a little clarification on what goes out what outputs... (1 Viewer)

[Niraj Patel]

I'm a little confused on this and need some clarification. Lets say you get a DVD player with built in DTS, Dobly Digital decoding and digital audio outs. Your reciever is also capable of decoding DD/DTS and has digital audio inputs, along with 5.1 channel inputs. You hook up both the 5.1 channel in/outs and the digital in/outs. I guess I still need one clarification here... When the dvd player has built in decoding, the reciever MUST have 5.1 channel inputs in order to take advantage of this, correct?

When you play a dvd with either DD/DTS, the dvd player will decode the signal and send it out its 5.1 composite audio outs in addition to sending the DD/DTS bitstream out the digital audio output, correct? Or does one take precedence over the other?

And then at the reciever end, which does it use? The decoded analog signal, or the bitsteam and its own decoder?

Thanks!

Niraj

 

[Steve Schaffer]

When the dvd player has built in decoding, the reciever MUST have 5.1 channel inputs in order to take advantage of this, correct?
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Correct.

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When you play a dvd with either DD/DTS, the dvd player will decode the signal and send it out its 5.1 composite audio outs in addition to sending the DD/DTS bitstream out the digital audio output, correct? Or does one take precedence over the other?


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The player will output both simultaneously. Usually dts via digital bitstream must be enabled in the setup menu though. Also, if you select PCM as the digital output format, you won't get DD or DTS digital output.

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And then at the reciever end, which does it use? The decoded analog signal, or the bitsteam and its own decoder?
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If you connect the digital cable to an input labelled "DVD" and select "DVD" as the source, the receiver will decode and playback the digital bitstream from the player.

In order to use the analog output from the player you need to select the analog inputs on your receiver. This is usually called something like "analog direct".

In the vast majority of cases, the receiver will have a better decoder than the player for Dolby Digital and DTS, so there is no reason at all to use the analog 5.1 channel connection between the player and the receiver. Many of the decoders in dvd players also lack the flexibility with regard to bass management that receivers have.

The one exception is if you want to listen to DVD-Audio discs. For these you must use the decoder built into the player, as DVD-Audio can't be output via the digital bitstream.

 

[Niraj Patel]

Ah, thank you very much.

So then if my reciever has DD/DTS decoding, it would be senseless to hunt for a dvd player with DD/DTS decoding built in, correct?

And having a component video out on the dvd player that is switchable between 480P/480I the best you can do? Or can some output in 720/1080i? Thanks again.

Niraj

 

[Scott Merryfield]

So then if my reciever has DD/DTS decoding, it would be senseless to hunt for a dvd player with DD/DTS decoding built in, correct?

Not entirely. Virtually all DVD-Video players that also support the high-resolution DVD-Audio and/or SACD music formats include a built-in DD/DTS decoder. So, while you may never use the internal DD/DTS decoder, it may be difficult to find a player without one if you are interested in DVD-Audio and/or SACD.

BTW, for the two high-resolution audio formats, you must use the 5.1 analog outputs of the player unless both your player and receiver have compatible firewire digital connections that support high resolution audio (not many do).

 

[Bob McElfresh]

There is a Samsung unit that will up-convert the 480 native video on a DVD to 720/1080. And it does it all DIGITALLY with no analog->digital->analog conversion like your HDTV should do.

But this feature only works with a DVI output.

Here is an early look at some lucky guy with a Samsung HD-931 in his hands.

 

[Niraj Patel]

So then I take it that outputting in 720/1080 is a pretty upscale thing. Is it usually the job of the reciever to do the upconversion then? Is that a more "afforable" option? Or is it better to just let the HDTV do it?

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Nobody makes a reciever that will change the scanrate of video from one format to another, that's not a function of receivers. Some will accept different video connection types and convert them all to another but that does not involve changing scanrates.

The dvd players that upconvert scanrates to 720p or 1080i only will output those scanrates via DVI connections with firewire. Whether this upconvert looks noticeably better than native 480p via component cables is debatable and dependent on the quality of the upconversion chips in the players.

I'd suggest you look at native 480p on a set capable of displaying it natively and not converted to 540p before deciding upconversion to 720p or 1080i is as much of a must-have as you seem to think it is.

While true HD-DVD will no doubt look better than 480p, it doesn't exist yet.
These players that upconvert the current DVD standard are more of a stopgap right now.

Experience has shown that upconversion of 480i to 480p by HD-ready sets only works well if the source video signal is pristine. If the source is less than perfect they often look worse than a non-upconverted picture.

I would tend to suspect that these upconverting dvd players may look good with pristine transfers but may
in fact look worse than native 480p with many less than perfect transfers.

 

[Niraj Patel]

Ah, understood now. I think thats all I got. Thanks a bunch guys.