HD Advisor October 23, 2009

[Attebery]

He's back!

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...or_33_1/3/3620

[loganfire3]

I'm having a similar problem. My receiver will "lose signal" once and a while when I watch a blu ray. The sound will got out for a second and the receiver will go from the audio to HDMI back to the audio. Sounds like we have the same problem. I have a Yamaha HTR-6250 that I bought 3 months ago.

[MrAngles]

It sounds like an amp issue to me, although I would definitely swap the cables for the left and right rear speakers at the receiver just to rule out a cable or speaker issue for certain.

[damonous]

Originally Posted by JoshZ-article

Q: I have just upgraded my TV from a Panasonic Plasma TH-50PZ0B to a Pioneer PDPLX6090. When I watched Blu-rays on the Panasonic, I was able to zoom in to remove black borders without stretching the picture.

A: Some Blu-ray players have zoom functions, and others don't. Of those that I've personally used, I can verify that the OPPO BDP-83 does offer this function.

Not to be rude about it, but I suggest that you learn to overcome your phobia about the black bars.

Well, is he talking about stretching 2.35:1 content out to 1.78:1, or is he talking about exploding 1.33:1 content to 1.78:1? Because, if it's the latter, I'll admit that sometimes it's nice to just take some old television show material and fill the 16x9 screen (even though I know I'm not being 'true to the source'). Also, when you've just completed watching a pristine 16x9 movie in either 2.35:1 or 1.85:1 HD, and then you go to watch a 1.33:1 SD 'extra' ...it can be annoying. I don't really need to see the interviews with the cast in "original aspect ratio".

One thing I can say, is that I believe the culprit (as much as I love it) is the PS3. It's output doesn't seem to allow certain types of content-stretching or constant-aspect zoom. But, it has something to do with the combination of TV-and-player. If I recall, the 37" 1080p Westinghouse I had before the Sony 52" could actually zoom constant-aspect with the PS3.

My 1st-gen Panasonic DMP-BD10 is another player that IS capable of having its output zoomed correctly. If I want to watch a 1.33:1 TV show DVD or BD stretched, I'll put it in the Panasonic.

Originally Posted by JoshZ-article

Q: I noticed that a lot of the reviews on this site aren't mentioning whether a soundtrack is 16 or 24-bit, and 44 or 48 Hz. I'd really like to know this technical info, and would be great if all reviewers would be willing to post the info in their articles.

A: ...As I have said many times before, technical stats like this are just numbers. They tell you nothing about how the disc actually looks or sounds.

Josh, you're being a bit absolute on this one. While there is indeed some value to not being a "bit whore", ... at the same time you can't totally discount the value of 24bit vs 16bit. I'm a little less-convinced about the effect of only 48khz vs 44.1khz (although I'd strongly object if you summarily discounted the value of 96khz vs 44.1 or 48khz).

From the DVD-Audio days, (and now with BD, where applicable) there was always an appreciable difference between a 24bit vs 16bit recording. And that went beyond the whole "how it was mixed, matters" argument. The increase in resolution-accuracy is something I don't believe you can really make-up for with 'studio trickery/mastery'.

[robetclo2516]

I would beleive that it is mostly the player but not necessary a malfuction. I used a computer with a SPDIF with a small home theather system and I never expericed any drop out during the change of layer. In other hand, I have always experienced a drop out with stand alone players DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray players with DVD's during the change of layer no matter how I was connected with my receivers (I have changed a lot during the years) either with an optical, coax or even with HDMI. However, I have never have any droup out because of layer changes with Blu-ray neitheir HD DVD's

[Devil N]

Small correction: Blu-ray discs have 24-bit color, or 8-bits per color channel. Of course, technically some of that information gets discarded by chroma subsampling in YUV color space, but it's still far more than 8-bit color. If that were the case, you would only have 256 colors in your image, and fortunately we left that behind in the mid '90s.

[krammer]

I'd like to see audio specs as well.

I understand if they are not made public or easily found than they can't be posted.. or can they?

The PS3's display

Codec / ##khz / Bitrate

It would be something if people didn't know Niel Young Archives is 192khz in a review.

Is 24bit commonly used with 48Khz?

All discs should have 96/24 imo, wishful thinking.

[disilluzion]

How do I submit a question to the advisor?

[Spader]

I asumed with the question on zooming they were talking about old DVDs that were 4:3 and letterboxed, and the ability to zoom in so that the letterboxed image within the 4:3 box will fill the whole widescreen TV - without any stretching of the image. Those black bars on either side of the 4:3 box should not be there, it's just because the DVD mastering is non anamorphic.

I read up on the Oppo and it had a zoom function specifically for this task, and it's something I am interested in. It's very annoying that my current TV and DVD player does not have a zoom function to fill the screen with old non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs.

I'm also keen to know if a disc is 24 or 16 bit - especially for music DVDs, or films with a prominent score. If a disc contains 24 bit audio then it would/should sound better than the CD soundtrack counterpart. It's a shame most players and amps don't display this info.

Has anyone here seen a noticeable improvement upsampling the colour of discs to deep colour? Could it cause any problems?

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by disilluzion

How do I submit a question to the advisor?

Editor's Note: Each Friday, High-Def Digest's own HD Advisor will answer a new round of questions from our readers. If you have home theater questions you need answered, send an email to HDanswers@gmail.com.

[BikeNutt]

Rear Speaker Popping Sound
Q: I own a Marantz SR5003 AV receiver and I have a PS3 and DVD player all connected using HDMI cables on a 5.1 speaker setup. The receiver is also connected via HDMI to my LCD TV. Recently, I have begun experiencing a slight pop sound at the left rear speaker every time the receiver changes source or audio format (e.g. from multi-channel 7.1 to stereo), or when I switch the source from DVD to Blu-ray input. The pop isn't loud, and the AV receiver still works in all of its 5.1 glory. It's just annoying and distracting because it even happens when the DVD changes from the first layer to the second layer of the disc. I looked behind the receiver thinking it's a loose wire, or a rogue wire touching the system's back, but I couldn't find any. I tightened all speaker terminals and checked the HDMI connections, but they are all there. Is it a static electricity problem that I am experiencing, HDMI cable fault or something more sinister like a faulty chip inside? I only just bought the receiver for 5 months.

I would say it's the amp as I own a Marantz SR5002 and have the exact same problem when watching cable TV channels that change from DD5.1 to stereo for the ad breaks. However, I have never noticed it during a DVD layer change - but all my DVD's are R2 as I'm from 'across-the-pond'.

[GuinnessGulper]

Originally Posted by BikeNutt

I would say it's the amp as I own a Marantz SR5002 and have the exact same problem when watching cable TV channels that change from DD5.1 to stereo for the ad breaks. However, I have never noticed it during a DVD layer change - but all my DVD's are R2 as I'm from 'across-the-pond'.

I would check all power outlets, power strips, and associated components for proper grounding. There are testers or some power strips that will show you if the outlet is properly grounded. If you are using any sort of extension cord or 3-prong to 2-prong adapter, don't.