Pioneer Elite BD player delayed until Spring '07 (1 Viewer)

[Rob Tomlin]

I don't know of any TrueHD tracks on BD either. Ironic, since the PS3 only decodes TrueHD out of all the new HD sound formats.

There is a rumor that a firmware release is imminent for the Pioneer Elite that will add decoding for DTS-HD and TrueHD (probably not DTS-HD Master Audio though).

 

[Bruce Morrison]

Rob, there's obviously something here that I hadn't understood. Can you explain the difference between DTS-HD and DTS-HD Master Audio? I thought DTS-HD was just a convenient shorthand for the full name (which is quite a mouthful after all!). Is DTS-HD a lossless codec as well as DTS-HD Master Audio?

 

[Rob Tomlin]

From the DTS website:



There is also some discussion at the Blu-ray forum:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread....0396#post60396

 

[Bruce Morrison]

Thanks Rob, that's very helpful.

From this info, I'm still a little unclear as to whether DTS-HD High Resolution is regarded as a lossless codec or a lossy codec. The explanation uses the phrase "virtually indistinguishable from the original", which is a little ambiguous! Is this regarded as lossless?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

DTS HD is not necessarily lossless. It's lossless when in "master" mode (DTS-HD MA).

 

[Cees Alons]

Are there currently any BD-players out on the market that decode DTS-Master HD?
And are there any BD releases out having DTS-Master tracks?

I know there are no receivers (yet) that support the codec, of course.


Cees

 

[Dave Moritz]

I recently emailed Pioneer about there player decoding DTS-HD and this is the response I got.


Can anyone here verify being able to select DTS-HD Master Audio and have it sent out as LPCM?

 

[MarekM]

I think almost all, if not all FOX releases have DTS HD MA tracks..
From players, there will be firmware update for PS3 wich will have DTS HD MA onboard decoding, at least that what I read around...


Marek

 

[MarekM]

Dave, that's interesting INFO......
I think I can ask here, I saw in one shop US version of Pioneer Elite BD player... so maybe I will be able to test it...

Marek

 

[Bruce Morrison]

I would also be very interested to know if Pioneer's claim is correct, as I don't recall this decoding capability being mentioned in the player's technical specification as quoted on their website.

If the Pioneer player does indeed have this capability, I might re-assess whether it would be worth purchasing now rather than waiting for other Blu-ray players to appear later this year that might or might not have this capability.

 

[Bruce Morrison]

I've just accessed the user manual for the Pioneer player (available on Pioneer's website). It contains the following statements:

"If a disc containing DTS-HD Bitstream audio is played, this player is only compatible with bitstream output or playback decoding of current DVD (DTS) material (sampling rate 48 Khz, max 5.1 chs)."

"If a disc containing Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby TrueHD audio is played, this player is only compatible with bitstream output or playback decoding of current DVD (Dolby Digital) material."

I interpret these statements as meaning that the player does NOT have on-board lossless decoding for DTS-HDMA, DTS-HD or Dolby Digital TrueHD. It probably just extracts and decodes the "core" DTS and Dolby Digital tracks. Is this the correct view to take?

Unless subsequent firmware upgrades have changed this status, I reckon I'll have to wait for the promised Blu-ray players coming later in the year.

 

[Cees Alons]

Is there?


Cees

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Cees,

Nothing has changed as of yet. No current BD player on the market (to my knowledge) can fully decode DTS-HD Master, though some (like the PS3) should be able to provide full decoding pending a future update.

By the way, no current HD DVD player can fully decode DTS-HD Master either! So regarding DTS-HD/MA, it's a format-neutral game of wait-and-see.

 

[Cees Alons]

The final publication of DTS Master was very late (again, remember the DVD situation!), so I anticipated this reply.
Thanks, David, I was comtemplating buying a BD player (instead of the PS3 as I planned before), but I should wait, apparently.

BTW there are HD DVD players decoding TrueHD, of course. Is that the same for the BD set? Or is TrueHD not on any Blu-ray disc and not on any BD player either?


Cees

 

[DaViD Boulet]

The PS3 fully decodes Dolby True HD for output via HDMI (1.3 in the case of the PS3). It's expected that the PS3 will also be upgradable to fully decode DTS-HD MA which, if true, would make it the only current HD DVD/BD player that would be capable of decoding both Dolby and DTS lossless formats. And with HDMI 1.3, should there be a snag with firmware upgrades, your future decoder could deal with the DTS-MA signal directly.

Of course, by the time you upgrade your audio decoder there will be an array of BD players that can fully decode everything... for less money than the PS3!

dave

 

[Rob Tomlin]

The most ironic thing is the fact that the PS3 decodes Dolby TrueHD, but there are no Blu-ray discs encoded with a TrueHD soundtrack (that I am aware of).

 

[Dave Moritz]

While there are a small number of HD-DVD titles with Dolby True HD tracks. I do not believe that there are any such tracks on any Blu-ray titles yet. And I am also thinking that there are no Dolby Digital Plus tracks on Blu-ray ether. And so far nether HD-DVD or Blu-ray players seem to be able to decode DTS MA.

To my knowledge here is the way it stacks up right now:

HD-DVD

• DTS/DTS-ES
• Dolby Digital/Dolby Digital-EX
• Dolby Digital Plus
• Dolby True HD
• DTS-HD Master Audio (Outside US)

Blu-ray

• DTS/DTS-ES
• Dolby Digital/Dolby Digital-EX
• DTS-HD Master Audio

No Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby True HD tracks yet.

I just want to be able to be able to get the full benafit from my lossless Dolby and DTS discs. Otherwise they might as well just start just offering LPCM and basic Dolby and DTS on future titles. That is if the players and upcoming receivers do not decode lossless True HD and Master Audio.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I've heard of a BD with Dolby True HD. I'll try to find out what it is.

BTW, the reason that there's no Dolby Plus on BD just yet is because it's redundant: The reason that WB is using Dolby Plus on HD DVD is to increase the bit-rate beyond DVD's 448 kbps limit (HD DVD has the same limit with "core" Dolby on HD DVD as DVD). BD allows core Dolby to go up to the max rate of 640 kbps... so unless it's encoding 6.1, 5.1 Dolby "core" on BD is the same thing as 5.1 Dolby Plus on HD DVD. This is all confirmed by Roger Dressler himself over at AVS.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Indeed, Legends Of Jazz has DD True HD but there is another title that does too. I do not remember which.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

This whole mess with the new audio codecs is enough to drive one crazy. I am having anxiety attacks worrying about it!

I just ordered the Pioneer Elite BD player too, even though it currently doesn't decode any of the new audio formats. I am hoping they enable this ability with a firmware update in the next couple months.