My Onkyo 605 and its Working Relationship with Panasonic's '10A Blu ray Player...

[DJ Scotty]

Hello Friends...

My system's setup is as follows:

A Panasonic 'BD10A Blu ray Player is running HDMI OUT for both audio AND video (that's all that is coming out of the player -- no analog connections, etc....JUST HDMI) to an Onkyo TX-SR605 receiver's HDMI IN (1)...from there, a second HDMI cable is going from the 605's HDMI OUT to my Sony KDS-50A2020 rear projection HDTV's HDMI IN...

First of all, before I get to "system behavior problems" I have been experiencing, can someone confirm for me that this equipment is set up properly for passing high definition video AND audio from the player to the receiver and then on to the TV? The connections I described above are not using ANY other connections -- it's one HDMI cable out from the player to the receiver and then another HDMI cable from receiver to TV...THAT'S IT...

Now...the tricky part...

I have the Panasonic's DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT menu selections all set to BITSTREAM except for the DOLBY DIGITAL PLUS/DOLBY TRUEHD output which I have set to PCM, because this player cannot pass bitstreamed TrueHD signals (which my Onkyo can decode) and so it must decode the track internally and send it as PCM...

The problem is, under the Panasonic's "SPEAKER OUTPUT" settings menu, there are selections for 2 CHANNEL and MULTI CHANNEL...according to the manual, 2 CHANNEL should be used when the player is connected to equipment that CAN decode soundtracks, do calibrations, etc., and MULTI CHANNEL should be selected when connected equipment CANNOT do calibrations, distances, etc., so the '10A has to do them. I of course am connected to a receiver that CAN do these things, so according to the manual, I SHOULD be leaving this setting on 2 CHANNEL...only this setting does not play back my PCM tracks correctly at all -- it sends my receiver a two channel mixdown of the track and makes me select those horrible DSP modes which I KNOW are not the right way of playing back PCM multichannel tracks...

Now, if I switch to MULTI CHANNEL at the player, I get that menu that pops up asking me to set speaker sizes, delays, etc. AT THE BLU RAY PLAYER...I did all these adjustments IN MY RECEIVER already, but my question is, when I play multichannel PCM soundtracks on Blu rays, are the speaker sizes in the PLAYER'S menu making a difference in how these tracks are sounding?

Let me break it down even further...when my player is left on MULTI CHANNEL output and I play a disc with a TrueHD or uncompressed PCM track, my receiver reads "MULTICH" as the listening mode and "HDMI/PCM/MULTICHANNEL" illuminates in small letters above it...is this correct when playing back PCM tracks?

Now, if so, let's get back to what the speaker output selections in the player are doing here...I have been told TONS AND TONS of opinions on this matter and can't seem to get the right answer -- if I need to keep the Blu ray player's speaker settings to MULTI CHANNEL in order for these PCM tracks to pass correctly to my receiver, then what should the speaker sizes, distances, etc. be set to on the player so the tracks are passed correctly....or does this even matter over HDMI? I have been told that that speaker setup menu on the Panasonic is JUST for when you're connected via ANALOG OUT -- but what about MY situation where I'm connected JUST HDMI out? Do these speaker settings make a difference?

I took the advice from another site and changed these speaker settings to LARGE for every speaker in my system last night inside the player, and watched I AM LEGEND and selected its TrueHD track -- it didn't seem to sound any different than when I had the speakers set any other way; I don't really know what's going on here, but some people tell me that I need to have the speakers on the 10A set to LARGE so that there is no "double crossover" going on before it gets to my receiver, while some say just to leave the two main speakers on Large only, while some say if I'm running HDMI only, this menu shouldn't matter because once you're switched to HDMI AUDIO ON on the player, this multichannel speaker mode becomes "disabled" but I cannot seem to get a definitive answer on what these speaker settings should be set to when playing decoded PCM tracks...

The bottom line is that I just want to be sure I'm hearing those decoded TrueHD and uncompressed PCM tracks from my '10A when they're passing to my Onkyo receiver...

Can someone please help clear this up for me?

Thank you in advance....

[darkpoet25]

Originally Posted by DJ Scotty

Hello Friends...

My system's setup is as follows:

A Panasonic 'BD10A Blu ray Player is running HDMI OUT for both audio AND video (that's all that is coming out of the player -- no analog connections, etc....JUST HDMI) to an Onkyo TX-SR605 receiver's HDMI IN (1)...from there, a second HDMI cable is going from the 605's HDMI OUT to my Sony KDS-50A2020 rear projection HDTV's HDMI IN...

First of all, before I get to "system behavior problems" I have been experiencing, can someone confirm for me that this equipment is set up properly for passing high definition video AND audio from the player to the receiver and then on to the TV? The connections I described above are not using ANY other connections -- it's one HDMI cable out from the player to the receiver and then another HDMI cable from receiver to TV...THAT'S IT...

Now...the tricky part...

I have the Panasonic's DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT menu selections all set to BITSTREAM except for the DOLBY DIGITAL PLUS/DOLBY TRUEHD output which I have set to PCM, because this player cannot pass bitstreamed TrueHD signals (which my Onkyo can decode) and so it must decode the track internally and send it as PCM...

The problem is, under the Panasonic's "SPEAKER OUTPUT" settings menu, there are selections for 2 CHANNEL and MULTI CHANNEL...according to the manual, 2 CHANNEL should be used when the player is connected to equipment that CAN decode soundtracks, do calibrations, etc., and MULTI CHANNEL should be selected when connected equipment CANNOT do calibrations, distances, etc., so the '10A has to do them. I of course am connected to a receiver that CAN do these things, so according to the manual, I SHOULD be leaving this setting on 2 CHANNEL...only this setting does not play back my PCM tracks correctly at all -- it sends my receiver a two channel mixdown of the track and makes me select those horrible DSP modes which I KNOW are not the right way of playing back PCM multichannel tracks...

Now, if I switch to MULTI CHANNEL at the player, I get that menu that pops up asking me to set speaker sizes, delays, etc. AT THE BLU RAY PLAYER...I did all these adjustments IN MY RECEIVER already, but my question is, when I play multichannel PCM soundtracks on Blu rays, are the speaker sizes in the PLAYER'S menu making a difference in how these tracks are sounding?

Let me break it down even further...when my player is left on MULTI CHANNEL output and I play a disc with a TrueHD or uncompressed PCM track, my receiver reads "MULTICH" as the listening mode and "HDMI/PCM/MULTICHANNEL" illuminates in small letters above it...is this correct when playing back PCM tracks?

Now, if so, let's get back to what the speaker output selections in the player are doing here...I have been told TONS AND TONS of opinions on this matter and can't seem to get the right answer -- if I need to keep the Blu ray player's speaker settings to MULTI CHANNEL in order for these PCM tracks to pass correctly to my receiver, then what should the speaker sizes, distances, etc. be set to on the player so the tracks are passed correctly....or does this even matter over HDMI? I have been told that that speaker setup menu on the Panasonic is JUST for when you're connected via ANALOG OUT -- but what about MY situation where I'm connected JUST HDMI out? Do these speaker settings make a difference?

I took the advice from another site and changed these speaker settings to LARGE for every speaker in my system last night inside the player, and watched I AM LEGEND and selected its TrueHD track -- it didn't seem to sound any different than when I had the speakers set any other way; I don't really know what's going on here, but some people tell me that I need to have the speakers on the 10A set to LARGE so that there is no "double crossover" going on before it gets to my receiver, while some say just to leave the two main speakers on Large only, while some say if I'm running HDMI only, this menu shouldn't matter because once you're switched to HDMI AUDIO ON on the player, this multichannel speaker mode becomes "disabled" but I cannot seem to get a definitive answer on what these speaker settings should be set to when playing decoded PCM tracks...

The bottom line is that I just want to be sure I'm hearing those decoded TrueHD and uncompressed PCM tracks from my '10A when they're passing to my Onkyo receiver...

Can someone please help clear this up for me?

Thank you in advance....

Yes you have it set up correctly, one HDMI from the player to the reciever and one from your reciever to your TV. Now since you say your player can't Bitstream PCM and TrueHD, the reciever is correct in displaying "MULTICH". This just means that your player is doing the decoding and not the reciever, so you have nothing to worry about there. I have an 805 and a PS3 and it says the same thing, running the cables from the PS3 to the 805. Reason being is that the PS3 doesn't do any Bitstreaming of lossless audio, so it says "MULTICH" on the display. Now for your speakers. Are the fronts tower speakers and the rest smaller? If so I would suggest using the small speaker setting on your player, and letting the reciever take care of the rest. Try doing this and see if you notice a big difference in sound as opposed to having them set for large. If so then it would ulitmatley be up to you what to set the Panny to. How do you have the audio set up on the player? Is it set to HDMI out? Can you find anything in your menu about an auto set up? If you do have an auto set up in your player menu, set it to that. As I said above try listening to the player with both the Small and Large speaker settings. There shouldn't be too much if a difference, since everything is being sent via an all Digital signal. Other than this, I'm not sure what else to tell you. Hope this helps and good luck.

[DJ Scotty]

Yes you have it set up correctly, one HDMI from the player to the reciever and one from your reciever to your TV. Now since you say your player can't Bitstream PCM and TrueHD, the reciever is correct in displaying "MULTICH". This just means that your player is doing the decoding and not the reciever, so you have nothing to worry about there. I have an 805 and a PS3 and it says the same thing, running the cables from the PS3 to the 805. Reason being is that the PS3 doesn't do any Bitstreaming of lossless audio, so it says "MULTICH" on the display.

Thanks so much for your reply; okay, so I will take comfort knowing that the system is set up correctly; but can I ask you this, with regard to the HDMI pass through? With this setup I have running -- that is, HDMI IN to the 605 and then HDMI right out, no other component or analog cables -- SHOULD 1080p pure video be passing right from my Blu ray player to the TV WITHOUT the Onkyo "degrading" the signal in any way? I SHOULD BE GETTING 1080p in, 1080p out, correct?

Now for your speakers. Are the fronts tower speakers and the rest smaller?

No -- all the speakers are "R" series Polk bookshelves, with the mains being a bit bigger than the rears -- but they're NOT towers up front...

If so I would suggest using the small speaker setting on your player, and letting the reciever take care of the rest. Try doing this and see if you notice a big difference in sound as opposed to having them set for large. If so then it would ulitmatley be up to you what to set the Panny to. How do you have the audio set up on the player? Is it set to HDMI out?

Yes, HDMI AUDIO is set to ON -- I mentioned that in my original post...I have been told that by keeping the HDMI AUDIO to ON, those speaker settings in the Panny should be "defeated"...but I'm not sure if that is actually happening...

Can you find anything in your menu about an auto set up? If you do have an auto set up in your player menu, set it to that. As I said above try listening to the player with both the Small and Large speaker settings. There shouldn't be too much if a difference, since everything is being sent via an all Digital signal. Other than this, I'm not sure what else to tell you. Hope this helps and good luck.

No, there is no AUTO setup on the 10A; but what you mention about the ALL DIGITAL signal is interesting and plays on what I said before...because I'm running ONLY HDMI OUT from this player, should it matter at all what those speaker sizes are on in the player's "MULTI CHANNEL" speaker output menu? Is this affecting PCM playback in any way to my receiver???

[darkpoet25]

[QUOTE=DJ Scotty;850097]

Thanks so much for your reply; okay, so I will take comfort knowing that the system is set up correctly; but can I ask you this, with regard to the HDMI pass through? With this setup I have running -- that is, HDMI IN to the 605 and then HDMI right out, no other component or analog cables -- SHOULD 1080p pure video be passing right from my Blu ray player to the TV WITHOUT the Onkyo "degrading" the signal in any way? I SHOULD BE GETTING 1080p in, 1080p out, correct?

Yes you should be getting a pure 1080p signal on your tv. To check this try playing a movie and pressing the display button on your 10a's remote. In one corner you should see 1080p displayed on your tv.

No -- all the speakers are "R" series Polk bookshelves, with the mains being a bit bigger than the rears -- but they're NOT towers up front...

Okay, try setting them to Small on your player and your reciever.

Yes, HDMI AUDIO is set to ON -- I mentioned that in my original post...I have been told that by keeping the HDMI AUDIO to ON, those speaker settings in the Panny should be "defeated"...but I'm not sure if that is actually happening...

Hmmm.....try going into your menu and see if the speaker settings are on. If they are try and set them to Small or off.

No, there is no AUTO setup on the 10A; but what you mention about the ALL DIGITAL signal is interesting and plays on what I said before...because I'm running ONLY HDMI OUT from this player, should it matter at all what those speaker sizes are on in the player's "MULTI CHANNEL" speaker output menu? Is this affecting PCM playback in any way to my receiver???

It shouldn't affect the sound too much. By setting the speakers to Small it should send the proper crossover frequencies to your speakers. The PCM playback should not be affected going into your reciever. Try the Small speaker settings on both your reciever and player. Hopefully this helps.

[DJ Scotty]

Yes you should be getting a pure 1080p signal on your tv. To check this try playing a movie and pressing the display button on your 10a's remote. In one corner you should see 1080p displayed on your tv.

Indeed, Poet, when I press the DISPLAY button on my TV's remote -- not the 10A's remote -- it does say "1080p" in the upper right hand corner...but I'm wondering if the Onkyo is "degrading" this signal passthrough in some way, instead of just running a direct line from player to display...

Okay, try setting them to Small on your player and your reciever.

Are you sure I should set them to SMALL on the 10A? THAT'S where the confusion comes in...in my receiver, I AM setting the speakers to crossover at 80Hz so the rest gets sent to the sub...my receiver does not actually set the speakers to small, large, etc; instead, when you don't have full range speakers, you must select the crossover frequencies, so they're all crossed over at 80Hz...

So the problem is not in the receiver, but rather in what to do in the Panasonic player's speaker setup -- I have been told that this "MultiChannel" speaker setup in the player is only for when you have the ANALOG outs connected, and that it shouldn't affect DIGITAL connections -- yet, I'm connected via HDMI only and I've been told on other sites that I must keep all the speaker settings IN THE PLAYER on LARGE because this will eliminate some kind of "double crossover" that would occur between receiver and player; my issue is actually confirming this:

If I am connected through HDMI ONLY, do these "MultiChannel" speaker settings on the Panasonic '10A Blu ray player even matter? Are they affecting the way PCM tracks are being sent to my receiver?

THAT'S the issue at this point...you still think I should leave them at SMALL?

Hmmm.....try going into your menu and see if the speaker settings are on. If they are try and set them to Small or off.

In the player's speaker settings, yes, they are on and I set them to LARGE per instructions from another site; but I'm not sure if these settings are even making a difference because I'm running HDMI only...

It shouldn't affect the sound too much. By setting the speakers to Small it should send the proper crossover frequencies to your speakers. The PCM playback should not be affected going into your reciever. Try the Small speaker settings on both your reciever and player. Hopefully this helps.

...or should they all be OFF, as you suggest above?

It's funny that you mention "set to Small the proper crossover frequencies should be sent..." when I was told the exact opposite on another popular site -- they recommended leaving everything to LARGE so the bass management in my RECEIVER would work properly...does this make any sense to you?

Thanks for your continued help...

[DJ Scotty]

Can anyone else possibly help with this?

I just need to know if the "Multi Channel" speaker settings on the Panasonic affect the PCM output to my receiver...

I'll post this in the Blu ray players section, too, I suppose...

[DJ Scotty]

Anyone?

[DJ Scotty]

Is there anyone else -- perhaps Crackin -- who may be able to shed some light on this issue?

The question is whether or not the settings in my Blu ray player for Multi Channel PCM output matter if I'm only connected via HDMI to my Onkyo '605 receiver; the connection is simple and digital -- just one HDMI link -- from player to receiver, so should these speaker settings/sizes need to be made in the Blu ray player in order for multichannel PCM to pass correctly?

And what about the digital BITSTREAMS that pass over HDMI from this player to my receivers -- these speaker settings do not matter in the player for this, do they?

[DJ Scotty]

Is there anyone who can shed some light on this issue? I'm just trying to figure out whether or not the settings under the Panasonic 10A's speaker output setup menu matter being that I'm connected only via HDMI...I'm not running any other connection, just digital HDMI, and I'm not sure if the speaker sizes need to be set in the PLAYER'S menu or what they should be set to for proper PCM playback...

If anyone can help, I would appreciate the input...

[DJ Scotty]

Anyone??