Simple Question (1 Viewer)

[Rich Romero]

OK sorry for being totally out of the loop here. Just bought my first HD-DVD player (still no Blu-Ray yet) and I ended up getting the XA2. Currently I have a Sony home theater in a box that actually sounds auite good. It obviously decodes both DD 5.1 and DTS. I've heard about a lot of different audio formats on the high definition players. What will my reciever be decoding from the HD-DVD discs? Easy question I'm sure, but I don't have the cash right now to upgrade to a new reciever.

 

[Cees Alons]

Welcome to the club, Rich! I'm sure you won't regret it.

The short answer to your question is: you can get everything except DTS MA (but nobody else gets that either - perhaps in the foreseeable future - and it's not on HD DVD anyway).

The more complicated question is: how to get it to your receiver.

Your receiver will probably decode all "classic" compressed tracks through bitstream (Toshlink or coax). It cannot decode the new Dolby TrueHD (a lossless compression technique), but your player can! And it will output the resulting 5 + 1 channels through its 5 + 1 analog outputs. Problem is: can you feed these to your receiver? If it has 5 + 1 (or only 5, you could feed the sub channel directly to your sub) direct analog inputs, you're all set!


Cees

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Cees,

The OP has a Sony Home-Theater-in-a-box, only one of these has anything approaching a real receiver. There are many different ones available, most have the typical single main unit with dvd player built in and may or may not even have a digital audio input. None that I know of have 5.1 analog inputs.

If he has a unit with a digital audio input he will get only standard Dolby Digital 5.1. If it lacks a digital audio input the best he can hope for is pro-logic decoding of the player's 2 channel analog audio out.

 

[Cees Alons]

Thanks, I don't know those Sony HTitBs, so that's a not "all set". :frowning:


Cees

 

[Rich Romero]

This is the back of my reciever. It has HDMI pass through and such. I'm assuming I don't have what I need.

 

[Kevin EK]

Rich, it appears to me you have two optical input terminals on the left of your receiver back. If you have an optical output from your HD-DVD player, you could connect to your home theater that way. You would obviously not be receiving the full 3.21 gigawatts, but you will get a good audio signal into your system.

 

[JeremyErwin]

use the "multi ch in"

 

[Rich Romero]

Yeah I've been suing my optical and composites for years to get just standard DD 5.1 and DTS. My question was relating to the newer generation technologies. By using the "Multi Ch In" outputs will I be able to enjoy Dolby TrueHD?

 

[Cees Alons]

Yes. Apparently your receiver does have those, so my original post applies. That was the only uncertainty that was left.


Cees

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Thanks for posting that picture of the back of your receiver. I am very familiar with that unit as I sell them at Sears. It does have the multichannel inputs you need. Keep in mind that you will have to set speaker levels and speaker sizes and delays in the Player's setup menu when using those inputs as the receiver's settings won't apply to the multichannel inputs.

When playing discs with Dolby TruHD you will have to select that track in the disc's setup or "languages" menu, default audio is usually DD+, not DD TruHD.

 

[Rich Romero]

Thanks a lot. One more question though, what cables do I use for the Multi Ch Inputs? Can I just use any RCA cables or do I need a different kind. I have spare component cables I can use.

 

[Cees Alons]

Rich,

Yes, you can use the standard (shielded) audio cables for those. "Stereo" or single.


Cees