Panasonic - DVD-S77

MPEG Maker: Matsushita MPEG Model: MN2DS0004AP Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2310 LF     MSRP: $249.95 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

The Panasonic DVD-S77 was a bit of a surprise for me. I just recently reviewed the updated S97 flagship player that seems to be almost exactly the same as the S77 . . . well at least from a build and chip standpoint. Both players use just about the exact same components to deliver the goods, but the S97 is a bit more refined in the end.

The S77 is a two-chip-based player. For its core processing, it relies on a Matsushita MPEG decoder that is pretty much shared throughout the Panasonic DVD player line. What separates the S77 from the lower priced options is the inclusion of the Genesis/Faroudja FLI-2310 video processing chip. This chip not only offers spectacular de-interlacing performance, but also top-of-the-line video scaling for up-conversion to high definition resolutions.

De-Interlacing

The S77 uses a new chip from Genesis called the FLI-2310-LF. I had heard rumors that Genesis and Faroudja had figured out the dreaded “macroblocking” issue that has been so rampant with the latest Genesis chip. Since this chip seemed to be a new iteration of the 2300, I thought for sure this player would not have macroblocking. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In fact, it is worse in this regard than its big brother the S97. Using my tried and true reference scene, Chapter 22 of A Bug’s Life, macroblocking was clearly evident through almost the entire scene. I don’t know why we haven’t seen this problem fixed yet, but it has become more and more frustrating for everyone. As with all FLI-2310 based players, I don’t recommend the S77 if you have a display that shows the issue. Unfortunately we don’t have a list of what displays those are, but we do know that Panasonic plasmas are one of the worst offenders. On a positive note, none of the Sony Cineza (HS-20, HS-50, HS-51) based projectors show the macroblocking bug at all. I cannot comment on the rest of the Sony line.

Aside from the macroblocking issue, the Faroudja continues to be one of our favorite de-interlacing/scaling solutions. It is one of only a few true 10 bit video processing chips available, and its diagonal line processing is still the best in the industry. Since the S77 has an HDMI output, it can deliver a true 10 bit video signal if the output is never converted to DVI. There is a common misconception in the electronics world that DVI and HDMI are identical except for HDMI’s ability to carry multi-channel audio signals on top of video. This is not true. DVI outputs 8 bit RGB signals only and cannot carry 10 bit video like HDMI can. In fact, HDMI is actually capable of 12 bit transmission as well. What does this buy you? Well if you are lucky enough to have a display with an HDMI input, you can significantly reduce the contouring artifacts that are commonly associated with digital displays. A lot of this may depend on the internal processing of your display though too. This is one of the gripes I’ve had with DLP based projectors and displays. Most are DVI- based and only incorporate 8 bit processing internally. So contouring in gray ramps is quite evident. You’ll also usually see it in skies and underwater scenes. If you are lucky enough to have a display with an HDMI input, and with high bit processing, this is pretty much eliminated.

Like most other Panasonic players, the S77 has three distinct video modes; Auto 1, Auto 2, and Video. Auto 1 and 2 are identical except for 2-2 processing. Auto 2 is the only mode that features this processing since it requires a different tap setting in the Genesis chip. This mode is great for video-based DVDs and some PAL material that is flagged incorrectly for video. The video mode is pretty much useless as always.

The Genesis settings seem to be right with this player. The cross color suppressor is defaulted to OFF, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to turn it back on. The chroma filters are all turned on appropriately as well, and this player does pass all of our chroma up sampling tests. The drawback to this is that Faroudja’s filters truncate the vertical chroma resolution. This was clearly evident using the vertical chroma sweep on AVIA Pro. This is one of the only drawbacks to the Faroudja design.

Core Performance

I always find it amusing when a higher end player in a manufacturer’s line doesn’t perform to the level of a lower end unit. At the same time I had this player for evaluation, I was testing their low priced S29. The S29 is a fourth of the S77’s retail price so one would expect the S77 to be at least equal in every respect to the S29. Well, that is not the case. The S77 exhibits the same slight trace of Y/C delay that was present with the S29. It also has some minor pixel cropping, but in this case it affects all sides of the image and not just the sides.

Another issue I found was the S77's black level. For some reason, the S77’s component output is at 7.5 IRE, and I couldn’t get it to output 0 IRE. It does pass a below-black pluge though. Like the S29, the analog white level of the S77 is much too high at 110 IRE. However, the HDMI levels seemed to be right, so this is only an issue via component video output.

Usability is the same as most of Panasonic’s line of players. Menu navigation and chapter skips are quick and painless and the layer change is the standard 1 second for the entire Panasonic line. Build quality is slightly higher then Panasonic’s lower line but not near the level of most other manufacturer’s top end products. Panasonic has seemed to abandon flagship designs like its previous beasts the H-1000 and 2000. That is too bad.

I was impressed to see that this player supports the newest version of HDMI; the 1.1 spec. This version allows for high resolution multi-channel PCM support from DVD-Audio discs. Some other high profile players on the market don’t yet support this. Panasonic also has a digital receiver that accepts this signal and will decode DVD-Audio. Very impressive given the price point of these products.

Conclusions

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-S97

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: 2050004AP Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2310     MSRP: $299.00 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

We had the opportunity to review the S97 last year for our Benchmark, and although this was a hotly anticipated player, it had a few issues working against it. Panasonic has since released two different software updates, and the player I tested this time around had the latest and greatest firmware installed. Panasonic has definitely made some improvements to this player since the last go around, and this now stacks as one of the best players to be found for the price.

These new updates were strictly on the software side, so the core hardware elements are the same as before. The S97 uses a new Panasonic/Matsushita MPEG decoder and the Genesis FLI-2310 video processing chip. The 2310 chip is infamous for its macroblocking problem that seems to create digital blocking in the image both on its own and by enhancing issues that are already there. The only company that has made an effort to fix this issue so far is Denon who released some firmware updates to the DVD-5900 that toned the artifact down some, but not enough. Panasonic has now attempted the same thing but with much better results.

I did my standard tests for this artifact via both component and HDMI outputs to my display. Via component video, there were no signs of the macroblocking at all. And I mean no signs. Via HDMI, there was still evidence of the issue, but it was toned down significantly since the last time I looked at this player. While it still has the macroblocking bug (MBB), this is one of the best players I’ve seen with respect to that particular problem.

But Panasonic made some more changes too. It seems that the de-interlacing performance has been tightened up a bit. The S97 offers three distinctive progressive modes: Auto1, Auto 2, and Video. Auto 1 has the typical Faroudja performance that you see in just about every player that uses this chip. It does a great job with both film and video material and is a solid performer all around. Like all implementations, this mode does not support a 2-2 cadence, which is expected. Auto 2 solves this issue. I only recommend using Auto 2 if you know the material you’re watching is using a 2-2 cadence, because performance with other non-2-2 material can vary. Basically, if you are seeing strange artifacts, such as combing, shimmering, or unsteadiness in the image, switch over to Auto 2 and see if it helps. If it does, great! When you’re done watching that material, go back to Auto 1. There is also a Video mode, but there is no real reason to use it as the Auto 1 and 2 modes cover those bases fine.

The core performance of the S97 has also improved with the new firmware. Response times are up, and the layer change time is down. While it is still not down enough to compete with Mediatek players, Panasonic managed to shave about a half second off the layer break time. The MPEG decoder itself still has some issues though. Panasonic did a bit of a back step after the earlier players like the RP-82 and RP-91 in terms of MPEG decoder performance. Our CUE tests revealed some obvious flickering when the material used a 3-2 alternating cadence. While there wasn’t any banding or jaggies, the flickering can be a bit annoying.

The component outputs had some minor pixel cropping, including 7 combined pixels from the sides of the image and 2 from the top and bottom. There is a slight amount of Y/C delay with both the component and HDMI outputs, but it still was within our 5 nanosecond standard. The component outputs are properly set up for a 0 IRE output level, and they pass a below-black pluge with no problems. The measured white level of the player is a tad high at 102 IRE but still within our passing spec.

The HDMI output has some issues with its video levels though. With the brightness and contrast levels in the player set to their default state, this player does not pass below-black or above-white information. I had to set the brightness to +2 and the contrast to -1 to pass the full video signal. This is something that Panasonic should have tweaked in with their new firmware, and I’ve seen the same issue with some Denon players, including their flagship DVD-5910. On the plus side, this player does not incorrectly change the RBG levels when converting HDMI to DVI, which is common with a lot of HDMI players out there. So owners of DVI-based monitors have no worries here.

Summary: I am glad that Panasonic took it upon themselves to further refine the S97 DVD player. It stands as one of the best existing players at this price point.

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-XP30

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: MN677531KA Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: FLI2200     MSRP: $299.95 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

Deinterlacing

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-RP82

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: MN67753IKA Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: FLI2200     MSRP: $229.95 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

Deinterlacing

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-RP56

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: MN677533MP Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: FLI2200     MSRP: $299.00 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

This player was a surprise. Coming so soon on the heels of the RP91 (reviewed above), we expected it to be similar, and use the hybrid flag-reading/cadence-reading Genesis chipset of that player. Instead, we found that it uses the Sage/Faroudja chip, which is amazing in a major brand player at this price (around $230 street). The box and front panel don't say anything about Faroudja or DCDi, but it's in there. And except for a few minor hiccups, it's all configured correctly.

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-CP72

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: MN67753IKA Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: FLI2200     MSRP: $279.95 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

This player has been widely assumed to be the equivalent of the well-regarded RP82, only in a 5-disc changer form factor. We found this to be largely true, though with a few minor disappointments.

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DMP-BD10

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-RP62

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: MN677533MP Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: FLI2200     MSRP: $179.95 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

Deinterlacing

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-S52

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: Unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Unknown Deinterlacer Model: Unknown     MSRP: $99.95 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

The DVD-S52 is one of the least expensive HDMI-based DVD players I’ve tested to date. At this price you wouldn’t expect much in terms of features, but Panasonic delivers a decent package of options here for the budget minded consumer. Not only does it offer an HDMI output, but this output is HDMI v1.1 compliant, and the player supports full playback of DVD-Audio. This means you can use one cable to deliver both standard DVD video and audio plus high-resolution PCM audio from DVD-Audio software. The player also supports upscaling of DVD via HDMI to 720p and 1080i. While this isn’t the first time Panasonic has offered these features to the consumer market, it has never been quite this inexpensive.

The S52 is based on a Matsushita (Panasonic) MPEG decoder. I did not see any other video processing chips when I opened the player up, and the video performance doesn’t suggest that Panasonic is using any. In the past we’ve been big fans of Panasonic’s MPEG decoders. In fact, the Panasonic MPEG decoders found in the RP-91 and RP-82 continue to be our standard to this day. Those players are over 5 years old now! This new chip does not live up to that same standard, unfortunately. The implementation on the digital side is good, but the analog output of the chip needs quite a bit of work.

I started my tests with the HDMI output. I fed a Panasonic AE-900 LCD projector directly and also put a DVDO VP30 in between for some of the tests. The VP30 allows me to verify the output color space of the player plus do some more extensive CUE testing.

The core performance on the HDMI side was quite good. The S52 is not cropping any pixels via HDMI and retains the full dynamic range of the luma signal. It does not clip below black or above white information in the image. The player also doesn’t have any signs of Y/C delay via HDMI, which helps with the overall sharpness of the image.

The S52 does suffer from some slight flickering in our CUE testing with alternating 3-2 cadence based material. This cadence is common in some of the early Pixar and Disney DVDs and can be noticeable at times. All of the other CUE tests were passed, including the 4:2:0 ICP test which means this player does some chroma filtering.

The core performance of the component (analog) outputs was completely different and not nearly as good. There is some mild pixel cropping with 2 pixels missing from the left side and 3 from the right, and there is over a full pixel of Y/C delay. All NTSC video is transmitted with both black and white (luma) and color information (chroma) placed on top of each other. They are separate and distinct signals, and if they are not overlaid exactly on top of each other, you will see outlining or “ghosting” around the image on one side. This player delays the chroma, so you will probably see a faint outline on the right side of objects.

The overall white level of the analog output was also extremely low. Using a horizontal gray ramp and a digital oscilloscope I measured the full IRE sweep of the player from 0 to 100 IRE. If the player’s output were correct, the respective 0 and 100 IRE points would measure as such on the scope. In this case the 100 IRE point measured REALLY low and came in at 91 IRE.

The analog frequency response of the player was good, with a fairly flat curve throughout the full video bandwidth.

From a usability standpoint, the Panasonic was about average. Menu navigation and chapter skipping were quick enough and never distracting. Disc load times were also good. The layer change was a tad sluggish at 1.5 seconds, but livable given the price point. I wasn’t that impressed with the advanced setup menus. Settings for HDMI output and de-interlacing mode were a bit hidden, so some users may have difficulty finding them. The normal setup menus were easy to use though.

I would have liked to see more attention to detail on the analog side of this player, especially since the HDMI (digital) output was so good.

Moving on to our de-interlacing tests, the S52 starts to show the limitations of one-chip mass-market MPEG decoders. The S52 offers three separate de-interlacing modes; Auto 1, Auto 2, and Video. Video is a forced video mode that will not lock onto any cadences or switch into a film mode. This results in a much softer image than the Auto modes but will result in very little, if any, combing. The only real difference between Auto 1 and Auto 2 was the latter’s ability to lock on to a 2-2 cadence correctly. This is only important though if you know you are going to watch material mastered with this cadence. Some TV based DVDs use this. Otherwise, we would suggest just sticking with Auto 1 (default), as it handles most of the film-based cadences.

The S52 does not handle breaks in cadence or mixed cadences very well at all. It is also not motion-adaptive, so it will not handle video-based material very well. This pretty much defines the bottom end of video de-interlacing in mass-market progressive scan players. Even our medium difficulty tests tripped this player up, resulting in drops to video mode and loss of overall resolution. It did perform nicely at recovery from video to film mode as cadences changed. At this price point I wasn’t expecting much better, but I hoped that Panasonic delivered performance closer to their players that cost just a little bit more.

Conclusions

It would be hard for me to recommend this player to anyone. The video processing is on the weak side and will result in a softer image with poorly mastered material. I was impressed with the feature set considering the price point, but that doesn’t make up for the other issues. For those using component inputs, you should steer clear of this player, as its core performance using that output needs a lot of work and there is a lot better to be found in this price range.

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-S29

MPEG Maker: Matsushita MPEG Model: MN2DS0003UP1 Deinterlacer Maker: Matsushita Deinterlacer Model: MN2DS0003UP1     MSRP: $69.00 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

The Panasonic DVD-S29 is one of Panasonic’s newest entry level players. The design is simple but maintains a few of the cosmetic touches of their somewhat pricier upper tier. A few years ago Panasonic was at the top of our DVD Benchmark ratings and they released a string of affordable DVD players that offered superb video playback; unfortunately those days have come to an end. While the upper tier of Panasonic players such as the DVD-S97 and S77 offer excellent video performance for the price, the S29 groups itself into the mainstream norm of average-at-best players.

The S29 uses a proprietary Matsushita MPEG decoder. This single chip is the heart of the player and performs all of the video processing duties as well as audio decoding. Like most one-chip solutions, the Matsushita offering is decent enough with film based DVDs, but lacks the more advanced video processing that is demanded by today’s DVDs.

De-Interlacing

The S29 features three separate de-interlacing modes; Auto 1, Auto 2, and Video. This is pretty common with Panasonic designs, and the results are nearly always the same with this chipset. Auto 1 is essentially a film based mode and lacks the capability to deal with a 2-2 based video cadence. So, if you don’t find yourself watching a lot of TV shows now available on DVD, you may just want to stick with this mode. Auto 2 is exactly the same, except that it features 2-2 processing. I didn’t see any signs of compromise with film based material (at least compared to Auto 1), so this is a safe mode to leave the player in if you want. Last and definitely least is Video which I found essentially useless for the most part. No flag or cadence detection at all. Since Auto 2 deals with video based material just fine, I would recommend sticking with that.

This player had quite a bit of difficulty with cadence errors and was quick to drop into video mode. This resulted in lots of combing during our tests. This is pretty much the norm on the market today despite the decade of DVD technologies that have been developed. It seems that the consumers just don't demand enough from the manufacturers, so why should they bother spending money to fix problems?

Core Performance

Unfortunately, this is where most players come up short. Since typical video processing chips will handle a basic film cadence for I/P conversion, most of the deficiencies you see in DVD players today are from problems in the core areas of video playback. This includes Y/C delay, video levels, chroma up-sampling errors, and more. The DVD-S29 again did about average in this department, but had some major oversights in my opinion.

The biggest oversight is the default level of white in the video signal. Our pass criteria is a level of 102 IRE or lower, with 100 IRE being the ideal. The S29’s white level is 110 IRE as measured with our oscilloscope. That is outrageously high. The Panasonic does have picture settings that will help out, but this shouldn’t be an issue that the consumer has to deal with. On the plus side, the S29 does pass a below black pluge signal and the black level of the player can be adjusted for both 7.5 and 0 IRE.

There was some slight Y/C delay measured, but the player was still in the consumer spec of less then 5 ns. When I evaluated the player on my display, I didn’t see any trace of the Y/C delay in normal viewing. The Panasonic had a very good overall video frequency response that remained flat for the most part with only a slight nudge down in the mid-frequency band. Using a resolution chart on AVIA Pro showed that the S29 did indeed resolve the highest resolution DVD was capable of.

Like most DVD players, the S29 did have issues with a few of our chroma up-sampling tests, i.e., the 4:2:0 ICP test, which requires special chroma filters to resolve, and the 3-2 alternating cadence CUE problem. Both of these are very common but won’t show up on a lot of material you will see in real world viewing. The 3-2 alternating problem will show up occasionally on some of Disney’s animated DVD fare.

Pixel cropping was a tad excessive on the left and right sides of the image, mainly the right which was clipping 5 pixels from the video signal. Since the S29 doesn’t use any chroma filtering, the player retains the full vertical chroma response.

Usability of the player is high. Response times were high and menu navigation and chapter skips were breezy enough. The player’s layer change clocked in right about 1 second which is decent. I wasn’t impressed with the overall build of the player; especially the tray, which seemed a bit flimsy.

Conclusions

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DMR-HS2

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: Deinterlacer Maker: Deinterlacer Model:     MSRP: $999.00 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

This is a DVD recorder, but we only looked at the performance of the video section while playing back pre-recorded DVDs.

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic

Panasonic - DVD-H1000

MPEG Maker: MEI MPEG Model: Unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: gmVLX1A     MSRP: $2999.95 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

This player has been around almost as long as the Toshiba 5109, but it’s still hanging in there, and it’s still a contender. This player is the only one to use the Genesis gmVLX1A without the gmAFMC, as far as we know. The player implements its own film detection, which seems to boil down to looking for the standard film flag sequence. If it sees that sequence, it goes into film mode. Any deviation from the standard sequence causes it to go into video mode, except the alternating progressive_frame flag material, which is still recognized as film.

Panasonic - DVD-S27

MPEG Maker: Panasonic MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Panasonic Deinterlacer Model: unknown     MSRP: $79.99 Website: http://www.panasonic.com

Ah, Panasonic! I remember the good old days when Stacey and I would test the RP line of players and really get excited about what they were bringing to the table. Unfortunately those days have gone and Panasonic has moved on to a more mass market approach, that, like Sony, is built by them from the ground up.

This player uses a Matsushita MPEG decoder, but I was unable to get the serial number off of it. Unfortunately this is not the same chip that we saw in the late great players that did so well in our Benchmarks before. This MPEG decoder suffers from all of the chroma issues and failed all of the corresponding tests.

The player crops a few pixels on the left and right side, 2 and 5 respectively and also suffers from a full pixel of Y/C delay. The S27 passes below black information, and its white level just squeaks by a pass with a measurement of 98 IRE.

The player has a very intuitive menu system for setup that is easy to use. Menu navigation on this player is extremely fast, but I found chapter skips to be a bit on the slower side. The layer change clocked in at 1.25 seconds, which is OK.

For de-interlacing, there are three different modes; Auto 1, Auto 2, and Video. The only difference between Auto 1 and 2 comes from Auto 2’s ability to handle a 2-2 cadence. This is great for PAL discs or for DVD handheld recorders that use this cadence. This de-interlacer is a flag reader and tends to trip up a lot with poorly recorded video. The video mode is exactly what it says, and forces video. Unless you watch a lot of PAL discs, I would recommend just leaving it in Auto 1.

I know there are a lot of high hopes for the upcoming Panasonic S97. I too am hopeful, but I realize that Panasonic is geared more at the mass consumer and not the videophile. While this shouldn’t preclude them from creating a great DVD player, it seems it makes most companies a bit less staunchy with the performance of their end product. The S27 is a pretty average budget player overall, but nowhere near the greatness of its predecessors.

Video Frequency Response
Panasonic