Buying a Blu Ray player: what to watch for? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Gatie]

More than likely, the digital output on your TV will only be stereo (DD is only available from the internal tuner), and the analog out will definitely be just stereo. The most you will get from this setup is Pro-Logic, which is not what you want to hear (pun intended).

Is there a reason you can't go from the optical/coax out on the Blu-ray to optical/coax on the receiver?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Jeff: Not to speak for DaveF, but I interpreted his question differently. That is, if he sends his video to the TV via HDMI will that prevent him from sending audio from the Blu-ray player via different means (analog or digital) to his receiver. But maybe he DOES mean audio from the TV to receiver. His question doesn't make his audio source clear.

I am completely out of the HDMI loop so I defer to others for an answer.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I'm not sure I hear quite as much diff as some of you guys. Also, I haven't done any "real" comparisons -- and haven't really felt the need to since I wasn't plunking down major $$$ for the upgrade (unless one considers ~$350 major ). To me, the diff is enough to be worthwhile -- and the upgrade was not just a matter of getting lossless format playback either (as my ancient DD/DTS decoder couldn't even remix DTS at all, which is important to me w/ BD having so many DTS-only releases).

IF one really needs to be convinced in a reasonably objective way (and it's really all just about the sound and nothing else), one really should try to do level matching for the comparisons.

YMMV of course...

_Man_

 

[Mike Frezon]

Nah...

I'm with you. I'm happy with what I hear. While I would love to have unlimited $$$ to buy a new receiver, display and speakers/subwoofer...I am happy to have what I have and know I can hear an easily detectable difference between the lossy and the lossless.

I enjoy reading the posts from the subwoofer guys who go out and buy expensive gear just to measure the response of their subs. I even look at their graphs and all...although I admittedly don't really understand them. But they seem to understand them and enjoy going to the trouble and I say "have at it!"

 

[DaveF]

That's what I meant. Can I do this and get 1080 video and digital surround sound?
Blu Ray ->HDMI-> TV
Blu Ray ->TOSlink-> Receiver

 

[Jeff Gatie]

That is a legit way to connect. You will get downmixed Dolby Digital or DTS from this arrangement. This is not as good as the actual HD audio, but it is a better bitrate than standard DD/DTS from DVD.

 

[DaveF]

That's as good as I can expect, until I get a new receiver. Mine is circa 2001, and I am surprised and glad to discover that it was one of the first with switched component video with HD passthrough.

But now that my Xbox, Tivo and DVD are connected properly, a Blu Ray would have to use 5.1 analog or coax digital output to the receiver for audio. I'm running out of inputs.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Dave: Instead of using the Toslink to connect the Blu-ray palyer to the receiver...if you use the 5.1 analogs you will get the true lossless audio on all formats which the player can decode. That would be an even better way to go.

As I explained above, I've got an older receiver which only has one digital audio input. I've been using the 5.1 analogs with a Panasonic BD-10 and the audio is terrific. I can listen to all BD audio formats except the newest and latest DTS HD-MA which the receiver cannot decode. So, I get a core audio signal. Still sounds really good.

 

[T r o y]

Well,, I plopped down the cash yesterday at HHGregg to buy the Sony S550. They priced matched it to Amazon.com for me since i mentioned it to them

I ordered my 25 ft. HDMI cable from blue jeans cable.com Friday.
Should be putting things together sometime this week and then tweaking my speakers, levels ,etc.
I'm excited to finally get to see and hear the difference BR offers!

Question: ON the BR discs, do you have a choice of which soundtrack you want to listen to? Like TrueHD or DTS MA audio ? or is it usually one or the other they give you on the disc?

I'll give my initial experience once I've had a chance to play my first BR movie.
Troy

 

[Mike Frezon]

Depends. Some discs only have one soundtrack...but most have options. And you should always check...because the lossless track is not always the default.

 

[DaveF]

Yep. You mentioned it before, but I didn't think my receiver did that. Turns out I bought a higher end receiver than I remembered, and after not using those features for 8 years, I'd forgotten it did all that.

So if get a BR, I will use the analog input. This "future proofing" in my receiver is saving me from buying a new receiver just now. I'll definitely look for similar forward-features in the next unit I buy.

 

[T r o y]

Hey DAVE F: I too am glad I bought my flagship Yamaha DSP-A1 10 years ago. Would have never thought I would ever use the analog inputs on it but now's the perfect opportunity to use them. To take advantage of the lossless soundtracks. Also prevents me from going out and buying up a new receiver. My DSP-A1 has served me well with standard DVD and now looking forward to it providing exceptional quality with Blu-Ray now.

 

[T r o y]

Mike F: Thanks, I'll look be on the lookout for soundtrack options found on the BR's. BTW, any idea what the difference is between the DD plus track and the Dolby TrueHD track ?

Thx,
Th.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

DD+ is lossy, but less lossy than standard DD. TrueHD is lossless, meaning it is identical to the master recording.

 

[T r o y]

When I get my BR player hooked up, I wanted to use one of the older video/audio calibration discs to help calibrate my picture on my Mitsibishi HC-1500.
A friend of mine let me borrow his "outdated" Digital Essentials calibration disc. Am I wasting my time using this older calib. disc Or should I get a hold of one of the High Def calibr. discs instead ?

I really don't want to plop down any more money for buying a calib. disc .
Will the Digital Essentials disc do the job?
Thanks
TroyH

 

[Mike Frezon]

There are a lot of guys here on the HTF who are a heckuva lot smarter than me on the subject of audio formats, Troy. I only chimed in because you were in a similar boat to me...and it's always nice when people are rowing in the same direction!

Anyway, I hope people more knowledgeable than me will jump in...but I can tell you that Dolby TrueHD is a true lossless track. And here's info from Dolby on DD+.

Ooops. I didn't see that Jeff had already responded above.

 

[T r o y]

Finally got hdmi cable ran from my rack area to my projector tonight. Now I'm just need to pick up my br player from HH gregg as soon as it gets in.
I had another question that popped into my head.

Since I'll be playing standard dvd's in the BR player, do I still need to run my dig. coax cable to my receiver for standard DD / DTS tracks or will the 5.1 analog ins take care of this too?

Then basically switch my dsp-a1 from digital coax when watching reg. dvd's and then switch it to multi-channel when watching BR.

What's the take on this?
And thanks again,
Troy

 

[Charlie Campisi]

No need to run the digital coax.

 

[T r o y]

Charlie: so help me understand, when ever I would play a standard dvd w/ 5.1 DD, the bitstream will travel through the analog in cables instead of the dig. coax ? Is this correct? Will there be any difference in sound quality or better you think?

thx for clarifying,
TroyH

 

[Charlie Campisi]

The bitstream doesn't travel in the analog cables. The audio is decoded internally in the player and sent to your receiver as 6 discrete channels, just like it would be with the new lossless audio. Your receiver is acting merely as an amplifier and not processing the sound at all (though you may be able to use some of the distance and level controls depending on your receiver). There shouldn't be much of a difference in sound quality theoretically, but you may lose some controls as the BDP probably has less control over the processing. For instance, my Sony S550 does not have the ability to set the crossover. It's preset and people assume it's somewhere in the 80-100 hz range, but nobody knows as far as I can tell. If that's a problem, you can hook up the coax as well, but you will have to go into the menu and select analog or digital coax whenever you put in a DVD or BD and need to switch it. Personal choice.