Beware of buying the new Panasonic BD75GN-K BD player

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Beware of buying the new Panasonic BD75GN-K BD player

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#82996 8-May-2011 14:21

Especially if you have a amp that does not do HDMI audio. These are new and don't yet appear on the Panasonic AU or NZ websites however a spec sheet can be downloaded from here.

http://www.kbe.com.au/images/kbefactsheets/DMPBD75GN-K.pdf

This is great play and seems to player every file type I can throw at it from disk or USB (apart from being region 4 locked but that can be sorted) however there is one problem. On the spec sheet it says that it has Optical Out hence the reason I bought it. Getting it home I discovered no coax or optical audio out only 2 channel analog.

Will contact Panasonic tomorrow and find out what the deal is as I don't really want to buy a new HT amp as there goes my Galaxy S2.

Regards,

Old3eyes

1 | 2

6476 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#466769 8-May-2011 15:40

Where did you buy it from?

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#466780 8-May-2011 15:56

lchiu7: Where did you buy it from?

Noel leemings. They had a Cost + 10% sale over the weekend.. Down from RRP of $275 to about $210

Regards,

Old3eyes

lchiu7

6476 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#466898 8-May-2011 20:30

They would probably allow a return for another model if you wanted.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#466984 9-May-2011 08:49

Could return it but I'm now looking at this an an opportunity to upgrade the amp.

JB HiFi has a sale on at present and the have this Sony amp for $522 ($1199 on Sony site)

http://www.sony.co.nz/product/str-dh810

I know it's a runout model but it has 4 HDMI in and as I have a Sony amp at present i hope that if i use the same inputs i won't have to reprogram my Harmony remote too much

Regards,

Old3eyes

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#467007 9-May-2011 09:37

Not a bad wee upgrade - I'm guessing they're making way for new models, so now could be the time to pounce?

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#469100 14-May-2011 17:01

The upgrade was worth it. It's amazing what 5 years design makes compare to my old Sony HT amp using the same speakers.. Interesting this was most of the BDs I have bought, old movies from the 50 ~90 most only have DD5.1 audio. Only 1, Logan's Run had HD Audio natively. Some others I have to go to the language setting and setup as those also seem to default to DD5.1. I'll have to go and buy a new release movie and see what that looks and sounds like. Must say I'm impressed with some of the transfers like 2001 A Space Odyssey..

Regards,

Old3eyes

ilovemusic

1439 posts

Uber Geek

#469421 15-May-2011 22:25

You're in for a treat with 2001, the BD also has an uncompressed PCM soundtrack that sounds much better than the default Dolby Digital.

The trick is to select it from the setup menu or change to it on the fly.

It's annoying that many BD's don't automatically play the highest quality audio track.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#469605 16-May-2011 12:52

ilovemusic: You're in for a treat with 2001, the BD also has an uncompressed PCM soundtrack that sounds much better than the default Dolby Digital.

The trick is to select it from the setup menu or change to it on the fly.

It's annoying that many BD's don't automatically play the highest quality audio track.

Yeah I noticed that. A pain really..

Regards,

Old3eyes

ARIKIP

233 posts

Master Geek

#469665 16-May-2011 15:00

I got into the habit of jumping into the audio menu from the days of DVD. I find though that with newer Blu-rays they all default to their uncompressed audio. Older BDs with PCM multichannel tracks you will probably find they have to be selected manually. 2001 Looks and sounds great on BD.

Sony 77" A80J OLED, Integra 60.7, Panasonic UB820, Toshiba HD-XE1, Apple TV 4K, JBL L100T,JBL 18Ti, JBL L20T, Velodyne HGS15

ilovemusic

1439 posts

Uber Geek

#469744 16-May-2011 16:37

Just a footnote;

Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA are not uncompressed audio codecs.

They both use lossless compression.

CutCutCut

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#469972 17-May-2011 09:21

old3eyes: The upgrade was worth it. It's amazing what 5 years design makes compare to my old Sony HT amp using the same speakers.. Interesting this was most of the BDs I have bought, old movies from the 50 ~90 most only have DD5.1 audio. Only 1, Logan's Run had HD Audio natively. Some others I have to go to the language setting and setup as those also seem to default to DD5.1. I'll have to go and buy a new release movie and see what that looks and sounds like. Must say I'm impressed with some of the transfers like 2001 A Space Odyssey..

That amp looks like a great deal. I think I may have just heard the HT Guys talking about your initial problem on their podcast... small world.

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#470060 17-May-2011 12:29

CutCutCut:
old3eyes: The upgrade was worth it. It's amazing what 5 years design makes compare to my old Sony HT amp using the same speakers.. Interesting this was most of the BDs I have bought, old movies from the 50 ~90 most only have DD5.1 audio. Only 1, Logan's Run had HD Audio natively. Some others I have to go to the language setting and setup as those also seem to default to DD5.1. I'll have to go and buy a new release movie and see what that looks and sounds like. Must say I'm impressed with some of the transfers like 2001 A Space Odyssey..

That amp looks like a great deal. I think I may have just heard the HT Guys talking about your initial problem on their podcast... small world.

It is indeed a small world.. Been listening to the HT podcast from Ep 1 some years ago..

Regards,

Old3eyes

newtz2000

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#474745 27-May-2011 12:28

Hi there, you mentioned that this model can be made region free easily for dvd. Can you please help me with this. Would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Newtz

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#474789 27-May-2011 13:37

newtz2000: Hi there, you mentioned that this model can be made region free easily for dvd. Can you please help me with this. Would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Newtz

Depends upon where you are.

Panasonic told me to take it to Tisco or Telefix in Auckland..

I took mine to Telefix with a copy of my purchase slip and that did it same day..

If your not in Auckland you could email Panasonic support as ask them where to send it to..

customerservice@nz.panasonic.com

Regards,

Old3eyes

newtz2000

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#474812 27-May-2011 14:15

Many thanks, I will give them a call.

Cheers.

1 | 2