BluRay Player recommendations

[winchester21]

SS- I bought mine at Techonweb for 299.00 There may have been like 13 dollars shipping or something like that but it was close to 300 total. One warning- I had no problem with Techonweb- got the unit in 2 days- registered the product with Sony without incident. However- there has been some information out on the net that some fraud activities have occured with people's credit cards and bank accounts connected to Techonweb purchases. Do your own research and draw your conclusions. BB had some for 350 with 50 dollar rebate coupons a while back as well. Deals on the 550 come and go.

[Cal Blacksmith]

You do not need a new player for HD audio but if your AVR can't decode the format from the PS3, you may need to upgrade the AVR.

If you are getting audio through the HDMI cable (NOT the tosslink), from the PS3 and your receiver can decode HD audio from the HDMI signal, you are getting true HD audio. When I added the PS3 for BD, I had to upgrade my AVR as I did not have HDMI input in the old one though it did have DVI and tosslink which worked for my setup at the time.

With the PS3, the HD audio is output ONLY on HDMI, you will not get it on the tosslink. My Yamaha 663 that is now my AVR can decode the HD audio (another reason I upgraded was to get the ability to play the new HD audio formats) and when my PS3 is outputing on the HDMI, I get true HD audio from the AVR and the indicator light backs this up.

[USNRET]

You do not need a new player for HD audio but if your AVR can't decode the format from the PS3, you may need to upgrade the AVR.

and that my friend is the cruix of the question. A new new player that will do a decent job of decoding the HD and send along an analog path to the 7.1 inputs on my AVR would be less expensive and I'm pretty happy with the 4306 except for the newest sound thingies

[wuzzzer]

Do you have your PS3 connected via HDMI to your receiver? Are you still wondering if your PS3 is transmitting the HD audio to your receiver?

[SilverSport]

thanks W21...good to know...'preciate it...

Bill

[Youthman]

With the PS3, the HD audio is output ONLY on HDMI, you will not get it on the tosslink. My Yamaha 663 that is now my AVR can decode the HD audio (another reason I upgraded was to get the ability to play the new HD audio formats) and when my PS3 is outputing on the HDMI, I get true HD audio from the AVR and the indicator light backs this up.

Cal, can you help clarify something for me? It is my understanding that the PS3 cannot send data via bitstream which would allow it to be decoded by the receiver. If you want to take advantage of the new HD audio formats using the PS3, you can only send information via PCM through HDMI in which the PS3 has decoded it and the receiver is not doing the actual decoding. That is why the receiver will not display Dolby HD or DTS-Master.

You said that the indicator light backs this up. Does your receiver display Dolby HD or DTS-Master? This would mean that your receiver is doing the decoding, not the PS3. I want to make sure that I have not misunderstood what I've been reading online about HDMI and HD audio using the PS3.

[Cal Blacksmith]

I was 100 % sure it did, now I need to check before I say any more. I know that a PCM 7 ch capable device is required to get the audio out from the PS3 so I now am not sure about anything. I DO know that the quality of the audio output got MUCH better with the PS3.

The online manual for the PS3 says that it does use PCM 7.1 on the HDMI output

It looks like there is NO bitstream output but I am not sure of what the updated OS does for the PS3.

A snip from a Dec 2006 article on the PS3 says

"Also of interest to home theater buffs is that Sony has included full
7.1-channel support for Dolby's lossless TrueHD codec, in addition to
Dolby Digital and DTS. The PS3's platform is fully upgradeable and it's
possible that support for DTS' lossless audio coding, DTS-HD Master
Audio, could be added later. Note though that there is no multichannel
analog audio output. If you want multichannel out with support for
hi-res audio you need to have an HDMI-equipped AVR or pre\pro, and it
needs to be at least HDMI 1.1 or later to be compatible with
multichannel PCM, and HDMI 1.3 to be compatible with native digital
transmission of the new Dolby and DTS formats.

[USNRET]

Do you have your PS3 connected via HDMI to your receiver? Are you still wondering if your PS3 is transmitting the HD audio to your receiver?

Yes and yes. Here's what I posted from earlier experiment. I have yet to try the 'select' button input to see what's displayed.

I insert 'The Dark Knight' labled Dolby TrueHD. I set the PS3 audio set up to HDMI; automatic. I set the BD audio to PCM. I see "multi-channel " when I hit the 'display' button on the PS-3. I have my AVR audio in set to auto, I see multi channel displayed on my AVR.

Now I switch the PS-3 to Bitstream and I see Dolby 5.1 on both the upper right OSD from PS-3 and DD 5.1 on my AVR.

Is multi channel in same as DTS HD / Dolby TrueHD?

[Rudy81]

I have the Panasonic BD-55 and have been very happy with it. However, I am waiting for the Oppo to get realeased. Everything I have read from the EAP program is very positive. The few negatives are things I'm sure Oppo will address in due time.

[darylomer12]

I see "multi-channel " when I hit the 'display' button on the PS-3.

Have you actually went into the disc menu and selected Dolby True etc....? Sometimes, it may default regular dolby digital...Another thing...You can select different sound formats on the "fly" when watching a movie. While "The Dark Knight" is playing, hit select until you see "Dolby True". When I had my PS3, my reciever said multi channel and the OSD from the PS3 displayed the actual format..(DTS-MA--Dolby TrueHD etc...)

[USNRET]

I see "multi-channel " when I hit the 'display' button on the PS-3.

Have you actually went into the disc menu and selected Dolby True etc....? Sometimes, it may default regular dolby digital...Another thing...You can select different sound formats on the "fly" when watching a movie. While "The Dark Knight" is playing, hit select until you see "Dolby True". When I had my PS3, my reciever said multi channel and the OSD from the PS3 displayed the actual format..(DTS-MA--Dolby TrueHD etc...)

Thanks I have to check that select button out. I bought the PS3 for my 7 yo's game machine and my BD but found the PS3 games available for him was lacking so I got the XBOX w/HD drive then of course the beta max HD DVD media took a dive. I REALLY suk at the PS3 navigation.

I didn't see Dolby True as an option in the disc menu. One of this nights I'll fire it up, ask for a phone number from you PS3 guys and get some real time assistance.

[wuzzzer]

I insert 'The Dark Knight' labled Dolby TrueHD. I set the PS3 audio set up to HDMI; automatic. I set the BD audio to PCM. I see "multi-channel " when I hit the 'display' button on the PS-3. I have my AVR audio in set to auto, I see multi channel displayed on my AVR.

Now I switch the PS-3 to Bitstream and I see Dolby 5.1 on both the upper right OSD from PS-3 and DD 5.1 on my AVR.

Is multi channel in same as DTS HD / Dolby TrueHD?

The PS3 will bitstream an audio signal but will only do standard Dolby Digita/DTS at best. You definitely want to select Linear PCM for audio output. That will transfer all available audio signals such as Dolby Digital/DTS/Dolby TrueHD, etc.

USNRET, I'll send you a PM with my phone #. Feel free to call me anytime about your PS3 setup.

[BerserkNitro]

Why doesn't the Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-Master Audio light on my AVR come on when I'm playing BDs with these lossless audio formats?

Because the PS3 is doing the decoding itself of these advanced audio formats, the AVR is always receiving multichannel Linear Pulse Code Modulation (LPCM) from the PS3 when playing such BDs (when connected via HDMI). The AVR may have an indicator showing that the input is PCM, LPCM, MLPCM, or something similar. The AVR would only activate the Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MA light if it were doing the decoding. It would only be doing this if the source device were outputting these advanced audio formats as a bitstream and the PS3 is not capable of doing this. The end result in sound quality is in most cases essentially the same (depending on the specific capabilities of the AVR) whether the decoding is being done by the PS3 vs. having the AVR do the decoding.

The PS3 will not bitstream advanced audio formats to your AVR (i.e., it can only bitstream basic Dolby Digital and DTS surround audio formats). The PS3 can decode all of the Blu-ray Disc standard and optional audio formats and convert them to multichannel LPCM and pass that to your AVR via HDMI. Thus, to get the full advantage from the superior audio formats offered on BD, as compared to DVD, you must connect your PS3 to an AVR that has HDMI inputs that can accept multichannel LPCM (most AVRs that have HDMI inputs can do this except for a very few low-end models).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=931796

Hope this helps out! btw....oppo bdp-83 is a awesome player..still needs alittle tweakin though! (DVD-A)

[Youthman]

The PS3 will bitstream an audio signal but will only do standard Dolby Digita/DTS at best. You definitely want to select Linear PCM for audio output. That will transfer all available audio signals such as Dolby Digital/DTS/Dolby TrueHD, etc.

Ok, I had some time on my hands so I decided to do a little experimenting of my own to see if I had everything setup properly myself. I demoed two disks. Transformers which is in Dolby TrueHD and Prince Caspian which is in DTS-Master. Here is what I found when when viewing these movies.

Something didn't look right. I expected to see Dolby TrueHD somewhere and I was not. I decided to go into the PS3 Video settings to see what was selected. Low and behold, I had it on Bitstream (and I knew better)!!! I switched it to Linear PCM and now this is what I see.

Now that's more like it!

I decided to compare the details for Dolby Digital vs Dolby TrueHD. As you can see below, the bitrate from Dolby Digital to Dolby TrueHD is vastly different ( Going from 640 kbps to 4.0 Mbps is over 6 times difference!) From what I have found online, the bitrate on the left (after the frequency) is the audio bitrate. The bitrate after (AVC) is the video bitrate. This explains why the right bitrate did not change between formats.

I just got an education tonight folks! Thanks for helping me to dig through this myself. Now I can't wait until tomorrow when I can test it out to see if I can actually hear a difference between the audio formats.

[Cal Blacksmith]

Ok, I played Shreck 3 last night and I was wrong. My receiver display is PCM, multi ch and HDMI. The display from the PS3 is TRUE HD and the movie was recorded in 5.1 which was displayed on the AVR as 5.1. The audio from the AVR was outstanding and from what I have read, it makes no difference if the HD audio is decoded at the player or at the AVR. All I can say is that the quality of the audio last night was outstanding and very much better than "normal" non HD audio regardless of the non HD codec.

[Cal Blacksmith]

It looks like you are getting the same as I do, you should really hear the difference for sure! I don't even hook up any other cable than the HDMI when playing in the HT and on the Yamaha 663. On my Yamaha 750 (next older generation AVR (DVI and Tosslink) which has been moved to the "TV" room), I use the optical out from the PS3 and though it sounds good, it is not HD audio but for games which is 90% of the use of the PS3 on this setup, it is good enough.

[Youthman]

The audio from the AVR was outstanding and
from what I have read, it makes no difference if the HD audio is
decoded at the player or at the AVR.

You are correct. There really isn't any difference whether the player or the AVR does the decoding.

It looks like you are getting the same as I do, you should really hear the difference for sure!

Well, I had a chance to demo a few scenes. I watched a scene from Prince Caspian with the PS3 set to PCM so that it would be heard in DTS-Master. Very clear, sound effects were enveloping, really had a sense of being there inside the movie. I then watched it with the PS3 selected to Bitstream which caused the audio to be in standard Dolby Digital. Sounded very good, somehow I didn't sense the same realism that I heard with it in DTS-Master.

I then put in Transformers. Jumped to the ironhide flip scene at the end. I switched the PS3 back to Bitstream, now listening in Dolby Digital, sounded great. I then switched the PS3 to PCM and listened to it in Dolby TrueHD and found something strange. The volume was a lot lower. I had to turn it up from -20dB to -15dB to achieve a similar volume. Not a big deal. For some reason though, I did not like the Dolby TrueHD as much as the standard Dolby Digital. I can't put my finger on it. I'll have to run some other comparisons with other Dolby TrueHD content before I come to a final conclusion.

My initial conclusion is that with the new HD audio codecs, there is definitely not 6 times the increase in sound quality (referring to the bitrate details I showed earlier). For DTS-Master, I seem to hear some subtle improvements and am very pleased with it. For Dolby TrueHD, some reason I preferred the standard Dolby Digital. Again, I will run some more comparisons, just my initial observations for whatever that is worth.

[Youthman]

I don't even hook up any other cable than the HDMI when playing in the HT and on the Yamaha 663.

Just an FYI, my connection is the same. PS3 to Yamaha via HDMI. Yamaha to Panasonic Projector via HDMI. No other audio cables are connected to the PS3.

[Cal Blacksmith]

In the link to the FAQ above I think, it states that the volume from the HD audio may be not as loud and that volume difference alone can be a factor in what you are hearing. There is a setting to raise the output level from the PS3 to adjust for that but they warn to not over do it as you may drive into distortion at higher volume content. They recomend just turning up the volume on the AVR to make up for the difference.

I would agree that the difference is NOT 6 X better but it is indeed MUCH better, more involving and the match between my speakers seems to be better also. The front 3 are truly seamless in the HD mode where as it is not always a perfect blend with other codecs.

I also just downloaded the firmware update for my PS3, it seams that I have 2.1 and the current release is 2.7, just a little behind, huh?

[Youthman]

They recomend just turning up the volume on the AVR to make up for the difference.

Yeah, that's what I did. I think I would prefer that than adding some "boost" option in the settings.

I also just downloaded the firmware update for my PS3, it seams that I have 2.1 and the current release is 2.7, just a little behind, huh?

Just a little bit. I'll have to check mine. I believe I've done two updates since I have had it.