Panasonic DMP-BD10AK and Blu-Ray

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I just called Panasonic (800)405-0652 TWICE and asked two different technical support guys if they knew anything about a firmware for DTS-HD MA.
They were both clueless. I mean they didn't even know what DTS-HD is!
I wonder if they even know what blu-ray is?

I was going to ask them if DTS-HD MA is a firmware (software upgrade) or is it a hardware upgrade if the player already has a DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio decoder. But since they were so clueless, I couldn't even ask.
These guys were reading back the owner's manual to me.
"Let's see...it says here that it can decode DTS....but I don't see anywhere about the other stuff.."

I wish Panasonic would hire technical support people who knew more than we do! We shouldn't be the ones telling them what they don't know. They should be telling us.

What a bunch of idiots!

 

[j_garcia]

I think you jumped the gun on selling the PS3...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Well, because I don't have HDMI audio, I needed 5.1 Analog output.
The PS3 doesn't have 5.1 Analog LPCM output.
Besides, the PS3 just doesn't look right along with my Acurus system.
It would have been perfect to me if the PS3 looked like a traditional 17" component with 5.1 Analog output.
And because my Acurus RL-11 has absolutely no bass management for HT, I needed something that can do that. Both the Toshiba HD-XA1 and Panasonic DMP-BD10A have speaker and bass management, unlike the Sony BD players, which rely on receivers or external processors.

 

[j_garcia]

The Sony BDP-S1 does have 5.1 analog out, though I am not sure they still make it.

According to the SonyStyle website, so does the BDP-S300, which is the replacement and it has HDMI 1.3.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yes, both the Sony BDP-S1 and S300 have 5.1 Analog LPCM. But neither one of them have bass managment or speaker management. For example, it will not allow you to fine tune the individual speaker levels (dBA). It will not let you specify whether your speaker is Small, Large, or No Speaker Present. It will not allow you to adjust the subwoofer level. It will not allow you to specify the crossover (40 Hz, 80 Hz, 100 Hz, etc.) for bass management. It will not allow you to adjust the time-delay (speaker distance).
So basically, you would need an external processor to do all this because none of the Sony BD players can do it.

 

[j_garcia]

I wasn't aware of that, I'll have to check into that... Seems rather odd, since it is a standard feature on all DVD players with m/c outs these days. My receiver can manage the multichannel input though...I know this because my 2900 has poor bass management also.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I just spoke to DTS Engineering department. I asked him if the Panasonic BD can upgrade from DTS to DTS-HD HR with just a firmware, could it also upgrade to DTS-HD MA with another firmware.

The answer: They don't know. DTS does not make the DTS chipsets. So it depends on the actual DTS chipset.