Blu Ray with 7.1 ch analog audio

[amarmistry]

Ok I am officially pissed at Panasonic now . They announced sweet deal($137.50+1.99 s/h+Tax) on DMP-BD85K which I ordered on 11/25. For entire week after that, they kept promising every day that they will ship the Blu Ray in a day, but they didn't. Come Friday, they said they were back ordered, so it'll take 3 weeks to deliver. Yesterday, they called me and said they will deliver it on Jan 12th.
Long story short, now I got my projector and no blu Ray yet. I just don't want any Blu Ray, but want the one with 7.1 channel audio as I have a non-HDMI receiver and I do not want to use optical audio as I do not trust the capability of it.
So is there any Blu Ray out there around $150 (besides Samsung BD-C6500) that I can buy in lieu of Panny which has 71. channel audio?
I am still kinda leaning towards Panny since it gives me wirelss and SD card slot. There is no other Blu Ray player that gives me everything.
Sadly, I am going to have to wait or order it from Amazon (and pay $25 more). Call me stingy but I feel I shouldn't be paying more.

[dakatabg]

Go to eBay and write "blu ray 7.1" and you will see some for around $150. I saw one Panadonic and one Vizio but look it up.

[amarmistry]

Does anyone know the difference between Panasonic DMP-BD85 and DMP-BD85K? Is one newer than the other or has slightly differenct feature than the other?

[pixelthis]

NOPE, but the newer the model, the less chance it has of having analog 7.1 jack pack.
They are being phased out.
And really, the analog 7.1 cables are not an optimum solution.
Been there, done that, have the TEE shirt.
All you get is LCPM, and its hard to tell what its converted from. I GAVE UP on my
older receiver and just got an upgraded model with HDMI switching.
COST some money but life is a lot easier.
MINE was 850 on sale, but they have sub five hundred units now with full HDMI switching
and processing of the new formats. Worth it, really.
And your coax and optical cables will only transmit the older codecs of DD and DTS,
and CD audio, of course.

[amarmistry]

Are you recommending just getting a new receiver with hdmi rather than trying to find a BluRay with 7.1 chanel analog audio? I might just upgrade in couple of years, but not ready yet. When I do, it might be an upgrade of speakers as well.

Do you think with my 4 year old non-HDMI receiver, it won't make a big difference if I ran 7.1 channel audio vs optical audio from my BR to my receiver? If the difference in sound is something only a trained audiophile can tell, may be I shouldn't even sweat so much and stick to an optical audio for now.

Panasonic DMP-BD85 is on back order from Panasonic so I just went ahead and ordered one from amazon, for few dollars more.

[Mr Peabody]

No, the difference between the multichannel analog and optical will be noticeable. The optical will be some improved over DVD but the MC analog will allow you to take advantage of Dolby Tru-HD and DTS-MA which are lossless formats said to be the same as the master soundtrack. The mentioned HD audio soundtracks cannot pass via optical or coaxial digital.

[pixelthis]

Are you recommending just getting a new receiver with hdmi rather than trying to find a BluRay with 7.1 chanel analog audio? I might just upgrade in couple of years, but not ready yet. When I do, it might be an upgrade of speakers as well.

Do you think with my 4 year old non-HDMI receiver, it won't make a big difference if I ran 7.1 channel audio vs optical audio from my BR to my receiver? If the difference in sound is something only a trained audiophile can tell, may be I shouldn't even sweat so much and stick to an optical audio for now.

Panasonic DMP-BD85 is on back order from Panasonic so I just went ahead and ordered one from amazon, for few dollars more.

MY EXPERIENCE was a great deal like yours. I had a very nice Integra, about the same age,
a 1200 RECEIVER, not a piece of junk by any standard.
I thought I could make it last a few more years when I scored a Sony Blue ray
with 7.1 outs. But the only thing it would tell me was that the output was LPCM ,
but not what it had been converted from. SOUNDED QUITE GOOD, but the only way I could be certain that the output was lossless was when the disc was LPCM That
was how they started out, but they later started going to DTS-MASTER and DD lossless.
I could tell a quality drop when the disc was anything but LCPM(CASINO ROYALE
was LPCM, and it was awesome), and I think I was getting the higher bit but still lossy
versions of DD and DTS.
Anyway , I got a deal on an Integra 6.9, 800 + tax, and went for it.
NOW I can tell what I am getting all the time, and its uniformly good. I also have HDMI
and component video switching, everything, component and HDMI, goes through one pipe,
lifes a lot easier, programing the remote's macros is a heck of a lot easier.
And new stuff like AUDDESSY makes for a lot more interesting HT experience.
I guess what I am saying is don't fret about the sound too much until you can get a receiver with HDMI, and if you can get a BLU player with 7.1 outs, make sure it will
transmit the new formats to your current receiver.
And make sure you hurry. I gave my old receiver to my brother, and was shopping for a
new BLU player for him for CHRISTMAS, and was quite surprized that none had 7.1 outs.
I mean none. Makes sense, they obsolete your receiver, make the paranoid studios
happy, save a ton of money(those 7.1 jackpacks aint cheap) and everybodies happy but you.
I am just saying those are your options. I would start putting pennies in the bank, saving for a new receiver. THE SOUND on BLU still great, even the lossy full bit DTS and DD.
And you still have that great picture, still an experience that beats DVD.
Thinks could be worse. Just presenting options, is all. I had been aching for a new receiver
anyway, and this was a good excuse. I bought my old receiver to use as a control center
and it was obsolete a few years after I got the sucker(component video switching).
Now my systems integrated and works more intuitively .
And the wiring is a lot more simple(about as simple as a HT ever gets).

[amarmistry]

Hello everyone,
My setup of Projector in my basement is finally done. I am extremely happy with everything, esp the Epson Projector, Panny BR Player and how my non-HDMI receiver/speakers performs in basement. Audio is extremely satisfactory with 5.1 ch analog out from BR Player to Receiver.
Please see this link for the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/arm.amar/HomeTheater#

Most shots are from Casino Royale BR Disk. This is the default THX settings for the projector. The projector hasn't been calibrated yet.

[recoveryone]

Did you steal the blu ray display card from the store or did they through it in...lol... nice pic's of your setup.

[Tarheel_]

glad to hear it's finally working out for you...although i'm not sure what you have against the Samsung C6500..great player. I have one.

anyway, you should be getting PCM through the analog cables which sound amazing. I'm using the same setup and can make do for a while.

Enjoy!

[Tarheel_]

Hello everyone,
My setup of Projector in my basement is finally done. I am extremely happy with everything, esp the Epson Projector, Panny BR Player and how my non-HDMI receiver/speakers performs in basement. Audio is extremely satisfactory with 5.1 ch analog out from BR Player to Receiver.
Please see this link for the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/arm.amar/HomeTheater#

Most shots are from Casino Royale BR Disk. This is the default THX settings for the projector. The projector hasn't been calibrated yet.

Just viewed your pics...great looking room and huge image. One thing which sticks out is the distance between your front L/R speakers and the center....they should be as close to horizontal as possible. I realize the center speaker is limited, but try to move the L/R speakers down toward the center of the screen. Plus, angle the center speaker slightly upward toward your viewing seat. This should make for a better front array.

[lomarica]

I agree with Mr. Peadobody I can switch between optical and analog and there is clearly a noticeable (ie better) improvement

like many others I do not want to upgrade to a new processor that has HDMI
so going from my samsung 6500 via 5.1 analog works great as the blu decodes the blu ray audio formats

this is all in PCM format via a setting on the samsung blu ray

hope this helps

[pixelthis]

I agree with Mr. Peadobody I can switch between optical and analog and there is clearly a noticeable (ie better) improvement

like many others I do not want to upgrade to a new processor that has HDMI
so going from my samsung 6500 via 5.1 analog works great as the blu decodes the blu ray audio formats

this is all in PCM format via a setting on the samsung blu ray

hope this helps

Congrats on getting a system you like.
My only point is that you have no way of telling what has been converted to LPCM
and is being shot to your analog 7.1. But if you're happy it doesn't matter.

[amarmistry]

@Tarheel_
Yes you are correct about front speaker height. As a matter of fact I wanted them lower than where they are now, but the guy who helped me install mentioned that this height was optimal, so I kinda went with that.
The sound is actually very good with current placement, but I think it could be better if I bring the front speakers slightly lower. I will angle the center channel slightly upward. In fact it is slightly tilting downwards as the shelf it is placed on is tilted. I need to fix it. Also I might want to upgrade the speakers to in-wall in future and may be at that time I will bring the front ones little lower. Thank you for your input.

[amarmistry]

Also @Tarheel_
I got nothing against Samsung C6500. Now that I think, I should have just bought that and not Panasonic. I have never had any products from Samsung (except my wife's cell phones) so I was paranoid. Panasonic customer service sucks. Oh well...

[Tarheel_]

Congrats on getting a system you like.
My only point is that you have no way of telling what has been converted to LPCM
and is being shot to your analog 7.1. But if you're happy it doesn't matter.

Without being in my HT right now...so i'm going on memory here, but i believe I can press the 'audio' button on my Samsung remote and it displays what codec is being output via the analog outs.
I know this can be done on my HD DVD player as i can scroll through all the formats available.

NOTE: for those using the analog outs... be sure to check your audio setup menu on your blu-ray player. My player came with Dynamic Range Control set to 'On'. You want this off unless you listen while others are sleeping.
Plus, if you use an AVR to control speaker size/bass/etc. then set all your blu-ray speaker sizes to Large so it's not filtered.

[pixelthis]

Without being in my HT right now...so i'm going on memory here, but i believe I can press the 'audio' button on my Samsung remote and it displays what codec is being output via the analog outs.
I know this can be done on my HD DVD player as i can scroll through all the formats available.

NOTE: for those using the analog outs... be sure to check your audio setup menu on your blu-ray player. My player came with Dynamic Range Control set to 'On'. You want this off unless you listen while others are sleeping.
Plus, if you use an AVR to control speaker size/bass/etc. then set all your blu-ray speaker sizes to Large so it's not filtered.

Different from my old Sony. All it output was LPCM, and while the display would say
"DTS" or "DD" you could change it with no perceptual change in sound, the same thing
was output no matter what.
Good advice about the dynamic range.