Grant H
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2002
- Messages
- 2,844
- Real Name
- Grant H
Haha. Yup, but I expected as much. For the price I think true onboard decoding is probably too much to ask for, at least at this stage in the game. I wouldn't be surprised though if future models can at least pass it to capable receivers for decoding (vid HDMI 1.3) or actually do the decoding onboard, once costs start to fall. But, if Sony (or anybody else) start putting out receivers that do all the decoding, there's really no reason for them to make the game console do everything. I wonder if the fact that manufacturers want to market new capabilities of new receivers is part of the reluctance to offer the decoding on the players. A couple years ago I didn't expect any decoding from the players at all. I thought everyone with an older receiver would just have to stick with max bitrate DD or DTS. So I was pleasantly surprised to see the onboard decoding enter the fray.
It's probably the smart move, from a business standpoint, for Sony to keep costs down on the PS3, as people are already kicking and screaming about the price, even though the same people will buy an X-Box 360 AND the $200 add-on (as a "no-brainer") despite the fact their costs end up the same, or, I believe, slightly higher, until they account for all the accessories, controllers, etc. matching the PS3. It's true that people like to bitch, and I think all of us here are a testament to that.
And it seems the PS3 people aren't the only ones doing that Jedi hand wave to make people think HD decoding = conversion to PCM. Virtually every player advertises in the specs simply "HD decoding" and it turns out to be a sleight of hand when you look into it.
I remember people being up in arms about SACD players like mine that converted to PCM so they could do the bass management, level adjustments, etc., although it turned out the bitrate was insanely high.
Still, converting to PCM is certainly not the same as "hook it up to an amp and a speaker and the sound is there." It's almost a "why bother?" to me at that point. I question whether a player converting to PCM delivers the same quality as a high bitrate DD or DTS track that was expertly compressed. Why not just use that old fiber optic or coax cable you have laying around?
It's probably the smart move, from a business standpoint, for Sony to keep costs down on the PS3, as people are already kicking and screaming about the price, even though the same people will buy an X-Box 360 AND the $200 add-on (as a "no-brainer") despite the fact their costs end up the same, or, I believe, slightly higher, until they account for all the accessories, controllers, etc. matching the PS3. It's true that people like to bitch, and I think all of us here are a testament to that.
And it seems the PS3 people aren't the only ones doing that Jedi hand wave to make people think HD decoding = conversion to PCM. Virtually every player advertises in the specs simply "HD decoding" and it turns out to be a sleight of hand when you look into it.
I remember people being up in arms about SACD players like mine that converted to PCM so they could do the bass management, level adjustments, etc., although it turned out the bitrate was insanely high.
Still, converting to PCM is certainly not the same as "hook it up to an amp and a speaker and the sound is there." It's almost a "why bother?" to me at that point. I question whether a player converting to PCM delivers the same quality as a high bitrate DD or DTS track that was expertly compressed. Why not just use that old fiber optic or coax cable you have laying around?