Unimpressed with Panasonic DMP-BDT220 Blu Ray player

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Unimpressed with Panasonic DMP-BDT220 Blu Ray player

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#103369 5-Jun-2012 22:54

So I went out and purchased this 2012 model Blu-ray player from Panasonic, as I will soon be investing in a 3D TV. This was to replace my Philips BDT3000. Updated the firmware as soon as I set it up.

The first thing I noticed with the Panasonic is that it's DVD up-scaling is nowhere near as good as the older Philips - it seems to add video noise and blocky artifacts, something the Philips didn't do. Also, the player is quiet when playing Blu-ray disks, but makes a noticeable motor noise all the time it's playing DVDs. Sounds like the spindle motor will clap out at any moment.

But the real kicker is that the optical S/PDIF output has failed after about 4 days of use and nothing I can do will make it work again. I have even tried a factory reset - all to no avail. I plug the toslink cable into anything else with an optical output and my Z-5500 works just fine.

The build quality on the Panasonic seems pretty poor and doesn't hold a torch to my Philips. Honestly, this unit looks and feels cheap & nasty, so I will be returning it and replacing it with something that works.

EDITED to fix a typo.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#636681 6-Jun-2012 14:06

Not surprising - as BluRay players get cheaper and cheaper, with loads of new features like networking / 3D etc etc...
Quality will naturally drop.
However, with your unit it does sound like you've got a 'Friday afternoon unit'. Try a replacement and see how it works out.
In regards to upscaling of DVD's - sometimes you can tweak your TV / the player to give better performance. What TV are you running?

minimoke

750 posts

Ultimate Geek

#636901 6-Jun-2012 19:34

That's strange. I recently bought one of these and have had no problems. The upscaling is great - at least equal to my Oppo 980h. There is no noise or artefacts at all. TV is a Panasonic 50ST50

There is no motor noise when playing DVD or Blue ray.

Optical audio works just fine. No problems at all.

Also find it decodes AVI files off a USB stick much much faster than the Oppo. Plays MKV files off the SD card without problem.

It will also plays AVCHD files burnt onto a DVD. Thats been great for calibrating the TV

Build quality isn't the same as my Oppo. But then again its only a couple of hundred bucks so don't have great expeactaitons on something that is essentially a consumerable. If it lasts a couple of years I'l be happy.

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#637314 7-Jun-2012 13:30

I guess I just got a dud then. The motor noise when playing DVDs is very noticeable on mine. My TV is a 3 y.o. 42" Panasonic Plasma, not sure of model number. I have done further comparisons and my old BDT3000 definitely beats the Panasonic for up-scaling. And I still haven't got the optical output to work, which died a few days after I got the unit set up.

I'm still to get into town to return the unit, but don't think I'll go back to a Panasonic model.

bfginger

1268 posts

Uber Geek

#637470 7-Jun-2012 18:12

If a box is roughed up while in shipping the moving parts inside can be damaged. HDDs can have similar problems.

Are you sure it is making a HDCP connection? The Panasonics may output 1080 from DVDs without it but it'll be 540p with pixels being quadrupled.

Jaxson

8042 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#637626 8-Jun-2012 08:23

Don't play DVD's, seems an easy fix?
I don't watch anything that's not on Bluray unless it's for the kids, in which case the video quality is not an issue.

Try a different optical cable. I know that sounds weird, but I had a similar issue when I changed to TIVO, in that the cable worked on the previous freeview PVR but not on the TIVO unit. Maybe I broke it during the swap over, but either way a new cable fixed it.

If it's still not working after that, and it's not something obvious like it's been turned off by default after the firmware upgrade etc, then return the unit for another or a different product etc. Don't leave returning things too long, otherwise the store may opt to fix rather than replace, which can take ages.

Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#638009 8-Jun-2012 20:24

Can anyone tell me an external HDD model that they have verified as working with this unit?

ilovemusic

1439 posts

Uber Geek

#638448 10-Jun-2012 12:05

Why is the OP even using optical ?

No HD sound through optical.

:(

Wise

Send money globally for less with Wise - one free transfer up to NZ$900 (affiliate link).

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#638541 10-Jun-2012 17:57

ilovemusic: Why is the OP even using optical ?

No HD sound through optical.

:(

Could it possibly be that my home theatre amp doesn't have HDMI inputs? - why yes, it is :)

It still does 24/96, so unless my listening environment was absolutely perfect and I had $10,000 worth or high-end speakers, I doubt I could hear the difference anyway.

By the way - I returned the unit to the shop and picked up a replacement of the same model, and it works great. Guess I just got a faulty unit first time around.