Official Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-Ray player thread

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Yeah, I know there's been a lot of griping about the cost of Blu-Ray machines, but it's kind of gutsy to put out a more expensive 2nd gen machine and remove a major piece of connectivity. Why not just remove the component outputs while they're at it?

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

I should probably ask this in the software thread, but as every thread in there tends to spawn a war:

What Blu-Ray titles exist right now with the AVC (MPEG-4) codec? I was aware of several upcoming titles, but wasn't sure of how many were actually out and what the quality was like. Encouraging that there will be a 50 GB release of From Hell with AVC. They should be able to pack a lot onto that disc!

Since it's likely Blu-Ray will avoid VC-1 for a while, I'd like to know how AVC is doing. So far, comments sound positive in this thread.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Blu-Ray is, by no means, avoiding VC1. Here you go:

VC1 titles now available on Blu-Ray:

The Lake House
The Fugitive
House of Wax
Leathal Weapon
Leathal Weapon 2
Space Cowboys
Corpse Bride
Blazing Saddles

AVC Mpeg-4 now available on Blu Ray:

Gone in 60 Seconds
The Brothers Grimm
Glory Road
The Great Raid
Eight Below

In the coming months there are quite a few more AVC and VC1 transfers. I think that somehow this bad information regarding blu-ray and VC1 has spread to the point where folks just assume that the codec isn't being used at all on Blu Ray. That just isn't the case. VC1 titles are expected and available from Warner.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Several of the Disney BD's are AVC. The reviews at High Def Digest list the codecs used. Eight Below and a couple others are....I think all or most new Disney will be....

Warner is flooding Blu with VC1. BTW, Rattle And Hum on HD-DVD is AVC.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Rattle & Hum on Blu-ray uses AVC also, doesn't it? I believe it's the same transfer/encoding. I have the disc, but I still have no player to play it on.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Well, if Brothers Grimm is AVC, I'd have to say it is definitely no joke and probably right up near the top of current BD transfers. Eight Below is nothing to sneeze at either.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

I agree.. it is a fantastic transfer.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Thanks so much for the info, guys. I knew there were AVC titles out, but I honestly didn't know VC-1 titles were out already.

See, I think my friend's buddy who bought a Toshiba HD-DVD player immediately (maybe even before most people could get one) has been feeding him a lot of propaganda, and he's trying to spread it to me now, even though I've been up on this stuff a lot longer than him. He didn't even know Blu-Ray players were backwards-compatible with DVD. He thought that was exclusive to HD-DVD! I need to just shut my brain off whn he speaks I guess. He really thinks Blu-Ray isn't using VC-1 compression, or AVC for that matter.

Glad to hear it seems the quality is good with both the new compression schemes. I remember you said Gone in 60 Seconds looked good, Ben. Your favorite movie! I saw The Fugitive was out at Best Buy, I believe it's on both formats. Now that I think of it, pretty sure I did notice the Blu-Ray version, but I must not have picked it up. Kind of glad I never bothered upgrading to the SE on DVD.

My question is: is the choice of compression scheme mostly the studio's choice? It seems odd they'd release VC-1 on HD-DVD and MPEG-2 on Blu-Ray for some titles. Is it just because they know the space is there, so they use it and add a second disc with features so they look like they have just as much content as HD-DVD's 2-disc releases?

I had another thought that if the studios are deciding the codec, perhaps they chose MPEG2 on Blu-Ray for so many early titles because they knew the space was available and wanted to play it safe with a trusted codec? On HD-DVD they had little choice but to use the more efficient codec. Studios are very skittish sometimes about new things. Maybe they just trust MPEG-2.

Or perhaps they're using the MPEG-2 encodes that were used for D-VHS? But that would probably only apply to catalog titles. I don't know if they even still make D-VHS.

Regardless, all the misinformation from the early adopters of HD-DVD really angers me, and only nudges me that much more toward Blu-Ray.

And the 2nd gen HD-DVD player isn't even outputting 1080p yet is it?

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

The HD-A2 for $499 will not output 1080p but the HD-XA2 will output 1080p but that player will cost $1k.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Ahh, thanks Dave. And I'm guessing that player has 5.1 analog outs, but not 7.1?

Note how the HD-DVD price advantage is disappearing, til you go tit-for-tat with the features.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

To my knowledge the HD-XA2 only has 5.1 but I think it also will have HDMI 1.3 if I am not mistaken.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Well, that's something at least.

Hopefully that's something the 2nd gen. Blu-Ray players will add (and not drop anything else).

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

FYI:

Blu-ray Disc Player Firmware Download

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/c...d10/index.html

Update Information
Model Number DMP-BD10
Update Version Ver 1.2
Update Date 2006/11/1
Improvements
1.Picture Quality of disc menus
2.Playability and stability enhancements

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Excellent... way to go Panasonic! That was fast!

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

So I take it this is an update, but not THE update (DD and DTS lossless decoding capabilities) just yet?

Great to see them making their player even better so soon though.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Panasonic has just gained some points, good job Panasonic.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

I asked Panasonic while at CEDIA and they stated it would only do 1080p/60.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

It will be great if a future HD-SDI mod. will give us a 1080p@24 digital output on this player.
But I've to think that this is very hard to get.
I think that this is a limitation of the chip that decompress the stream incapable to handle a "pure" 1080p@24 stream.
Is this right?
Please some one tell me that I'm wrong.

Acta.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

plus, there are no displays on the market that currently accepts 1080p24... except for front projectors (the pearl being one... and oNLY?)

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

The Pioneer Elite PRO-FHD1 1080p plasma will accept 1080p/24.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Thank you for your excellent review of the Panasonic DMP-BD10. Here is mine. You will notice we agree on at least one of the points (and I wrote this before I ever read your review).
================================================== ======
Impassioned about Blu-ray as I am, the experience was nothing short of exhilarating. I can definitely say some things could have been better about this unit.

When we got the Toshiba HD-A1 player, the box has a diagram of the back of the machine and every connection is shown labeled. Nothing like this on the Panny. I absolutely love this feature, and I wish more HT equipment came this way!

When you turn on the Panny, you will be disappointed by how "low-res" the huge Blu-ray logo on the screen is! Jaggies like you wouldn't believe. The logo did not impress at all!

The minute you go into the OSD menus, you will notice they look "cheap." The Tosh's look much, much better.

The message "Reading..." appears on the screen any and all the time. These pauses were of shorter duration than with the Tosh, but seemingly more plentiful. It seems like this machine could use a faster CPU.

Panasonic includes the standard RCA-type composite video and audio cables. How sweet of them. Really, who is going to buy a Blu-ray player and use the composite cable for a video connection!! On the plus side, you get a free Blu-ray movie in the box and a coupon for two more free Blu-ray movies.

I'm not too thrilled about the disc loading procedure. You have to manually lower the front panel first, then press eject. For $1300 I would have hoped this entire mechanism would have been motorized!

I wish there would have been an Ethernet port.

When the unit is off, there is no pilot light as on the Tosh. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is lit on the front panel. I like the pilot light feature!

And, this is not a criticism, just something cute. See the card on top of the machine below?



I got it in my box! One in French and one in English!

Picture Quality is excellent, even though I could not get the machine to output in 1080p to my Westy (I posted earlier about this).

As I learn more about this player, I will post it for you guys.

Alra111

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

I believe Ben disabled his "reading" indicators if that's something that bothered you.

I'm quite anal about some things; I guess it's a given for HT enthusiasts! But, even I have never cared about dimming displays, pilot lights, and the like. I consider myself lucky in that regard. (I actually prefer lights to be off when my equipment is off and displays on when the equipment is on, else my little brain gets confused. ) Though I remember many were upset about my Philips DVD player that many said had a standby light suitable for landing aircraft! It never bothered me because it was behind tinted glass in my entertainment center. Same with menus and logos, though I can understand the apparent paradox of having something chintzy-looking on new state-of-the-art technology. It took a while for most DVD players to get too sophisitcated too. What can I say? Toshiba IS pretty stylish. Sony will likely have some nice ergonomics, if nothing else. (Do they design that stuff FIRST, and then try to configure the hardware?) If Toshiba were putting out Blu-Ray players, I'd be eyeing them too. Kind of saddens me that they're truly "hard-wired" to HD-DVD thanks to their huge role in bringing us DVD (and the money they want to keep making off those 3 letters). You do what you have to do in business I suppose. Nothing wrong with HD-DVD; I've just always seen Blu-Ray as having more long-term potential. Ashame it had to become so political. Why can't we all just get along? (Then again, if there'd been no format war would the players have all debuted at $2,000? With the costs of the latest, greatest (though still lacking the image quality of CRT) TVs I don't see why not.) So maybe some good will come out of all this yet. The price points are no more ridiculous than when DVD debuted, especially when you consider inflation and the superior technology.

My first DVD player (a Toshiba) will always hold a special place in my heart. That said, as long as the hardware delivers, regardless of who's producing it, I'm satisfied. The rest is icing, or gravy if you prefer. Little things that are really nice, or not so nice, but nothing that sways a decision to buy or not buy, unless all else is equal. And right now, there's little out and they're NOT equal.

And until they stop labeling the outputs on the units themselves, I'll be fine, but there is something to be said for making it easy for the customer. I hope more companies learn from Toshiba's fine example.

I believe even my Panasonic VCR came with the cards for the top. Unfortunatley, I think they were actually stuck on their and left marks!Just the way they package them for the stores I guess. I suppose it stops them from getting mixed up like they could if they just sent a few separately for display purposes. I think my Toshiba DVD player might have come with one too. It is kind of funny--and a damn waste of trees!

Keep us posted, Alra. Glad to see more input on these players.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

My next Pj (Mitsu HC5000) will do.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Just to let everyone know... I did the firmware update on the Panny last night. It went off without a hitch! The player is definitely faster now. It boots up in about half as much time as before. I'll post more when I have more time to evaluate any additional differences in performance.

Quick Tip: When doing the firmware update, be sure to leave the front panel in the open position. The disc tray will automatically open when the update is finished. Is the panel is closed then the update will not complete properly.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

My year old HP MD5880n DLP RPM accepts 1080p/24. So does the 65" version (MD6580n). I'm just waiting for the sources to catch up with my display.

FYI: In 2005 only three commonly available displays accepted native 1080p - the RPM HPs, the RPM Brillian and the FP Sony "Ruby." At CEDIA 2006 the floor was filled with 1080p accepting monitors, most of which accept 1080p/24. Someone (Joe Kane?) mentioned that for Plasmas the ideal frame rate to counteract "judder" is 72 (like on the Pioneers) and for FPs it's 48. Most displays (if not all) will handle multiples of 24fps if they accept 24fps.

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

That's a good tip, Ben! I take it as "it went off without a hitch" you didn't learn that the hard way?

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

"Not complete properly?"

The manual warns the tray will get damaged! Don't know if that's true, but I'm not gonna try it to find out!

Alra111

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Fortunately, I left the door open. Unfortunately, I've heard from a few people who didn't and the ended up having to repeat the entire process. Firmware updates always make me nervous... so I'd probably have a heart attack if anything went wrong!

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

Everyone I've heard from said the system just kind of shut down and needed a second install. Fortunately, the disc tray wasn't damaged.

I'm with you... not brave enough to try it for myself!

Re: Panasonic DMP-BD10

I was reading about the Samsung and the warnings like if your power goes out you could lose all functionality. Wonderful.

So don't do it during an electrical storm...or an ice storm...or during flooding conditions. Haha.