LPCM uncompressed/Dolby True HD/ DTS HD (1 Viewer)

[Elphaba]

I just wanted to make sure I understand my connections and settings correctly.

I have a Panasonic DMP-BD10A hooked up to a Yamaha RX-V661 receiver using an HDMI cable.

I had previously been using an optical digital audio cable, but wasn't getting the HD audio I wanted, so I got another HDMI cable and hooked things up correctly.

I had the outputs set to bitstream for all of the formats--DD, DTS, DD True HD, and DTS-HD. This gave me regular DD or DTS from discs that didn't have a regular DD or DTS track. For example, a couple of my BDs have DTS-HD as their only English 5.1 track; when using this one and BITSTREAM, the receiver's DTS light came on for the surround sound. I assume this means that the DTS-HD was being output as a regular DTS signal and was being decoded by the receiver.

So now I have it hooked up correctly. I switched the HD outputs to PCM, and sure enough, now when I select any PCM track, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, or, with most of them, LPCM uncompressed, I get all five channels, the HDMI indicator lights up, and the PCM indicator comes on.

My manuals, however, make things just a little difficult to understand. The receiver manual doesn't indicate anything about what's going on with the PCM streams that I can find; the only information I really have there is that the PCM light comes on and the speaker indicators come on. The BD player says that if you select PCM, the PCM sound is output in 2 channels. This worried me a bit; I'd rather have a full surround sound signal even if it is a lower quality. This is what happened with the optical cable--I got only two channels if I chose PCM, but all six with BITSTREAM.

Now I'm getting six channels with BITSTREAM output over HDMI.

So, if I understand the other threads I've been reading here, and I'm reading my display correctly, by choosing BITSTREAM for the HD audio formats, the player is decoding the signal and outputting it, and the receiver is sending the signal out to the speakers.

In other words, I'm getting the HD sound.

Am I understanding how this works correctly?

Also, most of my BDs have LPCM tracks for the main track, some have an additional DD track, in addition to foreign languages and commentaries, usually in DD as well.

Some, however, offer just DTS-HD, and one offers either LPCM or Dolby TrueHD. A couple offer no HD track.

When their is a choice between LPCM and Dolby TrueHD, is one better than the other? I've noticed that the Dolby TrueHD is noticeably louder than standard DD, and the LPCM is noticeably louder than the TrueHD.

To summarize the questions:

1. Do I have everything set up correctly? I seem to be getting a 5.1 channel HDMI PCM signal from all of them, so I think so, but I'm not sure.

2. Is the increased volume supposed to happen that way? I normally listen at about -10db; for an LPCM track, it's down to -17 to -20 to get it low enough that it doesn't hurt my ears.

3. If given the choice between a raw LPCM uncompressed track and a Dolby TrueHD one, is one preferable? So far as I can tell on my 300 disc, the only audible difference is the LPCM is louder at the same volume setting.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

1) HDMI should be set to PCM.
2) I've never experienced that. There may be aconflict in your SPDIF setting. Try changing that, even though you don't have it hooked up, it can sometimes effect the HDMI audio.
3) Unless using some type of dialog norm or enhancement, they should be identical (assuming the same sample rate).