Yesterday, I watch Star wars Episode 2. About 20 times during the movie, the audio cut off for a brief instant (only on the master-HD track, all others are OK) and in 2 places the video goes "scrambled" for a second. Today, I tried different HDMI cables, different inputs on the AVR, different outputs on the TV but no change. Then I switched my blu ray player (Panny DMP-BD35) from bitstream to PCM) and the skipping audio disappeared (the video problem remains).
I went to my neighbor and borrowed his PS3 and replaced my panny, the same audio problem remains (pb with masterHD but no with PCM) but I didn't have the video issue.
Now, I can attribute the video problem to my blu ray player but what's up with the audio. The only common device remaining is the AVR but AFAIK, in bitstream mode, it just passes the audio through. Could it be a problem with the AVR? (it's hard for me to check this since I don't know anybody with a HT nearby)
Could it be that I have a defective disc, I've never seen one before and after a quick google search I didn't find anybody with the same problem. Any thoughts?

PS for reference:
Audio cuts of at:
0.31.26
0.31.32
1.02.05
1.07.42
1.08.30
1.08.39
1.09.54
1.16.14
1.39.38
1.49.41
1.52.14
1.53.41
1.57.50
2.00.14
2.01.39
2.01.44
2.03.24
2.08.09
2.14.02
2.14.31

Video scrambling
1.19.30
2.00.06

I dunno, but, on the surface, it sounds more like the disc to me. The fact that different players are having issues in one form or another with the disc might indicate problems there. The other possibility might be are how current are the firmware updates on the players? The BD35 model is almost three years old(I have a BD55 in another room) and for the PS3 you will have to check with your neighbor about that.

This is one of the main reasons I started buying Oppo BR players(BDP83, sold it, now a BDP95). While the mainstream companies are moving on to the next generation players, Oppo is much more vigilant in providing ongoing firmware updates to handle current and future disc issues. You can verify this but I believe the Star Wars discs are recent releases so this may be your problem.

So far, Ep 1 and 3 have no problem, Ep 2 is as mentioned above and I'm 40 min into Ep4 and it has happened 4 times already. This is really starting to piss me off...

My player has the latest firmware available as for the PS3, I don't know.
At this point I suspect something wrong with the AVR. 2 discs out of 4 being bad is almost impossible. Plus, if I connect directly the player to the TV or if everything is connected properly and I turn off the AVR (the HDMI input signal from the player is still redirected to the TV even though the AVR is off), there is no audio problem. If the problem would come from the BD player, I think I should still hear the audio cutting off even played through the TV speakers, shouldn't I?
At the same time, if it's the AVR, I don't really get what can be wrong as in bitstream mode, it should only forward the audio to each channel. I'm lost.
In any case, I might go back to the store tomorrow and exchange it for another set, just in case.

Bitstream is where the receiver is doing the decoding instead of the player.

Oh yeah, I confused the 2. Another thing pointing to the AVR...
I'm not sure if my receiver can be updated though or there would even be any updates. It is the first time that it's been doing that. I need to look into this.

I had problems like this with Avatar and Iron Man 2 last year, the only solution was to run them in PCM on the Player.

Jason, was your problem related to the AVR? If my memory is correct, you have the 3808CI which is firmware updatable via ethernet. Were you able to find an update? Did you ever find the reason why this is happening?

Now it seems that quite a bit of people have been having issues with these discs specially with "older" Denon models. Some people have been successful in fixing the problem by doing a firmware update on the receiver which sucks since I would have to take mine to a Denon certified repair shop as I can't do it myself (No RS232 or ethernet port). I guess I'll just need to setup the player outputting PCM.

My 3808 is up to date(the latest FW just came out a few weeks ago) and it still suffers with those 2 discs. I haven't watched many Blu Rays nor DVD's since the local Block Buster went under so I do not know if any other recent releases have this same effect; running the player with PCM output solved the problem and I haven't looked back.

Update: I took my AVR to a service center and got a firmware update and now the drop outs are gone. Apparently this was an issue already discovered on the Golden Compass and was fixed around April 2010. So for those with Denons purchased before this date experiencing the dropouts, just do a firmware update if you can do it yourself or take it to a service center. Just go to the Denon website >support >Service Center Locator then enter you postal or Zip code and it will show you the closest from you. If your AVR is still under warranty, just take you receipt with you. If not, you need to contact Denon support and they need to process a warranty authorization to the Service center so it will free of charge to you.

That's pretty cool! Glad it's working for you.

Denon goes back on the list...

I'm looking hard at Denon for my next receiver, glad to hear that they are servicing solutions...

I just looked and there is a service center about 30 minutes from me, so not too back. Although it is oddly in the middle of nowhere...