BD35 vs Sony 550 a 24p or multi region dilemma.

Sheepking · 11-08-2009, 3:39 PM

Hi

I'd appreciate some opinions on my dilemma.

I managed to track down a BD35 for £80 from PC world this afternoon and I intended it to replace my Sony 550 which i could sell for £190 according to ebay.

The plan was to make it multi region for £50 (thats the cost of the chip, My dad is an electronics engineer and he will solder it for me for free!)

However as i gain multi region it appears i will lose 24p as the panny wont let me enable it. This is because i route the audio through a yamaha 1.3 amp as PCM which doesn't allow the machine to detect that my TV is 1080p/24. The sony lets you turn it on and its 24p setting works fine.

So multi region blu-ray playback on a Panny or stick with my region B sony and get 24p.

Any ideas?

mudstuff · 11-08-2009, 3:50 PM

Are you sure you'll lose 24p? I used to have a BD30 and I thought it was possible to set it in the setup menu to 1080/24? Might be worth clarifying. Personally I'd get the Panny, they're great machines and I prefer them over Sony.

Sheepking · 11-08-2009, 3:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mudstuff

Are you sure you'll lose 24p? I used to have a BD30 and I thought it was possible to set it in the setup menu to 1080/24? Might be worth clarifying. Personally I'd get the Panny, they're great machines and I prefer them over Sony.

Its connected up now an i cant enable it.

kingfats · 11-08-2009, 4:16 PM

You can't force 24p on the Panasonics.

Sheepking · 11-08-2009, 4:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfats

You can't force 24p on the Panasonics.

Would you accept the loss to gain multi region blu-ray or stick with 24p?

kingfats · 11-08-2009, 4:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheepking

Would you accept the loss to gain multi region blu-ray or stick with 24p?

Stick with 24p.

**Ian_S** · 11-08-2009, 4:41 PM

Have you simply compared the two to see if you can't stand the 60Hz?

Sheepking · 11-08-2009, 4:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian_S

Have you simply compared the two to see if you can't stand the 60Hz?

Well that was the plan until i had a thought. What happens if i connect the Machine directly to the TV and then enable 24p then hook it back up through the amp.

Well it defaulted back to automatic (1080i) but with 24p on. So i changed from automatic to 1080p and 24p stayed on!

I've turned the power off and back on and it stays enabled. Just need to try a DVD then back to blu-ray to see if it stays enabled and if it does then problem solved

kingfats · 11-08-2009, 4:58 PM

Clever idea.

Longy00000 · 12-08-2009, 5:28 PM

Tried all that with my Panny BD50 and it didnt work.
With mine when you switch the stuff off (TV, Amp etc) and then switch them back on for the next movie to be played it would grey out the 24p and the output was juddery in the panning scenes.
U nless the panny gets its HDMI handshake to confirm a 24fps compatability it wont output it so the only way to cheat the system was to plug the Panny HDMI cable direct into the TV , switch everything on, then without interrupting the power supply remove the HDMI from the Tv and stick into the Amp. this will then show 24fps through your amp but you have to do this everytime you want to watch a movie which is a bit of a pain.

If you do get it sorted then i would love to know a way of tricking the panny into always giving me 24fps.

nbat58 · 12-08-2009, 5:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longy00000

Tried all that with my Panny BD50 and it didnt work.
With mine when you switch the stuff off (TV, Amp etc) and then switch them back on for the next movie to be played it would grey out the 24p and the output was juddery in the panning scenes.
U nless the panny gets its HDMI handshake to confirm a 24fps compatability it wont output it so the only way to cheat the system was to plug the Panny HDMI cable direct into the TV , switch everything on, then without interrupting the power supply remove the HDMI from the Tv and stick into the Amp. this will then show 24fps through your amp but you have to do this everytime you want to watch a movie which is a bit of a pain.

If you do get it sorted then i would love to know a way of tricking the panny into always giving me 24fps.

Why not leave the HDMI going into the tv all the time?

Sheepking · 12-08-2009, 6:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longy00000

Tried all that with my Panny BD50 and it didnt work.
With mine when you switch the stuff off (TV, Amp etc) and then switch them back on for the next movie to be played it would grey out the 24p and the output was juddery in the panning scenes.
U nless the panny gets its HDMI handshake to confirm a 24fps compatability it wont output it so the only way to cheat the system was to plug the Panny HDMI cable direct into the TV , switch everything on, then without interrupting the power supply remove the HDMI from the Tv and stick into the Amp. this will then show 24fps through your amp but you have to do this everytime you want to watch a movie which is a bit of a pain.

If you do get it sorted then i would love to know a way of tricking the panny into always giving me 24fps.

Just checked and its not the same. Mine stays on all the time. I watched the knowing last night and it was fine. Just checked it again now after you posted and its still on.

My amp is a Yamaha RX-V4600 and the TV is TH42PZ80 which may or may not make a difference.

Also, It sounds like the menu system is different. On the BD35 you go into HDMI settings. Then you have to bring up the 24p setting to change it which opens up as a pop up. When it was off it gave the error message that you can only change this setting on a display that supports 24p when connected up through the amp.

You can view the setting 24p without opening the pop up, and on mine it always shows as on so it seems to not check the setting once it has been enabled.

Very pleased with it.

Longy00000 · 13-08-2009, 7:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nbat58

Why not leave the HDMI going into the tv all the time?

I do and use the multi analogoues for sound to the amp otherwise you would lose the HD audio and the BD35 doesnt have the multi outs so it wouldnt be acceptable for the other poster.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheepking

Just checked and its not the same. Mine stays on all the time. I watched the knowing last night and it was fine. Just checked it again now after you posted and its still on.

My amp is a Yamaha RX-V4600 and the TV is TH42PZ80 which may or may not make a difference.

Also, It sounds like the menu system is different. On the BD35 you go into HDMI settings. Then you have to bring up the 24p setting to change it which opens up as a pop up. When it was off it gave the error message that you can only change this setting on a display that supports 24p when connected up through the amp.

You can view the setting 24p without opening the pop up, and on mine it always shows as on so it seems to not check the setting once it has been enabled.

Very pleased with it.

It may still show on the set up menu but when i press the info button on my harmony when playing a Blu it clearly shows that it isnt being transported in 24fps mode to the TV as the handshake thing wasnt acknowledged at outset.
Not sure which button you would need to press on the Panny remote but the one that brings up the resolution and run time left (not the discs own pop up menu) will show whether 24fps signal is being sent or not. HDMI cable straight into tv and 24fps is displayed on the TV do it via the amp (after switching off) and the TV confirms its not getting 24fps anymore. Hope i am wrong but i think you might find that even though the menu still shows 24fps as having been selected it wont actually send it in 24f mode. Of course the Sony models will do this and i would like to see all players being able to force 24fps through.

difficult to explain on here but i hope you can follow what i am trying to say.

William YZF-R1 · 13-08-2009, 8:07 PM

Having owned a Sony S550 for a while, I picked up a BD35 from PC World today for £49.97.

(Ex display with remote manual etc).

My second TV doesn't do 24p but TBH I can't tell the difference.

If I am scathingly honest the BD35 seems to load quicker but the S550 has multi outs which I need for the main setup receiver.

It had obviously been on display for a while as I updated the firmware from 1.0 to 1.6.

Sheepking · 13-08-2009, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longy00000

It may still show on the set up menu but when i press the info button on my harmony when playing a Blu it clearly shows that it isnt being transported in 24fps mode to the TV as the handshake thing wasnt acknowledged at outset.
Not sure which button you would need to press on the Panny remote but the one that brings up the resolution and run time left (not the discs own pop up menu) will show whether 24fps signal is being sent or not. HDMI cable straight into tv and 24fps is displayed on the TV do it via the amp (after switching off) and the TV confirms its not getting 24fps anymore. Hope i am wrong but i think you might find that even though the menu still shows 24fps as having been selected it wont actually send it in 24f mode. Of course the Sony models will do this and i would like to see all players being able to force 24fps through.

difficult to explain on here but i hope you can follow what i am trying to say.

Well after a little play around with cables you are correct. i didnt realize that the bd35 confirmed onscreen it was playing 24p.

After turning it on and off a few times i guess i'm not that sensitive to it as i dont see much of a difference, So I'm not too disappointed.

Besides, The option is still there when i upgrade the amp sometime in the future.