# Panasonic DMP-BDT210



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Well, finally broke down and picked up a new Blu-ray player.
I think I must be nuts after the disappointingly short lifespan of my previous Panasonic DMP-BD80 but due to quality up-conversion and overall PQ, I'll give Panasonic another shot. Hope this DMP-BDT210 lasts longer than 15 months.

So far I've not done much with it. Quickly checked out Netflix and the interface is okay, picture is much better than with the Mac or PC, HD streaming is almost on par with the average DVD. Pandora interface is also okay, not great, but not bad.

Biggest let down for me is having to pay for what I don't want (3D, 2D - 3D conversion) and the lack of what I did want (5.1 analog out) without breaking the bank. Yes, I'd prefer an OPPO. 

Anyway this leaves my system crippled as I'm not yet ready to give up my Denon 3805. Oh well, the video drop outs from my MacBook were driving me crazy, I'll survive 2.1 for a while.


----------



## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
Sorry that your Panasonic let you down. Also, I have found that MCH Analog True HD/DTS HD sounds pretty flat compared to Bitstreamed DD/DTS. When my Onkyo was in the Shop this Summer, I hooked up the MCH Analog Outputs from my OPPO to my Marantz SR-19EX and almost never used MCH In. 

I do not blame you for not wanting to let go of your 3805 as it is my favorite Denon AVR Series. Kinda ironic that my favorite Onkyo AVR Series is the x05 as well. It is sad to think about how much nicer the Remote Control is on your $1200 AVR-3805 than on the $2000 AVR-4311. Moreover, the 3805 weighs about the same as the 4311 while offering 2 less Channels. The Denon and Marantz Merger does not seem to have been a good thing.
Cheers,
JJ


----------



## iSlinger (Aug 2, 2011)

Is there any real advantage to using the analog out of a blu-ray player? I always though bit-streaming provided the most accurate recreation of the audio track (whatever the source may be). I was looking into the same BDP unit, and its definitely something im curious about. Are you in need of analog due to the Denon 3805?


----------



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Exactly, the old Denon cannot process the latest high resolution audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The Blu-ray player can, so using the analog output and the Denon's inputs it works. One of these days I'll upgrade the Denon to a receiver with HDMI and all will be good again.


----------



## mojojojo (Aug 7, 2011)

Im not familiar with all the avr's out there but does your Denon not have a digital audio jn? I haven't looked behind my 210 in a bit and honestly don't remember (on my iphone now) but I'm pretty sure the 210 has a digital out for audio. Would that not hold you off until you need 3d/hdmi?


----------



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

That it does, the 210 has a Toslink optical audio out and the Denon has a Toslink in, I probably even still have a Toslink cable around here some where. That would get me 5.1 again but does not support the newer Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, and DTS HD audio streams.


----------



## iSlinger (Aug 2, 2011)

Toslink's bandwidth per channel is only really good for 640kbps audio tracks though isn't it? I feel like it would get choked and you would lose a lot of fidelity from whatever you were listening to, be it a movie or a CD or whatever.


----------



## fusseli (May 1, 2007)

I'd be pretty surprised if the Panasonic didn't decode the newer sound formats and send them over toslink for a multichannel connection to older hardware.


----------



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Unfortunately that is not what happens. 
DD & DTS: bitstream is sent over Toslink to the receiver for decoding. 
DD+ and DTS-HD: Toslink's limited bandwidth will not carry the full signal and the Blu-ray player will limit the signal to DD. 
DTS-HD High Resolution: Toslink's limited bandwidth will not carry the full signal and the Blu-ray player will bitstream the DTS core.
PCM: Toslink does not have enough bandwidth to carry a full 5.1 PCM signal, so the audio track will be downgraded to 2 channels only.


----------



## fusseli (May 1, 2007)

That sucks. That's reasonable the old Toslink doesn't have the bandwidth to handle the multichannel uncompressed audio. But, how hard can it be to downsample and re quantize (or compress) 6 channels in real time?  Makes me wonder if more expensive players will do it. That being said, sounds like 6ch or 8ch analog output is the way to go for new audio formats on older receivers.


----------



## iSlinger (Aug 2, 2011)

Toslink was great, but for newer sources is just chokes it. I love HDMI so much for its uncompressed 8 channel throughput. Also, for analog you generally have to increase the LFE (or sub out or whatever?) channel by something like 10dB right? Or am I making that up....?


----------



## fusseli (May 1, 2007)

iSlinger said:


> Toslink was great, but for newer sources is just chokes it. I love HDMI so much for its uncompressed 8 channel throughput. Also, for analog you generally have to increase the LFE (or sub out or whatever?) channel by something like 10dB right? Or am I making that up....?


Sounds familiar... my dated AVR has a +15dB LFE option on the 6ch analog inputs.


----------



## iSlinger (Aug 2, 2011)

I actually cruised through my Denon's "EXT. IN" settings and it had a +5dB, +10dB, and a +15dB setting for the LFE. I wonder why you would have to raise it by so much...


----------



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

So, recently I've noticed during playback of really dark scenes the player tends to auto darken. As in it almost fades to black. What really seems weird is it does this during Netflix and Amazon streaming as well as Blu-ray. Anyone else experience anything similar? Want to say this has happened only recently, do no recall anything like this a few months ago. Maybe I missed a setting or a firmware update changed something?


----------



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Well,.. this one made it a touch over two years, twice as long as my last Panasonic. 
I am really disappointed, will likely be my last Panasonic Blu-ray player. Two in three years is unacceptable to me. I will say I was really pleased with their performance, when they worked. Sure wish I'd have kept my Sony BDP-S580. The PS3 is still going strong, maybe I'll replace the Panasonic with a PS4...


----------



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Picked up a Sony BDP-S5100 to replace the Panasonic. So far it is miles ahead of the Panasonic for what I use it for. Mostly; Netflix, no more audio dropouts and no more darkening and lightening up during dark scenes, and load times are quite a bit faster. Pandora, faster loads, app is not as slow and quirky, no more audio dropouts. Blu-ray, not much difference here aside from faster load times and no more darkening and lightening up during dark scenes.


----------

