Profile 1.1 Standalone Players and Secondary Audio Survey

[Josh Z]

I have a Panasonic DMP-BD30 and I use it to bitstream the high-res audio formats directly to my receiver for decoding. The only problem with this is that when I want to watch a "Bonus View" PiP feature, I have to stop the disc, go into the player's Setup menu, turn on Secondary Decoding there, and then restart the disc. Then when I'm done watching the Bonus View content, I have to go back to the Setup menu to turn off Secondary Audio or I won't be able to bitstream the next disc I watch. It's kind of a nuisance.

Do all standalone players with bitstream capability and at least Profile 1.1 compatibility work the same? Are there any players that will let you switch between bitstream audio and Bonus View audio from the remote without going to the player's Setup menu?

Please sound off with your player's model number and whether you have to go to the Setup menu to make this change or not.

Thanks!

[Note: This survey does not apply to the PS3, which does all of its audio decoding internally and can't transmit the native bitstream anyway.]

[DrMaustus]

My LG BH200 combo player has the same problem. It's annoying. I find myself switching back and forth all the time as well. Worse still, because the BH200 doesn't decode DTS HD MA (yet), I'm sometimes "only" listening to the DTS track when I have my player set to decode.

[Josh Z]

Thanks. Anyone else with different brands?

[mosman22]

I am not sure about other players being able to switch from bitstream to lpcm on the fly, althought it would be wonderful if it was as easy as switching between say a dts(core) bitstream and lpcm on the ps3(i know it can't bitstream lossless)which can be done at any time during playback. I know this was a pain on my A35 whenever i would want to watch a pip track.

I was wondering whether the bd 30 could switch resolutions on the fly? Similiar to your gripes with the audio on the bd 30. One of the major annoyances i had with my A35 was anytime i would watch bonus content or anything not filmed at 24p, i would have stop the disc go into the setup menu and change from 1080/24 to 1080i, or the picture would be choppy. Is the bd 30 capable of playing a film at 1080/24 and then playing back special features at 480p without any input from the user? Can someone manually change the res without stopping the disc and going to setup? Or do you need to stop the disc and go into the setup menu evertime you want to watch special features or a concert video(provided you watch movies at 1080/24)?

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by mosman22

I was wondering whether the bd 30 could switch resolutions on the fly? Similiar to your gripes with the audio on the bd 30. One of the major annoyances i had with my A35 was anytime i would watch bonus content or anything not filmed at 24p, i would have stop the disc go into the setup menu and change from 1080/24 to 1080i, or the picture would be choppy.

I know what you're saying. I was not personally bothered by watching bonus features with choppy video, because they're just bonus features. But I understand that it can be annoying.

Is the bd 30 capable of playing a film at 1080/24 and then playing back special features at 480p without any input from the user?

Not exactly, but you would probably prefer the BD30 anyway. What happens is that you have to set the resolution for 1080p, and then enable 1080p24 separately. If the disc content is encoded at 1080p24 (like the movie itself), it plays at that resolution. Any content not encoded at 1080p24 (like the bonus features, or a standard DVD) plays back upconverted to 1080p60. So your motion will be less choppy. However, there is no "Native" resolution mode that will output the movie at 1080p24 and the bonus features or DVDs at 480i.

Can someone manually change the res without stopping the disc and going to setup?

No, you have to go to the Setup menu to change the resolution.

[Ph8]

As far as I know (I havent personally tested it) the Samsung BDUP5000 Duo player is the same way.....If you select Bitstream for output you will not hear any "secondary" sounds. You will have to do basically the same thing as you are doing now, just with different steps.

[BLU HD DEFENDER]

i havent noticed this on the bdp 1500

[vinnie97]

OK, on the topic of the BD-UP5000, I haven't experimented much with this but on the Rambo BD PiP commentary, I was able to hear it using the Bitstreaming feature oddly enough. This was several months ago so I should revisit and verify again. By the same token, I remember testing the feature on another title (which currently escapes me) and the PiP dialog was inaudible, falling in line with the behavior one would expect when in bitstreaming mode.