Onkyo 806 and DTS and DD HD questions (1 Viewer)

[Dave>h]

HI,
I recently purchased second hand an Onkyo (which I needed to have serviced - the entire left chanel was blown or something but that is another story, although related to this question).

I am currently running an HD DVD player updated to the 2.0 upgrade and I have it connected to the onkyo via HDMI. I have run Audyssey and those settings are being used.

My question is:

While playing HD DVD's with DTS MA or DD HD (or the equivalent of HD sound from the HD DVD) selected, I do not get an indication on the amplifier that DTS MA or DD HD is being fed to the amp. Taht is, no DTS or DD light comes on on the amp. It seems to know that information is coming in at 192kbs (which is a high bit rate I think, well higher than standard DD or DTS) but I would expect some sort of DTS light to come up on the amps display.

Is there something wrong and the amp is not reading things correctly? Should a DTS light come on? Or is there something in the set up that I have done wrong to cause this problem?

I think i have all the HDMI settings correct on both the amp and the hd dvd but want to confirm that if everything is correct that I would in fact have a light come on that shows DTS MA or DD HD or whatever.

AS I had the unit in the shop, it is possible that something else is wrong with it so want to ensure that I have done everything right before I return it to the repair shop and say something is incorrect.

thanks,

Dave

 

[Raasean Asaad]

Unless you have an HD-DVD player that can bitstream over HDMI you wouldn't see any indicator that HD codecs are being fed to the 806. It will just say Multichannel on the dsplay. As far as I know the only HD-DVD playr that sends bitstream over HDMI is the A35.

 

[Dave>h]

Well, I have an HD-a1 so maybe that is the issue.

Although in the setup for the hd a1, I have the hdmi audio set to bitstream, which would seem to indicate that it is sending bitstream over the hdmi cable. It could be though that is not true. The HD DVD player is obviously a couple of years old now so maybe it is not advanced enough to send out the advanced DTS HD codecs over the HDMI?

Anyone know for a fact if this is the case??

Thanks,

Dave

 

[JeremyR]

The HD-A1 is not capable of bitstreaming DTS-HD MA or TrueHD to the receiver to let the receiver decode. If you set it to bitstream, it will send the bitstream for lossy DTS and Dolby Digital to let the A/V receiver decode. So if you play a regular DVD, then Dolby Digital or DTS will show up on the screen of the receiver. But if you play an HD DVD, the player will decode and all that your receiver will "receive" is the multichannel PCM signal from the player.

 

[Dave>h]

Thanks Jeremy, that answers my question.

So i guess I will be bluray shopping this weekend.

Just to clarify, if I select DTS MA or Dolby Digital HD on an HD DVD, the HD A1 will decode the signal correctly internally and then send that decoded signal as 192kHz multi channel PCM to the reciever. So I am getting the full bitrate audio signal to the amplifier it is just the HD A1 that is doing the decoding and not the amplifier. Correct?

I will need to get a newer bluray machine if I want to see the DDHD or DTS MA symbol light up no my Onkyo.

Off to the HD player forum for me to see which Bluray machine to purchase then!!

Dave.

 

[JeremyR]

Everything you said above is correct. Although.. I can say that Blu-rays that I am playing that bitstream the high definition audio to my TX-SR805 sound better to me than HD DVD's that I play on my HD-A3 which sends the signal as the multichannel PCM to the receiver. Is it in my head? Quite possibly, though the decoders are of higher quality in the Onkyo than the decoders in the HD DVD players. Have fun picking out a Blu-ray player. I just got my first one a few days ago. I will put in a good word for the Panasonic DMP-BD60

 

[Dave>h]

Jeremy,

I will have a look at the panny. Owned a few of their multi disc DVD's over the years and have never had any issues with them.

I am curious whether the HD will sound better via blu ray or HD DVD. I just took advantage of the Warner red to blu offer so have 25 bluray disks heading my way (could do another 25 too but need to find someone willing to let me use their address and credit card to take advantage of it).

The picutre should be better as my HD a1 is only 1080i and the blu ray is 1080p, so presumably there will be some improvement in picture quality on my 1080p Samsung LED LCD. Curious about that too.

I was watching the matrix the other night and was seriously impressed by the image and sound quality and since through the red to blu offer, I am getting a new set of Matrix movies, I will be able to do a side by side comparison of sorts.

Thanks again for confirming the information.

Dave