Panasonic DMP-BD30 - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Is the first Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player to hit store shelves worth your high-def dollar? Joshua Zyber puts Panasonic's DMP-BD30 player through its paces.

Full review here:
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/1184

[HD Guru]

Can we get the scores on the HQV test disc?

?/130

[Arkadin]

Josh--very nice review.
well organized and thorough. a model for others.
Looks like the Sammy dual is still in the lead to me barring any last minute upsets.

[Josh Z]

Can we get the scores on the HQV test disc?

?/130

I don't use the scorecard with the HQV disc because I don't rate the Noise Reduction features, which are too subjective to measure using their arbitrary mathematical formula.

The player failed every deinterlacing test on the disc, both Blu-ray and DVD versions. It's a jaggie nightmare on anything more complicated than a straightforward 3:2 film cadence. Blu-ray movie playback should be fine, even at 1080p60, but anything video-based or any DVDs with inaccurate flagging will be a mess.

[Bee]

Josh, nice write-up. You touched on every issue I have with the player from the "return" button and all of these ridiculous menu buttons. I can live with the added complexity but they do drive me nuts and make it a major inconvenience when watching a movie.

Also, I thought it was maybe just me but you are right about how "clunky" the menus become. For example, when watching Cars, not only is it clunky and choppy, but I have a difficult time trying to land on the feature I'm trying to reach...that's only in the opening menu though. I am not happy about it since it ruins the experience. I'm only happy when the movie is playing, otherwise getting to the movie and changing the setup is quite the effort.

One thing you mention is the "auto" setting. I have a 720p plasma and it is set to "auto" since I didn't know what to do with it and everything works fine. Maybe I am missing something???

I know I sound like I'm complaining, but its actually quite a nice player...I just have some very small issues with it at the moment and I wouldn't trade it for any other BD player out there at the moment.

[Cochise]

I have a question:

During movie playback, the Display menu will provide information on the video and audio codecs encoded on the disc

- You're talking about hitting the Display button the remote, right? Displaying info on the video & audio codecs is what I expected; that's how it works on HD DVD. But on BD-30, when I press the Display button, all I get is a little window that says "BD Video / Play", hit display again and that remains but you get a timeline of the movie on the disc, and hit display again and it goes away. How do you get the video & audio codec display? Besides being useful for reviewers, it's useful for user to ensure they've selected the preferred audio track.

And, I upgraded to Firmware 1.2 and seems to have introduced a "bug". I'm connecting via HDMI to my Onkyo 605 receiver, and then HDMI>DVI to my 1080i display. Under the shipped FW 1.1, I selected 1080i resolution under HDMI, and it stayed selected. Now with FW 1.2, every time I power the unit off, the next time I power up it reverts back to "Auto" and (I assume) since it detects for 1080p capability of the Onkyo, goes back to 1080p. Which means I see nothing on my display; I have to leave a composite cable connected, switch the display to that input, res-set the HDMI resolution back to 1080i, switch the display back back to the DVI input, and then finally settle down to watch the movie.

[Bee]

I have a question:



- You're talking about hitting the Display button the remote, right? Displaying info on the video & audio codecs is what I expected; that's how it works on HD DVD. But on BD-30, when I press the Display button, all I get is a little window that says "BD Video / Play", hit display again and that remains but you get a timeline of the movie on the disc, and hit display again and it goes away. How do you get the video & audio codec display? Besides being useful for reviewers, it's useful for user to ensure they've selected the preferred audio track.

I can answer this one.....when you hit display, move the cursor right over signal type and then hit enter. That gives you the answer you need. Of course you then have to hit return a couple of times to get back to the movie.

Also, your example you gave his when you hit the status button not the display button. The status button gives you the timeline.

[Amiable-Akuma]

Forgetting profile 1.1 abilities - how does the player compare to the PS3? Is it as fast, smooth, and easy in loading, FFD/RWD, and eveything else as the PS3? Would you suggest people trade their PS3 for it if they would prefer a stand-alone or would it be better to wait still until, say, a solid dual-format player is out?

[Cochise]

I can answer this one.....when you hit display, move the cursor right over signal type and then hit enter. That gives you the answer you need. Of course you then have to hit return a couple of times to get back to the movie.

Also, your example you gave his when you hit the status button not the display button. The status button gives you the timeline.

Duh!

I obviously haven't played around with the player that much - yes, I was confusing "status" with display; got it figured out now.

I also figured out the problem with the video output resolution re-setting to "Auto" - I need to have both the Onkyo receiver and the HDTV powered up and on the player's input BEFORE starting up the BD-30, then it retains the selected output resolution. Apparently if the player can't re-establish all the HDCP/HDMI handshakes at start-up, it reverts back to "Auto".

[Bee]

Duh!

I obviously haven't played around with the player that much - yes, I was confusing "status" with display; got it figured out now.

I also figured out the problem with the video output resolution re-setting to "Auto" - I need to have both the Onkyo receiver and the HDTV powered up and on the player's input BEFORE starting up the BD-30, then it retains the selected output resolution. Apparently if the player can't re-establish all the HDCP/HDMI handshakes, it reverts back to "Auto".

See, mine is set to auto and I also have the Onkyo and everything works fine. Why do you guys have this issue and I don't?

[Emoney7]

I have a question:



- You're talking about hitting the Display button the remote, right? Displaying info on the video & audio codecs is what I expected; that's how it works on HD DVD. But on BD-30, when I press the Display button, all I get is a little window that says "BD Video / Play", hit display again and that remains but you get a timeline of the movie on the disc, and hit display again and it goes away. How do you get the video & audio codec display? Besides being useful for reviewers, it's useful for user to ensure they've selected the preferred audio track.

And, I upgraded to Firmware 1.2 and seems to have introduced a "bug". I'm connecting via HDMI to my Onkyo 605 receiver, and then HDMI>DVI to my 1080i display. Under the shipped FW 1.1, I selected 1080i resolution under HDMI, and it stayed selected. Now with FW 1.2, every time I power the unit off, the next time I power up it reverts back to "Auto" and (I assume) since it detects for 1080p capability of the Onkyo, goes back to 1080p. Which means I see nothing on my display; I have to leave a composite cable connected, switch the display to that input, res-set the HDMI resolution back to 1080i, switch the display back back to the DVI input, and then finally settle down to watch the movie.

I have had the same problem, I settled running my picture via componet to my tv and my audio thru hdmi, for some reason the onkyo won't pass 1080i by hdmi.......... this won't be problem soon since I'll be getting a 1080p tv here soon......... but it was a pain in mean time........

[MNTWISTER]

Thanks for the review Josh. I've watched several movies on this player on dvd and thought that the upscaling looked pretty good from my eye, better than the Phillips dvd recorder (1080p upconversion) that I have, so I was ok with it, but really want a unit with HQV Reon for upscaling. Having owned 2 previous models (a Samsung and Sony), I thought this unit looked the best of the 3 in high def presentations, neither player before this looked this good. This is on my Epson 1080 projector on a 150" diag.screen. I like the remote, very easy to use, the unit has a beautiful look to it and smaller than most blu-ray players, and it's so much faster than previous blu ray players, on par with the Playstation.

I bought this 3 days ago and have a 30 day trial. I have been waiting (and waiting) for the Samsung combi player but no news when that will come out, that not only has the Reon HQV processor, but internal decoders so the sound can be sent out of the analog connections to my non-hdmi Denon receiver, so I will wait and see how the next month develops for that player, but I really do love the quality this one puts out so far. Tried Ratatouille, Close Encounters, Spiderman 3 and Edward Scissorhands. Luckily all but Edward have PCM so I am able to hear the uncompressed and WOW, those who say compressed is fine are missing out. The richness, timbres, orchestral sound, bass are so crystal clear, the soundstage improves 100%.

[bluskiessmingatme]

I have three questions:

1. I think I read somewhere that it will play DVD-R discs, but it didn't mention DVD+Rs. Do you know if it handles the latter?

2. Comparing it to the S300, in playing Blu-ray discs, is the color as good over the Panasonic?

3. You mentioned you were unhappy with the upconversion (and, yes, it does sound confusing from the manual you quoted). I love the S300s upconversion of standard DVDs. In comparison, where would you rate the Panasonic: equal to the S300, half as good, or really terrible?

Thanks!

[Josh Z]

1. I think I read somewhere that it will play DVD-R discs, but it didn't mention DVD+Rs. Do you know if it handles the latter?

Sorry, I'm not sure.

2. Comparing it to the S300, in playing Blu-ray discs, is the color as good over the Panasonic?

Blu-ray playback looks the same to my eye.

3. You mentioned you were unhappy with the upconversion (and, yes, it does sound confusing from the manual you quoted). I love the S300s upconversion of standard DVDs. In comparison, where would you rate the Panasonic: equal to the S300, half as good, or really terrible?

DVD upconversion on the Panasonic is really terrible. The Sony is better.

[MNTWISTER]

I think I read somewhere that it will play DVD-R discs, but it didn't mention DVD+Rs. Do you know if it handles the latter?

Yes dvd+r discs play fine. One other nice thing about this machine is that it does not stretch 4:3 material to 16:9 in the 1080p setting over HMDI, which alot of other players do.