Dolby TrueHD audio out....just HDMI?? (1 Viewer)

[Cees Alons]

It was meant rather light-heartedly. Indeed I don't know what exactly they will do. I agree that the 6 analog outputs aren't enough, so they will need the HDMI connection for a full 6.1, if it can be done at all.

That may also depend on the inner secrets of the HD-A1.


Cees

 

[Grant H]

According to Dave Boulet (who set me straight in the PS3 thread), it is as mFabien said--you DO get decoded lossless 5.1 PCM for True HD transported over current HDMI.

Only the core for DTS-HD (for now anyway). At least that's what I've gathered.

You WILL need HDMI 1.3 to pass the COMPRESSED DD and DTS lossless signals to the receiver over HDMI if you want the receiver to do all decoding instead. HDMI 1.1 and 1.2 won't pass them encoded, as has been the mindset all along. Decoded (changed to PCM) is a much different story. So if your heart is set on that, wait for HDMI 1.3 you must. At least that's my understanding.

So as of now, DTS-HD over HDMI 1.1 and 1.2 is not a reality, but a potential upgrade? No certainty about this? Possible 1.3 will be needed just to pass the decoded DTS-HD signal? That does make it frustrating that there's only one player with 7.1 analog outs, but, hey, they need to have somethings to upgrade in future generation players, right?

I'm amazed at all the complexity and how easy it is for even us HTF people to get lost. And how your knowledge of past audio formats and failed hi-res audio discs can get you thinking in the wrong direction! Ignorance is bliss for J6P who will never think about any of this!

Cees, regarding my earlier question you could have just said, ME NOT KNOWWW! Hehe. But your lighthearted response was appropriate, and probably what Toshiba was thinking!

 

[Cees Alons]

About your other remark: how easy it is for even us HTF people to get lost, that's at least partly caused by the manufacturers giving incomplete or "mysterious" information beforehand (and often even after the release of the equipment). Perhaps they're also covering themselves if they don't know actual specs (yet). Or the marketing department doesn't. Or they feel that the information is sensitive and should not be clear to competitors.


Cees

 

[mfabien]

Not sure you own an HD-A1 or XA1 because if you do, reading page 59 of the Owner's Manual tells you settings and what audio you get via HDMI (1.1) and 5.1 multichannel analogs. There is no mystery.

In fact, the owner's manual is accompanied by a loose leaf which specifies that the PCM sampling rate will be 48 kHz (instead of 96 kHz or 192 kHz) when resolution setting is 480p.

What is so mysterious? If you don't own an HD Player, what is your audio question? The manual has the answer...

 

[Dave Moritz]

I just so love the tone of your responses mfabien. Yes I do own a Toshiba HD-A1 and I am not sure what the reason for continuing on beating this subject into the ground is serving?

I have allready stated and pasted information from Dolby and DTS. I have not said that the player will not do multichannel PCM from Dolby True HD. And its just that, when it gets to your reciever it is no longer compressed Dolby True HD when using HDMI. You are hearing Dolby True HD untouched if you are using the analog outputs. Not sure why you feel that by converting it to PCM that somehow its still the same?

The fact is that if you where to buy a new reciever at the end of next year. And you where to plug in the HDMI 1.1 to the reciever, the DTS-HD and the Dolby True HD light would not go on! You would still get the multi-channel PCM and nothing more. Even Dolby states the same thing on there web site. So if you want to insist that this is wrong then Dolby is wrong as well. DTS even states that to get DTS-HD to a reciever to be processed/decoded you have to use HDMI 1.3.

Again Dolby True HD can be converted to PCM multi-channel and transmited to a reciever via HDMI. That does not mean that the actual Dolby True HD bitstream is getting to your reciever, its PCM audio!

 

[Cees Alons]

No it doesn't in the case of TrueHD as altered by the firmware version 2.0 upgrade. That's why I posted Toshiba's info about that subject from their site in my post above.


Cees

 

[mfabien]

HDMI 1.1 must be transmitting in PCM to produce DD TrueHD and that provides the very same PCM as multichannel analogs (for the very same DD TrueHD). Of course "Bitstream" cannot be used with HDMI 1.1 unless one wishes to have the a/v decode as DTS because of the amount of bitrate.

In your next post you said that page 59 omitted to state that 5.1 DD TrueHD requires software version 2.0, quite true, I should have said that but the discussion was on DD TrueHD (whether 2 ch. or 5.1).

My tone cannot be heard! But your post can cause unnecessary confusion. The fact is that HDMI 1.1 in PCM format supplies DD TrueHD, period. No decoding required in the a/v... simple passthrough. Perhaps you can contact Toshiba and get it clarified.

For future receivers, to produce DD TrueHD in "Bitstream" format, HDMI 1.3 will be required.

 

[Dave Moritz]

That is exactly what I have been saying!

 

[Cees Alons]

Dave,

Somehow it looked, to careless readers perhaps, as if you were saying that TrueHD wasn't coming out of the player in its full lossless glory.

That may be true for DTS-HD (of which the specs were only finalized in July this year), but TrueHD will be output in its full lossless resolution (through the 6 analogs as well as through the HDMI connection) - and you won't need HDMI 1.3 for that.

I believe that that's what you were saying too, but the mentioning of DTS-HD in the same paragraphs may have confused some.

BTW, for some time I believed 6 LCPM channels wouldn't be available through HDMI - currently I have reason to believe (based on postings on the 'net, although I have not tested it myself) that it does.


Cees

 

[Dave Moritz]

What is the max channels for LPCM? Am wondering how many channels of LPCM HDMI can handle?

Can you and do you really concider it to still be untouched Dolby True HD if its being converted to LPCM? And at what point would it not be concidered to be Dolby True HD anymore?

 

[Cees Alons]

Dave,

"Dolby TrueHD" is a codec. Correctly speaking you should call it a "Dolby TrueHD" signal, as long as it is coded. The moment it gets decoded (hopefully by a proper TrueHD decoder), it becomes the original master signal again and is now a "lossless" signal - there's no way to tell (if all is done properly) that it was ever coded through a Dolby TrueHD process (or a DTS HD MA process), or whatever other lossless compression technique.

From that point on, I personally wouldn't call it "TrueHD" anymore. And all we have to do is: to make sure it gets to your speakers (and further to your ears) with as little deformation as possible. But that latter problem is totally outside the scope of the compression codecs, of course.


Cees