That site looks the exact same to me Travis as it has for about a week...unless I missed something. It's a cool site but wish they would add the movie trailers instead of the coming soon heading. Picky aren't I?
On AVS, one of the people encoding these movies for Warner mentioned that the Superman Returns HD-DVD would have a TrueHD 5.1 track. It was disclosed in a technical discussion on the HD-DVD format. He was told a few weeks ago not to discuss any aspect of specific titles, so information on future TrueHD titles will probably be limited to press releases in the future.
His comments created excitement about what Warner was doing with its titles, but I suppose someone at the studio didn't appreciate him disclosing information on future titles when it wasn't in his job description to do so, even in the context of a technical discussion on encoders that could ultimately lead to a better product / authoring tools.
Increased detail... Of course, ultimately what you can hear and what you can't will depend on your equipment and your ears.
Note again you need to use either HDMI or 5.1 analog output to experience TrueHD -- you also have to select the TrueHD 5.1 track in setup. If you are using 5.1 analog input and your receiver/amp doesn't have an analog bypass mode, then it may be degrading the audio signal with an extra A/D step.
This may be nothing more than O/C paranoia, but I downloaded the firmware update last night (I get the player tomorrow), and I remembered a thread (don't remember where) mentioning that the firmware updates could also contain malware, and could "infect" the player. Is there any truth to this? As I understand it, the downloaded image is exactly the same as the official disk sent out by Toshiba....?
Does anyone know if using the 5.1 analog inputs of the Denon AVRs bypass bass management, as well as all processing (Pro-logic, etc), and if the above statement is applicable to them (I am using an AVR2105)? Thanx!
Derek, if the firmware image did not come from Toshiba, it's not an officially supported Toshiba release. Sure, it may be the same, but Toshiba will not have to support it if you run into an upgrade problem using an unsanctioned install disk.
As I understand it, to get the DD True HD 5.1 or whatever it is called, you would need to use the 5.1 analog out of the player into your amplifier. Using the toslink or coax results in a down rezzed bitstream signal being sentto your amp via DTS encoding. The reason for this is that you need the HD A1 to do the decoding of the True HD signal, your amplifier (no ones amp at this stage) is not capable of decoding the true HD signal.
Dave is correct. You use the internal decoder in the HD-A1 for Dolby Digital + and Dolby TrueHD audio, which it sends to its 5.1 analog outputs/HDMI output. If you're using a digital output on the Toshiba for these formats then they're being TRANSCODED to a format (DTS I believe) your reciever/processor can handle and then output to the optical/coax digital out. Not an ideal situation. In addition, unless you've applied the v2.0 firmware to your HD-A1, you'll only get 2 channel output from TrueHD. The new firmware enables full 5.1 TrueHD.
Bitstream will limit you to full-bitrate DTS sound on HD DVD. Everything will be converted to DTS sound on playback of an HD DVD.
The only way to get unfettered Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby True HD, barring an HDMI connection, is via the discrete 5.1 outs of the Toshiba and the discrete 5.1 ins of your receiver. It is the same principle as connecting high-resolution audio from an SACD or DVD-Audio player--you use the discrete 5.1 connections.
What a waste of hype, the whole video/audio in one cable (HDMI) is. So much for simple setups with no cable rats nest, now we have to have audio switching everytime we want to play a DolbyHD disc (or SACD for BD players). Gotta love DRM.