Bitstream Playback Problem of BDP9700

[khlun]

I found my BDP9700 had problem under bitstream playback.
I used a single HDMI cable to connect BDP9700 (main HDMI) with my AV amp (Pioneer SC-LX82).
When I played a Bluray disc by DTSHD, my AV amp was able to receive the bitstream signal from BDP9700.
If I switched the sound to DolbyHD, my AV amp was not able to receive any signal from BDP9700, and no sound could be produced.
I have set the BDP9700 as using main HDMI only and "bitstream" output at the setup menu.
The above mentioned problem was never existed when I using my old bluray disc player.
I have tried the 3.71 firmware, also updated with the latest 3.76 firmware, but the problem was still existed.

What can I do with my BDP9700?
Thanks!

[Toengel]

Hi,

can you please check your MCU: http://www.supportforum.philips.com/...ll=1#post52669

With firmware 3.76, MCU need to be 0x19!

Also, did you made a factory reset after the last update?

Toengel@Alex

[khlun]

As checked, the MCU of my BDP9700 was 0x19.

And does "factory reset" mean "restore default setting"?

If yes, I have done that after the last update.

Thanks!

[khlun]

Is there any official support from Philips?

Thanks!

[Gerhard]

...
What can I do with my BDP9700?

Waiting and hoping (better praying) for help. Or give the device back.
There's not that much action around here from the Philips guys and nobody here
to say that they are working on a firmware update to solve such issues. Let's
hope that they are busy in bug-fixing.

I will add your issue to the list of reported issues.

- Gerhard

[WillemV]

Hallo Gerhard and khlun and all,

Last week I was contacted by Philips support to exchange information and confirm some testresults. I was told that the support team is working the issues and hopefully solve them with a new FW release. However the teammember that contacted me was not able to give me an exact timeplan for the release but indicated the problems were taken very seriously.

Willem

[Gerhard]

Hi Willem,

thank you for the information. Honestly I would expect something like that from
Philips within this forum - anyway. Let's hope the best.

- Gerhard

[WillemV]

Yes I agree,

I think I was contacted because I had logged an official support call two weeks ago; It would even be better to post an official Philips reaction within this forum.

WIllem

[Philips - QK]

Dear khlun,

Would you please try:

1. Connect HDMI OUT (MAIN) to TV
2. Connect HDMI OUT (AV RECEIVER) to the AMP Pioneer SC-LX82
3. Select “bitstream” under HDMI OUT (AVR), and check if there is sound with DolbyHD.

Dear WillemV & Gerhard,

Kindly let me know also what's your problem - whether it is the same of that from khlun.

With thanks & regards,
Philips Moderation Team

[WillemV]

Dear Philips team members,

Thanks for your active support. The problems that Gerhard and I issued might be similar in nature as they relate to bitstream support while connecting a TV set directly through main. We focussed more on the DSD (SACD) bitstream issues; However I was curious how the 9700 would behave with BR disc with DTS HD or Dolby HD content and therefore repeated the test you asked khlun to do:

setup:
1. Connect HDMI OUT (MAIN) to TV
2. Connect HDMI OUT (AV RECEIVER) to the AMP Onkyo TX-875
3. Select “bitstream” under HDMI OUT (AVR), and check if there is sound with DolbyHD.
4. Audio setting HDMI (main): off

Result:
a. No Dolby HD or DTS HD bitstream availalble. Selecting the PCM stereo on the BR-disc did not help.
b. However the analog 7.1 outputs on the 9700 produced sound from all BR sources (DTS, Dolby or PCM stereo) that I selected.

So, similar to the issues with DSD sources (SACD discs) no native bitstream is output from the HDMI AVR connector when a TV is connected to HDMI main.

Hope this helps,
Willem

[Philips - QK]

Dear Willem,

Thanks for your reply. Would you please help advise:

1. What is the sound profile if “Auto” is selected ?
2. If connecting this way works: BDP9700 connect to Onkyo TX-875 via HDMI OUT (Main); Onkyo TX-875 then connect to TV via HDMI receiver.

With thanks & regards,
Philips Moderation Team

[WillemV]

Dear Willem,

Thanks for your reply. Would you please help advise:

1. What is the sound profile if “Auto” is selected ?
2. If connecting this way works: BDP9700 connect to Onkyo TX-875 via HDMI OUT (Main); Onkyo TX-875 then connect to TV via HDMI receiver.

With thanks & regards,
Philips Moderation Team

Goodmorning again,

I was able to test the requested setup this morning with the foloowing results:

On 1:
Without making any changes to the connection setup just changing the audio attributes of the AVR connection to Automatic did not give any result. No sound was output, not even PCM. The signal from the analog outs remained available.

On 2:
Have all HMDI connectors linked to the AVR changes the behaviour of the 9700. I was not sure whether your request meant to link the AVR with HDMI main only so I have tested both options.

Results with HDMI AVR & HDMI Main connected to AVR and listening to the AVR audio:
- WHen audio on AVR was set to automatic the 9700 puts out PCM multi channel or stereo depending on the choice I make.
- When Audio on AVR was set to Bitstream the 9700 puts out DTS HD or Dolby HD. It also handled DTS HD 24/96 correctly (as stream).
- This setting also worked for SACD with its extreme DSD wideband signal (See also under Topic SACD playback)

Note that the above setting do not make sense when playing BR content since there is no picture available through HDMI AVR.

Results with only HDMI Main connected to the AVR:

-When audio on Main was set to automatic the 9700 puts out PCM multichannel or stereo.
-When audio on main was set to Bitstream the 9700 puts out native BR bitstreams (Dolby and DTS) but not DSD from SACD.
-In all cases audio from Main was limited to PCM 88 or 96 Khz. THe 192Khz stereo DTS HD BR that i have was downsampled to 96 Khz PCM. THis indicates that the 9700 does not reserve enough bandwidth for audio sources on the main outlet.

Hope this helps.

[Philips - QK]

Dear WillemV,

Your testing results are quite unexpected to me.
I will pass the case to our development team for further diagnosis and will update you when I hear some feedback from the team.

With thanks & regards,
Philips Moderation Team

[Gerhard]

[...]
Dear WillemV & Gerhard,

Kindly let me know also what's your problem - whether it is the same of that from khlun.[...]

Dear Philips Team,

thanks for taking care. As Willem already said our problems are kind of related to the one in this thread. I have tried to gather all important information about problems wrt to the BDP9700 here. If you need more information or additional tests, please ask.

Regards,
Gerhard

[WillemV]

Dear Philips team & Gerhard, all SACD and HD audio fan's:

Yesterday evening my BD9700 loaded the new 3.80 system software and after a double reboot and reset I was able to run some initial tests. I was on a deadline to write reviews on two music issues (a SACD and a BR audio disc) so used the new software to play both discs. Later today I will repeat some other tests to confirm success or failure on those:

Results:
The system behaves slightly differently now but the main problem still exist: As soon as a TV set is directly connected to HDMI main, no DSD nor DTS HD is output from HDMI AVR. Not even a PCM signal.

My solution yesterday was to reconnect HDMI main back to the receiver. So, now with HDMI AVR and HDMI main connected to the receiver(s) i got a good DSD signal to the AVR, but stil not a DTS HD signal. In order to get a DTS signal (From the Blu-ray disc that I needed to play) I had to toggle HDMI Main to "Bitstream". This setting gave me a DTS-HD signal into the HDMI AVR cable and, at the same time a PCM stereo signal on HDMI Main.

So, for Blu-Ray audio (Opera or music discs require both picture and sound) the new Firmware (3.8) does not provide a solution. You have good sound or picture, not both at the same time.

For SACD playback, DSD streams can only be obtained without picture, when using the HDMI AVR connection. As soon as a TV is connected any digital stream over HDMI AVR stops.

The 3.8 software seems to make the machine less dependent on having a TV set on or off. Switching the TV set away from the HDMI AVR connection does no longer stop the playback of SACD discs.

Later today I will test the quality of the analog output.