the forums. Let me guess you are in the Atlanta area? I lived there in the mid 90's and have been to the top of Stone Mountain.

[GMichael]

How could that be?

Going by number of pixel rating, 1080i set have twice as much pixels (2 milion pixels...1920 × 1080 = about 2.07 million) as compare with 720p sets (1 million pixels...1280 x 720= 0.92 million pixels).

The only difference between 720p and 1080i format is that pixels in 720p sets get refreshed twice as much as 1080i sets in a given time frame :)

It's all in how you want to look at it. 1080i has more pixles overall. But you are only getting 540 lines at a time. 540 for the odd lines, then 540 for the even lines. When the motion is slow then it looks better than the 720. But when you have fast action, it will look like 540.

[Mr Peabody]

Oh man, not the resolution debate again. I went around and around with Pixel on this. I can find articles to support both of your views. So I guess another debate isn't so far out of line when the professionals can't even agree. My Blu-ray player allows me to choose from the various output video resolutions. So using HDMI into my Toshiba DLP I did some testing one night, my wife and daughter helped, we watched the same scene in 720p and 1080i and 1080i was better. I didn't really expect much difference. I think there must be something to be said for "native resolution". I tried 1080p just to see what happened, it gave me a screen that said "Your display does not support this resolution". I knew it didn't, I just wanted to see what would happen. I thought it was cool that the TV and player could communicate via the HDMI. I read an article that explained why there isn't a noticeable difference between 1080i and 1080p but I really didn't understand it well enough to explain it to anyone else. It was something to do with the 24 frames and both using 60hz. ABC and ESPN are a couple that broadcast in 720p, so there are camps that support 720p is better on the fast motion scenes and 1080i better stills, Discovery HD uses 1080i.

[pixelthis]

Oh man, not the resolution debate again. I went around and around with Pixel on this. I can find articles to support both of your views. So I guess another debate isn't so far out of line when the professionals can't even agree. My Blu-ray player allows me to choose from the various output video resolutions. So using HDMI into my Toshiba DLP I did some testing one night, my wife and daughter helped, we watched the same scene in 720p and 1080i and 1080i was better. I didn't really expect much difference. I think there must be something to be said for "native resolution". I tried 1080p just to see what happened, it gave me a screen that said "Your display does not support this resolution". I knew it didn't, I just wanted to see what would happen. I thought it was cool that the TV and player could communicate via the HDMI. I read an article that explained why there isn't a noticeable difference between 1080i and 1080p but I really didn't understand it well enough to explain it to anyone else. It was something to do with the 24 frames and both using 60hz. ABC and ESPN are a couple that broadcast in 720p, so there are camps that support 720p is better on the fast motion scenes and 1080i better stills, Discovery HD uses 1080i.

Just pick whatever rez your TV happens to handle well and don't worry about it.
Whatever rez your player puts out you will be watching in 720p, thats the native rez of your set. You can't change it.
BUT it might do a better job of rescaling some formats into 720p than others

[Mr Peabody]

If my set had a native rez of 720p then 720p signal should have looked better. I believe mine is 1080i. That's the only way there would have been as much difference as we noticed between the two.

[pixelthis]

If my set had a native rez of 720p then 720p signal should have looked better. I believe mine is 1080i. That's the only way there would have been as much difference as we noticed between the two.
If you pick 720p on your player then your player does the scaling.
If you pick 1080i then you TV does the scaling, and probably better.
My TV has a great scaler from a company, DCCd or DCCV, can't quite remember,
but it handles the scaling chores better than my cable box.
And I could be wrong but I DO REMEMBER READING that DLP chips have a native
res of 720p, but whatever the res its progressive, the res of all fixed pixel devices is progressive:1:

[Mr Peabody]

I don't know what you mean by dlp being progressive. Any fixed pixel will scale lower resolutions, or higher, as far as that goes, to it's native resolution, excluding 1080p.

I know units communicate via HDMI, I wonder which upscaler takes presidence between a TV or player.

[pixelthis]

I don't know what you mean by dlp being progressive. Any fixed pixel will scale lower resolutions, or higher, as far as that goes, to it's native resolution, excluding 1080p.

I know units communicate via HDMI, I wonder which upscaler takes presidence between a TV or player.
On CRT sets you could change resolution. on all DLP, LCD, etc, you can't, hence they are fixed pixel.
On my set everything will be 1366 *766. On yours everything will be 720p, maybe 768.
But your Blu-ray scales to several resolutions,including 1080p, which your set won't take. Set it at 1080i and it will shoot that to your tv, and your tv will resize it to 720p.
bUT IF YOU SET YOUR PLAYER TO A RESOLUTION MATCHING THE NATIVE RESOLUTION OF YOUR TV, your tv will do nothing but play it.
And the player might not do as good a job of rescaling as your tv.
So when you set your player to 1080i your tv goes to town, rescales it to match its native rez, and the picture looks better, because your tv does a better job than your player
of resizing video.
Now go take a Tylenol, I KNOW YOU WANT ONE:1:

[musicman1999]

No,thats not how it works.I assume that you are speaking about SD dvds being upscaled,if you set the player to upscale the picture to 1080i then the tv will downscale to 720p.That means that the picture will be scaled twice and that should affect the picture.Either set the player to the same resolution as the tv or turn scaling off on the player all together.It is always better to avoid two levels of processing.

bill

[pixelthis]

:1:
No,thats not how it works.I assume that you are speaking about SD dvds being upscaled,if you set the player to upscale the picture to 1080i then the tv will downscale to 720p.That means that the picture will be scaled twice and that should affect the picture.Either set the player to the same resolution as the tv or turn scaling off on the player all together.It is always better to avoid two levels of processing.

bill
I agree, but thats not what I am talking about, go stand in the corner.
THESE newfangled hd disc players are capable of 1080p.
Mr p's TV wont take 1080p, only the newer sets do.
He can pick the rez, and when he picks 1080i he thinks the picture looks better.
Thats because his set rescales it using its internal circuits.
But when he picks 720p his set doesnt do any of the work, it just takes it and plays it.
I HAVE TANGLED with this for awhile, trying to decide which output my cablebox needs
to be set at for the best PQ on my set.
I finally decided 480p for standard def, 1080i for HD, that is what my set seems to do best, the designers probably thought that was what it would receive.
Just like Mr. P's set builders thought that most of the stuff his set would get would be
1080i, so they set it up to work best with that format:1:

[balloonknot32]

Alright here we go. Here are my impressions of my new Panasonic DMP-BD10A. The price here in Canada has come down to $799 MSRP. Just got this player and I have to say I'm very impressed with it. Some people don't like the drop down door but I think it's just fine. Unit seems to be made very solid. Like the addidtion of the power cord being removable.

Video is hooked up via HDMI (1080i) and audio is done by the 6 channel analog outputs to my Anthem AVM 30. All I can say is that movies in Blu ray look and sound terrific. The picture is so pristine you can see every detail. The auido is just amazing. Dolby True HD and PCM blow the doors off plain Dolby Digital and DTS. Want proof, check out Underworld, Black Hawk Down, 300, Fifth Element, Troy and both Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I heard nothing but horror stories about load times and I can tell you that it's not that bad. I haven't timed it but it's not too bad. It doesn't affect my vieving at all.

Now I know what all the fuss about Blu ray was. It looks and sounds fantastic. I can't go back to regular DVD's. I just wish every movie company (read this Paramount, Dreamworks, Sony, Disney) would put out every movie in Blu ray and HD DVD so the consumer can enjoy movies in whatever format they choose.

Love movies in high definition with uncompressed PCM.

:16:

[Mr Peabody]

Oooo... another Canadian, they're taking over :) Congrads on the machine. That was going to be my choice until I got ready to jump there wasn't one to be bought anywhere. There is a new 5 free movie offer for purchase of a Blu-ray player, don't forget to send off for them.

[balloonknot32]

Thanks Mr Peabody, already sent in my 5 choices.

[L.J.]

Alright here we go. Here are my impressions of my new Panasonic DMP-BD10A. The price here in Canada has come down to $799 MSRP. Just got this player and I have to say I'm very impressed with it. Some people don't like the drop down door but I think it's just fine. Unit seems to be made very solid. Like the addidtion of the power cord being removable.

Video is hooked up via HDMI (1080i) and audio is done by the 6 channel analog outputs to my Anthem AVM 30. All I can say is that movies in Blu ray look and sound terrific. The picture is so pristine you can see every detail. The auido is just amazing. Dolby True HD and PCM blow the doors off plain Dolby Digital and DTS. Want proof, check out Underworld, Black Hawk Down, 300, Fifth Element, Troy and both Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I heard nothing but horror stories about load times and I can tell you that it's not that bad. I haven't timed it but it's not too bad. It doesn't affect my vieving at all.

Now I know what all the fuss about Blu ray was. It looks and sounds fantastic. I can't go back to regular DVD's. I just wish every movie company (read this Paramount, Dreamworks, Sony, Disney) would put out every movie in Blu ray and HD DVD so the consumer can enjoy movies in whatever format they choose.

Love movies in high definition with uncompressed PCM.

:16:

Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, that uncompressed PCM is off the hook. I nice step from DD, IMO. I have also found the "core" DTS track to be pretty good too. X-men last stand comes to mind. Congrats on the new gear.