The Panasonic DMP-BD30 review thread - Firmware 2.7 available

[Tee]

Originally Posted by jcs913

No pics posted, but I picked one up yesterday at CC. They had just gotten them on friday night the guy said. Luckily, thanks to this forum, I got 10% off and had some rewards certs from before. Walked out with tax (9% in Illinois!!) for $440.
Set it up yesterday and watched a few minutes from a couple of BD's. I have a Pioneer Elite 92, so was excited about the new codecs being sent bitstream finally. Picture quality of the 3 discs I played seemed a little sharper and colors were a little more distinct in certain scenes compared to the PS3.
Dave Matthews BD sounded better than when my PS3 decodes the TrueHD into PCM. This I can confirm. The center channel was very prominent, where in before, it was a little more laid back.
Also put in X-Men3 and the DTS-HDMA lights up with the 6th channel too! One word of caution I noticed, before the DTS-HDMA lit up, the dial norm showed up. I was under the impression that dial norm was not applied to DTS-HDMA at all. I know and have read that there are suspicions of dial norm being applied to TrueHD, so if this would have happened on Dave Matthews BD, I would not have been surprised. But when it lit up before the DTS-HDMA track on X-Men, I was a little taken back and almost felt cheated. Has anyone experienced this on any capable player/receiver combo??
Overall, due to the great price and now being able to utilize the full audio capabilities of BD, I would very highly recommend this player to anyone. Setup was super easy and load times were faster than the PS3.

Dude you are killing me! I can't wait to be in the BD30K Owners Club, thx for the feedback.

[HDBlu]

One word of caution I noticed, before the DTS-HDMA lit up, the dial norm showed up. I was under the impression that dial norm was not applied to DTS-HDMA at all.

Yes, Dial Norm is such a terrible feature of Dolby formats that DTS built it into their advanced codec.

[hoser]

I was under the impression that the use of dial norm was being left to the discretion of the studios.
IIRC, Sony took a poll awhile back over at AVS on this very subject and the vote was overwhelmingly AGAINST its use.

[LeoneFan]

So this player loads discs faster than the PS3? How about Java content?

[HDJK]

Originally Posted by hoser

Me too.
I prefer bitstream out because, usually, the DACs in a pre/pro or receiver are superior (as in the 9.8).

Even if you decode it in the player you still send a digital signal (PCM) to the receiver which converts it to analog. So the receivers DACs do the conversion in both cases.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by HDBlu

Yes, Dial Norm is such a terrible feature of Dolby formats that DTS built it into their advanced codec.

Source?

[jdsanko]

Originally Posted by Manco

Do you have any concept what it takes to engineer a laser pickup head to read data so tightly packed on a disc it takes a electron microscope to see the pits on the material?? Then reproduce an entire feature length film from it???

I rather have my receiver do the decoding anyway so who cares.

I agree. I would rather control the listening experience with the reciever and have the player just pass on the bitstream. This will require a new receiver on my part, but I think it is the cleanist way to go. Let the player focus on the video and simply pass the audio data.

[Tee]

I strolled into the CC over by my job this morning and to my surprised, no BD30K's............so i asked a where is the new Panny BD player? The sales clerk shows me the BD10? model, i said no that is not it. I asked could she look in the back for one, after 10min she came back w/ one and said there were only two. Well lucky me! I can't wait to get home today, i think i'm feel a little under weather all of sudden.

[airkitty]

I stopped by the brand new CC on Sat and no BD30s in stock. The regional manager was in the store and asked if I was happy to which I replied No. I told him that the selection was the key to my wallet and since he only had Sony players and 0 of the BR disc that I wanted I could not buy anything from his store. The local BB does not have the player either. Hopefully my wife will be able to source one for my Xmas present. I am truly excited about the bit stream audio since my new Marantz SR7002 can decode TrueHD and DTS MA. Please guys keep the info coming related to this player and thanks for being early adopters.

Mark
PS3 (on loan from a friend)
Sony KDL40V3000
Marantz SR7002
B&W DM602
B&W center
Audioquest speaker wires (midnight & type 4)
StraightWire interconnects
EForcity HDMI

[dbp89109]

Originally Posted by jcs913

No pics posted, but I picked one up yesterday at CC. They had just gotten them on friday night the guy said. Luckily, thanks to this forum, I got 10% off and had some rewards certs from before. Walked out with tax (9% in Illinois!!) for $440.

How do I get 10% off? I checked the Deals Forum, but only an expired coupon code. If I can get 10% off to cover the sales tax, I might just go ahead and get this Panny player, and give the PS3 to the nephew for Xmas.

Thanks.

[Manco]

How do I get 10% off? I checked the Deals Forum, but only an expired coupon code. If I can get 10% off to cover the sales tax...

I ordered this from Amazon. NO sales tax and NO shipping.
Expected ship date is Dec 05. I'll save the $45 in CA sales tax to wait 20 days. Used my savings to buy more BOGO's!!

ohhh...and if price drops within the 30 days of shipping (good chance of this) they'll credit the difference back.

[phansson]

The 10% off coupon is on the Circuit City home page. $250 qualifying order and has to be ordered online and picked up at a local store.

Word of warning, I purchased and tried to have a friend pick it up for me (another city, 1 hr away) and you have to have original purchase credit card and drivers license. I had to cancel the order and let them buy it for pick up.

So far it has load times as fast as the PS3, which is pretty damn impressive after owning 4 other stand alone players.

Best stand alone player so far....

[Tee]

I thought the 10% off exspirerd on yesterday, so you are sying you still can use the coupon?

[jclark67]

I picked on up at my local CC yesterday. Coming from the S300, I am totally amazed. The java load times are incredible. The menus are fast and responsive. I am confused as to what the SD card slot is for other than viewing pictures, but it seems that some discs in the future will let you store clips or something like that. I did have a problem with it only outputting DD via bitstream. I had to turn of the secondary audio to get DTS-HD MA passed to my reciever. Not sure that I am giving any relevant info because I am new to all of this. It was totally worth the money!

[Jim L]

First off - this is the best Blu-ray player I've experienced so far!

It has all the best attributes of the other 4 players that I have had some experience with.

1. The first Panny
2. The first Sammy
3. The Sony BDP-S1
4. The PS3 (60GB)

And here's why:

• Best PQ of the bunch (Sony BDP-S1 is a close second)
• 2nd fastest load and start times (very close to the PS3!)
• Plays every disc format except SACD (although it does play the CD layer of SACD Hybrids)
• The only one of the bunch to pass Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master as bitstream
• Profile 1.1 with PIP (nothing to watch on it yet)
• The slimmest and lightest of the bunch
• A nice IR remote and can be used with universal remotes
• Runs very cool and way quieter than the PS3
• Memory card slot for firmware updates, extra content or persistent storage

I gave it extensive tests yesterday. They most impressive things about it are the PQ, bitstream sound and the loading times.

I didn't use a stopwatch on the loading times, but they are so close to the PS3 that there are many times that I didn't detect a delay at all.
I used POTC 1 & 2, The Descent, LOXG, FF:ROSS, Cars, and Ratatouille.

[dbp89109]

Originally Posted by Manco

I ordered this from Amazon. NO sales tax and NO shipping.
Expected ship date is Dec 05. I'll save the $45 in CA sales tax to wait 20 days. Used my savings to buy more BOGO's!!

Thanks. Yeah, I buy most of my Blu-rays and other things from Amazon - usually cheaper than buying in store, no sales tax, and no gas & hassle of driving around. But it looks like Amazon's price for the BD30 is the same as CC - $499, so if I can find a 10% coupon to knock off the cost of sales tax, I'd rather have it now. So would my nephew - he's been trying to pry the PS3 out of my hands since I bought it. He thinks it's "wasted" on me because I only use it to play blu-rays & DVDs.

Originally Posted by phansson

The 10% off coupon is on the Circuit City home page. $250 qualifying order and has to be ordered online and picked up at a local store.

I must be blind, darned if I can see it. And thanks for the warning, I'll pick it up myself.

[phansson]

Originally Posted by Tee

I thought the 10% off exspirerd on yesterday, so you are sying you still can use the coupon?

Sorry for the confusion, it appears the 10% off did expire yesterday.

I received my unit Saturday.

[dbp89109]

Originally Posted by phansson

Sorry for the confusion, it appears the 10% off did expire yesterday.

I received my unit Saturday.

I bought a 10% coupon off eBay for $1.40. It worked, $450.01, plus tax!

Off to Circuit City for in-store pickup. . . . .

[Ace]

Originally Posted by dbp89109

I bought a 10% coupon off eBay for $1.40. It worked, $450.01, plus tax!

Off to Circuit City for in-store pickup. . . . .

That is absolutely hilarious!! +1 to you pal.

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by dbp89109

I bought a 10% coupon off eBay for $1.40. It worked, $450.01, plus tax!

Off to Circuit City for in-store pickup. . . . .

You overpaid for your coupon.

Here is one for $1.25: http://cgi.ebay.com/Circuit-City-10-...QQcmdZViewItem