Samsung BDP-1400 Now Supports DTS HD MA bitstream

[Dwellon]

The update to allow this was just released.

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/do...348&prd_ia_cd=

Users on the AVS forums have confirmed their receivers are now decoding DTS HD MA via bitstreaming. I've been looking for a standalone and with this news I'm even more tempted to pick this player up.

[glocks out]

And all the peoples rejoiced.

[Ferrari Fan]

DAMN ! The 1400 has barely hit the street and a firmware update already to the higher audio codecs.

SAMSUNG....HOW ABOUT DOING THE SAME THING FOR THE 1200 ? It's reasons like this ( lack of support ) THAT I WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANYTHING WITH THE NAME SAMSUNG ON IT AGAIN.

[doctornd]

Honestly, I am not interested in the AVS forums. I would like to see some feedback on this board from any members if they can confirm this.

I'm curious if bitstream is allowed by only certain discs?
What happened to the issue of basic mode vs. advanced mode on the disc allowing or disallowing DTSHDMA bitstream? Is it not an issue now?

It would sure be nice to be able to put my new $900 receiver to the test.

[glocks out]

Originally Posted by Ferrari Fan

DAMN ! The 1400 has barely hit the street and a firmware update already to the higher audio codecs.

SAMSUNG....HOW ABOUT DOING THE SAME THING FOR THE 1200 ? It's reasons like this ( lack of support ) THAT I WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANYTHING WITH THE NAME SAMSUNG ON IT AGAIN.

That's just silly talk. Every company does that.

[glocks out]

Originally Posted by doctornd

I'm curious if bitstream is allowed by only certain discs?

It's allowed on every disc.

Originally Posted by doctornd

What happened to the issue of basic mode vs. advanced mode on the disc allowing or disallowing DTSHDMA bitstream? Is it not an issue now?

The reason the players were supposed to decode on-board is because there are other sounds that need to be mixed into the audio. The menu sounds, commentary tracks, and the like all need to be mixed into the movie's sound. The player would have to decode the sound, mix in the audio, and then re-encode the audio to send it bitstream to the receiver.

I don't know if they found a way around this, or if they're just ignoring it or whatever. Maybe the receiver does the mixing.

[Josh Z]

Most Blu-rays are currently authored in 'Basic' mode, which is why the bitstream can work.

All HD DVDs, on the other hand, are authored in 'Advanced' mode in order to live-mix in things like menu audio and for efficiency in storing dub tracks (with 'Advanced' authoring, you only need to store the dialogue portion of the audio for a dub, and the player will mix it in to the rest of the soundtrack for you).

If Blu-rays start being authored in 'Advanced' mode, the bitstream will not work unless the player implements a deliberate workaround (which Toshiba is rumored to be working on for their HD DVD players).

[doctornd]

Originally Posted by glocks out

It's allowed on every disc...I don't know if they found a way around this, or if they're just ignoring it or whatever. Maybe the receiver does the mixing.

Thanks for explaining this. Either which way I find this as good actually. I am kind of tired of hearing abnoxiously loud clicks and sound effects as I navigate the menus during the movie. A small quirk, but nonetheless annoying.

As for the 1400, I am jealous. I'm interested in hearing DTSHD MA on some of my discs. This is great news.

[kcmurphy88]

Why is this news? I've been hearing for over a year than blu-rays all had lossless audio. Now one comes out that merely passes lossless audio that could be converted to sound if you had a decoding AV receiver, and "the world rejoices"?

Why have supporters been claiming it for a year?

[HectorB]

Originally Posted by kcmurphy88

Why is this news? I've been hearing for over a year than blu-rays all had lossless audio. Now one comes out that merely passes lossless audio that could be converted to sound if you had a decoding AV receiver, and "the world rejoices"?

Why have supporters been claiming it for a year?

You have obviously been trapped in an ice cavern on Antarctica for the past year.

[ericede]

Originally Posted by kcmurphy88

Why is this news? I've been hearing for over a year than blu-rays all had lossless audio. Now one comes out that merely passes lossless audio that could be converted to sound if you had a decoding AV receiver, and "the world rejoices"?

Why have supporters been claiming it for a year?

It excites me because I have a receiver that can decode it. So I'll be watching my Fox titles in DTS-HDMA this holiday season. I'll worry about advanced authoring next year.

I'm fairly convinced that the current BD pricing is kinda a synergy between two Sony departments. By pricing the standalone and the PS3 at the same price point they are driving up PS3 sales. When this arrangement is no longer advantgeous I think you will see a drop in the BDP-S500 for the holidays. By next year there will be lower end players supporting profile 1.1.

As Best Buy has proven most people haven't got a clue about HD video or audio. I'm willing to bet that the majority of people who watch DVDs never touch the Language menu or change a single setting on their receivers. Furthermore, even fewer people know that if you don't put your subwoofer in line with your front speakers then it won't be used unless there is some sort of DSP taking place.

Most of the people here know how to enjoy HD. When I used to install Home Theater Systems I can tell you that most people could not unplug their setup, move it, and plug it back in without help. My hope is that HDMI will simplify this but you still need to be willing to change source audio and speaker configuration settings within your receiver. Lets face it... most people are lost in this area.

In the end you could give the world a non-HD audio source and almost nobody would know the difference.

[Aurora]

Originally Posted by kcmurphy88

Why is this news? I've been hearing for over a year than blu-rays all had lossless audio. Now one comes out that merely passes lossless audio that could be converted to sound if you had a decoding AV receiver, and "the world rejoices"?

Why have supporters been claiming it for a year?

I don't think people have been claiming that all Blu-ray discs have lossless audio--just over half do (55%). However, compared to the 16% of HD DVD titles that have lossless audio, it's a pretty significant.

[kcmurphy88]

Originally Posted by Aurora

I don't think people have been claiming that all Blu-ray discs have lossless audio--just over half do (55%). However, compared to the 16% of HD DVD titles that have lossless audio, it's a pretty significant.

But when no players exist to decode it, what difference does it make? Oh, you're counting brute-force uncompressed PCM. Uninteresting. From all the hot air about lossless audio being the sole province of Blu-ray, I'm a bit shocked that this is the first BD player with anything other than uncompressed PCM. Even the lowest HD DVD player has Dolby TrueHD.

[ericede]

Originally Posted by kcmurphy88

Oh, you're counting brute-force uncompressed PCM. Uninteresting. From all the hot air about lossless audio being the sole province of Blu-ray, I'm a bit shocked that this is the first BD player with anything other than uncompressed PCM. Even the lowest HD DVD player has Dolby TrueHD.

How is PCM considered brute force and uninteresting. It's lossless HD audio. All players do with Dolby and DTS is decode them into PCM. So take out the middle man and uncompressed PCM seems like a pretty reasonable option. That is unless you're a HD-DVD fanboy who is just looking for something to bash.

[MNTWISTER]

Good point Aurora :-)....There are many titles from Disney and Sony (in fact ALL of them) that have PCM 5.1 sound and that's alot of titles, I havn't seen that at all for hd-dvd, and more people can play that right now than anything because receivers as far back as 7 to 9 years have had inputs..and it is pretty much lossless sound, PCM is certainly 100% better than the sad excuse called Dolby Digital plus.

So yes as I examined the titles in both formats, with the PCM on Sony and Disney, and the DTS master on all Fox, plus many of Warners now starting to use Dolby True, and Lionsgate using 5.1 PCM or Dolby True, the selection on blu-ray for uncompressed is going to be great! Now that there are receivers starting at $399 and over able to decode this, and 11 companies announcing new receivers with these sound formats before the holidays (so far), it's not out of reach anymore. Most players can be firmware-updated to accept these sound signals, as far as I know. Samsung needs to upgrade their old players, it's unfair to those who bought them.

This is not the first blu-ray player to decode the formats, either. Parasonic has had firmware updates and Sony is going to update its first 2 players.