Panasonic DMP-BD30K

steveinaz

Picked one up last night. This thing is light; the player, boxed and packed weighs less than my denon unboxed. I also picked up Apocolypto in Blu Ray as a first BD movie.

I just did a quick setup, using the calibration settings from my denon, and the player sets up very easily--quickly. Disc loading was as fast (if not faster) as my denon with SDVD's, so i didn't see any issues there. As you might imagine, the HD image was very nice. My Samsung DLP is only 720p native, so i set the Panny to output 720p via HDMI. The denon DVE calibration settings worked fairly well, though it looks like maybe brightness needs to bumped up just a bit, and maybe more color. I'll know more tonight when I pop out the DVE disc---yes I realize DVE is for SDVD, but it will get you very close in the ballpark.

Standard Def DVD's looked very nice as well, as far as I can tell as good as the denon dvd-2910. The Blue light on the front of the Panny is fairly irratating as it is very bright (UPDATED, this can be turned off in the setup menu); the display is dimmable. I like the simple, intuative layout of the remote, and the buttons are large, which I like.

cheddar

Congrats on the purchase, sounds like exactly what you were looking for. At some point, you will want to try HD audio options...;)

Edit: Anyone know if this player got an update to allow internal decoding of TrueHD or DTS-HD MA or do you have to bitstream to an outboard decoder (pre/receiver)? You should be able to enjoy LPCM tracks (like on apocalypto) as these tracks don't need a decoder.

billbillw

cheddar wrote: »

Congrats on the purchase, sounds like exactly what you were looking for. At some point, you will want to try HD audio options...;)

Edit: Anyone know if this player got an update to allow internal decoding of lossless formats or do you have to bitstream to an outboard decoder (pre/receiver)? You should be able to enjoy LPCM tracks (like on apocalypto) as these tracks don't need a decoder.

There is a rumor at AVS that decoding will come with a firmware update, but nothing confirmed and I'm fairly suspicious. If I were buying it, I would assume that it won't happen. I am looking closely at this model, but definitely will be bitstreaming to my Onkyo to get the TrueHD, etc.

millerman 3732

From what I've read the BD30 will not be able to do any internal decoding because of a hardware limitation, you will need an AVR or pre to decode the newer formats with it, if you need internal decoding from the player you need to get the BD10A or wait until the BD50 comes out in a few months.

margate21

the big blue light in the front can be turned off under the sd card setting.

steveinaz

Is that the "SD LED" setting? I was wondering what the hell they meant by that. Cool, I'm gonna turn that SOB off tonight.

Audio is a non-issue for me as I run my movies 2-channel analog, and most likely always will.

avguytx

This may be the player I end up getting for a Blue Ray player. Might as well since I work for a company that distributes them.

dkg999

I'm waiting for the 50 player that was just announced to hit the street. I need the 7.1 analog out and might as well have the latest BD spec. I've heard price range from $599 to $699 msrp, so hopefully street prices are reasonable.

jakelm

dkg999 wrote: »

I'm waiting for the 50 player that was just announced to hit the street. I need the 7.1 analog out and might as well have the latest BD spec. I've heard price range from $599 to $699 msrp, so hopefully street prices are reasonable.

I need 7.1 analog out as well. Hopefully something will come out that is reasonably priced...


Wires are going to be a pain in the butt. 5.1 with Oppo, 5.1 with XA1 and hopefully 7.1 with new BR player. A good 8channel analog switch is what I will need.

dkg999

Now if Outlaw would just update the old ICBM to be 7.1 it would solve the bass mgt issues and cross-over points for all channels. That's too much to wish for! My goal to simplify my HT is not working so well

Sherardp

jakelm wrote: »

I need 7.1 analog out as well. Hopefully something will come out that is reasonably priced...


Wires are going to be a pain in the butt. 5.1 with Oppo, 5.1 with XA1 and hopefully 7.1 with new BR player. A good 8channel analog switch is what I will need.

Zektor may offer something that can help you but be prepared to spend some cash bro.

mantis

I love the 30. It's the fastest player we Install. It's picture quality is fantastic with both Dvd and Blue. I would suggest anyone to look at it before buying anything else. The only player I like better is the Ps3 due to it's multi roles.

I didn't hear about the 50, sounds like an even better player.

This is also exaclty why I hate the new rotel rsp1069, it doesn't decode nothing. PCM is all it can do with it's already out of effin date 1.1 HDMI. Damn they killed it. No I'm not that mad.....

Dan

steveinaz

Go here for Part II: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?p=772389#post772389