Question about BR Player and Reciever

[greg_di]

Hello all,

Long time lurker first time poster. I have a question as I was trying to find the information by myself online but I never got the answer I fully wanted.

I am looking on upgrading my sound quality. The setup I have now I have had for 2 years. I am upgrading as I do want a bit more sound quality to go with the display and I also intend to go from 5.1 to 7.1 with the new setup

I am currently on my first ever setup and looking to upgrade:

TV: Panasonic 60" GT50

Sound:
Currently I have an older HTIB system Onkyo HT-S330 which I will be getting rid off as after 2 years it is starting to fail.

Blu Ray:
Blu Rays are being played through my fat launch day PS3.

Now I want to buy a standalone blu ray player and just use the PS3 strictly for games.

I am looking at buying the Panasonic DMP BDT500.

My question is, since the blu ray player can decode all the high end codecs and can hook up my current speakers, will it be worth it to also buy a new A/V Reciever or will that just be a waste of money?

I eventually plan on buying new speakers (Klipsch series just not sure which series yet)

For recievers if I do end up getting one with the BR player I was looking at the Pioneer VSX-1122-K.

Is it a good idea to get the BR player and the reciever or should I just stick with the BR Player to process audio and video?


Thank You

 

[ImcLoud]

Why don't you want to keep your ps3 for blu ray? Its all I use and it works awesome, we have 5 ps3's in my house....

 

[greg_di]

The only reason is I have already replaced the laser twice on it due to over-use of movies/games, I want something that is just dedicated for movies. As well with the fat ps3 it does not bitstream HD audio codecs as this was only implemented in the slim ps3.

I also do not want another ps3 as ps4 is just around the corner

 

[jostenmeat]

My question is, since the blu ray player can decode all the high end codecs and can hook up my current speakers, will it be worth it to also buy a new A/V Reciever or will that just be a waste of money?

Is it a good idea to get the BR player and the reciever or should I just stick with the BR Player to process audio and video?

1. Your current receiver already accepts lossless codec bitstreams, right? You don't even need the player to do it then. I mean, you could do it either way really. But at least you get the logos on your receiver when it's doing the decoding, so at least "you'll know".

2. That's a trick question, because you could do it either way with either combination. And FWIW, most "video processing" is usually of the bad kind. DNR, EE, 3:2, whatever. The only video processors worth adding to certain (super expensive) systems cost a lot, and require expensive measuring tools to use, with a learning curve on the software. This is what you basically want to happen: Just send the info direct from bluray to receiver and display directly. If your display can handle 24p, then you need to enable that of course in player and TV. Pana is usually defaulted to "light" for black level, and that's the one to stick to; most all of the defaults are fine, just know about 24p, and you're pretty much good to go with Pana players.

 

[Swerd]

I am currently on my first ever setup and looking to upgrade:

TV: Panasonic 60" GT50

Currently I have an older HTIB system Onkyo HT-S330 which I will be getting rid off as after 2 years it is starting to fail.

Blu Rays are being played through my fat launch day PS3.

Now I want to buy a standalone blu ray player and just use the PS3 strictly for games. I am looking at buying the Panasonic DMP BDT500.

My question is, since the blu ray player can decode all the high end codecs and can hook up my current speakers, will it be worth it to also buy a new A/V Reciever or will that just be a waste of money?

I eventually plan on buying new speakers (Klipsch series just not sure which series yet)

For recievers if I do end up getting one with the BR player I was looking at the Pioneer VSX-1122-K.

Is it a good idea to get the BR player and the reciever or should I just stick with the BR Player to process audio and video?

I recently went through setting up a Panasonic DMP BDT500 to work with my existing system. My system is different than yours, or what you may get, because my older receiver cannot decode the Blue Ray audio codecs. As a result, I chose that Panasonic player because it can internally decode BR audio and sent it through analog audio cables to my receiver. It can also sent out audio & video digitally over HDMI cables to your receiver & TV. It also costs more than BR players that can only send out digital audio & video.

So, if your receiver can decode BR audio codecs and has HDMI connections (at least one input from a BR player, and one output to a TV - I assume your TV can accept HDMI connections, can it?), then the BDT500 costs more money than you need to spend for a BR player.

 

[greg_di]

1. Your current receiver already accepts lossless codec bitstreams, right? You don't even need the player to do it then. I mean, you could do it either way really. But at least you get the logos on your receiver when it's doing the decoding, so at least "you'll know".

Yes it does accept bitstream but the current player im using for blu rays (PS3) does not sent bitstream as I have the older fat version. Only the slim will send bitstream.

2. That's a trick question, because you could do it either way with either combination. And FWIW, most "video processing" is usually of the bad kind. DNR, EE, 3:2, whatever. The only video processors worth adding to certain (super expensive) systems cost a lot, and require expensive measuring tools to use, with a learning curve on the software. This is what you basically want to happen: Just send the info direct from bluray to receiver and display directly. If your display can handle 24p, then you need to enable that of course in player and TV. Pana is usually defaulted to "light" for black level, and that's the one to stick to; most all of the defaults are fine, just know about 24p, and you're pretty much good to go with Pana players.

Yup the display can handle 24p and thank you about the video processing tips, didn't know they were pretty much useless

So, if your receiver can decode BR audio codecs and has HDMI connections (at least one input from a BR player, and one output to a TV - I assume your TV can accept HDMI connections, can it?), then the BDT500 costs more money than you need to spend for a BR player.

Yes TV has HDMI connections. So I can get a pretty bare bones BR player without all the bells and whistle since my receiver will be doing most of the work instead of spending more on a player which has all those codecs?

 

[Swerd]

Yes TV has HDMI connections. So I can get a pretty bare bones BR player without all the bells and whistle since my receiver will be doing most of the work instead of spending more on a player which has all those codecs?

Yes . I'd suggest the Panasonic DMT BDT-220.

 

[jostenmeat]

Yup the display can handle 24p and thank you about the video processing tips, didn't know they were pretty much useless

Then absolutely make sure you have it set at both ends. Hit "info" I think on the Pana players of past, and 24p should pop right up in the upper right corner. If not it may say something like BD-Video or something.

Yes TV has HDMI connections. So I can get a pretty bare bones BR player without all the bells and whistle since my receiver will be doing most of the work instead of spending more on a player which has all those codecs?

Everything (for our discussion) "has all those codecs". What Swerd was talking about was not just decoding them in the player, but sending them out via multi channel analog cables to an older receiver that doesn't have HDMI. You have HDMI (which also handles audio).

Re the video processing that makes things worse, even the nicest TVs made in the world during certain years (Pana plasmas) had unwanted default settings, particularly outside of film/cinema/thx. Check Size 1 vs 2 to get back 5% of your pic (overscan), defeat ALL FORMS OF NR (these are defaulted on certain Pana viewing modes), and when you enable 24p, I'm not kidding it looks like your TV is twice as good, as if you spent twice the money on it after just a few minutes of setting changes. I've done it first hand for my friend's 65V10. He had no idea; I bet there are thousands of people that could do these things but haven't, including the failure to send/accept 24p.

 

[greg_di]

Then absolutely make sure you have it set at both ends. Hit "info" I think on the Pana players of past, and 24p should pop right up in the upper right corner. If not it may say something like BD-Video or something.



Everything (for our discussion) "has all those codecs". What Swerd was talking about was not just decoding them in the player, but sending them out via multi channel analog cables to an older receiver that doesn't have HDMI. You have HDMI (which also handles audio).

Re the video processing that makes things worse, even the nicest TVs made in the world during certain years (Pana plasmas) had unwanted default settings, particularly outside of film/cinema/thx. Check Size 1 vs 2 to get back 5% of your pic (overscan), defeat ALL FORMS OF NR (these are defaulted on certain Pana viewing modes), and when you enable 24p, I'm not kidding it looks like your TV is twice as good, as if you spent twice the money on it after just a few minutes of setting changes. I've done it first hand for my friend's 65V10. He had no idea; I bet there are thousands of people that could do these things but haven't, including the failure to send/accept 24p.

Once again thank you for the help guys

I actually had my TV calibrated and when the calibrator was doing the setup he showed me the 24p switch and I did notice the improvements


Swerd ty for the link and suggestion, Instead of the 500 I will now look at the 220 or the 320 (only a minor price difference between these two)

 

[jostenmeat]

You're welcome.

But ummm, for the time being, can't your PS3 decode all the formats, and send as pre-decoded mch PCM to your receiver? You should be enjoying the lossless codecs already, if I understand your situation correctly. I've never owned a PS3 but it can't be that hard to figure out. Hopefully someone more familiar will see this and help you out.

 

[greg_di]

You're welcome.

But ummm, for the time being, can't your PS3 decode all the formats, and send as pre-decoded mch PCM to your receiver? You should be enjoying the lossless codecs already, if I understand your situation correctly. I've never owned a PS3 but it can't be that hard to figure out. Hopefully someone more familiar will see this and help you out.

Yes it does do PCM but since I do use Netflix quite a bit and since netflix uses "Dolby Digital Plus" for 5.1 audio. The fat PS3 will not resample DD+ to LPCM. The standalone does.

As well since I am already on my second ps3 blu ray laser, I would just rather have a standalone for movies and the PS3 just used for games.