Panasonic DMP-BDT310

[silversid]

I've just got a BDT310 and played a DVD last night and the picture was no better than my 7-year-old DVD player that it is replacing.

I have got it connected HDMI AV OUT MAIN to my Yamaha RX-V667, and amp HDMI out to TV.

Should I connect HDMI AV OUT MAIN straight to my TV, and AV OUT SUB to my amp, or is that set-up just for 3D, which I don’t need.

 

[ellisdj]

You want to connect it how you are - check the settings - make sure the BD Player is upscaling to 1080p or whatever the native res of your TV is.

Check the settings on the amp make sure its not doing anything you dont want it to to the picture.

You might have the amp set to upscale now - there wont be a huge difference if that is the case.

 

[silversid]

How can I tell if the Blu-ray player is upscaling to 1080p?

 

[silversid]

Tried a few more DVD's last night and they were no better, I think buying this Blu-ray player was a bad idea.

Just to add my old DVD player was a Sony RDR-HXD890, maybe that was worth keeping and save my money.

 

[ellisdj]

Surely you have bought the blu ray player to play blu rays?

There is no comparison between dvd and blu ray especially in the sound.

Check what the player is outputting - set it to 1080p - it might be on direct therefore not upscaling the picture.

Check the receivers video options - I think best to put that on bypass or through option if it has it - not 1080p as that will be upsampling

In the blu ray player

Make sure you have the chroma set correctly - I would advise 4.2.2 if you have the option.

If you have a 65 range panasonic plasma - select the chroma to 4.4.4 and select chroma upsampling to advanced.

Also make sure you have turned off secondary audio if it has the option to as this makes these players sound worse.

I dont own a panny player sp doing the best I can to help you.

 

[bigboss]

There's no reason why a blu ray player should play DVDs better than a DVD player. If the picture fills your 1080p screen, it is obviously being upscaled. Upscaling does not mean better quality, it simply means artificial processing to fill up the extra pixels, and so is actually inferior to a non-upscaled picture.

 

[bigboss]

As ellisdj mentions, the main purpose of a blu ray player is to play blu ray discs which will be superior to DVDs in most cases.

 

[silversid]

There's no reason why a blu ray player should play DVDs better than a DVD player. If the picture fills your 1080p screen, it is obviously being upscaled. Upscaling does not mean better quality, it simply means artificial processing to fill up the extra pixels, and so is actually inferior to a non-upscaled picture.

That clears that up then, I was told that DVD's in a blu ray player means a better picture.

I will be buying blu rays from now on.

 

[silversid]

Surely you have bought the blu ray player to play blu rays?

There is no comparison between dvd and blu ray especially in the sound.

Check what the player is outputting - set it to 1080p - it might be on direct therefore not upscaling the picture.

Check the receivers video options - I think best to put that on bypass or through option if it has it - not 1080p as that will be upsampling

In the blu ray player

Make sure you have the chroma set correctly - I would advise 4.2.2 if you have the option.

If you have a 65 range panasonic plasma - select the chroma to 4.4.4 and select chroma upsampling to advanced.

Also make sure you have turned off secondary audio if it has the option to as this makes these players sound worse.

I dont own a panny player sp doing the best I can to help you.

I think I have done what you advised.

Set chroma to 4.2.2

Turn off secondary audio (on mine I think its BD-Video secondary audio)

And set av receiver to pass through (could you explain this)

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated

 

[Leeps]

Although the player can be a bit tardy in responding to commands at times, in terms of picture and sound quality, it's an excellent piece of kit for the money (subject to playing Blurays and the quality of your display of course).

Do persevere with it - it'll be worth it.

 

[silversid]

Although the player can be a bit tardy in responding to commands at times, in terms of picture and sound quality, it's an excellent piece of kit for the money (subject to playing Blurays and the quality of your display of course).

Do persevere with it - it'll be worth it.

How have you got yours set up?

 

[Leeps]

Cables-wise, same as you. HDMI from Bluray to AV recceiver, then HDMI to TV.

When I purchased my AV receiver I played about with the settings on the receiver and found that it just spoiled the picture, so eventually settled for AV bypass, so the receiver processes the sound but leaves the picture as per the signal from the Bluray.

If the Bluray is processing the picture AND the receiver is too, it CAN have the effect of creating additional noise and you're not really seeing what the Bluray itself is capable of.

Then have a trip to Amazon with your laptop and purchase a well-produced Bluray, something like "Red Dog" or "Despicable Me / 2" and you should notice a tremendous difference both in sound and picture quality.

What model and size is your screen and how far away is your seating position? The larger the screen, the clearer the difference between DVD and Bluray will become.

 

[silversid]

I've set my receiver to pass through as well, didn’t notice any difference apart from now I can use the player without the receiver on.

My TV is a Panasonic TXL42ET60B, I sit about 8 feet away.

 

[Leeps]

Similar size TV and distance to me then. Sounds like you've got the settings right. All you need is some high-def content.

 

[silversid]

Similar size TV and distance to me then. Sounds like you've got the settings right. All you need is some high-def content.

Thanks for your help, that Red Dog film sounds like a good film, just looked at the reviews.