I see that the new new Panasonic DMP-BD80 has come out. I am mainly interested in this player because it has on board decoding for DTS-HD Master and DD TrueHD with 7.1 analog outputs that will mate with my 970. I see that this unit is going for $335 to $399 on a few sites.

I currently have the OPPO DV-981 which I am very happy with. As most know it does a great job with standard DVD video and can play DVD audio and SACD disc.


I am not concerned with the DVD audio and SACD feature. With this in mind does anyone have an options on such a player VS. the new OPPO Blu-ray player coming out soon. Any advantages the OPPO will have over the Panasonic player. Not to concerned about the OPPO price tag difference.

The only review I have seen on this player is below.


http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/Panasonic_DMP-BD80_Blu-ray_Disc_Player.shtml


Any feed back with be great.

I haven't had a chance to use the BD80, so I'm left to speak more to features than performance.

In several cases, they are equal. They both have 7.1 analog outputs, although the BDP-83's is more straightforward (the BD80 has a 5.1 output and a 2-channel output that can be used as rear surrounds, while the BDP-83 has a 7.1 output and a separate 2-channel output). They both are Profile 2.0. They both support bitstream output and have onboard decoding of the new audio formats.

The BDP-83 offers several features, but you may not care about all of them. There's the DVD-Audio and SACD support, including the ability to output SACD as a DSD bitstream or to go directly from DSD to analog. There's also the ABT video processing, which may have negligible impact on Blu-ray but is a very potent benefit for standard DVD. You know how well the trust 981HD does with DVD, right? The BDP-83's ABT chip is another step up from that. And based on the BD80 review you posted, the BDP-83 is faster.

Thanks Gong

I have a few questions and would like to share my system set up.

I know you are up on connections and setting with the 970 process. I think this question would apply to either the OPPO or Panasonic player with on board processing. If I use my 970 7.1 inputs with bass management set to on how should I set the speaker size and delay in the Blu-ray player?

I am also looking at keeping the 981HD in the loop with the Panasonic for blu-ray play connected to the DVD/7.1 inputs on the 970. I currently have my HD sat receiver hooked to the Video 2 input on the 970. Can I use the video 3 input for the OPPO 981HD? My HD video connections are direct to my HD TV.

I would like to share a connection set up I am using to play music. First off let me explain my room layout. I have a very large room which is 27 feet in length. The front part of the room is my home theater set up with a 7.1 speaker/sub arrangement. The back part of the room I have a pool table and side bar where most of my CD music is played. The problem here was that the music listening area is behine the sweet spot. Here is what I did to fix this problem. I added a second powered sub and a set of speakers in the back end of the room. I installed a A/B speaker switch to switch between my back surrounds and the back speakers I added. I ran the RCA speaker outs L/R from my 200 CD changer to the 7.1 inputs on the 970 with a RCA Y's to front mains and back surrounds. Not sure if anyone has tryed this but this a kicker music set up. The subs seem to be much more musical with very tight bass. Much better sound from subs than 7 channel stereo set up. Not sure why this is, maybe bypassing addtional processing in the 970??

Maybe I'am mssing something on an alternate connection for my CD player. I had though about just splitting the mains with the A/B switch in stereo mode but this would put two pair of 8 ohm speakers on my 7125. Not sure if I will get the same response from my subs and speakers with this set up.

I think you know where I am going with this. I will need the 7.1 inputs for Blu-ray connections.

Any thoughts on this?

Since the 970 will be doing the bass management, you should set the speakers to "large" and the sub to "on" (if you have rear surrounds, set them to "large" as well, but if you don't have rear surrounds set them to "none"). This will hold true for either player.
If all you are doing is connecting coaxial or optical to the 970 from the 981HD while the video goes straight to the TV, you could use any input.

I think the BD80's Uniphier chip is a bit better than the one in my BD30 , but unless it's a whole lot better I would certainly understand keeping the 981HD for DVD. If you decide to wait for the BDP-83 (which looks to be getting real close), I'd vote for retiring the 981HD.
This is a unique setup, and you're right that you need that 7.1 input for the Blu-ray player. The 970 doesn't have a second zone, so that rules out rigging up something crazy there. I keep coming back to the idea of the speaker switch on the mains that would normally run just "A" to the fronts but could run "A"+"B" to the fronts and the pool table speakers. You'd get the same subwoofer response in this case because the sub setup would be unchanged. How well the 7125 would handle the load depends on the speakers, but I wouldn't underestimate that amp.

One other thing with this option: you could potentially switch from analog output from the CD megachanger to digital output, and my gut tells me that the 970's DACs are likely to be better than the megachanger's DACs.

Thanks again Gonk

FYI

I got up earlier this morning and have already done some rigging and testing with splitting the main speakers to the pool table speakers. The first thing I noticed is the much lower volume when set to the stereo mode and the subwoofer's base is not as tight as with the 7.1 input set up.

Anyway I can live with the above set up.

Thanks for you help.

You will need to turn the volume up to get to the same volume level in this scenario, so the first part makes sense. How's the sub connected?

My subs are connected to the sub out from the 970. I am using two Dayton 12" 250W powered. One in the front part of the room and the other in the back.

If the subs are hooked to the 970's sub output, what is the crossover point set to for the front speakers? If it is lower than the 80Hz crossover used by the 7.1 Direct input's analog bass management, that could explain why you are hearing a difference in subwoofer output.

I have the 7.1 direct switch set to digital with the front mains crossover set to 60HZ. My front speakers are large - 3 way with 12" woofer. After changing to the digital connection from my CD player to the 970 and adjusting sub volume levels I think it sounds pretty good.

Thanks for your help.

Are your fronts set to "small" in the 970? - if they are set to "large" then you aren't getting bass management, even though you've adjusted the front crossover setting.

The front mains are set to small. I also bumped the volumn levels a little at the subs and that seemed to help also.

One more question. I hooked up my OPPO to the analog inputs on the 970 to see what it sounds like with 5.1 DD movies. I set the 7.1 inputs on the 970 to the fixed 80HZ setting. The OPPO settings are as follows:

Speaker setup page
Down-mix: 5.1CH
All speakers: Large
Subwoofer: On

Audio set up page
Digital ouput: Raw

I noticed that the sub output from the 970 is much lower compared to using the Coaxial digital input to the 970. Is this normal?

There is a quirk of 5.1 audio relating to the LFE level, which I think is what you are running into. This AVS thread offers a detailed summary of the underlying issue as well as a few additional references. I suspect that this is what you are encountering. Unfortunately, I don't know right off the bat how the Model 970's analog input or the 981HD's analog output behave under this specific set of conditions (analog output with player bass management disabled, coupled with analog input being converted to digital). It's possible that the Model 970 is assuming that the source player is providing a boost while the player assumes that it doesn't need to because it isn't doing bass management. If that is the case, boosting the sub trim on the 981HD should get you squared away.

Gonk

This is good information and I tryed it every way and there is no way you can get the explosive bass that you get with the digital connection to the 970.

If this is the case with the new Blu-ray players I am not sure I would be happy with the 7.1 analog connections to the 970 for HD audio.

Do you think the results would be any different with he New OPPO Blu-ray?

I'd need to run some test tones through the BDP-83 to know for sure, but I don't think it would be a problem. The BDP-83 offers +/-10dB adjustment for each channel, so even if you need to compensate for the sub channel manually you could do so.

Gonk,

Thanks for all your help. I read some addtional reviews on the Panasonic DMP-BD80. It seems like there may be the same issue with this player. Hopfully the BDP-83's processor has better control with the sub output.

Gonk,

I contacted OPPO on this issue. Just wanted to share their response.

I think this is an important issue for 7.1 ananlog output to receivers that don't have on board processing of the new HD formats.

Joel,

There are inherent differences between a raw audio signal and a PCM (pre-processed audio signal) in terms of volume output levels and expected bass management.

When you are working with the DV-981HD and comparing the difference in bass performance between digital coaxial (bit stream) and multi-channel analog (PCM) are you using a SPL meter to ensure that your output volumes are the same?

The DV-981HD and the DV-980H have been called "bass shy" when the player is doing the audio decoding. The BDP-83 should not have similar complaints, but you may want to wait for third party confirmation.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
2629B Terminal Blvd.
Mountain View, CA 94043
Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119

James,

Have you tried setting the bass management toggle switch to 'Digital'? In this mode there is supposed to be a boost (I assume +10db) added to the LFE channel (along with the speaker distance and time delay settings). I asked the Outlaws about this awhile back and that's how they explained the 1070 worked.

John

First off the OPPO is on order and thanks for the feed back.

I have a friend that is going to purchase the 997 when it comes out. He has a 990 and has offered up a $150 trade for my 970. He has more money than I do!

I looked at the comparison between the 990 and 970 on the Outlaw product page but I am not too technical when comes to audio terms.

The only complaint I have with the 970 is it still has the lock up problems at times. I have a couple of questions concerning the 990 vs. the 970.

1) Is the 990 free of the lock up problem?
2) Why is the 990 better than the 970.?

Answers:
1. Never had a "lock-up"; I have two 990s
2. Better: I initially ordered a 970 but sent it back since to me it did not sound as pleasing as the 990.
HTH

The 990 is a completely different platform than the 970. I've not had any lock-up problems with the 990.
In some regards, the two are similar. There are some differences that I think are significant.

• Addressable component and DVI inputs (any of these five video connections can be assigned to any of the six video input).
• Editable input names (you can change "Video1" to "Cable").
• More inputs.
• OSD menu on component output.
• Better analog section. The consensus seems to be that the 990 sounds better than the 970.

Of course, on the flip side, the 990 lacks the 970's option for analog bass management on the 7.1 Direct input and it's significantly taller.