[Brian Sharp]

Getting to the stage of replacing my receiver. To be capable of getting the best out of DVD-HD or BluRay (whichever wins!) will I need an amp with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding capability?

Brian

[Ed Moxley]

I don't think either will "win". I think they'll both be around, for a long time, like dvd-a and sacd. Samsung is coming out with a universal player, in a couple of months or so. LG already has one, although I've heard it has some issues. If you want one or the other now, choose the format that has the most movies, that you like. Some movies are coming out in both formats. Right now, Blu ray has more movies, that I like.

Quote:

will I need an amp with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding capability?

It would be nice, but as long as the player has the 6-8 analog outputs, it's not really absolutely necessary.
Good luck!

[Jack Gilvey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Sharp

Getting to the stage of replacing my receiver. To be capable of getting the best out of DVD-HD or BluRay (whichever wins!) will I need an amp with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding capability?

Brian

Nope.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=789994

At least read the first post.

[Matt Tucker]

Not needing a True HD decoder in my receiver is what made buying a HD DVD player easy (Toshiba HD-D2). The HD DVD player sends the True HD signal down the HDMI cable as PCM audio (umcompressed).

Matt

[4VTHOKIES]

Just like Jack Gilvey mentioned in his post. You do not need a receiver or pre/pro to decode the new audio codecs. All the new codecs need to be decoded in the player anyway because of the Advance Content that right now is mandated in HD DVD and soon if not already mandated by BD. All the decoding will have to be done in the player and passed to the receiver either through HDMI or the analogue outputs of the players. HDMI 1.3 does not add anything special except cost to a very well designed HDMI 1.1 receiver or pre/pro.

1.3 receiver or pre/pro manufacturers are implementing them now but at a added cost and they do not add anything beneficial. 1.3 adds deep color but there are at this time no sources which can utilize this and probably want for quite some time.

Look for a current receiver or pre/pro that has the features that you are looking for and go with that.

A lot of individuals are upgrading to 1.3 because they like the newest features out but it is absolutely not necessary to enjoy the new audio codecs found in HD DVD or BD. Just make sure that you purchase a receiver that can process multi channel audio via PCM through HDMI or the analogue inputs.

[Brian Sharp]

Thanks for the information everyone. So, am I correct in that, provided I have an hdmi cable (that can carry sound) between my player and amp then the lossless sound will reach the amp and then the amp will be able to handle it?
I was thinking of the Onkyo 605 but will now have another look at the Denon 1907 and the Sony strda 1200. The Onkyo looked good value but I wonder if they are trying to do too much for the price hence the popping and the high heat emission. No point in me going for really high end equipment as my hearing is not what it used to be!

Brian

[Jack Gilvey]

Quote:

So, am I correct in that, provided I have an hdmi cable (that can carry sound) between my player and amp then the lossless sound will reach the amp and then the amp will be able to handle it?

The receiver needs HDMI audio capability, not all do (some just switch HDMI video, not all are full-featured as far as processing LPCM). The Yamaha 661 is a great HDMI choice for $400.

[4VTHOKIES]

You need to find a receiver that will process multi channel LPCM through HDMI. Like Jack mentioned there are a bunch of receivers and pre/pros that only incorporate HDMI as a video switcher and will not process audio at all.

You need to also make sure the receiver will process multi channel LPCM through HDMI and not just two channel.

Check out the Future Proof Receiver threat at www.avsforum.com and this will give you a class of receivers that will be able to handle what you are looking for.