Pioneer VSX 70 question..Bit stream or LPCM (1 Viewer)

[Tino]

Just bought this great receiver but have always been confused as to whether I should have the audio settings on my blu ray on bit stream or PCM. Can someone explain which and why? Thanks

 

[Al.Anderson]

If you think your BR player has the better decoder, use PCM, if you think your receiver has the better decoder, use bit stream. (Or if you like your receiver to display the actual channel information, use bit stream; otherwise it will always display "PCM".)

So bottome line, try it both ways and see which you like better. Chances are you won't notice the difference (unless your receiver can't decode bluray audio).

 

[schan1269]

Many BD players won't send multichannel PCM anymore.Anymore, the only reason to use PCM is when the BD player is sending audio to a TV or a 2.0/1 soundbar.

 

[Tino]

Thanks Al. So Schan you are saying I should set it to bitstream?

 

[gene c]

Bitstream is pretty much the default setting. You should have a specific reason for setting it to LPCM. Examples would be if you have a very high end BR player ( Oppo 105 ?) which should have better Digital to Analog converters then your receiver, or an older hdmi 1.2 receiver which is un-able to decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio. When the player is set to LPCM then it decodes those signals before sending them to the receiver. When the player is set to Bitstream it sends the raw "bitstream" to the receiver which then does the decoding.

But, as Al mentioned, no harm in trying it both ways to see if LPCM sounds better to you (but there probably won't be any difference at all).

 

[Tino]

Thanks guys