HD Advisor September 4th

[Attebery]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Advisors/3342

[bondfool]

I've never really thought about it, but I do feel more satisfied by a big, meaty box set like Star Trek: TOS than something like Chuck on four discs.

[Cochise]

I have an older receiver that only decodes Dolby Digital 5.1. From LD to DVD to HD DVD, I was never concerned about the lack of DTS. That has all changed with Blu-ray. About half of my discs are DTS only, leaving me with a stereo or a 2.0 surround track at best. Is there any type of processor or pre-amp you could recommend so that I could achieve 5.1 on all of my Blu-ray discs? I hate to get rid of a receiver that is otherwise working fine.

A: If your existing receiver has 5.1 or 7.1 analog inputs, I would recommend buying a Blu-ray player that offers internal decoding of DTS-HD Master Audio and has multi-channel analog outputs. By pairing those two pieces of equipment together, you can do all the decoding in the player, and just use the receiver for amplification. Not only would you get 5.1, but you'd even get full lossless quality to boot. The recently-reviewed OPPO BDP-83 would be a good fit, for example.

If your receiver doesn't have multi-channel analog inputs, there's not much you can do short of buying a new receiver.

I'm confused. The person asking the question doesn't say what audio connection, but the "LD to DVD to HD DVD, I was never concerned about the lack of DTS" leads me to assume the old receiver at least has digital optical. Isn't just about every blu-ray capable of extracting at least the DTS 'core' 5.1 audio and output it via digital optical? Yes, it's not lossless, but a big improvement over the stereo or a 2.0 surround he says he's limited to now.

[Lee Stewart]

Originally Posted by Cochise

I'm confused. The person asking the question doesn't say what audio connection, but the "LD to DVD to HD DVD, I was never concerned about the lack of DTS" leads me to assume the old receiver at least has digital optical. Isn't just about every blu-ray capable of extracting at least the DTS 'core' 5.1 audio and output it via digital optical? Yes, it's not lossless, but a big improvement over the stereo or a 2.0 surround he says he's limited to now.

Even more confusing from the LD to DVD to HD DVD:

Unlike DVDs, which carry Dolby Digital audio in digital form, Laserdiscs store Dolby Digital in a frequency modulated form within a track normally used for analog audio. Extracting Dolby Digital from a Laserdisc required a player equipped with a special "AC-3 RF" output and an external demodulator in addition to an AC-3 decoder. The demodulator was necessary to convert the 2.88 MHz modulated AC-3 information on the disc into a 384 kbit/s signal that the decoder could handle. DTS audio, when available on a disc, replaced the digital audio tracks; hearing DTS sound required only an S/PDIF compliant digital connection to a DTS decoder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisc#Audio_2

What receiver does this person have?

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by Cochise

I'm confused. The person asking the question doesn't say what audio connection, but the "LD to DVD to HD DVD, I was never concerned about the lack of DTS" leads me to assume the old receiver at least has digital optical. Isn't just about every blu-ray capable of extracting at least the DTS 'core' 5.1 audio and output it via digital optical? Yes, it's not lossless, but a big improvement over the stereo or a 2.0 surround he says he's limited to now.

What he's saying is that he has an older Dolby Digital-only receiver (circa 1995-1997). It doesn't have a DTS decoder. Therefore, he can only get 5.1 audio on discs with a DD 5.1 track. On discs with a DTS track, he can't get audio at all unless he sets the player to internally decode to PCM, in which case he'll only get 2-channel audio over coax or Toslink.

This wasn't a problem for him on laserdisc or DVD. Blu-ray is the first video format for which a large number of titles have been released with only DTS audio tracks and no Dolby option.

I had a friend with this exact same problem until he eventually bought a new receiver.

[Cochise]

Ah yes, of course - I missed that.

I keep forgetting that while Toslink can do 5.1 for Dolby Digital & DTS, it's limited to only 2.0 channel for PCM.

[FourToedStatue]

Josh, Is marketing the reason why HBO spreads out their tv shows? They sometimes have 2 episodes per disc, which I thought was ridiculous.

[project86]

This is in response to the "homework assignment" regarding speakers like Def Tech Mythos series and others with built in subs.

I have owned or demo'd several of these types over the years including the Onix Strata Mini from AV123, Aperion Audio 533T, Polk RT 2000i, and Infinity Intermezzo 4.1T. In my opinion, no sub is needed as long as your room is not too large. The exact definition of "too large" depends on what speaker you use. The Aperions were the cheapest of the bunch, and would not fare well in anything bigger than what I'd call a medium sized room. Even then, the bass might not have enough impact for certain people. The other modls mentioned could comfortably fill a rather large room with hard hitting lows.

The upsides on this design include saving space, possibly saving a bit of money (compared to buying a seperate powered sub), and excellent integration with the mid/high frequencies. The downside is that setup can be complex, and certain rooms have "dead spots" that require sub placement to be somewhere other than the front of the room. In that case you would be stuck with sub-optimal placement.

Overall I think the design is great, and the reason more companies don't do it is so they can sell more subs. I've not tried the Mythos ST/STS line, but I do own the Mythos Ones and love them. I can only imagine that the ST/STS is even better.

[Lee Stewart]

Originally Posted by FourToedStatue

Josh, Is marketing the reason why HBO spreads out their tv shows? They sometimes have 2 episodes per disc, which I thought was ridiculous.

Studios have repeatedly said that consumers see more value in more discs. So they can justify selling these multi disc sets at a higher price because the consumer will pay it.

[JeremyBritton]

I rent the TV shows. I think they keep putting the series on the same number of discs as DVD so that we rent the same amount.

[Hastor]

I understand that the PS3 slim can now output bitstreams of the lossless codecs, but was wondering if it could still decode them all to PCM if you have a receiver that doesn't decode them and has an older HDMI version. Is this an option, or do you now need a receiver that can do more than PCM? The article on this site about the PS3 slim recently also mentioned that this was a good improvement for audio enthusiasts. With the repeated mentioning here that there is no difference once uncompressed in DTS-HD Master Lossless, Dolby TrueHD, and PCM, why does it matter? The same exact data is going to the receiver's DAC isn't it?

[holsty101]

Yeah ps3 slim will still output pcm over hdmi. I think one of the reasons bitstream matters to some people is that then their receivers dsp/room eq modes will work where that's not not an option for the pcm stream (from what I've read).

[MrAngles]

In regards to the homework assignment I have a pair of Acoustic Research AR1s with powered 15" subs built into each of them and I think they sound better than any system I've heard with a separate sub (low-end wise). As far as I know the only reason for a separate sub is to extend the bass when your directional speakers can't do the job on their own.

[D Town]

This is my first posting because I wanted to respond to the "homework assignment" question. I have a Definitive Technology system and use the BP 7004's as my mains. These towers, while not the same as the Mythos line, do have built in powered subs. I also have the Supercube 1 and a HSU Research VTF3 MK 3 w/ Turbo. I can honestly tell you that I rarely use the Supercube and HSU subs when watching most programs. The built in subs in the towers provide very nice and even bass across the front soundstage. Only when I watch action movies do I ever add the other subs. Nonetheless, I still split the .1 signal across all four subwoofers to make the bass sound more enveloping. I have no problem recommending Definitive speakers. Especially their towers with built in subs. Given a certain budget I would pick full range powered towers over smaller ones with a separate sub around the same price. Just my opinion. I wasn't even going to get the Supercube but the dealer threw it in for a really discounted price so I couldn't pass it up. I did listen to the Mythos ST's and thought they had a nice "airy" sound but not as much in the bass as the BP series. They're also more expensive too. The Mythos did sound somewhat cleaner and clearer which would probably be favorable if you listen to a lot of music (especially classical) but the BP's had the "bigger" theater like sound that I wanted for movies. Hope this helps some.

[rparamount]

In response to the homework assignment:

I used to have older but still good quality Kenwood floor standing speakers along with a sub on the side. This wasn't a bad setup, it sounded good. But then I bought my Polk LSi15 floor standing speakers which have non-powered 8" woofers built into them, I noticed a difference, a big difference. It was night and day for me.

I have to say having floor standing speakers with passive woofers in addition to my normal powered subwoofer makes for a great home theatre experience. As far as sound goes, I hate to say it but it's going to be a subjective thing. Some people like lots of bass and rumble, and other people hate it. It really depends on what kind of sound you like. I find my setup is great for action movies with lots of explosions and booms.

-RP